if teaching's an art, then i'm certainly not Van Gogh...

Two months...and now this?

2008-05-06T12:30:00.002+09:00

Well, I probably should have done this a lot sooner, but, alas, just like a short time ago, you lose track of time, and before you know it, you're saying to yourself "oh, wait, I have a blog....maybe I should post something...."
So in case anyone had not fully understood why things had dropped off, my contract finished approximately two months ago, after which I moved back home to Canada. What have I been doing in the mean time? Looking for a teaching job (and so too apparently is everyone else...) and not finding one. Unlike most teachers in Korea, I'm actually a certified teacher, and coming back in March, the school year is nearing its final swing, and jobs are in short supply. Its been hard, going from working full-time to pretty much being unemployed, and I got to say, I'd rather be employed, and not just for the money.
If you're just reading this site for the first time, allow myself to introduce....myself. I (was) a teacher in Korea for almost three years, and what you will find on this site is a rather comical, sometimes boring account of what it was like to teach in Korea from 2005 until 2008, give or take a few months in between. There are (somewhat) funny anecdotes, comical student stories, and just plain simple stuff about what its like living in Korea.
If you've been reading this site diligently for the past while, in a word, THANKS:) You reading has made it worthwhile for me to keep it up (and apparently, some of you have been somewhat faithful - website counters have me at close to 7000 hits, and considering that this blog started out as a "family-only" idea, its turned into something much bigger than I had ever imagined. Thanks for reading.
As from here, I don't know exactly what I will be doing . I want to be teaching ,but jobs are hard to come by where I am living now. Who knows, come this fall, I might be teaching somewhere, at which point, maybe I'll start up another blog, only this time it won't likely be as interesting, as it will be from teaching in a Canadian school - who knows, maybe I'll let any of you decide....
Well, I am off - In closing, I'm tipping my hat off to you, whomever is reading this - it's been a heck of a ride, I must say, and I dare say it will be over. Currently I am in a relationship with a Korean, so who knows, maybe I'll be heading back to teach in Korea in the next few upcoming years....who knows :) As one final send off of gratitude, I'll include a picture, so if you've ever been wondering whose been writing this blog, you'll be able to see - no name, but at least a picture (I'm sure some of you already know my name...) If you want, I'd love to hear any stories from anyone whose been reading this blog - any funny incidents that stick out in your minds?
Well, I'm finally off. Thanks all, and God bless!
me

Second Post Today...bonus

2008-03-06T11:44:00.002+09:00

So this past week, two things came to light that I thought I would bring up vis a vis the old blog.

One, I've almost always taken the local village bus to work. Yes, I'm lazy, and I would rather have the extra time to sleep in, and two, when its freezing cold outside, the twenty-thirty minute walk isn't up my alley. So there.

So I take the bus, and this past week, after a nice long break, school started back up. Not that it really ever stopped, but for the most part, all students started coming back to classes.

Now, Koreans have a similar education enrollment system like that in North America - you can send your child to any school that you would like, provided a) the school has room for all of their local students first, and then other students who wish to attend their school, and b) you can get your child to school if they aren't within a reasonable distance. So on my village bus, which goes through most major neighbourhoods, two things became startling. One, Korean children don't show their "scared" nature very strongly. On my village bus, two children, one can't be any older than studying in FIRST GRADE takes the bus every day. Not only does he stand at the bus stop by himself, but he walks up, flags the bus down (all 2.5 of the kid) and promptly marches up, drops his 1000 Won into the payment slot, and proudly counts to make sure that he has the correct change. The other child is probably studying in around Third grade, which is an accomplishment in itself. Not only that, but these kids talk to the local retired folks on the bus, who, on more than on occasion remind them "shouldn't you be in school" to which they say something to the tune of "I am - I am going now" to the retiree's shock. This shocks me, only because I can't remember the first time I took public transportation on my own, and I grew up in a relatively small city compared to where I am teaching now...these kids have quite the courage...I'm duly impressed.

The other thing is that all middle and high school students must wear a uniform to school everyday. Now, once they enter school, many of them take out their name-brand sweaters, coats, and change their uniforms in a multitude of ways, to maximize their wealth, or ability to look spiffy.

The comical thing is that each day, the students must walk through the school gates and pass inspection by students who have failed uniform inspection more than few times. So the students who are caught multiple times must show up early, in perfect uniform, and be 'inspectors", and try to catch students sneaking in without wearing their full uniform. Now, usually students forget their zipper tie the most. So students often will find other students playing basketball who have already passed inspection, and "bribe" them for their ties- you only need your tie to pass inspection, after that, its discarded faster than yesterdays homework. Well, the school has instituted a new policy for the "inspectors" - they must meet a certain "quota" before they can leave their post. So what was before a somber group of inspectors trying to find people sneaking into school, fulfilling their "weekly" commitment has now become a group of seriously motivated "inspectors" chasing students all over the walkway leading up to the entrance gate. Its quite comical just watching them - students will go as far as robbing their best friend of their necktie, throwing it over the fence, and then watch as they get reported. It takes multiple uniform infractions before students change their post, however, the comedy I get to watch each morning walking into work makes me think I'm going to miss this year...

have a great week all, and

God bless

starting to wrap things up...

2008-03-06T11:42:00.001+09:00

So things are finally starting to slow down. I know its been a while since my last post, and I'm realizing that I haven't even had the time to post that I'm almost done with Korea, possibly for good. Last time I was in this situation, I was torn with leaving Korea, and feeling like I could easily see myself going back, if no jobs arise upon returning to Canada. Well, another year has come and gone, and I'm just about finished up with Korea. I'll be coming home sometime in March, and hopefully finding a teaching job in Ontario, shortly after arriving at home. I know that I'll be coming home to a market where teachers are begging to be hired, but I'm hoping that my three years of teaching experience teaching something will mean that I have a better chance at getting a job than some other people coming straight out of Teachers College. So we'll see where that job situation ends up.

I'm not fully into retrospective mode yet, or reflective yet on my past three years, or one year teaching at my present school, so I'll finish the old blog off somehow else once I arrive back home, where I can give it a better go than right now, where things are still fresh in my mind, as I'm still teaching, working, and, less proudly, still not packed even though I'm scheduled to move out the bulk of my stuff this weekend...once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. So enjoy the last posts while you can, because sooner or later, this good thing will come to an end.

have a great day all, and God bless,

Graduation and....baking?

2008-02-14T14:32:00.004+09:00

So today brought about the graduation of my school's third grade middle school students. Normally a rowdy, loud, disrespectful bunch, today they were quiet, reserved, and respectful (because their parents were here).

Now, the graduation ceremony is nothing like what you would expect from back home - with so many students, freezing cold temperatures outside, and no gymnasium to squeeze all of the students and parents into, everyone just watched the "ceremony" with their parents in whatever classroom they were assigned to....a very boring, unexcited affair of watching the whole event on a jumbo television. Not my idea of fun, but then again, I wasn't required to participate - only third grade homeroom teachers are required to dress up, and the rest of us just loafed around, and did the stuff that teachers do when they aren't teaching.

What was comical however was the Korean tradition (from what has been explained to me) of what the students do once they've graduated. Because theirs no offical ceremony of passing the certificate to the students, the students just show up in their uniforms....and at this point, they're "itching" to rip it off for good. So after all of the formalities are over, and the parents have gone back to the work, the students whip out......flour and eggs; Lots and LOTS of eggs. What happens next is hard to witness, as the flour somewhat blocks a clear view. However, when the "dust" settles, what you have are students covered head to toe in egg yolk, shells, and tonnes of flour everywhere - most importantly, all over their uniform.

So that's middle school graduation in a nutshell. At my school, the administration purchased huge flower bouquets for display outside of the school. Some of the third grade "better-behaved" students decided to give the school one final reason to be glad they're gone. They took ALL of the flowers, took them to the road, and proceeded to backup traffic while they threw, stomped, and egged all of the flowers. You'd almost think that a wedding ceremony had taken place outdoors. In secret, the teachers lauded their final sendoff, but when they came in after showering, they were warned to NOT do that once they got to high school...i'm sure they've forgotten it already :)
take care all, and
God bless

From the office of "whoops"....

2008-02-12T13:43:00.000+09:00

Well, for those of you who watch international news, you might already know of this story. For those of you who don't, well, read on.
Less than two weeks ago, South Korea's National Treasure No. 1 Sungnyemun, (more commonly known as Namdaemun ~ translated, it means "the South Gate") was set on fire by an arsonist. Now, the reason this falls under the files of "whoops" is because the way that the events transpired happened in a way that somewhat is typical of Korea. But first, a few pictures to help you understand what this is about.

1st - this picture was taken from the Japanese archive, around 1910.
2nd - this picture came from the first opening of the gate in 1963 to the public.
3rd - the official restoration ceremony, where the gate became fully open to the public, 2006.
4th - taken on the 10th of February, while the fire was ravaging the gate.

Now, here's where the whole "whoops" comes into play. Firstly, for their number one national treasure, there was never someone posted to "guard" the gate during the early morning, or on weekends at night. Despite its high ranking, there were no infrared sensors or fire sprinklers inside the gate, and only EIGHT fire extinguishers were placed to protect the national treasure. But it gets worse. The man they just arrested (and he subsequently admitted shortly after arrest) was previously arrested for setting fire to another national treasure, a major palace, (also a high-ranking national treasure)! Not only that, but he was released shortly after being placed in jail for that offence. And what do you think set this man off to set fire to both National Treasures? The official chief of police in Namdaemun reported: "Chae confessed to starting the fire, saying he was upset by a land grievance that led him to start the 2006 fire and by the sentence he was handed in that case..."

A land grievance....Mr.Chae, as he's now being referred to, said he chose Namdaemun because of its easy to access location, lack of security, and far-enough distance from local housing, so that it wouldn't hurt anybody. (Well, if you could find one glimmer from this situation, you can at least appreciate him for thinking "that" much ahead....Naw).
Sometimes, Koreans are just a little too trusting for thier own good. I love them for their innocence, and sometimes inapparent ability to conceive that something like this could actually happen. I feel really bad, because its one of the most-recognizable features for Seoul World-wide, and for a long time, there will be a lot of inconveniences when trying to reach future monuments not just in Seoul, but country-wide.
Chalk it up to another "whoops" experience, and hopefully Korea will learn from the experience...
God bless,
me

Some Korean "love"....

2008-01-17T22:36:00.000+09:00

So I promised two stories about events that made me like Korea again after a hard day at work. So without further adieu, here's the second story of something that made me fall in love with Korea.
Some of you might remember how I just posted about how Seoul has been setting up their ice-skating rinks in different parts of the city this year. The only thing holding them back was something that you can't buy everywhere in Asia...a Zamboni. This past January they finally finished completing the ice-skating rink in Bundang, quite close to where I live. This was especially nice because as it was new, all the skates and blades were new, as opposed to the well-worn and dull skates found at the much more popular City Hall rink.
So a good teaching friend of mine and I decided to go skating. She hadn't gone in, well, she couldn't remember the last time she had gone skating. We met at Seohyun station, and walked the short five minutes there. It was a beautiful night, cold, and a sprinkling of snow was falling - perfect for night skating. We got there early, and as they were cleaning off the ice, we thought it would be perfect it nobody else came - skating on an ice-rink in Korea is sometimes taking your own life into your hands...hundreds of people on one rink, with many of them not having the same advantage as North American people have makes for a lot of people skating out of control....
As the Zamboni driver cleared off the rink, the snow started falling a little more and more, to the point that the Zamboni tried to keep up with it, but he couldn't. As he finished cleaning off the rink, he told the University student who does "crowd control" to tell the people that the rink was closed. So the student comes into the box where we were waiting, he tells us that the rink was closed. We were disappointed, but there wasn't anything we could do. However, as soon as the Zamboni driver sees us, he says to the student: "Foreigners?" (in Korean, of course). "Okay, no problem - let them skate, but only them" (again, in Korea - the Univ. student translated for us).
So, much to our utter shock, we were allowed to skate on the rink as the Zamboni driver patched the holes on the outdoor rink. What further shocked us was that as multiple Korean families walked up to ask to go skating, they told them that the rink was "closed", even though we were clearly skating in circles, gleefully enjoying the wide open spaces. It was quite possibly one of the most fun times I'd had in a long time. Sure, the whole staff at the public rink thought that my friend and I were dating, to which we both had a good laugh about. We both enjoyed the skate so much that afterwords, we bought the whole staff a dozen donuts. When we handed it to the staff, the looks on their faces was one of utter shock - they all stood at the gate and waved at us as we walked away from the rink - it felt like a commercial - cheesy, but rather comical.
So those are two stories which made me come to love Korea again. Sometimes, this country drives you nuts enough to wonder why in blazes your working here, as opposed to in some other country where you don't occasionally get treated like yesterday's leftover food. And then things like this happen, and I'm glad God has me here, and not anywhere else:)
take care all,
God bless

the Korean grind....

2008-01-16T22:03:00.000+09:00

Living and working in a foreign country has its highs and lows, and each come with their benefits and disadvantages. For one, the language difference can sometimes spurn you to "want" to study the language harder, so that the next time you have a problem, you are not relying on the same people to help you out. It can also be aggravating, when, for example, the Korean lunch delivery man blamed me for moving my "dirty-dishes food basket" on him, when it wasn't me, but merely the security guard at the school, trying to help him out.
(two point note here)
One - Korean food always comes with free delivery, as long as you order from a Korean restaurant close to where you live - which is virtually a guarantee, since restaurants over here blanket every free wall-space with advertisements. Two, they deliver all of their food on reusable bowls, plates, and silverware (say for wooden chopsticks). It's very refreshing, considering they could always use paper, or something disposable - the fact that they're doing the reusable also creates more work for them as well - and yet it remains so cheap...)

Okay, so back to the story. Living here can have both benefits and disadvantages - and this holds true for so much more than just languages as well. The nice thing is that sometimes, the strangest events can happen that make you smile, and forget about all of those other things that aggravate you to death. Here is one example which sticks out in my mind, having happened not too long ago.....I'll post another story in a day or so of the same variety :) Enjoy!

For those of you who remember, a Korean Sauna is a bit of a harrowing experience the first time for a foreigner. For those of you who would like a previous re-counting of my first Sauna experience, you can read about it HERE. So here I was after going to the gym, and I was just finishing up my whole shower, when i feel this child somewhat staring at my, in a "look at me" kind of way. Now, sometimes my workout-finishing time will coincide with the end of the children's swimming lesson. The showers and hot-pool will be inundated with all sorts of children of all ages running around, the "Ajushi" shower-man trying to tell the kids to stop running, and the swimming instructors getting out as quickly as they can. So I'm just about to head out when I notice a small boy staring at me. He was holding out a huge bottle of shampoo, and by gesture, was asking me if I wanted some. So I said "a/sah" in Korean, which made him giggle quite a bit (a/sah is Korean for "very nice"). So the little child tips the bottle over, gives it a huge squeeze, and nothing but a huge "fart-like" sound emits from the bottle. Both the child and I laughed a little, and then, as he goes to shake the bottle for the second "go", as he brings it down, the child squeezes a blob of shampoo into my hand so big I could have washed my hair for a month - it was flowing out of my hands. At this point, the child looked almost scared, as if I'd tell him he just wasted the shampoo by pushing too hard. So, instead, I said "a/sah!" with extra emphasis, stuck it all in my hair, and said "Kam/sa/ham/ne/da" - which is the English writing of "thank-you" in Korean. This brought a smile so big to his face, that he turned around, ran into the other half of the showers, and proceeded to tell all his friends about what just happened. This brought five other kids running to see if his story held-up, and once they saw me, and I saw them, I said "Boo!" and tried to chase them around the shower. Not the brightest idea, but the kids loved it, and I felt good about Korea.
Story two is coming hopefully tomorrow
God bless all, and enjoy the wonder of winter

A whole new year....

2008-01-13T20:48:00.000+09:00

So, belated happy new year to all of those who are still reading:) Apologies for the long break between posts - I actually was scared to check to see when the last time I had actually updated. So allow me the joy of posting a little longer post than normal.
First, Christmas in Seoul.
Korea is predominantly two major religions: Christian and Buddhist. The Christians love Christmas, for it is a very large holiday, and its a time of blessings, love, and for the kids, presents. The Buddhist's love it because they get the day off, and because Korea is such a "service" type of country, most of the restaurants stayed open.
Last year, in Seoul, Korea finally converted their wide-open city-hall space into a massive ice-skating rink, to massive popular approval. Koreans are known world-wide for their speed-skating (who would think that a country so inept at skating could produce Olympians in speed-skating. It'd be like Canadians winning, I don't know, a host of surfing medals, only, in consecutive Olympics....if you lived here, you'd understand the head-scratching of this....Anyways, I digress. Here's a picture of what their whole ice-skating rink looks like.Its actually quite a beautiful rink. That "castle like" structure goes all the way around, and it lights up the whole neighbourhood. The best part of this whole scheme is that renting skates is 1000 Won, or effectively 1 dollar. You usually get to skate for just over an hour and a half, and then they kick everyone off, clean the ice, and by the time the kids get their skates off, they run around to the doors beside the Zamboni platform, and play around in the huge pile of snow the Zamboni dropped out of its front. To these kids, they stare at the truck as if its a snow-making machine...a Zamboni? In Korean, its written as 참보니 - with no "Z" in Korean, its pronounced "cham-bo-ni". So that's the story of Christmas in Korea. They open the ice-rink around late November, and it stays open till mid-January. And then in typical Korean fashion, the whole thing will be dismantled in less than 24 hours, and it will look like the whole thing was never there.
New Years Eve. New Years Eve in Korea is quite a spectacle. For once in the country, fireworks are allowed to be lit, but only in the street. Korea, which has mandatory military service or police service (you basically do Riot Police duty) were there in huge numbers....almost one riot police officer for each Korean or foreigner there. My friends and I went to the main area, without knowing what or where we were going; we basically followed the "follow the crowd" principle. The main area for New Year Eve, where there's a big bell, which gets rung quite a few times to ring in the near year. I have no idea how many times, because there were more than 100,000 people all trying to get within viewing range of a massive bell that was completely cordoned off by riot police four deep, upwards of seven, depending on how close to the celebrities they were. Basically, the only "legal" firecracker you could use were "roman candles" which actually made the air nice and smoky, which worked well for taking time-delayed shots, or slow-motion photography, showing the streaks of the roman candle firecrackers. Here's the best shot I could manage during what henceforth shall be known as the "Human Stampede of 2008".

I have never been so tightly packed into one place. For the most part, you had no control over where the crowd was moving; you just all moved as "one". At one point, it was so crowded, and the people were pushing so hard that I could not put my foot down - there was no room for my foot. It truly is a miracle that no one was stampeded to death; and this was before the Korean Pop sensations "Super Junior" took the stage.....Curious who they are? check out the video below....

When that started, it was mayhem. They sang only one song, but the push towards the front of the stage was the tightest space I've ever been in my life. Good times. Not the song so much, but just being in that area. Strangely enough, when doing the countdown, in most places I've been, they countdown the number that is showing on the big digital screen, and everyone counts along - not so in Korea. They were always one number ahead, so when the 10 flashed on the screen, everyone screamed "9" in Korean...and when they got to "1" the whole place went bananas for Koreans...they screamed, made some noise, and then quickly forgot what they were supposed to do, and started pushing around to get their way out of the crowd. Definately something i'll remember for a long time.
So that's my recap of Christmas and New Years Eve in Korea. I promise to report on two comical incidents sometime soon, and I will also do a more concerted effort to write more frequently. Enjoy the nice winter weather.
God bless,

For all those Teachers out there....

2007-12-26T15:59:00.000+09:00

For all of you who read this blog and are teachers, I have a belated Christmas gift for you, especially those of you lucky enough to have computers and projectors in your classroom.
For those of you who have ever used Jeopardy in your classroom, you know how it can be a great group exercise (read:time killer). However, without someone doing the prep-work, Jeopardy can be a bit of a hassle to set-up. Sure, its easy to write stuff on the board - I digress. I'll stop explaining, and just show you.This board is entirely modifiable, and it even has the back/forward/menu buttons included, and you can just about add any slide you wish - from "What are they doing" to "Change the grammar" type questions.
Now, I cannot just upload this powerpoint slide as a file with blogger - I don't have the patience to figure that out. However, if you would like a copy of the full powerpoint, you have two options. You can either post a comment, and I will send you the file via e-mail. Or, if you want, you can head over to ESL-Resources and find all sorts of cool time killers that are quite useful. From mazes that will beat any from Discovery Zone to Tongue Twisters, they have lots of helpful stuff.
Enjoy. More real news to come sometime in the not-to-distant future.
God bless all, and enjoy the family time. If you have family/friends living in foreign lands, try to remember them. The Holiday season is really hard for those teaching overseas/working in the military.
till later,
me

it's not the "R" word, but.....

2007-12-14T16:21:00.000+09:00

So, today, I went about trying to find a reservation for my holidays that are in January and February. Its an unusual time for holidays, and its right near the end of the school year holidays, so its a tough time to get tickets.
So today, I had the afternoon off because the kids had just finished their middle school end-of-year tests, and all teachers get one afternoon off during testing times (the students finish their tests at 12noon, so its not like I'm missing time at work.
So I headed to the local travel agent near my house. Now, normally I shy away from travel agents.....they're a circus-carney-folk type of people who are shy to tell you the seat prices, charge you a nice fee to do something most people can't manage to do at home in Korea (search multiple travel companies for tickets in an instant). However, they can search faster for tickets than I can from home, so I thought I would give them a chance again.
The local office near my apartment was closed, so I went by subway to the next office, located only two subway stops away from my apartment. When I walked into the office, I asked her if she spoke Korean, and she said "A little", and so the process began. I am looking for tickets during peak season, which means that searches take longer, and with the minor language barrier, a wee bit slow going, but nothing that I'm not used to. It was going fine until another "customer" came in behind me, and sat down behind me to wait for the next available service agent to help them. Then something happened which could only be mildly described as racism...the "R" word. (now, I profess to have never experienced anything like TRUE racism. Being "white" and from Canada, I hope to never have to experience something like Racism. I'm merely saying that this was something similar to racism) The service agent helping me was a female, and the other agent was a male. The male leans over, interrupts me in mid-sentence, and tells me that he doesn't sell tickets to English speakers. At first, I thought he was joking, so I asked him for clarification: "I can check the ticket prices, but you won't serve me?" He says, in perfect English, "Yes. You see, the language barrier is too difficult". So I ask him why he refuses to sell to foreigners, and, as if I'm some sort of idiot, he repeats in English exactly what he said to me earlier; the language barrier is too difficult.
At first, I didn't fully understand what was happening. I immediately sat up, took my bag, and walked out without saying anything. I was in shock; this was the first time I'd ever been denied service in Korea, ever. And then, it all became clear to me. Their was a Korean waiting behind me sitting on a chair, and the Korean "owner" as he called himself, wanted to talk to the Korean instead of making a sale with me, and he was willing to do anything to get me out of his store, so he could possibly make a sale to the foreigner.
The more that I thought about it, the more I was disgusted by how I'd just been treated. Here, for almost three years, I've been treated with the utmost respect, sometimes much more than I'd deserved. And here, for the first time since I had been in Korea, I was treated as if I was a second-class citizen; not worth his time or money. The shameful thing is that had I thrown a fit in his office, yelled, cussed, and screamed, he would have used that as justification for why he refuses to, "as per his company policy" to NOT sell to English speaking people.
It happens in Korea, and I feel blessed that this is the first time it's happened to me in Korea. That doesn't change how I feel - I feel like I'm just a second class person, here, but not useful.....
It happens, and I am sure that when I tell my Korean friends, they will be disgusted as well, however, there's not much you do about it, so you try to not take it personally, and move on.....Now I have a small inkling what its like to be treated like you're second class.....and I've got to tell you, it sucks.
Have a great weekend all, and God bless

embarrassing oneself is always easier....

2007-12-08T00:19:00.000+09:00

Many of you who have traveled anywhere in this amazing world can relate to this story.
So last week, we received some nice snow-sprinkles everywhere on the ground. In Korea, snow is always nice, because it makes the otherwise dirty city appear more clean-ish, so to speak. Anyways, I digress.
Some of you have probably read or heard about Korean saunas. If you haven't, here is a short introduction. In Korea, many apartments, or older styled houses have very small bathrooms, where your "shower" consists of a shower-head sticking out of the wall. The whole room is tiled, and there's no heating in the bathroom; never. So many people just come to the Sauna everyday to take their shower/cleaning. The sauna's here vary in size and quality, but your basic sauna will consist of showers, hot and cool whirlpools, lockers, benches, and usually what we back in North America would refer to the actual "sauna", the steam room. These sauna's will be full of fully naked men and children walking around with nothing on. As strange as it might sound to some of you, its very simplistic, and once you get past the paranoia that "everyone" is starting at you (they generally aren't) then you can get down to relaxing and enjoying the joys of a full-service shower/sauna/locker room, free of the opposite sex.
Now, I've been here in Korea for over two and a half years, and I've seen my share of sauna accidents, from old men slipping on the floor, to children running on the stone floors, and slipping all over the place (with the old men telling them "I told you something would happen!!" Well, this past Thursday, instead of being the witness, I was the guilty party. Because of their being showers, people coming in from the pool, and frequent traffic, water's everywhere (you would think this would be obvious, but sometimes you forget about it...trust me.) So before I was scheduled to play squash, I thought I'd take a quick dip in the hot pool to ease some aching muscles...only I never got past the second step. Not only did I fall down both stone steps, but I also proceeded to throw a water bucket across the sauna floor in the process of flailing my arms to regain my balance...
Now, one good thing about falling in the sauna, nobody rushes to help you....you're naked - nobody is going to touch you. Secondly, if you're hurt, you just hop in the hot water, and everything feels better. However, the best part? Being a foreigner, I could care less about the whole incident, because as much as they talked, gasped, winced, pointed, and looked the other way when I glanced at them - truthfully I could care less about what they think, because I have NO CLUE what they're saying about me......
Something about not feeling embarrassed in a foreign country when you don't know what they're talking about.
The only thing that hurt, besides the bruise on my tail bone the size of New York? My own personal pride :)
Have a great weekend all, and don't forget to check your steps when you're walking^^
God bless

Christmas, and the season of wanting...

2007-12-05T10:39:00.000+09:00

So, as this Christmas season has come around quite quickly, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what God's will is for my life. Many of you who actually read this will notice that I usually end my posts with God Bless-a belief more than just a simple way to end my posts. This past year, I've really grown a lot spiritually, and its one of the reasons that I am looking at extending my time here in Korea.
The Christmas season is always a time when we think of how we can give to each other, but, in reality, it usually puts us in a mood of wanting "more" for the upcoming year. This comes out in many different ways: wanting more money (for the increasing cost of living, no doubt^^) wanting more time off, nicer weather, more time spent with those we love and less time with those we dont, etc.
This past week start to my week was a pretty big struggle. I had been looking at applying to a Christian University, and after a slight error on my judgment, I included something I shouldn't have in my application. I haven't heard back from the hiring committee, however, I'm pretty sure I won't be hearing anything. This immediately exacerbated every other small minor problem into something much bigger, and dragging me further into one of those moments of frustration that can only be described as "crap". This year, I've been learning to trust God more, and take what happens as part of God's plan for me, and trusting what happens is because there is something greater in store.
It really forced me to realize a few things, and thinking back on those two days, I've come to realize that things aren't really so bad. I started remembering all of those blessings that one takes for granted any other time when they aren't thinking about how frustrating their life is. I've really had to remind myself how much God has blessed me leading me this far, through as much as I've experienced so far since I've returned to Korea. And I realized just a few blessings ^.~.
One, I've got an amazing family who continues to love me, in spite of the fact that I am living on the opposite side of the world, searching out God here instead of closer to home. Nothing matters more to me than this.
I've got an amazing family of friends here, who love me so much more than I can ever realize. In addition, I have one amazing friend in particular who encourages me not only spiritually, but also in so many other ways that I've lost track.
In spite of my job frustrations, I have a job, at least until March. If the need be that God wants me somewhere else, I KNOW I'll be where He wants me to be.
I've got an amazing church that loves me as much as I love it. By the way, if anyone out there is in Korea, and near the South of Seoul, and you are interested in going to church, or have any questions, please let me know.

LifeChurch Korea website

I attend at LifeChurch Korea, an amazing church located in Suwon. If you would like any information, directions to the church, or just a contact- post a comment to this blog, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
So what I am trying to say is, in this Christmas season, even though we see so many commercials and requests for money, try to remember just how blessed we really are. If you're like me, it won't take you long to think of even a few things that remind you of what you have to be grateful for.
Have a great week all, and God bless

Things you didn't know were Korean...

2007-12-03T11:46:00.000+09:00

So, just the other night, I was able to spend a night at the family of one of my Korean middle school students. It was nice to spend time with a family for a change - spending time with friends is great, but you miss a lot when you do everything in pairs, and not as a "family" so to speak.
But during the discussion that we had after the meal, where the father talked about how proud he is of Korea, and he just started listing off all of the things Korea is known for, IN KOREA. So it got me thinking of all of the things in North America that are Korean, the thing being that people just don't KNOW that they're Korean. So, without further ado, here's just a short list of things that are Korean, only you might not have known. (feel free to comment and add other things to the list)
Samsung - In Hangul, 삼성. Revenue (electronics) 79.18 Billion USD
Yup, its Korean. Many of you know that they make some of the coolest cell phones on the market. But did you know that they also make cars, apartment buildings, own drafting/construction companies, design subways, and a host of other things? No wonder then that the latest scandal in Korea over their current potential slush-fund issues has Newsweek citing that the current scandal at "The Republic of Samsung" could "reshape Korea" At Samsung, they could say "Yup, we make that" to just about any product question or request.

LG - Revenue:61 Billion USD
Yup - also Korean. Known primarily for their technology, LG also manufactures a host of home appliances, and other amazing things operating as the parent company of a dearth of different names. LG operates the second largest conglomerate of businesses in Korea, smaller only to the Hyundai Group. The third largest is Samsung.

Hyundai - in Hangul, 현대 Revenue: (motors) 51.3 Billion USD
Seeing a pattern here? I've commented on this before in my post about the slogans in Korea, but it deserves mentioning again. If 1 million people buy a car, the same car, then its a safe bet that they're doing something right. When that holds true, 10 Million Koreans can't be wrong, can they? Maybe their's something to them. Hyundai however manufactures more than just cars. Similar to Samsung, only on much larger scale, Hyundai seems to have their hands in nearly everything, if you look hard enough.

Kia - In Hangul, 기아 (a subsidiary of Hyundai, but still big)
What you see as a cheap student car option is also the second most popular car brand in Korea. If people don't own a Hyundai, then the other car of choice is a Kia. Most known for their cheaper but close models of the Hyundai name, Kia's are known for their cheap repairs, and near indestructability; knowing the way Koreans drive, its a good thing. If your car doesn't have a scratch, then it means you just drove it off the lot.

Hynix - In Hangul, 하이닉스 Revenue: 6.48 Billion USD
Who? you might ask, is Hynix. Well, formerly Hyundai Electronics, were you to open up your computer, pull out the RAM stick, and read the label, I would argue that a lot of you have Hynix RAM in your computers. Hynix is one of the largest makers of RAM in the world; take your pick, if it's memory, they make it. And its cheap too.

Daewoo - In Hanguel, 대우.
Daewoo, that's who! Remember that ad campaign not too long ago in the US and Canada? Count this experiment one in a long line of failures by GM to implement for success. Daewoo manufactures a large number heavy industries in Korea, and they also manufacture cars, very cheaply. Known for looking really classy on the outside, but running like its on its last legs under the hood, Daewoo's didn't survive in North America for long. However, they're manufactured a lot better here in Korea. They're the Kia's of North America. If you need a cheap "student" car, you buy a Daewoo. Daewoo's similar to Samsung and Hyundai in that its a massive family conglomerate of industries, more known for their cars than anything else.

Posco - Revenue: 27.18 Billion USD
Who? Only the worlds third largest producer of steel in the world. That's pretty much all they do, for the most part. However, when you make as much steel as they do, it keeps you pretty busy.

SK Group -Revenue: 75.8 Billion USD
Known primarily in Korea for their telecommunications, SK also operates a large number of oilfields all over the world. Not having any oil in Korea, Korean corporations are not only forced to bring in their oil by tankers, but to finance oil explorations in countries in order to bring their oil here, refined or not. SK also operates the highest quality cell phone network in Korea, and they are the third largest conglomerate in all of Korea.

These are just some of the larger companies in Korea that you might have heard of. If there are any others that you can think of that I have clearly missed, feel free to let me know - I am sure there are many more. If you are interested in finding out more info about Korean companies, here is the FORBES website which lists the Korean companies in lieu of the 2000 largest companies in the world, circa 2006. enjoy

So you want to be a President?

2007-12-02T20:06:00.000+09:00

Welcome back to the blog that formerly wrote frequently, and recently has come up with creative excuses. Now that I've run out of them, I'm back to writing about things more often. Thanks for tuning in. Now, onto today's news.
So recently in the news outside of Korea, the talk has been about the presidential elections in the United States that happen NEXT YEAR. I, for one, am happy to be living outside of the US, where I would rapidly get quick sick just from all of the debates, primaries talk, stumps, et all. Here in Korea, the next president will be elected on December 19. Now, just this past week, was the day when all of the presidential candidates had to announce they were running for the Presidency of Korea. 12, count 'em, 12 people are running for the office of the Presidency of Korea.
The government pays for all of these wonderful banners of all of the different candidates, and what number candidate they are - I guess they are hoping that by everyone seeing all of these banners all over Korea, they won't be able to forget what number they want to win.
12. The fact that so many people want to run for this country baffles me. Here in Korea, the presidency is a five year term. The problem's I see are those that the present President is facing now; people are tired of him. Current President Roh Moo-Hyun was elected five years ago, and he was elected primarily on the support of the middle-aged crowd. For a few years, his approval ratings were quite high, and overall, he had support across Korea. Now, in the past few years, he has lost the support of his own party, has contemplated stepping down early, and has changed political parties in order to continue trying to move things through the Korean government.
Now, the problem that I can see with having 12 presidential hopefuls is that, when all of the ballots are casted - if the winner does not manage to have a majority of the population backing him, he's guaranteed to have a rough go at things, because everyone's going to be saying "I didn't vote for you, so therefore I hate you!" Or something possibly a little more mild-mannered.
The ironic thing going through this whole election is that the front-runner is currently in the midst of a huge cross-country scandal that spans even into the United States. Presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak is currently being investigated for being in charge of a wide-spread financial fraud investigation spanning the US, Korea, and abroad. Lee Myung-bak's camp is denying the charges, and the investigation looking into the allegations has been given a deadline in order to come up with something in a few days time, or cancel the whole claim, at fear that the people could end up electing presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak, and then finding out after the election that he's been the mastermind behind the financial fraud case.
It's actually interesting reading, if you're into politics. The link can be found at both Chosun News Online and at JoongAng Daily two major online news sources for English news in Korea.
Lastly, the positive thing about having such a short candidacy period is that we don't have to hear all of this every-single-day.

And with 12 different candidates, that's twelve times the trucks, music, fun, dancing....
Have a great day, and God bless,

ESL Community and bad rap's....

2007-11-19T22:52:00.000+09:00

Ever wonder why the ESL community sometimes gets a bad rap? Yes, their are some bad apple's in the bushel, but their certainly not nearly as rough as they're sometimes purported to be.
Well, here in Korea, things have been pretty normal. So normal in fact, that i haven't had anything to post in a while.
Things however seem to be a little different in Japan. One of my old buddies who spent a year in Japan found this "wonderful" clip on how Japanese use exercise and English together, for a good workout. I certainly hope none of this comes overseas to Korea....

When in Rome...

2007-10-29T11:53:00.000+09:00

So, even though we're technically in the future compared to North America, I thought I'd take this opportunity to wish everyone who lives in America an early Happy Thanksgiving. Here in the world outside of the mighty-economic-powerhouse that is the USA, we don't necessarily celebrate the same holidays that you do. However, seeing as how the rest of the world seems to think that the mighty USA is the "defacto" promised land, we have to learn about all of the American holidays as if they're our own. So here in Korea, even though we've had a better, longer, more delicious, five-days-off holiday called Chuseok, we get to spend two weeks talking about Thanksgiving, the Mayflower, and the good old "Indians" who helped the poor Pilgrims survive. I politely offered to add the aspect of cannibalism to our lesson as an additional struggle that the Pilgrims had to resort to in order to survive...they white-blanchadly replied "no thanks".
So from our country to yours, allow me to offer you an early, enjoyable, frantic filled Thanksgiving -so that when the real Thanksgiving comes, you'll be able to enjoy it even more:)

The world according to middle school...

2007-10-24T15:29:00.000+09:00

This past week I have been conducting speaking tests with my students. Typically, I'll give the students a list of possible questions that I "might" ask them -so they have a rough idea. Some of the students prepare ahead and try to memorize, but usually I'll ask them one question, and create more questions based off of the one they just answered. I'll grade them on their pronunciation and and grammar inside their sentence. So far, I've had three straight days of nothing but speaking tests, and some of their answers have been quite comical - I'll do you a service by letting you know some of the best answers to the five different questions. Mind you, as these are not direct quotes, I've improved the grammar, so you can make sense of what they're saying -trust me, my students aren't this good.
Onto the questions:
1) What is your favourite thing you like about Korea?
"...the PC rooms. They are very cheap, and have fast computers. They also have colour printers were you can print money". (hmmm....so that's how Korean students get by without working jobs, yet carrying cell phones triple the cost of my cell phone....hmmmm)
"...the Korean language, Hanguel. Hanguel has won many awards for the best language in the world, and it won first prize for best scientific language". (the cynic in me wants to ask the students why, if Korean is so amazing, why am i teaching you English? However,as any teacher will tell you, English really is a stupid language)
"...Public transportation is the best in the world. other countries do not have public transportation, and that is why their pollution is so bad". (She does have a point...on Seoul having amazing public transportation, but they definately aren't the only city...)
"...Chopsticks are the best in Korea. When I went on vacation to another country, I tried to use the chopsticks, but they didn't work. Korean chopsticks are the best in the world". (I'm sure a lot of people think that their chopsticks are often broken too..especially those metal ones...)
"...Korean internet speed. Once, when i was living in America, I tried to do my homework, and it took ten minutes to finish. But when I came to Korea, it only takes me one minutes. Our internet is the fastest everywhere". (hmmm...he might be onto something here - this might explain why his speaking isn't improving - so far, you can't get homework answers on the internet. yet..)

2) Where would you like to travel with your family?
"...I want to visit Italia". (I don't know if Italy, the other "Italia" is running a tourism campaign right now on TV, but 98% of my students say that they want to visit Italy, or Italia as someone seems to be teaching them is the country's name. reasons vary, but aparantly, Korean children are in love with pasta.)
"...to the moon. If my family and I can go to the moon, the the world will see that Korea is a very scientific nation". (Aparantly, many students feel that Korea is being slighted on the international stage in reference to the worlds "science" rankings...whose teaching them this stuff?)
"...to Greece. As the world knows, Greece was the starting point for all of civilization, so I want to see where the world began". (I wanted to ask him more about this...but then thought otherwise...)

3) What is your favourite food/What food do you hate?
"...i hate hamburgers. As you know, hamburgers are made by young children, and I think that they taste very bad". (Here's an example of an internet translation gone bad - what she's "clearly" saying is that they're bad for children's health...something got lost in the translation...not that you could tell)

4) What are some good qualities you look for in a friend?
"...a good friend should be able to help me with my math homework and solve my problems for me...yes, they should..." (I don't see anything wrong with this...not at all - in fact, I wish I'd had friends like this when I was in middle school)

And to think that I've only had my advanced classes so far...just wait till I start my basic level tests - I'm sure there will be more to come.

Samsung employees with too much free time...

2007-10-23T15:16:00.000+09:00

And you thought that your work's team building exercises were a little too much work...? Imagine trying to pull this with your fellow employees.....

a smorgasbord of stuff...

2007-10-12T11:23:00.000+09:00

So lately, i've had the wonderful experience of listening to hoards of foreigners complain about working in Korea. I say that with complete sarcasm, because in all fact, i'm starting to get quite tired of hearing whiners complain. (a little background).
A short little while ago, Korea experienced a pretty big scandal that captivated the country for quite a while. Basically, what appeared to be a small problem of a University professor having fake credentials (from a respected US school) turned into a national scandal when it was discovered that she was having an affair with a high-level (former) presidential-aide. (more details can be found here) Now, past that scandal, how is that connected to the foreigners whining and acting like little children? Good question - and here's the connection. This brought back to reality for Koreans the realization that its quite easy to forge education documents with some practice (an all too familiar issue with Koreans - see here for one example of many).
As can be expected, Koreans have become somewhat skeptical of foreigners coming in and just teaching their children English. As a result, in the two and a half years I've lived here in Korea, I've been asked to verify my education certificates and degree four times; and I'm a certified Education teacher, with a degree in middle-school and high school English and History. To me, its a price you pay for making the big bucks in Korea (the average salary for teaching English in Korea is roughly 2million Won, or 2,125.00Cad - and that includes free housing and travel too and from Korea). My main frustration has been that when teachers generally are treated so well, they become accustomed to the royal treatment, that when something like this happens (provide verification of degree/graduation) they rebel and start screaming bloody-murder.
Needless to say, most of the whiners sincerely think that they are doing Korea a favour by gracing their country with their English wisdom and beauty...which couldn't be further from the truth...
Okay, so enough ranting.
One of the things that constantly surprises me is how much you can miss on the internet if you don't stop and smell the "roses", so to speak. I was recently stuck somewhere on the internet trying to find an article, and (thanks to google's oppressing ad's everywhere) I found an amazing website that allows you to order IKEA goods online from a (somewhat) English written online-shopping mall.

http://www.weagookinmall.com

I'll add a disclaimer that I've never ordered anything from the site, however, as foreigners cannot get a Korean credit card (not that I know of) this site is nice because you can pay by bank-transfer, which makes the payment very simple and instantaneous. Go ahead and enjoy. Use at your own discretion.
The other thing that I really enjoy reading now is the wiki-page of Galbijim. I've found a host of different restaurants to try, many that are right in my neighbourhood, and I had no idea that they were there. Another reason that its quite nice is because its written by a host of people, so there's always something being updated, modified, or corrected. So if you're here, I'd encourage you to try it out.
Well, I hope that all is going well with those who stop-by to read. Don't work too hard, and
God bless,

Kimchi... to the power of umpteen!!!

2007-09-21T22:05:00.000+09:00

So, recently as part of my continuing development as a professional English teacher, I was forced to undergo what could only be described politely as sometime what closely resembled a training session. I still don't know what i learned exactly, other than a lack of belief in my own district supervisor, and an increasing amount of appreciation for anyone with a brain who works beneath him.
However, during one of the enlightening parts of the training, some mates and myself came up with a list of all of the additional attributes concerning kimchi. For those of you who don't know what kimchi is, its the national food of Korea; if it isn't, then it should be. If you ask Koreans, they love the stuff; i find it revolting and a waste of good food. Its basically spicy concoctions of vegetables, typically either spiced up cabbage leaves, or spiced up lettuce leaves. It can also come as spiced up potatoes, or different forms of pickled vegetables as well. If you want a better explanation of what kimchi is, go here. But don't take my word for it - go and try some of that delectable looking food today!
So back to the reason for this update in news - why you should eat kimchi. Koreans will mumble and jumble for endless ages about how you should eat kimchi because of its health benefits, and how its their secret for living long, fruitful lives. The problem however is that in today's society, we're so accustomed to hearing all sorts of garbage about how everything we eat is healthy, that we're all looking for something that has that extra bonus that we need to stay ahead of the game. Well, look no further, because kimchi is what you've been waiting for! Aside from all of the benefits that you've undoubtedly read about, or know from personal experience, here are some of the newest benefits of kimchi that are a little less-known.

1)Kimchi is scientifically proven to help you fly - If you look at this exciting graphic image just obtained from the Korean Aerospace Research Institute, when you eat kimchi, you will significantly decrease your flight speed when your parachute fails to open. Ever heard of a death in Korea because of their parachute not opening? Neither have I, and this undoubtedly is valid proof.

2) Kimchi is a proven shark deterrent. Do you know how hard it is to buy shark repellent these days? South Korea is a peninsula, which means that they're surrounded on all sides by water (i.e - sharks) including if you travel North - dirty communist sharks are even more dangerous than Democratic sharks.) Sharks have such powerful noses that they can smell how many parts per MILLION of kimchi you have in your body. and they want absolutely NO part of you when they do the math...can you blame them? Again, when's the last time you were reading Chosun News and you saw a picture like this, of how another poor soul was lost to a shark? I rest my case.

3) Kimchi is a vital substitute for Plutonium in your Flux Capacitor. Remember in Back to the Future III, when Marty went back in time to rescue the Doc from MadDog? They needed to escape fast, and they ended up using what appeared to be special logs inside the train engine to push them up to speed, right? WRONG? Because kimchi has clearly been around forever, what the Doc actually did was discover that kimchi, with all its powerful properties, was enough to power them up to the required speed, without even needing gasoline. The only problem was that kimchi would have never sold the movie like the colourful exploding logs would, so they stuck to the original script, and as we all know, the movie was never able to recover from the popularity of the first two. Such a shame, kimchi would have clearly brought it over the top.

4) Kimchi is a natural stain repellent/stain remover, take your pick. You might argue that with kimchi's natural red colour from the red pepper paste/red pepper oil, and whatever else they put into the kimchi, that it would actually be a natural stain causer. Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Stains pretty much have to come close to the smell of kimchi, and just like bad sucka's ran at the mere sight of B.A Baracus from the A-Team, stains run, in fact, they sprint from the presence of kimchi. And why not - when you're that strong, its no wonder.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the secret powers of kimchi - more to come in the future weeks...

A few fun slogans....

2007-09-07T09:16:00.000+09:00

I'm sure all of you know of the tourism slogans that many countries use via television commercials to try and get you to visit their spot. Well, some foreigners took the time to create some (less than) creative slogans for Korea, and some of them are quite funny, especially for those of you who have been here before. So, for those of you who know nothing about Korea, or for those who live here currently, enjoy!

Korea: Where Even the Rednecks Drive Hyundai's -
In North America,Hyundai cars are valued for their cheap prices and, well, cheap prices. Many people see them as a cheaper alternative to those who cannot afford a Toyota or a Honda car. However, in Korea, EVERYONE drives a Hyundai. Not only that, but they all buy their Hyundai's in the same colours; black or white. In my opinion, their car models look even better than Honda's and Toyota's new models - unfortunately the models they manufacture here are not the same as they make in North America.

Korea: go ahead, you can smoke here -
Pretty self-explanatory; there is almost no place that is off-limits to smoke, except say, in a Hospital...It's pretty bad, and they make most American's look like lightweights with their smoking habits....

Korea: no no the other one -
Believe it or not, when I sometimes tell my friends back home that I'm teaching in Korea, they somewhat seriously ask if I mean North Korea - South Korea's actual country name is "the Republic of Korea" - while the North's official name is "Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea."

Korea: Peeing in private optional -
Last week, I was biking back from my squash, and the bus driver pulled over to the side of the road, opened his door, and proceeded to step into the bushes on the side of the road (the bushes were between the road and the apartment community on the other side) and proceeded to pee all over the place. While its not common to see, it does happen, and everytime you see it, you do a double take, and think "yup, that's what i thought - he's taking a leak." By the way, only men do this, not the women....

Korea: Where ANYONE can own a language school -
Roughly less than ten years ago, when the big English boon started happening, dozens of English langauge schools opened up everywhere, and foreigners started coming in droves. Many of the "teachers" who were hired to teach were shocked to find out that their boss knew absolutely NO ENGLISH, and yet they were operating an English language school. It's sad to say, but this is still happening all over Korea.

Welcome to Korea. When are you going back to your country? -
So many foreigners come to Korea to teach, that a frequently asked question is not "where are you from" but rather "When does your contract finish?" Usually this is asked however to those who just want to finish their year, collect their severance bonus, and go home.

Korea: Japan without the boobs on TV -
Partly because Korea is such a traditional country, and very religious (for the most part) no nudity is shown on television, at all. Its all blocked out with those blurry squares. Another surprising thing is that many Korean television channels turn off sometimes just after midnight - they don't stay on for 24 hours a day - this keeps their costs down, and allows them to show fewer commercials.

Korea: Give me your tired, your poor, your Canadian -
Compliments of so many students going to school and getting oodles and oodles into debt, so many Canadians come here, that its almost scary. The Government just set a cap on sending money home, because they realized that they could make more money with their banks if they changed how Canadians send their money home.

Korea: HI NICE TO MEET YOU BYE -
So many children, especially when they are surrounded by their friends, will walk up to you, say "Hi, nice to meet you!" And then, before you have a chance to say anything, they say, rather quite loudly "Bye!" and then run off giggling with their friends.

Korea: Land of the Morning Vegetable Truck -
In any apartment community, at early hours of the morning, and also at night around sundown, you'll hear loud microphone bells driving througout the different car parking lots surrounding your apartment. Its just the friendly neighbourhood vegetable man selling fruits, and being kind enough to let you know he's in your neighbourhood. On weekends, those mutterings that can be heard are the foreigners who want to sleep in, but cant because of the constant bells projected over the megaphone.

Korea: Technically, it's a cease-fire -
If you talk about the Korean War of 1950-1953, many of the older people will point out that the war's technically not over....it was just a ceasefire.

Korea: If it ain't Korean it's wrong -
Korean's are fiercely independant, and promote Korean products very strongly. Imports? Never! Even now, with the US beef coming into Korea, Koreans would often pay the much higher cost for Korean beef (much less additives and not stuffed with chemicals) than to buy the inferior American beef. But Australian beef is okay...

Korea: Where you can have your dog and eat it too -
Yes, you can eat dog here, and also own one as a pet. Dog meat is prized for its ability to increase virility...that may be why men are often the only one's who eat it...

Korea: Our barber polls spin 24/7 -
Yes, the barber polls spin all day and night. Single barber poles are very different from double barber-polls...and if you want to find out why that's so, i'll let you do the research. I know, but I don't want to post it here...

Korea: DOKDO IS OURS! HANDS OFF JAPAN! p.s. Visit Korea -
Dokdo is a tiny little rocky island that's pretty much useless. Korean maps show it as a former island of Korea before Japan invaded Korea, however, somehow, its now in the "ownership" of Japan. Korea is constantly fighting to get their island back. On a side note, most young children hate "Japan," but not Japanese people...and its all because of Dokdo.

Korea: Our food is too spicy for you -
It doesn't matter how long you have lived here, the Koreans will think that their food is too spicy for you - so they'll tell you "You probably won't want to eat this; it's spicy!" As if we've never had spicy food before, or tried Korean food before. It's sometimes almost bordering on a little rediculous, but thats okay...

Korea: Enjoy 1988 all over again! -
Not everyone might remember, but Korea hosted the summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988. Lucky for you, if you head to some areas downtown, you can still see construction barriers (to block out people from visiting apartment construction sights) advertising the Summer Olympics of 1988! It doesn't matter that they're long over, or that the Olympic buildings look almost archaic - you can still see all of the murals advertising the greatness of the Summer Olympics of 1988!

Come to Korea! No wait, don't come to korea. We are best and your tourism will bring us to less perfectness.

take care all,
God bless

the lunch lady shuffle

2007-08-30T09:33:00.000+09:00

Normally, I would never complain about my middle school lunch that I eat in the school's community teacher room. For roughly four dollars (Cad.) I get to eat unlimited rice, some sort of protein (beef, pork, or chicken) a soup of some sorts, and usually more side-dishes of kimchi than I can shake a stick at. Its not the best and greatest lunch, but they do a much better job of making lunch than I could, and not having to bring a lunch with me everyday is quite nice.
What was interesting to me however was when one of my co-teachers brought up the subject of the school's nutritionist. Growing up in a private school, we didn't have a cafeteria where we could buy a daily lunch; instead, we all brown-bagged it. Over here in Korea, the school forces the parents to buy the school's prepared lunch, and then each class has their own lunch cart, which they wheel to their classroom, to eat all together in their homeroom class. Along with organizing the school's menu, the nutritionist counts all of the calories in the meals, and writes everything out, all the ingredients, everything that's scheduled to be used in cooking the food. That part was not too surprising.
However, the surprising news was that each school fights fiercely for highly regarded nutritionists who cook good tasting meals. Each school is in charge of paying for their own school's nutritionist. For the past two years prior to my arrival at my school, the school lunch tasted awful, so they fired her. They asked around, and found out that another school had a highly regarded nutritionist at their school. So my school ended up courting, and negotiating her to leave her school, and come to our school. This set off a chain reaction, of that school hiring another school's nutritionist, and so forth. It's all supposed to be very hush-hush, quiet. The parents want their children to eat good tasting food - the girls especially almost refuse to eat anything unless it tastes good, so the parents want good tasting food, so their children eat. I found out that we had to pay a hefty salary raise to get our nutritionist, and compared to before, I'm eating five-star food for lunch.
It's all quite interesting, and just another way that schools here are quite different (from my understanding) compared to back home.
don't work too hard,

Good old checks and balances....

2007-08-22T17:44:00.000+09:00

For those of you who are thinking of coming to Korea to teach English as a Second Language, make sure that the apartment you will be moving into will have an air-conditioner...without one, your summers spent in Korea will be really long, hot, and sticky. This summer, the nights have been long and hot, and with the weather at night, the temperature remains constant - it doesn't cool down.

So, onto something new. Lately, I've been quite busy with school work, and it got me thinking about some of the great differences between working at a private institute and a public school. One of the biggest areas is through the age old issue of money and books.

Back in my old days of working at a private institute, the bottom line was how much cash you brought in. Good teachers were treasured, because their students never left the institute for a different English institute- they stayed. Not only did those students stay, but they are also the best source of additional profit, because people love telling people about another place that they love, or in the case of English, about a teacher they love.

For teachers, this does not always show itself as a source of revenue, but rather a supervisor who's not breathing down your neck, asking you to do something differently. Now, in reality, public and private schools are not that different in results - either way, if your students don't like you, theirs going to be problems.

The problems come within teaching, and more specifically, money for teaching. Before, when I was teaching at my private institute, if i went out and did research for books that I thought would help my students learn better, they'd jump over boxes to say thanks to me. You see, most supervisors or curriculum supervisors pick out the materials for your students without barely ever talking to them. The end result is that often if you only had the time, you would, as a teacher, pick out much better books for your students, knowing which areas of English they need help with, and avoiding other areas where they are already strong. At my old workplace, all I had to do was show a receipt, and within 24 hours, I had all the cash, down to the penny I had spent, and all I needed to do was put up the cash, to be reimbursed later.

Well, with my public school, it's not like that, at least not now. Teaching middle school has its perks, such as working with kids who like to have fun. However, in Korea, the books you're given as an English teacher were written seven years ago, and they desperately need to be republished. Not only are the topics a complete waste of time, but they're boring, and not even close to "real world" English, which is something they are trying to promote. So, a few weekends ago, I went shopping for some books to use during the post-summer vacation semester. I found some, and upon discovering that they were a bit pricy, I figured that I'd be told to find something else. To my surprise, they told me that price is never the problem. The problem comes in the checks and balances. I needed to list the entire book, the MSRP of the book, and its name - for all of the books. Then, I needed to get the signatures of the school principal, vice-principal, and department head. Then, after getting the appropriate signatures, another English teacher would be given the schools credit card, in order to purchase them. Ordering through the internet would be easier, but less functional, as its hard to print a receipt, and the school needs an authentic receipt to match up with the credit card bill. Where it got interesting was when the credit card was denied because someone had forgotten to pay the bill on time, so the English teacher was able to purchase two of the four books; due to the credit limit placed on the card, the bill needs to be paid before I can have my other two. The whole process took six days to complete, and this was during summer vacation, when every teacher had time off. My cooperating teacher, whose partial job it is to help me out, volunteered to pick them up for me, because I'm not allowed to use the credit card. That's just it - I'm at the mercy of the whole checks and balances system...I miss my old days, when I could just go in, buy my book, and have my cash back in double time.

I'm sure that someone will pay the credit card bill, and then when my cooperating teacher has time, she will pick up the other two books. Both private and public places to learn English have benefits to each other; I'm still happy though that I'm with my school.
Take care all, and enjoy the nice hot sunshine.
God bless,
me

well, the wellprodigal blogger returns...

2007-08-06T15:28:00.000+09:00

So its been a long six weeks. I figured that I should explain my absence, seeing as how just about everyone fired me off e-mails complaining about me not posting anything. Right......
So a long time ago, when I figured that I would be able to get a job in Canada, I finally found out after begging and prodding the gov't of Ontario, I found out that I was missing one university course in order to be certified to teach a second teachable subject. I had the brilliant idea to take the course as a part of a six-week intensive course taught at one of Ontario's Education University's. The first week started off pretty well, and it wasn't too hard to be working full-time, and then going home and doing about three hours of homework a night. After that, nearly everything went downhill pretty fast, and work started getting really busy, and as the school semester wound to a close, my work with my course started heating up. For myself, when the going gets rough, the rough language gets goin'...Needless to say, when the course finished not two days ago, a few "Hazaa's" were hollared, and a flood of relief came over. Now, I have yet to receive my grade yet, so we'll see if any typhoon's will be leaving my mouth when I find out my grade.
So, onto other things. I'm learning quite a few things about the Korean Education system. One, right now I'm sitting in my office with absolutely nobody else in here right now. When I asked casually why I'm the only one in the office now, I was told "It's in your contract that you're supposed to be here because we "pay" you too be there." It was nice of them to write me up a contract that has me holding down the farm...I'm proud to be here... I'd still rather be here than at my old hagwon, that's for sure. Why is it that when we get greedy, we still want more?
In other news, if anyone is looking at travelling in an amazing country, check out Hong Kong and Macau. Macau was just amazing, and Hong Kong as well.

Well, so far, that's all the news I have now. Now that I'm back, I should be able to keep up with the old blog a little more. Sit back all, and make sure to enjoy the ride...

Here's an odd one...

2007-06-25T13:10:00.000+09:00

So, I just found out this afternoon that artificial hair extensions are not allowed at my school. One girl just got in big big trouble when it was discovered that she was wearing artificial hair extensions....
Now, call me strange, but i'll leave the argument about why you would even use artificial extensions out of the debate....but banning them from middle schools?
Another curious rule that somewhat makes Korean middle schools stand out....

arranged marriages and other oddities...

2007-06-23T18:04:00.000+09:00

So, for those of you who read this regularly, you'll remember the post about arranged marriages. During that marriage, she was my friend, Ms. Sun, was lucky enough to have known her future husband when she was a child; it was her parents who got together with the other parents to decide that they should both get married, in both their children's best interests, because, well, these parents want their kids married, and they want grandkids.
Skip forward to yesterday, my Friday. For some time now, I've been teaching an English class for teachers who wish to improve their speaking skills; its by far the best way for me to end my week. For the past month or so, one of the teachers, one of the only remaining single Korean teachers in my school, has been absent. She always apologizes for missing, but, until Friday, she had never told me why she was missing the class (even though its optional). She's getting married; next month, July 7, 2007. Her parents decided it was time for her to move out from the house (she's the youngest unmarried daughter of "marrying age") and her parents basically gave her an ultimatum. She clearly doesn't want to get married; she's only known the man for less than two months.
And while I feel for her, and the fact that she compared getting married to being locked up, what was slightly more intriguing to me was the date she's getting married; 7,7, 07 - considered a lucky day for marriages, and a weekend to boot. She's highly superstitious, and one of the only reasons she's getting married is because, if my guess is correct (it was partially explained in rapid-Korean) she's hoping that she'll be happy in this marriage (even though she doesn't want to get married) if she marries on a "lucky" day. I for one hope that she is happy, because she's a very carefree woman, who loves her independance, and the freedom that it gives her. She told me earlier in the year when I first came that she doesn't want to ever get married; she's perfectly content, and she doesn't want children. In that regard, I feel sad for her, even though I told her that I'm happy for her....
This superstitious date however brought to mind just how superstitious the non-Religious population of Korea actually is. I'm sure that the religious population is also very superstitious, they would just never talk about it, because, well, its just not good religion to believe in God, and also good-luck charms, fortune tellers, and exorcists that work.
Just a few things that might make you shake your head in amazement.
One of my old work supervisors who overlooked the preschool teachers moved from her successful high-paying job (where she did nothing but complain and take credit for other people's work) abruptly quit her job after attending a very expensive fortune teller's personal reading, and finding out that, unless she quit her job and moved to a neighbourhood on the opposite side of the city, in a specific neighbourhood, her husband would die within the year. Believing the fortune teller to be telling the truth because she paid a lot of money for the reading, within one month, she had uprooted her whole family, and moved across the city, into a new apartment complex in the neighbourhood where her fortune teller suggested. No word on whether her husband is alive or not....
Perhaps stranger is concerning my old supervisor. She's normally not very superstitious, however, a rash of family illnesses in her family, where the doctors did not know the cause of their pain (after countless doctors, operations, and still pain) led her to a number of exorcists. My supervisor was not doing it for her family, but for herself; she was worried that the mysterious ilness would also be in her, and she didn't want that. The first exorcist she had occured in a remote area outside of the city, where after the exorcism was performed on her, her sister stopped complaining of her pain (for a week, after which it resumed). The second exorcist performer charged her a substantial amount of money, and after the ceremony, my supervisor was instructed to buy a special sharpened sword, and place it under her bed; and not move it for as long as she didn't want the illness. Being scared that the sword would inflict injury on her son, she removed the sword, and had a third exorcism performed. No word on the cost, but my friend working at the same institute has been kind enough to inform me that lately she's been on edge, and snapping at people more than normal....
Just a few things that might make you think about how superstitious things are in your own country....
take care, and God bless,
me

time to play catch up...

2007-06-21T08:49:00.000+09:00

So, its been close to a month since I last updated. True to form, I don't feel the slightest guilty - so if you were expecting an apology, you came to the wrong place. However, since then, I've been quite busy. I've been to Tokyo on a whirlwind weekend trip that saw me leave Seoul at 3am on a Saturday morning, and arrive back in Seoul on the following Monday at 4am, to start teaching at 8am that same day (more on this later). I've also been busy with a bit of a predicament that's come up that will possibly involve another trip to the hospital (not anymore on this later). I've also been working on preparing myself for taking an online University course so that I can be certified to teach High School English, along with a host of other things I've been working on clearing up at home -that, and trying to live a normal life while playing squash twice a week, not melting in the 30 plus Celsius temperatures.
There, that's my rant.
So, today's the start of the rainy season, or, as some people describe it; normal life. It's somewhat comical that they've "pinpointed" the exact date that this "season" starts - mainly because today it starts raining, and we're expecting rain on the weekend as well..we could have bright sunshine starting Monday, but "TODAY" is the official kickoff to the rainy season. 'Bout time...I was getting anxious waiting for it to finally start. Here's to hoping we don't have the same flash-flooding that some of the lower lying regions were afflicted with last year.

So, side topic here...for anyone looking for new music, if you haven't heard of a band called "Mumm-Ra" then check them out. Their album is entitled "These Things Move in Three's", and its really quite good. You've probably heard of their song called "She's Got You High" - if you've heard of them, get the rest of the album; definitely worth the ten dollars online with Itunes.

So two weekends ago, I went on a trip to Tokyo with five good friends of mine, all Korean. It was really interesting to spend a short time in a city that's bigger than Seoul population wise, and to realize some of the good aspects of Tokyo over Seoul, and vice versa. For one, Tokyo is not the neon-wasteland that is Seoul- go anywhere in Seoul, any street corner, and you'll see every square centimeter covered in neon signage and letters; quite ugly if you ask me. Tokyo's much cleaner, and the lack of signage makes for a much more beautiful scenery, especially at night.
The other beautiful factor where Tokyo wins hands down over Seoul is in skyline...Seoul has just over 13 million people - however, you think they've got more, because everywhere you look, all you see are ugly-looking identical apartments littering the city-scape. Tokyo's got apartments located all over the place, and nearly none of them look the same. Sure, I've seen much more of Seoul than Tokyo, however, we rode the subway a lot, and I don't think I'm far off.
The one area where Seoul wins hand over fist in the city battle is in public transportation - for us travellers, I've never seen something more complicated than the Tokyo subway network. I'm sure if I'd spent more time figuring it out, then I'd be okay. However, because separate companies each own different subway lines in Tokyo, transferring lines is a capital "B" with an itch...a BIG itch (if you get my drift). For those living, its a piece of cake; for tourists, a different story. It was funny though, because its only in Japanese or English...for once, I was helpful in travelling, because my English was substantially better than my friends, and for once, their Korean couldn't help them travelling.
Last thing in this far-too-long update is that I'll be taking an online University course during the following six weeks. It's somewhat nostalgic to be "going back to school" even though I'll be planted to my apartments at night trying to complete a regular semester course in only six weeks....."cool".... Not my perfect idea of a summer break for when I'm doing summer "English Camp" at school, but I guess somewhat fitting. It should be interesting to see if I can keep up with both teaching and coursework at the same time. Nows the time when I'm grateful for teaching only conversation English, where I don't have marking or testing, say for the occasional extra hassle that comes with being the only foreigner in a public school. It's all good though.
Well, there. If you're happy, do a jumping jack. I've updated. Have a great rest of your week, and don't work too hard
God bless,
me

The umbrella conspiracy.....

2007-05-29T18:49:00.000+09:00

If their were a conspiracy group for those who believe that all umbrella's are manufactured by a major conglomerate of companies who strictly are in it to make money hand over fist, then I would like to apply for membership.
So far this year, I've unfortunately spent over 20,000 Won on umbrella's, and the rainy season hasn't even started yet. I've gone through two umbrella's, and I'm working on my third; my first being a piece of junk that I found lying around, the second I purchased at a reputable store, and my third a semi-automatic opening closing mid-size. I know that I'll end up buying yet another umbrella, as this years rainstorms have proved to be drenching and windy enough to tear your umbrella a new one...And yes, in Korea, umbrella's are sophisticated enough to draw automobile analogies.
First, you have the compact mini size. Cheap and often looked down on by the upper-crust of umbrella users, these umbrella's are usually black, and can be found left on subways, buses, and inside taxi's, where their size leaves them easily forgettable. They are also easily destroyed in one fell swoop, if the situations are right. Then, they are discarded, virtually a right-off. Their are high-market compacts available, (think SMART cars) but they're all the same - one ding, and they're done.
Next, you have the mid-size range. These are often more expensive, and can withstand a little wind and rain before they give out - but not much. They range from the cheaper variety of simple black with wooden handles, to the higher-ranged curved/rubber-enhanced grips, with semi-automatic opening and closing. These also come in a wide variety of colours, from plaid to simple black. Widely affordable, for many, this is the best option. They too however, similar to the compact size, are virtually a right-off after a full-scale onslaught of wind and rain. However, because of their size and heavier weight, they are often held onto by their owners, and not left anywhere; a safe and trusty surefire safe bet for any user. Both the compact and mid-sized umbrella's try to fool you with fancy names of "Parisian" origin, for style points. This however is just a pathetic ploy, as they're all made by the same shit-for-brains companies who build them to die after five uses, so you come back to them for another one. Name's mean nothing - only durability... (I should add however that if were the opportunity to purchase an umbrella made by the "Tank", or "Indestructable" were for sale, I would feel naively buy one and feel safer using it)
And then their's the queen-bee of umbrella's, or for those of you who know this reference, the "Chairman" of umbrella's -the full-sized golf-umbrella. For those who don't know, golf is a status symbol in Korea. If you golf, or can afford to, you're lucky. For most, the above-ground golf-ranges are as close as they'll get to the course, and with green-fee's at over 150,000 Won for 18 holes - and up - theirs a reason that many can only wish they could go golfing. So many resort to the full-sized golf-umbrella instead. However, don't think that anyone can join this elite club. Just because you wear golf-clothing doesn't make you a golfer. Oh no....just because you carry a golf-umbrella doesn't mean its a "real" umbrella. Cheap imitations abound....many a Korean has bought a golf-umbrella on the subway, thinking it to be of high-quality. Only to be let down after the first storm, when their umbrella falls apart faster than George Bush's approval ratings. That's what separates the "real" winners from the wannabes....so to speak. They'll parade in their "Ping", "Titleist", and "Pinnacle" golf umbrellas, and be the envy of everyone who's drenched by the horizontal rain that falls in this country....
I for one am both a compact and mid-sized owner - one's for emergency purposes, and stays with me always. My mid-size only comes out when i KNOW its going to rain - which, if you go by the weather reports in this country, seems to be hovering around a 20% success rate.
The only question is, which owner are you?

a new take on arranged marraiges...

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

Well, last week I finally got in touch with an old student of mine from my previous working place. It was good to hear from him, as he has finally gotten free from his former workplace, where he wasn't treated all too well. His bosses generally took advantage of his good-nature, and forced him into too many ethical situations, which they blamed on him whenever things went poorly, but taking the credit when things worked out.
The interesting thing however was finding out that his cousin, who was also an acquaintance of mine was getting married. On the two previous occasions where my student had treated me to an evening of dinner and relaxing at an outdoor gold-and-silver spa, his cousin Sun had accompanied us. The first time she came was out of curiousity and wanting to meet me, and the second time was because I was expecting to be leaving the country, and she wanted to wish me travel wishes, and see how I was. Through getting to know her, I found out that although she was a typical Korean late-twenties woman (beautiful, intelligent, and single) she wanted to stay single, and had no intention of ever marrying. She swore she wasn't the marrying type, and claimed that although her parents wished otherwise, she wouldn't get married.
Fast forward to the conversation that took place when I was talking, when I found out that she's getting married during the first week of June. I asked my old student why this was so, seeing as how she had sworn off marrying for a number of reasons. Turns out that her parents had basically arranged her marriage, and were forcing her hand. Her parents had set up the date/meeting with her now-finance's family, and being an obedient daughter, she had gone on the date, but thought nothing more of him. Her parents, wishing her to get married, forced her hand. When she protested, and said that she would rather move out of her house (often, in traditional households, the daughters live at home until they marry; some are even forbid from moving out on their own). Her parents refused her request. Apparently, a battle of wills ensued, and in the end, Sun gave in, and decided it would be easiest on her life if she just got married.
Even though Korea's stepped forward into the twenty-first century, a lot of the old traditions still stick around, especially with some of the very-traditional families. Sun's family is happy, because her future husband is very wealthy, something her family is happy about; she won't have to work- she can stay home and start a family - something they also want. Her future family is happy, because they know that Sun comes from a good family, looks pretty, and is educated.
Sometimes, living in this country makes you feel like you're stepping back in time. Its safe to say that as can already be witnessed, Western influences of youthful independence are making some of these traditions mute. Their will still be those who faithfully adhere, making the present feel a lot more like the past....

Korean attitudes about sharing...

2007-05-21T21:22:00.000+09:00

Remember that old Raffi song...?

It's mine but you can have some, with you I'd like to share it.
'Cause if I share it with you, you'll have some too.
But if I have a cake to eat,
and if I have a tasty treat,
If you come to me and ask....I'll share it with you!

Well, welcome to the pervading ideology inside South Korea. Nothing here is beyond the realm of being "shareable", so to speak. Starting at an early age, Korean babies are often fed the same ice cream snacks that the rest of the family is eating, or drinks that the parents are drinking. And in true Korean style, if you don't give the baby what it wants, it will whine and complain until they are ripe and old....oh wait, they still do that - never mind.
Sharing is one the things that goes hand in hand with the friendships and relationships in Korea. Most kids won't move very often in their lifetime, so their friends in their class will often stay the same, especially those in the same class. Their friends will stay the same through their elementary, middle, and high school days. Most likely, they'll also attempt to attend the same university. And through all of those institutions, they'll share food, drinks, and pretty much nearly anything without complaining - they'll give each other grief about it, but they'll do it, because that's their friend.
Want to go to the theater? Go ahead and pick up the "Lovers combo" - big box of popcorn and a mega-gulp size drink with two straws, on opposite sides of the cup...touching. What's more comical is when you see boys buying it - strangely enough, its also one of the cheapest options.
Another thing shared is cosmetics - not being one to use them, I'm going on my Korean friends word that this is often the case.
Clothing, shoes (good googles they have shoes coming out of everywhere), you name it, its shared. And ironically enough, my sweaty gym shoes are also being used by someone at my local gym (where shoe storage is free).
Their friendship belief plays into everything, which is one of the reasons that its particularly hard to make close friends with Koreans; by the time they are in their mid-twenties, many Koreans already have a fair number of close friends - the rest of their new friends will normally be acquaintances. Just another way that Korea is different from North America.
take care all, and God bless,
me

the English zone of probability....

2007-05-17T15:17:00.000+09:00

It's something that I call the English zone of probability…and in simple terms, this is what it means. One of the novelties that I've written about is that when you're on the subway, bus, or walking, when people speak, yell, or mumble Korean all around you, you learn to block it out really quickly, and ignore what's not pertinent to you. The opposite effect is that when you hear English, you usually turn around, and wonder who it is that's speaking; its somewhat of a natural instinct, especially when they're asking questions – for all I know, they're talking to me.
This is where the English zone of probability comes in. For some reason, and I've only noticed this recently, when people see me, while walking, or waiting behind me for a stoplight, or on the bus or subway, they just start practicing their English, as if I'm on their conscience, and making them feel guilty for not practicing more. This was very noticeable when my middle school first graders went to Everland for the day. My students didn't know how to recognize me, because I wasn’t wearing my professional dress, and I couldn't recognize them, because they weren't wearing their uniforms….(you'd think it was the opposite – the uniforms strikingly make it easier for me to tell them apart; each student wears their uniform differently – if that doesn't make sense, its hard to explain). As I was walking around taking pictures, the students (their were more than ten schools from my area who were all at Everland) all reverted to speaking English around me. It was weird, mainly because it happened quite frequently.
I'm sure that I'm not the only person who this happens to – and maybe I'm just weird that I'm noticing this now, when it could have been happening to me earlier. One of the things that I'm noticing is the increasing of English speakers in Korea – their rapid English immersion seems to be paying dividends, because it seems everywhere I'm going, even in Bundang, theirs more English speakers…This is only going to get more and more prevalent too.
Well, I'm done working…for today.
Take care all, and God bless
Me

nanoseconds and more....

2007-05-08T19:02:00.000+09:00

I'm sitting here on the patio of my officetel apartment, and I'm enjoying the remainder of this beautiful spring that we’ve had so far. And while my family back home has had the joy of experiencing snow when their should be plants blooming, here in Korea, spring has been the type of spring that you see on postcards and the like; not too hot, not too cool; just perfect. The cherry blossoms were in bloom for a nice long time, and it seemed just perfect; almost as if time stood still for a while. As I sit here (I've made it somewhat of a habit – I come home from work, make myself a tea, sit on my patio, and when I look out in front of me, it doesn’t seem like I'm in the middle of a major city with 13million plus people, and I read), I've been contemplating.
It didn’t last long, trust me. However, having just had a birthday, it got me thinking…as in those “what in blazes am I doing with my life” types of thoughts. This is my third birthday in Korea, and when I let that sink in, it got me thinking why I came to Korea in the first place.
Like most foreigners, I came to Korea planning on pulling a “One and done” type deal; pay off my student loans, not get attached, and enjoy the ride – that was my mantra. However, like many of those before me (and after, I'm sure) I got attached to the country, and decided to stay longer. I'm now working on my two plus years in this country, and while it really feels like home, I'm reminded of reason why many teachers feel guilty teaching here in Korea; we know that no matter what we would like to think, except for the small minority who marry Korean citizens, this job is not permanent – as in, the longer you stay, the more you're avoiding the obvious; that being, eventually you have to come home. I've been incredibly blessed wherever I've been to in Korea. Not only has God provided for me with friends and co-workers who have treated me so well, but I've also been able to explore and travel through other countries that I wouldn't have previously dreamt about while attending my old high school…(may it rest in peace). Never mind the traveling part, but being the worst English student in all of my high school English classes didn’t exactly make me think that I would be doing what I’m doing now (I'm ashamed to admit that I was the un-proud recipient of a 67% in grade nine and something worse in grade ten English). However, teaching English, and not wanting to be embarrassed by your students has a way of expediting your memory and understanding.
The other thing that that nanosecond of contemplating made me realize was how easy it is to fall in love with teaching here. Reading some of the other blogs from fellow teachers and residents of this country, you can see a trend – that is, students for the most part falling in love with their teacher. These children here have such a love for attention, that it’s the perfect union of teacher-student relationship. The students crave the attention that teachers can provide, and the teachers crave the attention of knowing that people from a different culture accept them. Take it from a teacher who had students calling him “Daddy” when I taught at my prior institute – these children crave attention – male or female, they love it, and respond in great measures when you show it.
Well, enough of the reminiscing. My tea has run out, and I'm going to get to reading my book before the sunlight runs out outside. If you're ever bored, check out some of the other blogs on Korea – they’re a much better read than mine, and they include pictures too….I won't lie, I'm generally too lazy to do all that work; all the more power to them. If one can't travel, its best to do it vicariously; much cheaper.
Take care all, and God bless,
me

somewhat comical....but a little scary...

2007-04-25T21:49:00.000+09:00

So, yesterday, something strange happened that made me realize how different schools here are totally different than schools back home. Aside from the classroom size of 40 students, and other differences, theirs another aspect that makes the schools different; the parents.
Now, with 40 students in your classroom, its sometimes hard to keep track of all of them - occasionally, students who misbehave in class-time will be disciplined by the head disciplinarian, and will be late to the start of class. Other reasons will keep students late, so its not uncommon for students to walk into class late, or for their to be an empty seat. However, yesterday, two students - a first grade male student, and a second grade female student were skipping class, and, here's the shocking part, hugging, outside of the school grounds, at a bus stop near the school. The problem came when an observant mother noticed the two students hugging while driving by the school, and, realizing that those two students were supposed to be inside the school during class time, immediately called the school, and scheduled a meeting with the principal and vice-principal. This one mother, who had no relation to the two students, made such a fuss over this one instance, that a school-wide meeting for all of the teachers was called on Tuesday afternoon about keeping the teachers accountable, and making sure that all students are always accounted for, and never missing...Responsibility is not something taken lightly here.
Compared to my student-teaching placement in Chicago from a little while ago, where missing students were considered something of a blessing, here, the more students you have, the better...? Intriguing concept...

another handy tool...

2007-04-22T15:33:00.000+09:00

For those of you in foreign lands, communication can sometimes be a little frustrating. While cell phones have made things usually easier, they can also sometimes be a bit of a pest; you're always reachable, to a degree.
One of the handy ways that most foreigners communicate is by text messages. They're cheaper than calling someone (especially for those on pay-as-you-go plans) and they don't involve speaking. The only thing is that you have to typically press those tiny buttons on your cell phone. Well, not anymore.
Callwave.com offers a handy little program, with three choices of how to use it, to send free text messages worldwide - and here's the best part - for FREE. all you need to do is sign up for a simple account, again, for free, and go ahead. you can send text messages anywhere in the world, as long as you properly input the phone numbers, with country code. I've been using it for weeks, and its a handy way to send messages to friends, reminders, pretty much anything you can think of. It's a handy tool, and friends of mine send me messages all the time. There's three choices of the program; for those of you with a Mac, the widget is by far the most convenient. However, for you PC users, the Google homepage application works quite simple on your Google homepage. Otherwise, theirs a Vista widget, and for you Yahoo widget users, theirs one for you too. Enjoy the perks of free programs. They come in handy every so often...
take care, and don't work too hard
God bless,
me

the unfortunate incident at Virginia Tech....

2007-04-19T08:47:00.000+09:00

I think that what's happened at Virginia Tech is indeed something that should have never happened. I feel truly sorry for the families of those who lost children, family members, brothers, sisters, et al. All of them will be in my prayers.
I think what has been interesting, living in the country where the shooter was born, has been the reaction from both sides. On one hand, you have the great American broadcast stations, now neglecting to mention the fact that Cho was an American citizen, living in Virginia since 1992, nearly fifteen years. He is now referred to as a South Korean; an attempt I'm sure to deny any possibility that he was at any point a resident-alien citizen of the United States. On the other hand, you have the South Korean perspective, where, this story was not even considered news-worthy in Korean broadcasts until it was discovered that he was born in South Korea. Even then, the story has still failed to catch on. Even the major source for international news, Yonhap, has never had the headline higher than second on its broadcasts (the city of Inchon winning the 2014 Asian games received higher reports than the actions at Virginia Tech). For this, I feel especially bad for the suriving family; each of their countries - both adopted, and home country, seem to be denying their existence, which I find truly unfortunate.
Now, I want people to know that I truly disagree with the students actions; I think they were hateful and shocking, and nobody deserves to die that way. I hope that this incident however brings some light to the situation that many immigrants face when they move to America.
I think that what many people fail to comprehend is how much foreigners want to come to the United States. For my students right now, ask them where they want to go to school, or University, and the first place they will say is "America", without missing a beat. Their parents too; its any parents ultimate goal to have their child attend an American school - its a sure-fire job when they come back after graduation. The problem however lies in the idolized view of how things will be when they move to America, because the America that they see on television shows, movies, and hear about, is far different from the real America: the America that can be lonely, isolating, and not always welcome to foreigners. As to whose fault the idolized version of America it is that that they see, I'm sure teachers and the media are both to be blamed. Imagine what it would be like to be a Korean-American living in the US right now....
I'm not trying to say that we need to be friends with all foreigners; there are many instances where immigrants can acclimate very well to Western society. However, I think that we need to remember that sometimes, for immigrants living in America, it can be really hard. I know not only because of what just happened in the news, but also because I've taught many students who have gone to America, and come back much sooner than they had hoped to, primarily because of struggles. And I think that as the world continues to become more international through globalization, I think that this is an issue that we will need to pay close attention to, to prevent incidents like this from ever happening again.
God bless,

Tadah! post number 100

2007-04-13T23:11:00.000+09:00

Well, congrats. For those of you who've been actually reading this thing, you've reached the milestone of 100 pages of time well wasted.
For those of you looking here for cultural differences, I have two reasons why the number 100 is quite important to Koreans.
The number 100 is actually written as 백 pronounced "Bek"
At the beginning of Korea's rise to dominance, a definite lack of health care was a continuing struggle. If you were lucky enough to have a child, great. However, many children died not long after birth, for a number of reasons. If your child lived for 100 days, then it was considered a blessing, and so a large party was thrown to celebrate that milestone. Today, these parties are still held - compare it to a baby shower; only in Korea, its held after the baby's born.
The other significant number involves dating couples; when a couple has been dating for 100 days, its expected of the male to make a special note of the occasion. However, nowadays, this is becoming a less and less important occasion as Korean dating styles become more similar to Western styles - of many relationships before you finally settle on that "perfect" someone...
Onto less accomplished news....
Last week, a few friends of mine and I went on a trip to a southern province to see some cherry blossom's in bloom, and to climb up a rather strange looking mountain.....any guesses which animal this rock looks like?

Now, my Korean friends told me that it was the tail of the Elephant that your looking at (from this angle) - I didn't like that- I didn't appreciate staring for a while at an elephant's ass....I like it better my way. The weather was beautiful spring weather for Korea, and my favourite season of the year was making me feel all fresh and clean. I love this time of year. Too bad that in less than a week, all of the cherry blossoms will fall off, and make fresh "snow" on the ground - too bad. As for right now, I'm enjoying the sweet smell of blossoms each time I walk past the trees....
take care all, and God bless,
me

playing catchup...

2007-04-07T20:24:00.000+09:00

So the past weeks have been a little busy, from doing all those things you take for granted when you move into a place that has nothing, to just catching up with old friends, to just plain trying to catch up on things so simple as sleep.
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to spend a weekend in (K/G)wangju, which is located on the south-western end of Korea, opposite of (B/P)usan. I was invited by a now-good friend of mine who organized the whole trip; I just had to show up:) It was such a wonderful trip; one of my most memorable trips since I've been in Korea. Not only did I get to stay with a Korean family in their apartment, but I also got to be taken around with them, all over Gwangju and Boseong. They had the most adorable daughter, who, once warming to me, proudly went around telling everyone she knew "Have you seen the Canadian person? He's my best friend". There's nothing more cute than having a child lead you around, introducing you, in Korean, and bragging about you. I had such a wonderful time, and I was lucky to experience things with them, talk with them, and share in the experience. They were so gracious in taking me on a trip to see the cherry blossoms in bloom, and also to visit Boseong's famous Green tea farms.

It was good to get away from the congestion that is Seoul, and visit a part of Korea where things can be appreciated more, as opposed to always being in a rush. The members of my friends church were so polite and welcoming to me that I somewhat wished that I hadn't always decided on Seoul, and instead chosen a smaller city like Gwangju instead (pop.1.4 million). A definate blessing from God to be able to experience this part of Seoul!
Now, onto other things -
One of the nice changes that I've been able to experience now that I'm teaching at a public middle school has been an increase in the respect I've been shown as a teacher.
At my old institute, I was shown the utmost respect that was allotted for an institute teacher. For the most part, parents don't exactly put institute teachers on a pedestal. You don't need to major in English or have an education degree to teach at an institute, and it shows with a lot of the people who teach in each institute. The parents downplay the importance of specific teachers/institutes (they typically change English institutes if they feel they aren't being treated "right"). My kids knew me on a first-name basis, and if they noticed me out in public, they called my name, and treated me like their best friend. While this was nice, and showed they were comfortable around me, it was also disheartening, mainly because I've worked hard for my degree in education, and, well, everyone would like to be respected for what they do.
At my middle school however, while the students may talk behind my back, whenever they meet me, they show respect just like they do to the other teachers, which feels somewhat vindicating (I don't know why) The other day, after exercising at the local YMCA, I decided to gain back what I'd shed in the gym, and pick up a pizza at a local stall. Three students happened to find me waiting for my pizza, and, after being shocked that I was actually understanding the pizza-mans Korean, they couldn't stop bowing to me as they were saying goodbye as they were walking away (its expected of the students that, if they make eye contact with you, as a teacher, to politely bow their head to you - this never happens in most institutes as far as I know). It's kinda cool, and so far, its not getting old^^
Lastly, I just finished my day of travelling on Korean organized tour to visit two places in the southern provinces of Seoul. I'll post pictures of the trip earlier in the week. Until then,
God bless,

finding volunteers can be tricky...

2007-03-27T15:07:00.000+09:00

One of the challenges with having 40 or more students in your class is trying get them all to speak. The students recognize that the odds are in their favour, primarily because they know that they can probably get away with speaking next to nothing, after all, English speaking class is a breeze, right? Not in my class, for sure. If I catch the kids napping, they have to practice speaking english, at their seat, or if its a repeat offense, at the front. And all you need to do is make one example, and the rest of them are cured. The students know that as long as they avoid eye contact, they are usually safe. The problem was volunteers. Already a tricky enough problem for them to understand...."Why would I want to be centered out...?", I used my only ace up my sleeve when I asked the students: "Who likes pizza?" and then grabbed the first lucky child to raise their hand. Now the kids have stage fright (I don't know why....) and finding volunteers has been a struggle. It only took one child per class to "point" out who they thought would be a good volunteer for me to have ONE lucky contestant, but I always need to. So, in a country where they cry for you to NOT ask them a question, I invented this little card. Mock all you want for using a prior card about Karl Rowe, this little buddy of mine is working like a charm. The kids who "volunteer" get one of these cards, and then, anytime in the future they don't feel like talking when their "number" gets called, they only have to pull this little card out, and they're free, until the next time. The joy with this is that with students memory being what it is, right now, they're fighting over something so simple as a piece of paper; a piece of paper that is going to be ripped, torn, or, heaven forbid, "gasp" - lost. Ahh, the joys of preying on the students minds....good thing they can't see that far ahead to know how "useless" this will be....
I love teaching....

It's all about who you know....

2007-03-25T00:06:00.000+09:00

In this country, it's all about who you know that gets you places. The common belief in Korean management has always been that males make better management: the reason being that a lot of the management positions for hire are handed out to friends of those men already entrenched in positions of power. However, "it's all about who you know" stretches far beyond just management positions and paybacks....
A perfect example of this happened just the other night. A friend of mine who is actually a Korean living in Canada for the past six years came back to Seoul to do research for her Korean company in Toronto. She reconnected with a friend of hers, and her friend offered her tickets to the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra that was playing last Friday night at the Sejong Arts Center main hall (see here). I was lucky enough to be invited by her, because she was given free tickets from her friend who was able to catch their first Orchestra concert on Wednesday at the smaller venue in Seoul. I arrived in time for the show, and we were promptly greeted by the VIP usher, and ushered to the front row; we sat in the most expensive seats in the whole theatre; our face value tickets were 150,000Won, or 185 Canadian at today's rate. The theatre was packed with people, and the show was amazing. I've never appreciated the violin so much as I did after watching the show. When you sit so close, you appreciate things more.
Another perfect example happened last year involving my cell phone. When my old phone died on me, I was left searching for a new phone. One of my Korean friends put me in contact with a friend of hers who deals with large phone purchases, or in bulk quantities. I ended up going to a basement dimly lit office space, but walking out with a phone that was more than 50% the price that it was selling for in the store, and I get to keep the phone. Typically, when you cancel a phone contract, the cell phone company keeps the phone that you were using - I however get to keep this phone for as long as its needed, canceled contract or not.
So it just goes to show you, that whenever you meet someone in Korea, do your best to remember them, because Korean's love to try and use their connections for you (and love when you use yours to help them). It's all about who you know.....
God bless,
me

compare and contrast...

2007-03-22T21:37:00.000+09:00

It's been an interesting adjustment for me as a teacher the second time around in Korea. First, I had my job at my institute, or hagwon, where I primarily taught elementary aged students advanced English speaking and grammar. With smaller class sizes, it was easy to control the students, and with a small classroom, easy to get away with sitting down for the whole time, and teaching from a chair. Teaching middle school however, is a much different ball-game.
If you've ever read stories about other middle school teachers, they'll tell you all about the students, and how, like typical middle school students, they have constant mood-changes, and while one week can be your easiest student, can also be your most difficult student the next. In Korea, they're somewhat the same, except much more respectful. Sure, students try to get away with a lot more when I am walking by, but I've heard much worse then what they say when I was teaching high school back in Chicago. The bigger difference comes in the way of respect.
Each student generally pays the teacher they're walking past the usual respects; if they are your student, they will politely bow, very simple, but respectful nonetheless. When you start your class, the students also bow while sitting down, and they also bow when you finish class (In my class, they do the whole process in English, which makes the class leader usually flustered to be speaking English). The students are also responsible for the cleaning of the whole school; from wiping down the bathroom at the end of the day, to scraping gum off the floor outside of their classrooms, its all done by the students. It should be noted that while they don't break their backs over the labour, they do a pretty decent job. Watching over the whole cleaning is the teachers, who do their best job to point out all of the places where the students could clean a little harder, to which they grumblingly clean and answer to. Its quite a big change from how a typical middle school is run anywhere in North America.
All in all, my school's been incredibly helpful to me. Aside from getting me a new television today when the cable company couldn't connect my cable because my television was broken, they've done everything in their power to make me feel welcome. They even bought me a family sized rice cooker when they saw how much food I was eating at lunch, and after they found out that I was asking questions about which model to buy; they just ordered it for me, and told me it was a gift. I'm wondering why I never tried teaching in a public school before.....
God bless,
me

disciplinarian...

2007-03-19T15:29:00.000+09:00

One of the joys of working in my office has to be the head disciplinarian. You see, theirs no counselling office in my school; they don't want one. Instead, the head in charge of discipline has a desk in the same office that I do; its pretty cool. Students come in and out of the teachers office as if its Seoul Land, and once they're in, they know they're going to work. Its funny only because I know they're not my kids, and I know that the students probably did nothing but get in the way of the wrong teacher at the wrong time. Regardless, the best part is that their punishment is doing standing squats, holding onto their ears for balance; the bad ones do it each spare between classes for upwards of two to three times a day, and by the time they're finished, they're beat. The rest of us teachers just sit and watch, and the students are typically embarassed to notice you looking at them, so they usually look away.
Oh, the small pleasures in life...

The joys of "new" things...

2007-03-18T20:11:00.000+09:00

It's been interesting moving into an apartment that had no prior resident for over a year. Other than the fact that it had a layer of dust over everything, the apartment was also lacking in everything that you would need to make anything associated with food. While it's been nice, because I've been able to chose everything that goes in my apartment, from glasses, to dinnerware, etc, its also been a little frustrating, because you never have any idea what you're missing until the actual act of needing it. You don't realize how much you take for granted living at home, or moving into a place where there already was something there. Take my lunch for instance. I made a simple meal of pasta sauce, elbow macaroni, and sausage, and made a little extra because I was extra hungry. However, with no bowl, I tried first to pour the noodles into a small cereal style bowl, and split the noodles up, but that didn't work so well after a few ideas; I ended up eating from the same pot that I cooked the noodles in; note to self, I need a bowl of some sort.
Other than that, its been nice living in a single apartment. Having lived with room mates at my prior institute, Having a place all to ones self is sometimes nice. There are still times however where it would be nice to have a room mate, but I'm sure that I'll end up enjoying the privacy more.
Another interesting adventure has been life without a phone. One doesn't realize how much you need a phone until you don't have one. Trying to arrange help when you need a quick translation, to arranging meeting times, to just about any other time you might need communication, life without the device is nearly impossible. At home, I didn't like the phone; dreaded it. Here? Life's nearly impossible without it. On Monday, I'm hoping to be able to get my phone setup, so that will clear up the communication lines a lot easier than just by merely sending e-mails all the time, and waiting patiently for a response.
As of tomorrow, I officially start teaching at my school. They've been so patient with all my questions, and everyone has been so nice to me, its somewhat of a pleasant change form my old institute compared to my new school. They're excited to see how the students will progress under my teaching; I'm just hoping that the students actually show progress, with me only seeing them a few times a month...Everyone is excited, so I'm sure it will be quite the adventure. My vice principal, who speaks about five words in English, wants to take me on a tour through Seoul; its been explained to her more than once that I used to live in Seoul, for almost two years; she seems to think that her tour would be different. It would be different alright - pretty silent...However, she is super sweet, and she only wants me to be excited about my job, so I'm thinking I will have to oblige her, and take her up sometime...my only worry is that my poor co-teacher, whose my liaison between the administration and myself with travel with for translation - I hope for her sake she doesn't have to, but its Korea, so her boss will make her.
Otherwise, I hope that all is going well with all of you. God bless, and I'll try to post more often.
me

the middle school experience...

2007-03-14T19:38:00.000+09:00

Well, its so far been three days total at my new school, and I've certainly learned quite a bit, even though I haven't actually taught anything. The first day that I arrived, I met my co-teacher, and she informed me that their were even three teachers who were so excited by my coming to Korea, that they wanted to pick me up at the airport. Bizarre? Yes. But you see, I'm the first official teacher at my middle school, ever. My school's principal is almost into retirement, and so is the vice-principal, and neither of them has had a foreign teacher before. Many of the staff (over 60) have never "worked" with a foreign teacher, even though I'll be only teaching with four of them. Its been quite the experience so far, that's for sure.
One, my poor co-teacher is roughly five years older than myself, so everyone who sees me following behind her thinks that I'm her boyfriend, which embarrasses her to no end; she volunteered for the part of being my official co-teacher, however, I do not think that she knew she was getting herself into. So far, she's had to sign up my internet in her name, and she will also have to do for my cable television; I've only been here for less than a week and I'm already indebted - seems typical for me:)
As for the middle school experience, there's a common similarity; the girls seem to like me quite well, and the guys are either intimidated by me, or think I'm there for comic relief. For those who know me, you would know that I'm shy, so all of this sudden popularity is slightly embarrassing; its middle school . I wish I'd experienced middle school myself, but only so that I could remember what it was like. I went into one class to observe, and it was a little worrisome - not to toot my own horn, but I'm somewhat worried that the guys will do nothing but goof off, and the girls will do nothing but stare. The guys are as sharp as marbles, and the girls are too shy to speak. Its a lethal combination when they speak English; more of a struggle when they're Korean.
So far, the staff have been really nice. I have my own desk in the teachers room, with a monolithic desktop pc, which is a greater help than I thought it would be. Other than the steady stream of students coming in and out of the teachers room, its usually pretty quiet. This situation is a stark contrast from my last position, where I was surrounded by so many English speaking staff; I don't know yet if its a good change or not.
Well, I finally got my internet set up tonight, and I'm blazing. I was signed up for the fastest package, and I'm liking being able to use communication tools again:)
take care all, and I'll post more soon
God bless,
me

anyone up for some racquetball?

2007-03-06T05:20:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm wondering if anyone out there presently in Seoul can help me out. I'm looking (trying, and its not easy, even with my knowledge of Korean websites) really hard to find some racquetball courts located near Bundang. Within reason, I could care less if I have to travel close to an hour to play; I can't stand squash (too slow), and I want to join a club, if at all possible.
If anyone out there even knows if there's a health club near them that has a racquetball court, then please, let me know, either by replying to this post, or e-mailing me (look for the "email me" under the pull-tab).
Thanks for the help in advance, and God bless,
me

I'm remembering the old days....or two years ago

2007-02-28T05:17:00.000+09:00

Well, I got a wakeup call the other day. I finally received my documents from my new school, and it held lots of surprises. What was previously supposed to be a high school position somehow morphed into a middle school position..."surprise"....Not only that, but what was supposed to be in a location close to Kangnam where I previously worked had changed geographically into the second last stop on the Bundang line...."surprise".... We'll have to see how my "people" working hard on the reasoning behind these changes get back to me....I'm not holding my breath waiting for their replies to my questions. Don't get me wrong though - I'm not necessarily complaining; my school's been helping me out with some other stuff outside of the contract, so we'll have to see if these new wrinkles will leave me worse off, or, hopefully in the long run, better off.
The other thing that surprised me was the whole visa process. This being my second run at doing the whole visa application process, and doing it the legal way (no, I unfortunately am missing out on doing a visa run to Japan - I requested one, but they wouldn't budge). However, I don't remember paying 65 Canadian dollars for the first visa (I could be wrong on this account) - however, what really surprised me is that they now list that it could take as long as three weeks. Three weeks-"holy-super-fast-Batman....!" I remember back in the day, that for my first visa application, I had it back in three days, and that was sent using Xpresspost... hence my shock that this time its taking longer...
Well, with this recent delay, its now looking like I'll still be a week or so before I get there...until then, I'll continue to procrastinate, and get even less work done than before.
take care all
me

A new look and feel....

2007-02-24T01:50:00.000+09:00

Well, welcome to the new look and feel of "A Canuck In Korea".....somewhat of a work in progress; I'm hoping to add quite a bit more to it - such as a sidebar, a new menu, and some other features. Some of the stuff you might remember from the old menu might be back; if I can't get the site to look how I want it to, then I'll revert back. For this site however, feel free to pull down on the "baggage tag" for a few features to pop out...its kinda slick. So please bear with me while I try to make sure that all of the previous features of my old site are dragged, some willingly, some unwillingly, over to the new format. I hope you can still enjoy the experience. For those of you wondering where to leave comments, look right beside the date at the top of the post, find the number (likely a zero) and comment to your hearts content. As for if you'd rather have the old blog back, tough beans; this one's sticking around for good...
me

go figure

2007-02-17T12:23:00.000+09:00

Well, in less than three weeks, I'll be doing my second stint in Korea - here I figured that this blog would somewhat fade into obscurity. I've accepted a position with the public system, teaching high school English in Bundang. I'm really excited, which for those who know me amounts to about as much as a "yay", and then I realize how much I'll miss sleeping in, always having food at my disposal at home, and all sorts of other free "amenities". As much as I'm looking forward to returning to Korea, I'm really going to miss home. When I first came home, I wanted to go back to Korea right away; the longer I've stayed, the more its become harder and harder to go back, even though I've verbally committed. However, that's life, and I need to work; and although I saw this now, I only want to stay for only one year this time; I missed watching my niece and nephew grow up, and I miss my friends who are living here.
Last week, I was lucky enough to visit two great friends of mine in Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas. Both cities were gorgeous, and made me want to live someplace else other than where I live; I could easily see myself working in either cities. Porland is beautiful, because it has a small-city charm, while still being big enough to hold the nice larger-city conveniences. Austin is beautiful, and doesn't seem very "Texan", which is a good thing (although, I've only visited in the winter, so I'm sure that I would hate the hot summers).
Other than that, not much is new. I'll post more information about where I'll be when I find out where I'm teaching, etc. I've never actually talked to an ESL teacher whose taught in a public high school (I've talked to many elementary teachers, some who swear by it, and some who swear "at" it), so I'm looking forward to the new challenge. If anyone who actually reads this blog teaches high school ESL, I'd love to hear from you, so I can pick your brain, and ask you a few questions; otherwise, I'll have to experience it on my own, and let you all know how its going.
I hope that all is going well with everyone out there.
Don't work too hard, and God bless,

me

I'm back....but hold that thought...

2007-01-23T23:33:00.000+09:00

Well, after contemplating things over, I thought that I would include a little bit of an update on what things are happening, or most likely, not happening, in my world.
Since I've been home, its been really good to NOT work. I think I was a little burnt out, especially with all the work I did leading up to me leaving, and all the emotion that came with me leaving, especially missing my best friends wedding, missing a Christmas with my 'second' family, and many other things. Some time at home has certainly recharged my batteries, and got me thinking about how much I miss being employed, and working for a living. Breaks are nice, but after a while, they get old, really fast. I was able to see my newest niece, and corrupt my nephew as well (that's her in the picture.)

The drama surrounding my Education certificate from my province of Ontario continues. I firmly believe that they have the worst mailing system in the province; there's close to three important documents I was supposed to have received; I'm still presently waiting for them. Currently, I'm certified to teach ONE subject - not very marketable. Had I known, I could have taken online education classes while in Korea, and made myself more marketable. We'll see where that leads, but right now, my present employment consists of fixing multiple computers from friends and families; fun, but once they run out, I'm done.
As for what I'm going to do...good question. I've presently applied to teach High school English in Gyeonggi, the province that surrounds Seoul (Seoul is its own province.) I've applied to be an Assistant English teacher at one of the 25 schools that are outside of the city. Being a certified High school teacher, I'm hoping to get a position at a school as close to Seoul as possible. Its interesting - they're advertising this as an English teacher - I don't remember seeing ESL all over the application; hopefully that might mean that I get to teach more English than just grammar and speaking. What I once stunk at so bad has now become my favourite subject to teach...who would have thought that would happen (certainly not my high school english teacher who helped me cheat so I could pass my Province regulated English test - (after I had failed the first two tries!!)
So we'll have to see where I end up. Part of me wants to go back because I miss my friends (who I'm pretty sure will be too busy to see me now that I'm not working at the same place as they are) but the other part of me just wants to go back and teach; do something with my degree that I can't seem to do here...So stay tuned, and who knows, maybe i'll have to restart up the old updates if I get back to South Korea again....

sniff....the last....

2006-12-11T07:39:00.000+09:00

my last post on Korean soil, for who knows how long.
Well, I never thought that this day would finally come. From my first few months where I wanted to be anywhere but in Korea, to my last month or more where I wanted the time to go so slow that it seemed like time was standing still. This is a strange feeling, and its left me somewhat in a shock; I have nothing to compare this emotion to, except to say that it sucks, and I hope that I will never have to experience something like this for a long, long time. Sure, if I come back to Korea, like I keep telling people, then I will have the same similar feeling; but this is the first time, so its new; and new things right now suck.
As I'm typing this, I remember times in Korea where I've wondered why I am here; why this institute, why this "house"- (if you could call that first place I stayed a house) But since then, I've been blessed with an amazing Korean room mate whose made my life so much enjoyable, and friends who have made me feel like I'm spoiled, even though I can't do as much for them as they do for me. I don't know how I'm going to leave - I'm meeting my friends this morning right before they start work, and then I've got to take the airport bus off to Incheon, to await my fourteen hour flight from here to Chicago, and then Chicago to Detroit. I'm not looking forward to it, although its still better than hopping all over the country, and visiting so many stopover cities, so I'm kinda glad that I've got a long flight.
So how do you end one of these "story-blogs?" Being my first venture, I sure know that if i come back, I'll be doing a lot of web page things differently, but I must say, I'm going to miss writing and rambling on about all sorts of different things...
Once I get home, and have some time to get settled, I'll write one more post to the blog, where I'll list anything that I want to put in conclusion. However, it will be from Canada, and it will certainly feel strange posting from a different place than my bedroom.
Mostly because I'm in a thankful type of mood, I want to say thank you to all of you who have spent the time to read this blog- I know that their aren't many of you who actually read it, as opposed to just following the link from somewhere, but to those of you who do, thank you. Its been fun following my blog website statistics, and seeing where readers come from, what they read, etc. (you can get pages and pages of website statistics from just about anywhere these days)
So the moment I finish this, I'll be closing my laptop. Its almost like I'm just finishing the last page of a good book, and I don't want the story to end. Sure, I hope that theirs a trilogy somewhere made (and I've only finished part one, or even part two of the book.) But theirs only one person (God) who knows what my future holds, and its going to be up to me to trust His plan.
Take care all, and for those of you still in Korea, enjoy every minute of it that you can - before you know it, it will be time to go home, and you won't want to leave.
God bless,
me

Korean dentists and auto-repair...

2006-12-07T11:49:00.000+09:00

Now what in the world might these two fine establishments have in common? Well, they're both running the same gig, if you get my drift.
Today was the first day that I'd gone to the dentist since I'd come to Korea. Now, back in my hometown (a fine Korean expression that I'm now akin to saying far too frequently) my uncle is an amazing dentist. He's fixed me up more times than I wished he would have to, and because he is family, I trust him. Every eight months, like clockwork, I would get the call from his office, reminding me that it was time for my regular cleaning. I would go in, and he would tell me that I need to floss more, and everything would be fantastic. He made me promise to get my teeth cleaned while I was in South Korea. Time being off issue, I was never able to until today.
Now, here's the connection...Dentists offices have been oft compared to auto-repair shops. Its your mouth; how much do you really know about what's really going on in there? It works, and that's all I need to know. As long as my teeth don't fall out, I'm happy. Same goes for cars; if it drives "me" from point A to B, then I'm happy. "I" don't care how it works, it just does. I had heard numerous reports from friends to make sure that the dentist office that you go to is trustworthy and highly recommended; who are you to know if they tell you that you have a cavity, when really you might not have anything close? Maybe business is not going so well, so a cavity gets "created"....so to speak.
When I heard this suggestion, I was surprised, because by and large, Koreans are very trustworthy. However, business is business, and any way to get an upper hand is what the name of the game is...
So today I made my somewhat scared trip to the dentist. I took the recommendation of my best friend, who told me that her cousin is the dental assistant at the office, and she does an excellent job. That was enough for me, and all in all, I was really happy. The whole process for cleaning took just over 35 minutes, and for a one-woman operation, it went quite smoothly. She said that my oral hygiene is excellent, and my teeth are in great condition. As usual, she apologized for her lack of English speaking ability, and slightly embarrassed, said "thank-you", and then let me know that she was my best friends cousin, and she had talked about me before, and I was just as my friend had described me. Very sweet and kind. So I head to the counter to pay my bill, and after waiting five minutes and watching the receptionist go back and forth everywhere the office, she tells me that the dental cleaning was SERVICE, in other words, FREE. Because I was a good friend of her cousin, she was giving me the cleaning free of charge; I was shocked. The fee wasn't cheap, and the whole office was a little excited that they had serviced a foreigner - something that doesn't happen often I presume^^
Just another example of how endlessly Korean culture and niceness continues to surprise me; she doesn't even know my name and I get free dental service... If anyone is in Korea working and needs a dentist, send me an e-mail at my "Contact Me" link on the right side of the site, and I'd be glad to refer the office I went to as being more than reputable. Its located in Bundang, on the gold line. Its a cinch to get to; I just can't promise the service will be free^^
God bless,
me

Korean friends, falling in love 20x a day, and packing...

2006-12-06T11:41:00.000+09:00

For those of you who have never experienced Korea before, you might not fully understand what I'm going to write. But for those lucky few, more specifically males who might read this, you'll know what I'm talking about....its the frustrating sensation of falling in love 20 times a day. How is this possible, you might ask? Its called the subway sensation (and I'm not talking about Jared and his subway diet...) Yesterday, after shopping for a nice professional winter coat, I decide to brave the 7pm "just-finished-rushing-to-the-subway-to-get-home" crowd; otherwise known as mayhem. However, on the subway, its nearly impossible NOT to fall in love with the women here. Sure, its a surface, appearance related type of "love", if you could call it that. But in reality, are not most relationships first based on this type of "appearance love?"
Now, I know that the girls I work with have a different term for this type of "problem," as they put it....they call it "Asian Fever".....call it what you want, but whatever it is, when I'm "cured" after i go home, i dare say that in my small hometown, I'm going to miss riding the subway.... Oh, and by the way, I'm open to any criticism that will possibly arise from this; instead of seething and saying something to yourself, comment on it....^^
Onto other less important issues.....
Packing to go home after one year in Korea? It sucks. But what could be worse, you might say? Try packing after spending almost two years in Korea. If there were a dictionary type of book for all the words that are superlatives for "suck", then I'd be using it right now. For those of you coming to Korea, or who are here right now, I have a few tidbits of advice....in no order of importance.
1) Don't buy books. I know this might be hard to accept, but if you buy books, don't get attached to them- you'll pay a minor fortune sending them home.
2) For each article of clothing that you buy, find something that you don't want anymore, and find a clothing deposit box to dump it in, or better yet, give it to someone else. Nothings more impossible than staring at a closet of clothing, and trying to think of how to fit all of those clothes into what must certainly be shrunken luggage (I swear it wasn't that small when I came to Korea.)
3) Start packing early. I didn't, and that's why I'm procrastinating my packing now....I'm scared it won't all fit^^
~
Onto the last little tidbit of advice for those who are relatively new to Korea, or those thinking of coming. I've never had friends like Koreans. This is no shot against my Canadian or American friends, but Korean friends, at least the ones i have, seem to have something about them. If you're trying to make more Korean friends, keep with it; they're a hard nut to crack. However, once they trust you, you will be hard pressed to find more loyal friends who will give whatever they can to help you.
Well, I really should get back to packing.....take care all,
me
Oh - a handy post-script - I updated my book list and music on the side - I've been busy buying books (d'oh!) and reading a lot since I'm not working right now - feel free to check them out. As for the music, check out the "Rescue Me" original soundtrack; its quite enjoyable. Another favourite is the newest Snow Patrol album, "Eyes Open" - another solid listen. Enjoy^^

IT SNOWED

2006-11-30T22:09:00.000+09:00

Well, it only took until the last day of November, but it snowed in Seoul today. Here's the scene. I'm sitting in the pension office, finishing up my paperwork, Coffee Bean coffee in hand, relishing life, and counting all those numbers on my soon to arrive pension check. (one of the nice things I'm sure you'll always read about Korea - being a "millionaire" never, never gets old....I KNOW I'm going to miss this feeling back home.) So back to my story. I'm leaving the office, and there's some female bank teller's squealing like school girls after seeing someone famous. So as I'm putting on my coat and buttoning up my jacket, another female bank teller leaves the lobby, and goes outside. Inside the building, I hear her squealing with excitement. So I finally head outside, to notice that its snowing. I didn't care that they were squealing, that wasn't important to me anymore. It was snowing. (I found out later tonight from a parent of one of my students that Korean women LOVE snow. They don't like cold weather, but they love snow.) Last year, my Korean friends and I had a contest to see who could be the first to text everyone; I got second. However, this year, I was first.
So I get to my institute, and all of the Korean staff are jumping all over the place. The kids are all pretending as if we've never seen snow before, and as if everyone who they run into doesn't know what snow is...."Teacher, let's open the window! Let the snow in! Teacher, I want to play snowball fights!".....lets just say that I'm glad I'm not a preschool teacher. So me and one of my Korean friends decide during break time to go downstairs to take pictures of the snow. So we get off the elevator, step outside, and as sure as it was, there was no snow....we were slightly disappointed. However, the most important thing was that it snowed. Took the stinking freezing weather long enough. If I'm going to freeze my butt off walking to school, I'd much rather do it walking through snow as opposed to nothing, or, worse yet, cold cold rain.
So that was the highlight for today.
Oh, that and today was my last day of work:)
cheers all -

Getting ready to leave...

2006-11-25T22:29:00.000+09:00

Well, its getting near my time of expiration at my institute. Just the other night, we had the traditional "welcoming in and going away" party for those teachers leaving the institute, and those teachers who are about to start. As usual, we went for Korean bbq at our favourite Galbi restaurant (its like this -they treat us like royalty at their restaurant because when you show up with twenty-five hungry teachers, we represent a nice bill). However, this time, I was center stage, for the first time since I had arrived. I don't even remember the dinner that well when I first came to my institute, but I do remember two things in particular - I couldn't use the bloody metal chopsticks at all, and the "traditional Korean" restaurant we ate at had brutal food, with no beer (for those of you living in Korea, stay far, far away from HanCook restaurants - the food their is awful - I had better food at the hospital.)
My going away dinner however felt strange to me for a number of reasons. First and foremost - it was for me leaving. I've been here in Seoul for over 21 months without going home. I'd been to so many going away dinners for other teachers that they had long lost their luster for me; I just partook in the free food and plenty of beer to go around. I always got to listen to their going away speeches, and make fun of them while they stood up there and froze, not knowing what to say, say for the usual "I'd like to thank my director, Mr.Lee for giving me this job. Yes, it's sometimes frustrating, but overall, the experience was really good for me...yada yada yada." Usually the teacher would talk all sorts of kind and sweet words, but after their speech was over, they'd go back to bashing the institute, and spewing some sort of fire over what they saw as illegal shistering over their pension, or some other area they were convinced they were being ripped off in. (For those of you who don't know - Foreign teachers in Korea ALWAYS talk tough when it comes to what they think of their institute. However, when it really comes down to the nitty gritty, they like the attention that they get, and they're really sad to be leaving....at least at my institute.)
The second reason it felt strange was because it was a little premature. I finished unofficially teaching this past Friday, but I'm actually working at my institute for another four days, where I will be training and doing model classes, and doing curriculum development for books that are poorly designed and shouldn't really be used for teaching. So everyone is telling me goodbye at the dinner, but I'll still be coming into work - many of them know this, but for the sake of the party, they're saying goodbye, because they feel like they should say goodbye at a going away party. Its a little strange.
Other than that, not much is new. I'm looking forward to some free time to spend in Seoul - it will be different being able to look at certain parts of Seoul in the daytime, and to see parts of Seoul that I wouldn't otherwise bother looking at, because of lack of time. Things like shopping without having to worry about time loss, or, even worse, getting lost when I'm on a schedule, or being confused, and just taking the easy way out; it will be nice to get confused. So I'll have to see what the next two weeks hold for me. It should be fun.
Take care all, and apologies for the lack of interesting news. I'm sure that if i get lost, it will make for a much more interesting story
God Bless,
me

Handy tool for those who want FREE TV...

2006-11-15T22:51:00.000+09:00

For those of you who are like me in that you're either Dutch, or tighter with your cash than a child with a dumdum, theirs a little program for you PC users that you might like.
Its called TVU player. Basically, here's what it is. If someone watches a program on their computer who has the software, then with this program, you can see exactly what they're watching; only theirs hundreds of channels to chose from, all over the world. Want to watch hockey on the NHL and NHL2 networks? Go right ahead. Want to watch ESPN back home? They got that too - CNN, CBS, NBC, pretty much every major network is represented with this program. The catch? you have to watch it on a smaller than TV screen on your computer. But the best part? It's free - 100%. And theirs no spy ware that I've noticed on my friends computer which we watch football and hockey on all the time.
Give it a shot - head on over to TVU Player's Download page and check it out -

I'm being localized...

2006-11-15T21:56:00.000+09:00

Just a quick followup to the post i made about my student having to hand over her cell phone to me for using it in class. She came back the following day in the afternoon to pick it up. She was surprisingly a little embarrassed to ask me for the phone, and as my way of showing that i appreciated her following my rule, I told her that she didn't have to do the homework. Sure enough, she came to class today, actually participated more, tried, and sure enough, she'd actually done all her homework. Of course she finally appears to have turned the corner, and I've got her for less than a month after almost two months of frustration with her....go figure.
~~~~
This post however is about something that's starting to scare me a little; after being in Korea for so long, I'd felt for some time that i could really get used to staying here for a while - but there were always those "catches" - those things where, when you look at them, you say "well, until you've changed on those issues, you'll never unofficially be "Korean"..." Now most people know me as being a pretty big promoter for Korea. Whenever teachers i work with presently, and those i work with in the past complain about things in Korea that bother them, I'll come to "Korea's" defense; all except for two things. My most common sentence uttered is this 'In Korea, there are only two evil things: radish and kimchi." That was, until last week. Everyday, I eat with my Korean friends. We have the typical Korean lunch of white rice, a soup, and numerous side dishes. Theirs always kimchi, and i avoid it like the plague. However, i love the soup (I'm Dutch, therefore i love soup regardless of where i live.) My favourite soup was on the menu, and i said "I love this soup - it has all my favourites - good flavoured broth, meat, and cabbage." My friends looked at me a little strange, and then broke down laughing. After they'd stopped laughing, they told me my favourite line: "in Korea...." - only, they changed the ending to say that Radish is NOT evil. I protested, until they pointed to the cabbage, and told me that as much as i like the cabbage, its actually radish; the real deal.
The second came in the startling realization that I really don't like cold weather. I'm still struggling with this. Until this past fall, I loved winter; at least i used to. Now, I'm shivering like an old man with multiple layers on, shivering despite it. I walk quicker to go from outdoor place to outdoor place, walking inside and embracing the warmth. I love my ondul floor, with its heat spread out wherever i walk. All the things i used to hate about Korean summer's is now looking so welcoming to me as opposed to this heat.... My room ate tells me that its not that i don't like winter anymore; I'm just getting old. I disagree, and remind him that I'm five years younger than him, and then he stops making fun of me.
The last thing is my dress style. I can already anticipate that once i get home, I'm going to be ridiculed and called nearly every metro sexual joke their is in the book. Don't get me wrong; I love my clothes here. I love my pink shirt. i love my multicoloured striped sweater, and I love all my clothes that make me appear to have some sort of style, even though they're cheaper than anything i could buy at home. But over here, i fit in with my Korean counterparts just as much as a duck in water...
my Korean friends all point to these three things as obvious reasons to return back to Korea. My family i know would strongly disagree, although my brothers will love the new clothes, as it will give them endless fire-power for jokes galore...it will be interesting to see how this all plays out when i head back home.
look for a movie review from one of my students very shortly, for those of you who check frequently.
take care all, and God bless,
me

Sometimes this job stinks...

2006-11-13T20:23:00.000+09:00

Some days, this job can be really frustrating. I'm not talking about teaching in general; I think that all readers can relate that teachers (qualified or not) struggle with teaching English to children who often don't really want to be there. The same goes for general education in North America; this can be seen in the high dropout rates all across North America (if you think that all the stats on high school dropouts are real, trust me; they're lower. My old high school in Chicago routinely brought in extra students to beef up the attendance stats, because with "more" students, your school gets more money...fudging is pretty commonplace, as far as it was explained to me right before I left my school.) Regardless, teaching's tough, especially when you don't get the impression that you're "appreciated" as much as you might want.
Take for example my last class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They're all there because their parents want them to be there; two of them however do their best to learn what they can, and they make most days worthwhile. The rest of the girls however just really don't care. They often speak Korean in my class, to which I stop them once they start. But aside from them knowing better, they still do it, because theirs not a lot I can do; their parents are too busy to worry, and as long as their child doesn't outwardly complain, then the parents are happy. So here's where things get frustrating.
One of my students doesn't take her 80 minutes seriously at all. She doesn't try; her two best friends are in the same class, and this is the only time she gets to spend time with them. So she has her friends, and also, her second best friend; her cell phone. Now, I have a pretty strict rule in my class that if you take out your phone in my class for any other reason than to turn it off if its ringing, or if we're disagreeing over what their cell phone's translation dictionary told them was really an English word, they don't take it out. Often I'll let it slide if they forgot their watch, but otherwise, they know that I'm liable to take their phone if i see it. I haven't had to actually follow through on my threat until today. Tonight, on of my students had her phone ring twice on silent mode, and the third time, she felt brazen enough, with my back to the board, to try to answer the phone. And if i didn't happen to see the whole thing after i turned around. I told her to give me the phone, which she does, after telling me that she wants it back at the end of class. I should mention this - my punishment? I hold the phone until their next class. They know this rule, and then, at the closure of the class, she realizes I'm not going to give it back to her until the following day, and she starts crying uncontrollably. Here's where it sucks to be a teacher in a foreign country where the kids don't care. Do i give her the phone, and let her win? She doesn't respect me; she can't stand me because of the homework i give her. (To her credit, she usually didn't do all the homework before, but once i started teaching the class, she's done "almost" all of it..most of the time.) Or, do i keep the phone as a serious statement to the other kids that I am serious about this?
In the end, I somewhat let her chose. She needed her bus-pass tied to her cell phone, and i let her take it off. She held onto her phone for almost ten minutes and contemplated leaving with the phone (and i wasn't planning on stopping her.) To her credit, she left the phone with me, and for that, even though she'll never understand it, i give her credit - she showed respect to my rule (which shows that although she might hate me, she does in fact respect the profession and rules...) But if i don't feel like the biggest jerk right now as I'm typing this....
Sometimes, I hate this job....

boxes, crap and freakin' freezing weather

2006-11-06T23:37:00.000+09:00

So, where in blazes did fall disappear to? Here I was, heading to the east coast of Korea for a nice weekend to see the coast, spend some quality time with good friends, and right before the weekend, it gets so stinkin' cold that I need to pack like a woman, and bring extra layers and crap. Not my style; I prefer to be cold... (My conscience told me that I was packing for my friends...at least that's what justified my sudden sissyness) Regardless, this fall has disappeared quickly, and left me with one month left to go before I head back home, wishing that I had had the weather from two weeks ago.
As I'm typing this, my toe is still smarting from when I stubbed it for about the umpteenth time this evening; its partially full of all odd's and sods of stuff that I don't want to pack when I actually get closer to packing seriously about heading home. I've still got so much stuff to do, that actually leaving scares the ship out of me. Its not that I don't want to get home; don't get me wrong. Its more so the fact of actually having to pack up all of the stuff and more stuff that I've accumulated since i've been here. I remember how much stuff I left at home before I came here, thinking I'd only be gone for one year. Even the most serious of minimalists picks up stuff here and there. And while one finds uses for most stuff, its hard to throw stuff away here, because there's always someone else who will take it. That's what strange with the ex-pat community here; they'll take nearly anything, and even if they don't use it, they'll hold onto it. If not just for sentimental reasons.
My free-time has just become mine again after my institutes final speech contest was conducted this past weekend. I had four of my students competing from one of my classes, and our institute only sent seven students to the all of Korea competition. I figured that four students from a student-body of over 900 students was pretty good; I was proud of them. In th end, my students mopped up, technically. Two of my students received bronze prizes, and two of my students received silver prizes. I think I was just as relieved as their parents for not having to do speech practices anymore.
Other than that, not much is new with me. I still do not know the exact date as to when I'm heading home; its been thrown into the air by one of my best friends telling me that she's getting married on the 16th of December...I still don't know what will happen with that. While I really want to head home, I really want to be there for her wedding as she's a special friend of mine.
After that, what will become of this blog? Good question. I still don't know what I'm doing after I've taken a short break at home, and searched out the market at home. It has been fun for me to check all of the different "people" who read my blog consistently. Thanks to stats available on the internet, I can tell you all sorts of stats about how many visits, how much time, where you're from exactly; all sorts of fun stuff. And, in a slightly sentimental thought; thanks. Its been fun for me to write and ramble on. Knowing people read this garbage of poor grammar for an english teacher actually makes it feel worthwhile. Why you read it is beyond me; I'm sure that there are much better ones out there. You just got stuck on mine. Maybe your computer froze on my screen; I don't know. But know that all the way over here, I appreciate it. So thanks!
Take care, and God bless,
me

a few good reads...

2006-10-12T23:30:00.000+09:00

Well, I've had a little free time lately due to Chusuk, and I've been able to catch up on some reading. Having six days off in a row really helped me get back some energy I was missing, and I felt the best I'd been in months after the six days off. Anyways, in case any of you were interested, I'll include a few short descriptions below of some of my favourite books, followed by a short summary of whats happened since my last post.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - If you're looking for a book that really makes you think about who you should be talking to if you want something done right, then read this book. I would really recommend educator's reading this book, especially because he writes a lot about Sesame Street and Blue's Clue's, and how they are/were so successful with children - what worked with making children learn more than just by watching. It offers a lot of great insight on trying to make things "stick" with children outside of their school environment. Some of the other major points he covers are who "connectors" are, and to make sure that you know one of them, mostly because they get all of your work done for you, wihthout even knowing it. He writes in very easy prose, and he uses a lot of excellent case studies to highlight his points. A highly recommended read!
The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
Last year, I was lucky enough to watch the movie one rainy afternoon, and I immediately fell in love with Che's story. (for an interesting insight for those of you who have read this book, or seen his movie, follow the link over to Slate.com For an interesting read on the current fascination with Che ) I might not have agreed with all that Che's been recorded to have wreaked on Cuba and other revolutionaries, but his book is a fascinating exploration through 1950's South America. Even though it's the english translation (the spanish version is said to include even more details than the english copy) you still get to see a vivid picture of what Che saw on his journey with his close friend Alberto. From some of his insights, you wonder how much insight could have come from someone in the upperclass. He shows a genuine desire to help out, something close to the same feelings most people in their mid-20's want to accomplish; travel, and heal the world, one travelling site at a time... Aside from what you might harbor against Che for his wrongdoings, know that this book is an excellent read, and one that I read rather quickly, because of its ease and readability.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini This book was recommended to me by a good friend, and I unfortunately forgot about it for a while. I finally bought the book last week, and promptly finished it in three days. Someone used the word "haunting" to describe this book, and I think that that word best summarizes how I felt when i finished the book. Its not haunting in a scary regard, but just in all of the emotions that you read through the book, which Hosseini puts on his pages. The story involves a young Afghan boy and his servant; inseperable even though they live in seperate worlds of social heirarchy. The story offers many interesting insights into the country, things that I wouldn't have known, or bothered to read about in any other book half as interesting as this one. Aside from any other catch phrases, I stayed up late reading this book, because I wanted to finish the book, and read the ending. I highly recommend this book for anyone who's looking for any new books to read.
For each of the books, I've included links to websites about each book, in the off chance that you're interested, and want to read someone else's opinion other than mine. If anyone else has read these books, feel free to comment via the comments.
Onto other news. The US has just confirmed to South Korea the other day that the test our friendly dictator performed was in fact a nuclear missile, and not a dud like his Taepo-dong missiles he fired earlier in the year. And while he's agreed to meet regarding the sanctions that the UN is threatning to place on him, I'm not holding my breath. Over here, the news has tired about North Korea, and its gone back to how it was before; only when its worthy. Otherwise, the world continues to turn. Oh, and that crashing noise you heard the other day? That was the Korean Won free-falling through the floor, and ruining my exchange rate:) I went from a richer man working here and sending it home, to just plain average. The Korean stock KOSPI opened to pretty much everyone pushing the "sell" buttons. Its leveled off now, but for a bit, it wasn't looking too good. As long as it doesn't dip below the US dollar, then I'll be fine. (Not like I can really do a whole lot about it).
Well, that's all for me. I hope all of you are not wasting your time with the media, and making sure to hear everything objectively instead of accepting everything they say. Don't work too hard, and I'll catch you around the bend...
God Bless,
Me

Mushroom-type clouds forming...

2006-10-09T21:42:00.000+09:00

Well, today was just like any other day. My students passed gas, didn't do all of their homework (even with six straight days off), and tried to provoke me into losing my cool. They were successful only in the passing of gas; the other two I didn't let them off the hook for (although, one playful kid who prides himself in playing rough did actually bite my leg so hard he broke the skin through my pants- he's only 4, and in pre-school, but yikes, he's got a set of jaws on him.)
Everyone had come back from their Chusuk vacations, and by the end of the day, I was glad that the day was over when my class finished at 7pm. My roomate, and also my counselling teacher, had given me great news that one of my advanced classes would most likely be cancelled within 48 hours - and that made my Tuesday's and Thursday's look like they were going to be a breeze until I leave. Until he said: "Uh, there's been a slight political problem with our planned trip to North Korea..."....
So now Jong-Il can finally stop bragging about something he's been saying he's had for months. I'm sure that that set of info won't make everyone sleep easier, but I for one, feel somewhat safer resting here than if I was, say, in Japan, or Hawaii, or even Guam. Most of my fellow Korean friends feel somewhat the same way; we've talked for lengths about how simple things have become big news back home concerning North Korea, whereas here, it gets relegated to the middle-pages of the newspaper. Maybe it's a sense of false security; who knows. All I do know is that Korean intelligence is supporting that their will likely be another test within the next few days or so; its purpose is not exactly known yet.
All I do know is this; I'll be darned if this stunt of his waylays my plans to visit the country in two and a half weeks. Would I still go? Certainly; Nuke or no nuke, his nuke's aren't going to ruin my plans. Would the South Korean gov't? You better believe it; and last I checked, they care more about their own welfare than mine - shame too, seing as how I already paid for the whole trip. Refund or not, I still want to go. Call me nuts, but how many times will you get to say that you had an opportunity to go to North Korea, in the fall, no less....
Well, other than that, today was just like any other workday. If you're interested in Korean news, check out Yonhap news - its in English, and its the source that most english news sites use for their information on North Korea; may as well beat them to the punch. If news permits, or if something interesting is reported (we knew about the North Korean blast at least six hours before it was reported back home), then I'll try to fire up the old blog ,and let you know.
God Bless,
me

Songpyun, hanbok's, and funfun

2006-10-02T23:11:00.000+09:00

Well, today was the day before the start of the annual Chusuk, or Chusok celebration week(end) here in Korea. Chusuk, or Chusok, is the yearly version comparable to Thanksgiving back home. Everyone goes to their families homes, usually their parents, and everyone brings enough gift packages to hold you over for a year. This year, us foreigners lucked out. Starting Tuesday is "National Foundation Day"; its intended purpose withstanding, its a national holiday, so we don't have to work. Wednesday has been pretty much declared a national holiday as well, becuase Chusuk is on the Thursday, and everyone gets the Friday off as well. Yes, we had to work today, but we got to see all of the children get dressed up in their traditional hanbok's, and make their own songpyun cakes (as far as i can recollect, a rice snack that's steamed). The kids were incredibly cute - not only did they look out of place trying to do the normal kids stuff in their nice outfits, but they also seemed to be on extra good behavior. The songpyun cakes were supposed to be in the shape of a crescent moon; the kids saw their cooking material as edible playdough. They made shapes out of this stuff that looked like anything from dinosaurs to as you can see below; a starfish. The festivities at our institute also included games very similar to hackey-sack (only with a plastic tip to hit instead of plastic beads,) and a game similar to lawn darts (with rubber tips) except that your object is to land the darts into a bucket. The kids had fun with all of the activities, and enjoyed the change, even if for most of them, they had no clue what the actual activities were, or why they were dressed up.
For the kids, the hanbok's just slowed them down from doing what they normally want to do (which ammounts to making the pre-school teachers earn their paycheck.) They did love however the extra attention they got, and all the compliments that they got from the teachers. The kids were more than glad to get out of their outfits after lunch. As beautiful as the hanbok's looked on the kids, they only wear these outfits twice a year; Lunar New Years and Chusuk.
Overall, the day was a great success. I was glad that I had remembered my camera, as I was able to take a lot of really nice photo's of the kids. The rest of my week is looking pretty blank. While the rest of the teachers at my institute are off visiting foreign lands, I decided that its probably in my best interest to take this holiday off, get some rest, and clear my mind. Whenever I travel, I usually go solo, which makes me more tired when I returned. Staying in Seoul however, saves me a lot of stress, and I'm hoping to catch up on some lost reading, devotions, and maybe a little shopping. I hope that all is well with everyone, and that you're all enjoying the fall weather; its gorgeous here right now!
Take care, and God Bless,
me

the speech contest

2006-09-17T22:54:00.000+09:00

So last Saturday, starting at 11am, my institute held its long awaited speech contest. There were more than a few of us who were glad that this was finally going to be over, even if it means that we still have one more big contest to go. As teachers, we started over a month ago before this point, picking out the books from a list of selected "good choices", and then reading each book to make sure that we wouldn't go nuts listening to the same speeches read again, and again, and again. Next, each class held its own speech contest, where the highest scoring students won. From there, each classes two best students went to the next stage, where during the day, they each went before a panel, and were individually tested on their speech. From there, the highest scoring students of that stage went on to the institutes speech contest, which was held Saturday.
All in all, I was really pleased. Last year, my showing had been a little poor compared to some of the other teachers. However, this year, I made up ground. I had 7 total students competing in the institutes speech contest, with former students of mine who I'd taught recently raising the number to 12 students. The total number of contestants was 27 students out of my institutes 900 or so students. (Don't worry, they don't all come at the same time)
During the whole contest, I was busy taking pictures with my camera. The frustrating thing was that my institute, which may know how to hold a speech contest, knows absolutely nothing about good lighting; this made taking good looking photos very difficult (that and my increasingly shaky hand.) You would think that with my expensive camera, I should be able to overcompensate for the lack oflighting. However, as I've found out, expensive camera's only make taking photography more difficult. I digress.
For the kids, this isn't as much fun as it is for their parents. The parents make this out to be such a big deal, and the kids usually follow along, albeit a little begrudgingly. That is, until they win.
This year, I got lucky with some students who really knew how to warm up to the camera; and in the end, my students ended up taking the top two prizes. The grand prize winner, shown above, read a speech (written by a teacher) about "Little Red Riding Hood." Her mom decked her out in everything plaid; even her watch was authentic. It was red, had a little red riding hood girl, and alternating wolves on the band (I'm not joking). She's a brilliant girl, and my parents can attest to that. She stands a great chance at mopping up at the big speech contest, and I know she'll do great. My second student (also shown above further up) placed second, a great feat considering she slipped for what seemed an eternity to her mother, but made up for in confidence when speaking.
From here we go to weekly practices, and refining, and double checking to make sure that everything is perfect in preparation for the final step in the speech contest. I think that I'll be heading to the final contest with three students this year; a drop from last year, but I'm still excited by their chances.
I hope that everything is going well with everyone back home. Take care, and I'll catch you later
me

if you're looking for books

2006-09-14T00:26:00.000+09:00

I know that I'm certainly not the only person who's teaching english out there in the world, and I also know that I'm certainly not the only teacher who might read this blog. So I thought that after all the reading I've done, that I would write about some of the great books that I've read recently with my students, and if you readers want to offer any suggestions, then I'd love to hear from you. Most of these books are for, in the ESL realm, advanced readers - so students who are relatively good readers, who are also in grades 3-5, or possibly older. Most of these books are recommended for students aged 9-12, however, I sometimes enjoy reading the books more than my students do.
I'll include as much information about the books as I can - otherwise, I'm certain that any google query will come up with all of the required information.
Yolanda's Genius - written by Carol Fenner. A great story about an African-American girl who grows up in Chicago, but due to the violent neighbourhood, moves to Michigan. She struggles at first, but finds her niche in her new city, all the while trying to prove to everyone around her that her brother, while shy and quiet, is in fact, a "genius". It does an excellent job showing how younger children deal with issues of race and inequality.
Wayside School Series - by Loius Sachar. This is a halarious three series book about a strange-messed up school. Each book contains 30 short stories about each of the 30 students in the class in some way shape or form. My students and I laughed and laughed while we read these books, and I'm sad that they're finishing. A great read by the same author of "Holes", and a host of other great children's books.
The Giver - by Lois Lowry. This was a more difficult read, as it dealt with issues that many students couldn't understand. However, beyond that part, this is an excellent book nonetheless, and I would highly recommend it.
Dr. DeSoto - by William Steig. This is a younger children's book with a crafty moral in the end. I won't give the story away, however, its short enough that you could read it again and again. The pictures are excellent, and the story of a mouse dentist, and a fox patient had my younger students in awe of the pictures.
Dead Poets Society - the screenplay - by Tom Schulman. This adapted version of the original book was confusing at first for my students. There were many things they didn't comprehend at first, however, as the story unfolded, their eyes would open up to the possibilities of what could happen if you did practice the belief of "Carpe Deim", and living life to its fullest.
The Magic Treehouse series - by Mary Pope Osbourne. This book I'm sure will ring a few bells, and if it doesn't, it's sure to be a hit. Aimed primarily at students who read more than others for their age, these books for students grades 2 and higher have a wide variety of tales that left my students asking me how many different books she has written. There's a veritable collection of them, and under any topic that you can imagine.
The last one that I'll mention now is the "A to Z(ed) Mysteries" series, staring Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose. Its written by Ron Roy, and the adventures that these three children get into as they try to solve mysteries ranging from "The Bald Bandit, to Canary Caper, the Deadly Dungeon, and so forth. With such a wide range of options, one is sure to please any student.
Those are the one's that I can think of now. When more come to me, I'll try to include them on the list. Enjoy reading, its a gift we should never stop giving.
Cheers,
me

and others who do...

2006-09-07T22:51:00.000+09:00

So news other than bad news has been slow to come by...I could make things up, but that wouldn't be as much fun as saying what's really happening.
Interesting things have been happening, but most of them aren't worth noting. However, after talking about the parents who don't really give a hoot about whether their children enjoy their education, I thought that i'd make passing mention of two things that have happened recently, to somewhat redeem the Korean people.
First, the past two months of late June, July, and half of August, the weather had been unbearably hot. The high humidity, and scorching heat, were driving everyone insane. My roommate had graciously shared his wall-mounted air-conditioning unit, and with two fans (one pointing out of his room into the kitchen, and the second blowing from the kitchen into my room) we were able to share the cool breezes flowing from the wonderful cold air machine. ( With everyone using their air-conditioners back home as well, its a wonder that we make each successive summer more hotter than the previous by forcing our energy companies to burn more fossil fuels to keep pace, making more air pollution, and creating bigger holes in our ozone...) I digress. So, at the end of last month, the energy company sent someone to our door. Normally, our electricity bill sits around 35 Canadian a month, however, due to the higher temperature, ours had spiked to 50 Canadian. This jump worried the power company, so they sent someone to inspect that there was no problem with their recording instruments inside the house, and that we weren't being overcharged on account of something that was possibly their fault...
The second instance involved a set of car keys. If I'd been thinking faster, I would have taken a picture with my phone. Someone had dropped their keys outside of their just recently parked car on the apartment side street. (I know it was recently parked because the car was still steaming). The security guard, a robust man of mid-fifties age, noticed the keys dropped right beside the car door. And with some binder twine he was carrying, ties the car keys to the tree right beside the just parked car. There was no worry that the car would be stolen...it was just the most convenient way to solve the issue at hand. At the end of my day, both the car and keys were gone, and I don't doubt for a second that the innocent driver found the keys, and drove off, as if nothing was amiss....
I sometimes wonder if there was ever a time like this in Canada...
cheers

parents who don't care....

2006-08-31T21:02:00.000+09:00

I'll admit it, I've had a shitty week. Things have happened beyond my control that have made me already slightly miserable and feeling frustrated because of the situations that I've been put in. However, something happened today which put me over the boiling point, and its blame rests solely on parents who don't give a rat's behind (and that's putting it politely).
I had been teaching three students three times a week since October of last year. I took them from a teacher who didn't care about teaching, and openly mocked the materials he was teaching them. Myself, being in the middle of my first contract, and still caring a great deal about the material and presentation, immediately showed these kids that I not only cared about the system, but also about their learning. I taught them not only the crap that was in their books, but also about the good stuff that books for some reason leave out; (like if you're stuck in the woods, and your compass breaks, you'll always know the direction of North, because its the one side of the tree where moss usually grows the most (open to argument).....
That might be making it seem like a sham, but I taught them a lot, and sooner rather than later, I really cared for these kids. I taught them all about "Dead Poet's Society", and taught them to appreciate books that may seem boring at first, but if you look beyond what the letters.... They devoured it. These three kids showed more growth and aptitude for learning than any other kids I taught. Most importantly however, they were appreciative. They said thank you, had the most polite manners, and knew when to say "Thanks for all you're doing.." when I needed to feel appreciated. And now? They're gone.
They've switched academies, or I should say, their mothers switched academies. Its most likely that one mother believed that she could get a better deal somewhere else, and got a group discount by taking the other two students with her son. Normally, if I had less students, I couldn't care less; the smaller my class size, the better. But these three? They had no clue they were leaving my class. Their mothers told them some bs about them missing the next class because they're visiting some relative, or some family visit, because as far as they knew, they were coming to class next Tuesday; these mothers didn't even tell their own kids the truth. Another teacher who taught them essay writing and myself bent over backwards for these kids, and we've never pushed kids harder who've responded for each push....I really hate these mothers right now....
Its taken 19 months, but I'm starting to think I need a good, long vacation... mostly just from these moms.......

in Korea, we have five seasons...

2006-08-24T22:02:00.000+09:00

I can imagine what some of you are thinking; that's impossible. Truth be told, you won't find this season listed on the official Korean calendar; its not technically on any calendar that i know of, however, we've entered a new season here in Korea; the unofficial "speech contest" season. It falls directly before the start of the school term after summer break, and lasts until sometime just after Christmas. This is the time where teachers cringe, groan, and complain, because on top of us teaching children how to learn basic (or in my case, somewhat advanced) english, we also have to squeeze in speech practicing, and making sure that the kids have "their" speeches memorized.
Now, normally, I would think that a little memorizing would do the children some good. However, the speeches that these kids memorize are such a scam, that the kids are 1) forced into memorizing the speeches by their parents, 2) don't actually write their speeches, native english teachers do, and 3) Korean english teachers tell the children to do excessive gestures and word emphasis that make the poor children look like robots.
So why would you force your child to participate in a speech contest, when its not the parents who get anything out of it? Ahhh, but that's where your wrong. At my institutes annual speech contest, the children (read:parents) can win as much as a full years tuition for winning the grand prize, along with smaller prizes such as a month's tuition, book certificates, etc. For the children, they get almost nothing out of it, except their parents pushing their behinds to memorize it better and better. The parents also get bragging privileges out of this; and in Korea, that's almost worth the years tuition.
For the institutes, especially the regional and district sponsored speech contests, institutes will endlessly spend hours helping their kids memorize and practice and practice, because one winner at any of the speech contest winners could mean as many as a dozen new students joining your institutes based solely on the winning child being from your institute. And for my institute, which advertises itself as specializing in "speaking" (not grammar, or writing, as other do) we're usually under heavy pressure to make sure that our best students get ample opportunity to memorize, by giving them less homework (while still expecting them to keep up their levels of competency)...
It's fun times here in Korea right now, especially for English teachers. We somewhat hate this season, but its something that comes with the job...did I mention lately that i love my job....?
God Bless,
me

leg two....tail end of Siem Reap, and more

2006-08-14T20:19:00.000+09:00

Well, here's the second wind of my pictures. Some of them will be nature and others will be from different places. Sometime soon, I'll upload a whole host of pictures to my photo site - so that you can see them in a much bigger size, and also a better quality. I hope you enjoy. thank you for travelling Vicarious Airways....and we hope to see you again soon.

This is the Lotus flower, and its synonymous with the Bhuddist temples - everytime you see a flower represented on a temple wall, they're trying to show the Lotus flower. I unfortunately couldn't fine a stone-etched carving of one, but these flowers are everywhere there's a pond. Most of the ponds were initially meant to be moats, to protect the Wat's (Khmer for temple) however, for whatever reason, many of them have dried up, leaving small ponds located all over the grounds of the Wat's.

This poor child "snuck" through the ticket gates (I wondered, when I saw how easily they get through, why I even paid for a ticket in the first place...) They are notorious for being quick to pose, offer a great smile that melts your heart, and then, just when you're ready to leave, they'll hound you until you pay them for their smile...and that smile that made it onto your camera? Trust me, it doesn't smile when you don't pay them what they want...
The next two pictures are from the "floating village" of Tonle Sap - that's right, the whole village is on boats throughout the river. Even their school and outdoor gymnasium (donated by South Korea) are on floating pontoons. Some of these houseboats are outfitted with refrigerators, televisions, and electricity (I'm not joking). The kids scoot around on these buckets, fully propped up by sitting on empty water bottles - they move up to the boats, and then hang on until someone gives them money. Then they scoot off onto the next tour boat going through their "village"...It was an amazing show of persistence and survival, but also depressing, as these people don't even have easy access to fresh drinking water, it has to be delivered every day, in small amounts each day. A stark contrast to the "wealth" of the city dwellers...

Believe it or not, yes, that snake is real. It's actually on exhibit to try and drag in guests to this houseboat restaurant. It was non-poisonous, and really quite beautiful to feel; its skin was soft and smooth. This restaurant also had an aligator farm, which consisted of aligators tossed on top of each other, waiting to be eaten (which, coincidentally, you could do on demand...you could even pick which one you wanted) Welcome to the floating village...care to try some aligator?

This was the only picture I could bear to take of the Killing Fields. The actual site is incredibly calming, and even though it was an unnerving calm, It was amazing to see such beautiful butterflies among hole after hole of mass graves. It was not one of the places I dwelled for a long time. God shows beauty sometimes in the most harrowing places. I can't imagine what the Khmer's must have gone through....

This was the only picture that I took in S-21, the Khmer Rouge's main torture prison. The images and things I saw there will stay with me forever, and I could not bear to take pictures; it didn't feel right. Each of the torture rooms (this was for a political prisoner) at present had flower petals spread through the rooms. Even though not watered, they seemed to bloom as if by a calming power- I nearly cried in some of the rooms...

Well, that's all I thought I would include in my blog set of photo's. As I mentioned earlier, I'll post pictures sometime on my photo site- they'll be bigger, and better resolutions, so stay posted. I hope you enjoyed the pictures - if anyone soon is heading out to that part of the world, I would highly recommend visiting Cambodia - it will be a trip you'll never forget...

photo's and descriptions aplenty...

2006-08-10T21:39:00.000+09:00

Well, even though the heat has disappated somewhat, I am still wishing I was back in Cambodia, where the heat and humidity were not as bad. That, and I didn't have to work; no work was nice. Here are the pictures, each with a short description of the scene.

This is the mother of all temples, Angkor Wat. The causeway walking up to the temple is nearly 1km long, for processions and the like. Even once inside the actual temple, you don't get an idea of the vast space it encompasses; it's huge. Unfortunately, the weather was not as bright as I would have appeared, but I gladly took the overcast sky over the rain we would get...

This was the second temple I went to, called Bayon. It was undergoing massive structural repairs, because the underground drainage system is causing the temple to slowly collapse on itself from the unsolid footing. This temple is known for its many faces cut into the pillars that dot the whole temple. It truly was amazing to see so many faces everywhere you look.

This was one of my favourite temples; Ta Prohm. The forest has run all through the temple, and trees cover the temple buildings everywhere. Once seeing how much the trees have run rampant, then you realize how old the temples really are; they're ancient. The earliest records known show them building their temples as early as the 12th century.

This temple, Banteay Srei, was believed to be carved by women, because the original explorers couldn't believe that the men of Kampuchea could have done such intricate carving into the stone. It's pinkish hue in the sun also make it one of the frequented temple sites. I got there just after sunrise, so it was beautiful to walk around almost by myself.

This was my main transportation for my first two days; this here is your typical tuktuk driver - call it an uptodate horse and buggy, only instead of shit smell, you get exhaust. I could never remember my drivers name, however, tuktuk drivers sell their rides like you're their last hope for a solid meal; they're relentless. It often gets downright annoying, because right after you hop off a tuktuk, another one will pull up beside you, and ask you if you need a tuktuk (with him watching you just get out, pay the man, and then start walking). Sure, its their job, but sometimes, you just want to clock them....

Well, these are my first instalment of two; I don't want to spend too much time tonight; I'm tired. I'll promise to post pictures from the second leg of my trip, and other favourites certainly no later than the weekend. if you are interested in any of the photo's, send me an e-mail, and i'll send you the full copy of the file, instead of copying and taking the blog photo, which has been reduced in quality to store. take care all, and God Bless.
me

my trip to Kampuchea, or Kingdom of Cambodia

2006-08-08T22:47:00.000+09:00

Well, i arrived back in Seoul early Sunday morning, after a long five hour flight, and immediately i was reminded how nice the weather was in Cambodia, and how hot it is in Seoul right now. I'm imagining that the weather is close to how it is right now in North America, however, I'm dying here with the awful humidity and the lack of temperature fluctuation; it stays hot all night long. I have no control over the weather, so i’ll quit complaining.
Cambodia was an amazing experience. I arrived there late Saturday, to find that the whole city nearly shuts down at 11pm, and i had no hotel reservations (in hindsight, this oversight could have been bad) i luckily got into a hotel, with the last room; i had to fight to not be ripped off in my hotel room; not something that i liked doing that late at night. The following day, i continued onto Siem Reap, coming upon the bus “station” almost by tripping over it. Phnom Penh is really quite amazing; 1 million people, and there’s not an apartment in sight- everything is four-story french colonial style houses. This is beautiful to the eyes, but a hassle, because the city is so spread out, with no public transportation whatsoever. After a harrowing seven hour bus ride to Siem Reap (its only 279 km) i checked into my guesthouse, and immediately felt welcomed. Something about Siem Reap somewhat grows on you. Its a city that is due to explode in the next five years, because there is so much development going up in the city, that in five years, it will be miles ahead of where it is now. For example, the city has no major drainage system - when it rains, and it rains a lot, the whole street’s just flood completely over. And the Khmer just act as if there’s nothing wrong; they just walk on through the rain, knowing that they’ll dry really quickly once it stops raining.
Angkor Wat was just amazing; i bought a three day ticket, in preparation for my next three days of exploring. In the end, i didn’t need all three days, but it was still amazing. Its just incredible how much work they put into their temples, and their belief’s in buddhism that led them to feel so rewarded for their work. The only struggle that I had with Angkor and all of their temple’s was the absolute poverty that surrounds the temples. These people have been treated like shit for the past three or four decades, and land mine’s still dot the countryside. However, when you see so many people with maimed legs, arms, or worse yet, both, you really feel a deep sense of sorrow for them. You try to help, but there’s only so much you can do without making things worse for them.
In Siem Reap, I was lucky to stay at a guesthouse that, while a tad more expensive, went out of their way to make you comfortable. I ended up meeting two other couples, and we did some touring together, and eating out. This trip only reaffirmed for me that this will be the last trip i make on my own; traveling solo does allow you a lot of freedom, but its just too lonely. In Siem Reap, we spent two nights in a bar called “Angkor What?”, where travelers wrote messages all over the walls. Siem Reap is also home to Angkor beer, by far one of the best beer’s i’ve ever had - it beats Korean beer hands down. I lifted my beer glass just to help remind myself how much i enjoyed it. In the end, it was hard to leave Siem Reap; at first, the city was really unappealing to me; in the end, I had cancelled my other trip i was going to do in Cambodia in order to spend more time there. It grew on me, and I was surprised that when i left, i somewhat felt like i was going to wish I had used my time more wisely when i was there.
I arrived back in Phnom Penh, to an absolute bleating noise of Tuk tuk drivers - if you don’t know what they are, google it - and you’ll find out. they’re aggressive, try to rip you off every chance they get, and they’re shady... but they’re vital to their economy, because without any other form of income, many of them sleep in their tuk tuks in order to save as much money as they can. The only thing you have to worry about is their sense of direction - many of the drivers have no idea where they’re taking you, and they’ll just start driving anywhere that you think is important, they’ll drive you anywhere you want, but unless you tell them where to go, they’ll just keep driving until you realize you’re lost - and then you still have to pay. i got fooled once, but not the second time - i called his bluff, and he just smiled as i walked away.
overall, phnom penh was not as nice as i was hoping it would be. its a big city spread out - its got cheap eats compared to Korea, but its often very depressing. the poverty that surrounds everywhere you go makes you appreciate what you have so much more when you return; its often the little things that make me so thankful that God has given me what He has. I spent two nights in a great guesthouse in Phnom Penh, and I got to see some things that will never leave me. the Khmer Rouge did horrible horrible things to their own people, and things such as the Killing Fields, and their S-21 prison left a scar with me that I’ll never forget. I think that it was due to their use of a secondary school as their prison and torture chamber that really made me feel sorrow; maybe if i wasn’t a secondary teacher, it might not have bothered me as much; who knows.
In the end, I was glad I went, even though I was slightly scared to go. Cambodia is a growing country, and their wealth is making those less fortunate try to take from those who show their wealth. I was blessed to never have any problems, but on my last night, I ran into a gentleman who had been robbed of nearly everything; he wasn’t too bright, but still, it happens. I’m going to post pictures to this site in the short future - with tags and slightly detailed descriptions for each selection of photos. Be sure to stay posted. As for now however, its good to be back home, and I thank God for another safe and poorly planned trip, where things never went wrong.
take care all, and God Bless
love me

Not much is new...

2006-07-27T22:40:00.000+09:00

I understand its been a while since i last posted anything on here; i've been kinda busy working 11 hour days, and well, its starting to wear on me. I only hope that i'll be able to actually enjoy my holidays, and not feel like sleeping in all the time. the good news is that when I'm away from my place, I usually go to bed much earlier than if I'm here surrounded by all those good things which distract me from sleep; but when I'm in under-developed countries, those same comforts make me feel really blessed to be where I am.
Things with me haven't really changed a lot - the old adage of "no news is good news" sorta applies; talking to my brother, i feel guilty not posting anything, however, I'm not going to just make stuff up so that I can feel like I'm giving you time well spent - no sense in both of us wasting time.
Things have changed a little with my classes - i've let go of one class I'd had for a while - if you remember my posting about "teacher, he's is from the bacumbaga", that's the one i lost. It was time for a change, and while i've unfortunately taken to task on a class of eight middle school girls in grade five and six, i've realized that certain comforts of the familiar are making me wish i had even "bacumbaga" back in exchange for about half a dozen of the girls. I like teaching girls, don't get me wrong. They do their homework much more steadily than the guys, and you can sway them with talk of a future education; but man, I hope that when I have children, my first child is a boy. if i have to worry about a middle school girl like one of these? I'm praying hard for a first child son already, and i'm still single, with no girlfriend.
This weekend, I'm departing for Cambodia; prayers would be much appreciated. While i may talk tough on land-mines, truth be told, I'm scared to shit of the things, and I'm not joking. If i see the slightest protrusion out of the soil, i'll be running away like Noel Prefontaine in a short-distance track marathon.....pack or no pack. I'm excited about the possibilities, but I'm a little scared as well. I know that from most people i've talked to, Cambodia is even worse than China was in this regard: outside of tourism and hospitality industries, when you get outside of the city limits, you see poor like you've never seen them before; and that sorta stuff makes me feel so guilty for complaining about the crap i do on a regular basis. Its a good guilt though, because while i may not be able to help them out, it will at least remind me of how blessed I truly am already. So if you could offer prayers for safe travels, I would really appreciate it.
Lastly, if you could offer prayers for south Korea. right now, we're expected to get another 300-mm of rain in less than 36 hours, and this is after another 500-mm of rain came in the past week; places are still flooded out right now, and its only going to get worse if they can't keep up with all this unexpected rain. the wealthy in seoul are doing fine; its the poor in the outer-lying regions outside of Seoul where this rain is doing the most damage; in low-lying farms and small towns. So if you could pray for them, I would appreciate it as well.
take care all - with my new camera and tripod, i'll be taking as many pictures as my 1 gig card will hold; i'll be sure to post when I get back.
God bless,
Me

Typhoon Ewinar

2006-07-12T21:28:00.000+09:00

Before I came to Korea, I'd read reports about the seasonal weather that Korea goes through, with the Monsoon period lasting roughly a month through the late June early July months. Last years "monsoon" season came and went without a wimper; sure it rained a lot, but its just like a rainy April that we have in North America. Well, all that monsoon talk finally made sense just in the past 24 hours.
Typhoon Ewinar (who picked that name for Typhoon submissions?) came through the south of Korea, and it was looking like it was going to pass Seoul; somethat that more than just a few of us were hoping for. There were six reported deaths in the south of Korea from flooding, power failure/shock. However, due to strong easterly winds, it was supposed to fly east of Seoul. That was until around 12:30 this morning, Tuesday July 12. Around 12:30, just about all national weather forecasters simultaneously shat a proverbial brick as their previously reported "passing by" of the typhoon/monsoon changed its direction, and the monsoon which always follows a typhoon decided to veer just enough left to hammer Seoul, right before the city workers could organize their resources. Starting at 2am, Seoul stated getting pelted with somewhere in the range of 300mm of rain AN HOUR. It was incredible to watch, and an absolute horror for just about anyone who works. By six am, there were reported floods all over the place, and a large amount of subway stations were turned into rivers of water, where almost all of the subway station platforms were flooded; a good six feet from the bottom where the subway tracks are. Just about the only people grinning were taxi drivers, who couldn't keep up with the demand. Where we live, things weren't that bad at all; I'm sure that our relatively new surroundings were much better off than the north end of the city, which is not as new and wealthy as the south of Seoul.
As of right now, its been raining straight since 2am this morning (its 9:30pm) and the weather has died down to where the rain is just a whimper. I bet you wish you could be here right now....All in all, I'm glad I got to experience it; now i know what to tell people when i say "monsoon".

Seen while walking...

2006-07-09T16:33:00.000+09:00

A few things that I've seen recently which I think that some of you might enjoy. South Korea might be a little closer/further from North America than you might think...
1) Observed while walking through the small market beside my little grocery store. The meat market man, was weighing the meat of an older lady in her sixties on the scale. Now, the older lady was arguing with the man, NOT about the cigarette dangling from his lips that had ash falling over the open meats, but because it appeared as if his hands were adding extra weight to the scales...
2) On the subway last week on my way back home from church, a small family sat down across from me, and the man had BANGS. I'm not talking about just simple hair dangling over his forehead, but serious bouncing "hair curler" bangs. And to further my surprise at this new fashion trend, his wife made sure they were straight by checking that they were straight.
3) It is slightly unbecoming for a middle-aged man, or any man between his mid-twenties and late fifties to go barefoot in sandals in public. I do it, and most people look at me as if I'm straight off the set of "Lord of the Rings" with my short hair on my feet. (women can go in public without shaving their legs regularly and go barefoot all the time, and men need restrictions?) Regardless, the man in question was one-upping the frequent "socks in sport sandals" look by wearing coloured toe socks with his Nike ACG sandals as he prepared for his hiking trip.
4) Pink is in. I don't know if this has made its way to North America, however, I don't think that it will be long before everything pink is seen on men; I've even fallen prey to this. However, the women think it looks even better on men than on women, so I'll wear my pink with pride.
5) However...this is something that I do NOT think will come back to North America - White pants on men. I'm not talking about off-white, or cream coloured pants, but straight bleach white pants. Its almost become the new black for pants; it virtually matches with everything in your wardrobe. This is something I won't be partaking in.
If I see more, I'll be sure to note them.
God bless,

Unconfirmed reports confirmed....

2006-07-09T16:18:00.000+09:00

Unlike I first suggested, apparently the South Korean scientists reported that our friendly dictator to the North's missile never engaged on the second stage; it only blew out its first stage. Which is why Kim Jong-Il promised future rounds of tests. Now, I'm no scientist, but I'd wager that the scientists working on his missile won't get too many more shots to get it right; if past instances of his ‘politeness’ are any indication, I'm sure if they miss on the second try, on the third, they'll be the first ever to fly first class on a Taepo-Dong2 missiles, strapped to the outside.
Now, the scary thing about all of this is that if Kim Jong-Il is successful with his Taepo-Dong2 missile, this might make things just a little more scary in the middle East; North Korea's favourite trading partner just happens to be the country of Iran.
scary stuff...the only country that I'd rank above North Korea in terms of unexpected "surprises" would be the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Hmmm....what's all this Taepo-dong2 talk...

2006-07-05T23:07:00.000+09:00

So North Korea finally did what nobody thought they'd have enough balls to do; fire their missiles. Ironically, they decided to do it on the biggest holiday in the US, the vintage fourth of July. This is classic North Korean mentality. And I can only imagine what its like to watch the news on any American broadcast right now; I'd be especially interested in Fox's....nothing like a little fear-mongering...
A quick viewing of the major US networks was enough to make me feel all warm and fuzzy. ABC's was quite nice, with the ONLY picture showing, of all people, South Korean's protesting the missile firing...interesting that 'that' was the only stock photo they could find associated with the article.... NBC was just as nice with their photo's, making South Korean's out to be angry, disgruntled citizens, fed up with the Kim Jong-Il regime. Fox was just beautiful, and made me want to find a tiny little island far far away from North Korea, and their evil leader.
The interesting thing about all of this? Aside from the usual news reports and specials offered on the Korean news stations, most of them were just typical; sure, the missile firings obviously dominated the news, but other than that, life continues here like normal. If anything, we're probably safer in South Korea than those in Canada. Most South Korean's just hate Kim, Jong-Il because he's displaced so many families, and kidnapped so many South Korean's after the Korean War, and refuses to admit to all of the people he's kidnapped. However, most just know that he's a deranged little man. If anything, most South Korean's know their safe, but if they're angry, they're scared for the North Korean's living under his regime, who are stuck with his decisions, like lemmings.
Last thing, because I'm sure that I'll be writing more about this in the future, for those of you who figured that things should be fine because his biggest missile fizzled only 35 seconds into his flight, I hate to say it, but Kim Jong-Il has then gotten the best of you. Here's where he's grinning...If his missile had fired any closer to Japan, then they would have, (with the support of all the US's technology handed to Japan for free) fired the whole gauntlet of missiles towards North Korea, hoping to do anything for firing the missile closer to Japan. If Jong-Il had fired past Japan, then the US would have seen it as an act of war, and basically launched the Pacific fleet on him. Instead, his missile flew up, and came straight down; he basically flicked off the US and Japan with the biggest middle finger he could find.....his Taepo-dong2 missile. He might be stupid when it comes to feeding his own people, but he's a wily S.O.B when it comes to international diplomacy. I still hate him, however, he unfortunately knows exactly what he's doing....
take care, and God Bless

a smorgasboard of stuff

2006-07-01T11:09:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm writing this as I'm eating my first ever burnt egg sandwich. The taste isn't as bad as I thought it would be, although the smoke signals that were sent from our apartment door probably alerted the neighbours (Which explains why the neighbour kids trooped on down the hallway, and walked on into our apt as if they owned the place.) They're cute kids, and one of them knows english pretty good; however, if their parents knew that they were walking around in the weyguk saram's apartment (korean-english for "foreign person"), then they'd probably get something short of a spanking, and a warning to not do it again....I should add that they were polite, and they removed their shoes before walking through our apartment and opening doors at random.
I should add that the reason for my burnt egg sandwich was the smoking hot Lucy Lui. No, she wasn't in my apartment, although if she was, I wouldn't kick her out like we did to the kids. I just watched Lucky Number Slevin the other night, and although the movie wasn't half bad, Lucy Lui made the movie that much more enjoyable. Why can't this woman land a staring role somewhere outside of her often referenced role's in Charlie's Angel's? She's smoking, and I'd watch the dvd anytime just for her. Okay, enough about Lucy Lui.
So, not much is new in the world of Bryan. My students have been complaining recently about how hard their lives are, due to mid-term tests at elementary school. One thing that maybe North America should introduce from South Korea is the jump-rope competitions that elementary schools have - each student MUST achieve a certain number of jumps, or risk being held after school to do extra exercising. This is all done to encourage a healthy lifestyle, and encourage not being obese and fat.....I fail to see the correlation of jump-rope keeping you thin and healthy, however, Mohammed Ali did jump-rope all the time in training for his bouts, and, well, you can argue that point of healthy-bodies and jump-rope with him; i for one wouldn't want to disagree after seeing the great shape he was in.
The weather has turned sour, and we're now in monsoon season, where for the next two weeks or so, it will rain on and off pretty much 24 hours straight. Now, its not as bad as it seems, however, for me, and my forgetful nature, I hate having to remember to take my umbrella with me everywhere; I constantly forget it, and then get caught in a 30 second downpour that leaves me just wet enough to be uncomfortable. oh well, knowing me, by the time i get accustomed t taking the thing with me, it will be over, and then I'll leave the umbrella somewhere, and be just fine.
Other than that, one of my smart students just got the awful but exciting news from her parents that they're sending her to an Australia boarding school to learn even more english. That's right - her parents aren't rich enough to already send her to two english institutes, but they decided that in order for their daughter to have the best education possible, she needs to go to Australia to live in a foreign english village, and learn and be forced to speak English full-time; kids here have it so rough. She's floored, although she was already the smartest girl in my class; I was asking if she'd like to take my "teacher, he's is from the bacumbagu" student, however, she balked at the idea; i'll never know why.
take care all, and God bless!

ever wonder......

2006-06-20T22:40:00.000+09:00

Ever wonder what Korean middle school girls do in their spare time? I count my lucky stars that I don't teach these two, but trust me; I've got some strange birds....
If I've piqued your interest, click "here"

A little story called providence...

2006-06-19T21:37:00.000+09:00

So, interesting things have been happening lately, and I just can't hold it just to myself; I'm a sharing type of guy. Sorta. Here's the story.
So my institute, which "graciously" grants me ten days of unpaid vacation days a year, has our vacation coming up during the final week of July, first week of August. Now for those of you unfamiliar with how things work here in South Korea, allow me to enlighten you. Students in elementary and middle school stay in school pretty much year long, with a few scattered breaks, mostly 1 month off in summer time, and 1 month off in the winter months, right before their school year starts again in late February. My students complain about it, but they're just a bunch of whiny over-spoiled kids....(they are, and i'm not just being harsh) Regardless. For a country with over 50 million citizens, nearly everyone has vacation time off during the same months; and trust me when I say that there's not a lot of airline's that fly in and out of Seoul, the only international airport accesible to me. It makes for scheduling vacation flights out of the country a two-months in advance adventure...
Now, I'm not that type of guy (pre-planning? what's that...? Is that something people do if they're bored?). If you remember my last trip to China (see "here"), then you'll remember that I'm not one for preplanning beyond an airplane ticket, much less anything beyond a week; why bother? Well, this year was no different, and after possibly trying to drag my faithful cousin Peter with me, I decided that cousin or no cousin, I was going to Cambodia, the land of 10 million land mines, courtesy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. I'm going for reasons besides the aforementioned, but I'm hoping to hit up Phnom Phen, Siam Reap, and Kampot. I was originally hoping to visit the Eastern side of the country, however, I'm hampered more by my flight than anything else. Here's where the providence comes through. Due to my laziness and pathetic ability to remember how hard it is to book flights in this country, when I tried to book my flight, I was dismayed to discover that I was currently on a waiting list of over 80 ppl to get on a plane that had only 140 seats. My roommate scheduled me to get on the waiting list, and that night, both of us looked online for alternate routes to Phnom Phen; things weren't looking good, with ticket fares over 400 Can more than my first option (a direct flight from Seoul to Phnom Phen) and with an average of two connecting flights, a wasted trip. I prayed right after my roommate got off the phone, for direction on where I should go if Cambodia is not for me. The Next Morning at 9am, when their offices opened, they called my roommate on his phone, and told him that I had the reservation, and I could pick up my ticket at the air terminal twenty minutes from my house. Is there anything cooler than our God? I really feel like He's watching over me; good thing He's everywhere too, because knowing myself, I'll need all His help come Cambodia, and I'm not even there yet.

Teacher - "he's is from the bacumbaga?"...

2006-06-12T21:34:00.000+09:00

Ever wonder if you're cut out for this?
Being that I've been here for a little bit, my school often asks if I'll be okay to answer any questions by prospective teachers who are thinking of coming to my institute (its clearly not a school - in fact, it hurts me to write school in any writing associated with my institute - if only you knew the depth of their inaptitude..) I digress. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is in regards to teaching, and how hard it is to teach ESL. And truthfully, I can say that its really really easy, and that's not just because I've been doing this for months on end, with little to no vacation (not that I'm bitter...). Its more the little things that make teaching ESL one of the most frustrating jobs on this side of mine digging in China; the only difference being we have fewer fatalities...
One student that comes to mind is a particularly fond boy with a few uncharacteristic charms that make him mildly appreciated, yet frustratingly annoying. Fred, as I'll call him, has definitely struck out when it comes to childhoods. Both his parents are Korean, yet, he was born in Japan, where his father teaches historical Japanese instruction. After two years in Japan, his family moved to the US, where he lived for two years. After those two years, the whole family moved back to Japan. After another two years in Japan, his mother and brother moved to Seoul, where they've been since then. He has no grasp of Korean, Japanese, and certainly not English, that's for sure. However, with mild-learning disabilities, this makes the job of teaching him in an advanced class even more aggravating. How he got placed in my class is a long story of ineptitude, and since he's been in my class, he'll jump off any bridge if I tell him; I'm his English teacher - his mom loves me, so Fred loves me. The problem is that Fred retains English instruction like water off a ducks back; it doesn't stick around. If he's bored, in class, he'll break out into a rendition of his favourite song: "I'm so lonely, so loooonnnneeeelllllyyyy..", which is all the song consists of; a repeat of the chorus. His last test, when I asked "Where is the rare Plowshare tortoise from?" (by the way, its Madagascar, for those who didn't know) - after talking for over a week about the island, and the animated movie "Madagascar", et al, he wrote, after much deliberation "he's is from the bacumbaga?" question mark and all. Truth be told, I don't even know how to mark the answer.....he answers a question with another question. The rest of his test wasn't all that bad; he got perfect on the vocabulary matching. However, the rest of his test is a rare feat of questions, incomplete sentences, and grammar verb tense preposition confusion. Its something to behold. However, for as long as I'll be at my institute, he'll be in my class, no matter where I go - his parents, by now understanding his inability to grasp English, are wealthy; so as long as he comes home happy, (even though he's only completed half of his homework, the majority of that half incorrectly) his parents hope that after all of my frustrated "Earth to Fred - at least attempt to focus, please, I beg of you", followed by him singing, again..) he'll actually learn something. So as long as they keep paying, I'll keep teaching him.....I'm so lonely, so loooonnnnneeeellllyyyyyy....
So if you can get past the kids with the inability to grasp English, not understanding a word coming from your mouth, and certain kids never doing their homework, and Mom and Dad not caring, then teaching ESL is the right job for you. The pay is supreme, the hassles, while they may seem great, are few, and for the few kids who do learn, and love you for doing your job, the payoff is worth all of the "Fred's" in the world....
come to Korea

The future of Canada in Afghanistan?

2006-06-10T20:39:00.000+09:00

So as I've mentioned before, I have been reading up quite a bit on Middle Eastern politics, and at the same time as reading Thomas Friedman's book "From Beirut to Jerusalem. And then today, while continuing my monthly addiction to "The Atlantic", I read an interesting article written by a writer for "Slate" entitled "Hunkering Down". Then to top if off, while I was on an anti-US sentiment feeling regarding Bush's numerous failed policies, but lo and behold, this political cartoon gets published in the Korean Herald. It should be noted that in Korea, they are generally pro-US foreign policy regarding the Middle East (South Korea has currently 3277 Military Personal stationed in Iraq under Alliance command). It got me to thinking about how Canada's future in Afghanistan is being put on display in Parliament, and general public sentiment is showing to be against Canada's involvement. Strange too that the general sentiment in the US also shows a solid distaste for the ongoing struggles in Iraq....Its worthwhile to note that Canada and the US are starting to mirror each other more and more, not only in politics but also in public opinion polls. What scares me most is my own lack of Canadian history - before I go bashing the US over their failed policies, I better make sure that my own backyard is "clean", so to speak. Don't get me wrong - the US is doing a good job in "eliminating" targets (and everything else in a two-mile radius of that "target") - my own problem is whether those targets are as bad as the US makes them out to be....
And what does this have to do with me? The more I read about all of this stuff, the more I want to go over there and experience it for myself. Anyone know if they need foreign journalists in the Middle East?...Someone has already anonymously suggested to look into "the Kite Runner", are there any other book suggestions anyone might have on Middle Eastern topics?
Okay, enough of making this blog a political and health related rant - I'll get back to teaching related rants next week....

The Hospital's long reach...

2006-06-08T23:05:00.000+09:00

This is for all of those of you who hate waiting in Ontario hospital waiting rooms, for our free health care.
So today I went to Samsung Medical Center, to talk to my friendly neighbourhood ENT specialist, Dr. Hoon. While there, I was fitted for a new tube to try and clear up the fluid that's been there for, well, a really long time, and never gone away. After convincing him that I'm okay with doing it in his hospital waiting room (outfitted with all the necessary instruments ofcourse), we set about for the twenty second procedure of outfitting my ear for a tube. (for those of you curious as to what an ear tube looks like, click here) After all was said and done, I was in and out of his office in less than ten minutes (after twenty minutes in the waiting room), which included the photographs of the before and after "surgery". At first, I thought this to be unnecessary; why would I need proof that he had done what he said? The proof was in my bill.
129,920 Won. In today's Canadian dollar, that worked out to 152.27. And how much did insurance cover of my bill? 48,522 Won, or nearly the EXACTLY amount that I pay every single month for my monthly insurance bill. I felt a great deal poorer after walking out of the hospital, and had a slight greater appreciation for the Ontario Healthcare system; for those of you who preach a two-tiered health-care system, be careful what you wish for. Yes, I waited only two weeks for my hospital visit, and once inside, got treated like a real hospital patient, with complimentary tea (self-service) and plenty of people willing to help me (call it the foreigners curse - they assume because I'm surrounded by Koreans, I'll want extra help; bless they're hearts, but it gets a little annoying), but for all that I got, I couldn't help but feel slightly taken to the cleaners (3200 Won for an electronic scheduling of my next appt? Is that really necessary?)
Call me cured, in more ways than one, with hearing that's much better than before - and I'm certainly happy, because fortunately for me, money is absolutely no problem. However, before we go preaching on how to fix our own health-care system, a reality check might be suggested before we take drastic measures.
By the way, how did Health-care become almost a mute-issue in the past election, being overtaken by everything military? Shouldn't we worry more about our problems right upfront as opposed to more "optional" ventures?
just a thought...

Contributing to society...

2006-06-07T00:46:00.000+09:00

Just the other week or so, it was localized election time in Seoul, which meant driving box-trucks of placards and loudspeakers speaking garbled Korean, blasting throughout neighbourhoods as if they only need YOUR vote for them to win. I was feeling somewhat left out, as I didn't do my civic duty and vote in Canada's last elections. Sure, I probably would have voted randomly, which means it's probably better that I didn't vote at all. Anyways, I digress.
I was feeling like I wasn't actively participating in trying to make Korea a better place, and then last Sunday, I felt redeemed for an entire year.
I went out to meet a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a while, and as I'm walking back to my apartment building, I can hear this child just wailing as if someone just took his lollipop- he was loud. So I walk up, to find a queue of almost ten people waiting for the elevator. Living on the 13th floor, I felt justified waiting (while I knew that more than half probably lived on the 3rd floor - side note - Koreans will wait ten minutes for the elevator to take them to the second, or even third floor of a building, when the stairs are RIGHT BESIDE the elevator..) So the child is just wailing, and the parents seem to be beyond caring, and two old people are losing patience with the kid, telling him to stop it. We all cram into the elevator (sure enough, six people push the 3rd and 4th floor). Sure enough, the child's even louder in the elevator. All of the sudden, he just stops, completely. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, and two people mention (I'm assuming) "Wow, I wonder why he stopped?". Sure enough, the kid was staring at me, with a mouth wide enough to fit a soccer ball through. The mom just about wanted to crawl into a hole, the dad just shrugged his shoulders. The woman standing beside me, who had no idea that I (a foreigner) was standing beside her, almost fainted when she saw me (I've been living here for nine months - you'd think she would have recognized the ONLY foreigner living in the building). Needless to say, two people said "thank-you" as they walked out of the elevator, and I felt like I had just done a powerful service for the country.
Welcome to Korea - where even foreigners have more power over children than a Tootsie Pop.

so what's with the attitude...

2006-06-02T19:55:00.000+09:00

So the other day, I'm in my class, and one of my class counselor's tells me that another student is going to be changing levels, and joining my 5:30 class on monday wednesday friday. I was excited, because I've been teaching the hooligans in that class for over eight months now; considered an eternity in the esl world - a teacher for more than six months is a blessing, because teaching changes are frequent in the esl world - we're like side dishes- interchangeable....right. I digress.
So Diana, an intelligent girl the same age as the other girls in my class, tries the class on Wednesday, and from the moment she walked into my class, the other four girls instantly, and I mean INSTANTLY started talking about her; allow me to inform you that they knew NOTHING about this girl. And they're doing this all completely in plain view of Diana - Now, I'm pretty firm in my class, and my students generally follow me when I raise my voice. However, concerning this poor girl, they refused to stop whispering and talking about her; blatantly. Not until I seriously threatened them with hours of homework, doing useless crap, did they actually stop, by which point was almost the end of the class.

What is it with middle school girls? The poor thing nearly cried when she got home, and she's now back in her old class, where's she's heads and tails above the other students (where she's worshipped, and not gossiped about). God Bless anybody who teaches middle school students, but even more so those who teach middle school girls. They're vicious, knife wielding people...Now, I won't lie, the boys in this country that I teach aren't much better; they're either spoiled, or just plain stupid when compared to the girls...but man, if ever there was a time that I really felt for the future men of Korea, it was during that class... Today I really let them know how hurt I was that they treated her as they did, although I was more frustrated that I had been teaching them, and it was while I was teaching that it happened. Needless to say, today was one of the longest classes, with two of the girls refusing to cooperate for the rest of class, and then moping severely as they walked out the door....I love Fridays.

Allow me to humbly apologize to my three (*five female readers - on days when the prison inmates are allowed to use the internet*) as to my numerous references of women being sudoku puzzles; I'm referring more to Korean women, although, on more than one occasion, other women I’ve known fall into that "comparison"...however, I'm not trying to lump all of the women into groups; (just those I deem fit to....) No, seriously though, I apologize in the chance I’ve insulted anyone. it will probably happen again in the future, just to warn you.
take care ya'll, and props to my graduate student friends who've finished another year....
wildchild

Fine tuning this soul of mine...

2006-06-02T00:13:00.000+09:00

Well, I hope that all of you are enjoying this nice stream of hot weather that seems to have engulfed not only my home, but yours all across the US and Canada. So much for coming over here to Korea to escape unappreciated parts of North America- the really hot weather has finally landed here, and I for one am not enjoying it (its also barely begun)...
Thanks to those of you who have sent encouraging notes after my last post - things are going good, thanks in large part to a strange listening mix. Allow me to explain in as few words as I can.
A while ago, I'd been given The Killers album "Hot Fuss" to listen to, with strong recommendation. At the time, I was sick of their songs "mr. brightside", and "somebody told me". Well, I was removing the songs on my mp3 player before I was going to go out on an inline skate ride for an hour, and I decided to add the Hot Fuss album. Now, allow me to add this fact; I'm sorta strange, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this - but I have conversations with God when I'm out by myself - I'll have sorta rhetorical conversations about things that are bothering me, work struggles, faith struggles, etc. Most of the time, its in my head, so as to not scare people I pass by at pretty quick speeds (I use speed-skating training inline skates - they're fast) As I was nearing the end of one of my skates, I ended up thinking to myself "Why am I not happier?" - I've got everything that I could need - what am I missing? And as I nearly tripped over a stone, I realized humbly what I was missing - and that was nothing. I was somewhat getting discouraged by pretty much nothing - it sounds stupid, but I know that I'm not the only one who at some point has felt depressed, and then when they take an account of what might be making them feel down in the stink-hole, until they humbly realize they have nothing to be depressed for - except their own embarrassment at realizing this. And the song that made me realize this was "Smile Like You Mean It"... I'm a Christian - I'm saved, and I've got the best friend I could ask for - I'm also coincidentally employed, paying off my loans at record pace, living with a great roommate and friend, and although their might be much more that I feel I'm missing, it's nothing compared to just what I need. Strange how a song does that to people -never mind one by The Killers....(I'm musically inclined - I figure that if I can't play an instrument well, may as well enjoy those who can).... So thanks for the prayers - they were much appreciated.
You'll notice, if you scan even a few scrolls down the page, that I've added a new section on the right side of the page. I'm somewhat of an internet geek, and I've spent far too much time just reading other people's problems on the internet. For those of you who didn't know, I have a younger brother who's currently working in Arkansas - HAHA - Arkansas. Sure, he's probably going to surpass my earnings once he gets a job as a civil engineer, however, I'll be complaining to him every time I drive over a shitty road, or anything else civil-engineering related. The other thing you might notice are two blogs from teachers who work in the Public school system in the United States. For those of you who didn't know, I did my student teaching in an inner-city school in urban Chicago (98% Latino neighbourhood), in a crummy school no less - I can relate somewhat to their stories of frustration and despair, while trying to work in a struggling system. The last thing you'll notice are two blogs about Iraq. As much as I might get flak for this, I'm currently contemplating doing some teaching in or around Iraq, Afghanistan, or possibly the Middle East. (I'm currently reading a book by Thomas Friedman entitled "From Beirut to Jerusalem", in an effort to learn more on the Middle East.)
So if you're bored, give some of the blogs a check, and who knows, you might learn something. And if you think I'm nuts, I dare you to do the unthinkable, and comment on it....
God Bless,
Me

nails grow faster in Korea....

2006-05-24T23:11:00.000+09:00

So, I fought this tooth and nail - to actually update something that I really don't want to do. I don't know why, but I'm sure that I'll come around, and type something worthwhile that will make you say "thanks, I'm glad you did it.....finally".
Okay, so maybe you probably won't say thanks. And I'm already smiling at myself in the mirror, so don't worry, I'm sure this will be worth your time.
So the past few weeks for me have been pretty rough on me, a little mentally, moreso spiritually. I'll leave the mentally part at saying this: Love is a strange thing - just when you might think you're old enough to understand it, something goes and screws it up for you. I just wish that it could be like a sudoku puzzle - eventually, after trial and error, you get it right, and you have that sense of completion. Unfortunately, its not. not even close (and I'll leave it at this - "Love is the impossible Sudoku puzzle" - too big for me to accomplish-now....)
Spiritually, it's been a little strange for me. I've been reading a book called "blue like jazz": good friends of my parents bought for me as a gift. At first, I was skeptical, because it seemed a little flukey: "nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality" - if you can decipher that line to begin with, you're further than I was when I started the book. But its been strangely what I needed. Since I've been here in Korea, and outside of the propaganda headquarters that is Calvin college, (or as my friend Michelle Huyser says, the "Calvin bubble"), you realize that certain things, especially religious things, are much different from when you were inside of "Calvinist Mecca". What I'm fumbling to say is this - when I was at Calvin, I sometimes felt like I was in grown-up Sunday school: "here's your serving of Calvinist (and other) Christianity, and its "truth", so don't worry, its good for body and soul". And while that might be true, there were certain things that I still didn't understand when I left Calvin; things that were "explained" to me, but no matter how much I studied it, I still didn't grasp what my professor was trying to say. Things such as the Trinity; I still didn't understand it when I left Calvin, and I still don't understand it now. And when I had my birthday, and I turned the cool age of 25 - the quarter century, I felt this overwhelming disappointment that came when I tried to explain something about Christianity, and I couldn't do it; I couldn't. And I felt like a failure. And for some reason, reading Daniel Miller's book has been somewhat of a comfort - reading it has allowed me to feel comfortable in my spirituality, and revel in the fact that myself not knowing the Trinity is okay; there's certain parts of Christianity that I will probably never understand until I get to heaven; so I may as well stop hitting myself for not understanding it...
trust me when I say that there's more to it than just that, but that's just a sliver of the things that I've been struggling with. Another weird thing has been me being in Korea for 15 months now - I'm finally starting to get that itch to go home, see things that are (or were at some point) familiar to me; to hear people speaking English at "normal" speed, and to do things like drive a car, and finish work at a relatively sane hour (and not 7:30 and 8:30pm like I do now) Don't bother asking me what has led me to this now - who knows - it will probably pass, but I'm starting to also really miss my friends. People that I haven't seen for over a year are starting to come to mind, as me wanting to just meet up with them, have a beer (or two) and just catch up on stuff, and shoot the shit. Oh well, there will be lots of time for that when I come home.....
well, I've got to get off - this is getting probably too long for some of you - you're presently reminding yourself: "this guy is known for his long-windedness......", "when he gets going, there's no stopping him....", and my personal favourite "zzzzzzzzz...Is he done yet....?" so I'm done. If you've got some extra prayer space, I'd love to fill that spot. And if you have any needs, please send them my way.
take care ya'll, I'll catch up with you after I finish my sudoku...
me

and you think rent's expensive...

2006-05-04T21:23:00.000+09:00

Just another reason why you would rather stay in Canada than to move to Seoul. Recently, the Korean Government finished their yearly evaluation of all properties in all of Korea, where each apartment building is rated according to 80% of what the believed value is if you were to buy or sell where you live. Its an important and slightly stressful time for Koreans, because its what you pay your property tax based on; too high for your liking, and you're going to pay a fortune, too low, and you're grinning for the short-term, or at least until you decide to sell.
Now, I'm going to give you a quick rundown on my apartment, before I tell you the shocking statistic. My apartment is a two bedroom, one living room apartment, with one bath, a small kitchen, and backside glassed-in patio area. My apartment has been converted into a three-bedroom apartment, but it doesn't matter if you have a three bedroom or two bedroom- its what the actual space is. The two bedrooms in the apartment are small by North American standards - the smaller bedroom would be comparable to a bathroom - believe me, its small. The other fact is that my bathroom is about as old as the apartment is; it was built in the 80's; I don't know what the exact time was, but its certainly not a spring-chicken.
Its current market value? In Canadian dollars? 287,686.00 And if you aren't shocked at that, remember that its only 80% of the actual price; and its expected that if this apartment were to be sold, it would sell for over 315,000.
Enough said. Now I understand why the Korean men work over 12 hours a day; they need to just to afford the apartments. Oh, and lastly, when you buy an apartment, you need to pay 75% of the price upfront - usually in cash.
Yikes.

Its been a long days night...

2006-05-02T09:26:00.000+09:00

Well, its been a long time since I last posted - when I realized that I had forgotten my login information to write a new post, I knew that I had set a new record for futility. I've been kind of busy, with a nasty bout of the flu before my parents came, and then a really bad ear infection (and I thought that only children got those) which followed by my parents visiting for ten days. To make a long story short, its been a long busy month or so. However, now that all those things are done, I'm caught up at school, I thought I would just write a few notes.
Spring has just come not too long ago (say for the unfortunate time that my parents were here, when the weather was unseasonably cold) and right now, the weather is gorgeous. The wind blows through with nice spring air, and its a nice change from the typical air pollution that sticks around because of the high-rise apartments and office buildings that dot this country. I hope that this weather last for a while, because the temperature is already starting to get warmer and more humid as the days go by. The nice thing with all this warm weather has been the amount of spring flowers that have bloomed - unfortunately, the cherry blossoms don't stick around too long, but the other flowers are just starting to take their place, so everything is smelling spring fresh; sort of like a splash of "April fresh" fabric softener... (okay, enough of that stuff)
Well, as we just started the month of May, that means that another birthday is coming and going very soon - its hard to believe that this will be my second year here, and while part of me thinks that its been a long time that I've been here, the other part of me believes that it hasn't been all that long - what's fourteen months in a lifetime? Oh well, this weekend, I'll be going to Pusan with my roommate ( Pusan, or Busan) is my roommates hometown, so he's going to be showing me some of the sights, things to see, when he's not spending some time with his mother, grandmother and sister. Upcoming, date wise, this is the month for teachers. On May 15, its Teachers day, and while I may not believe in Confucianism, the somewhat dominant religion of most Koreans, I do agree with them when they promote teachers as the most important members of society. Last year, it was on a Saturday, and I got two pairs of socks and some cologne. However, this year, its on a Monday, and I'm hoping to cash in...and my birthday is the weekend before that, and I've been leaving my kids notes about that as well....(my first time around, I didn't mention anything about either day, and then I saw teachers all around me rack in the gifts, some as much as 100$ gift cards to the bookstore, and I realized that simply treating it as a normal day isn't what's in my best interest...
When my parents came here, it was wonderful for me to show them my little corner of the world, with my friends, institute and country area. However, the only disheartening thing was opening the gifts and things from home. Its discouraging, only because its at time like those when I realize how much of home I miss. And while this has become my new home, its still hard to get reminders from home, because as much as its sometimes hard to believe, there are parts of Canada and home that I do miss. (but as of right now, I sorta like Seoul (minus the awful air pollution) a lot better..)
Otherwise, things aren't that new with me. I'm presently 90% finished my new website, which I hope to get up and running within the next month or so. There are still some things that I need to get ironed out, such as my comments page, and a starter page for my Education Portfolio, and some other small things to take care of. Hopefully, the website will be user-friendly enough that most people won't complain about the new site, but think its a nice upgrade over this public site.
Well, its time for me get going; take care all, and don't work too hard
me

Sumjim pictures

2006-04-03T01:02:00.000+09:00

My third attempt

2006-04-03T00:35:00.000+09:00

Well, my well mannered Mac has somewhat failed me, as this is my third attempt at posting this reply - and it will be much shorter than the previous two just for the sake of me being tired of retyping the same stuff.
Firstly, I have finished the story/letter on my trip to North Korea. If you're interested in reading about it (in a slightly bitter style attitude letter due to my bad mood when I wrote about the trip) then drop me an e-mail at bwildschut(at)gmail(dot)com. Its a little long, and I dedicate the whole four pages to john, because john-john, my beloved Chicago euchre partner, was the only person who requested the story. So for the rest of you, I'm expecting a few guilty e-mails saying something about how interested you are in hearing about my trip, yada yada yada. he he - I'm laughing, so don't think that I'm serious at all.
okay, onto other pressing issues. I also posted some more pictures from another recent trip I took with my friends, to a city I don't even know the name of - regardless of that fact, it was an awesome trip with my Korean friends, who I should mention are not only amazing, but also all single. So if you're in the market for someone special, look no further than these wonderful friends of mine (well, all except one) you can see the pictures if you click on the pictures, and type in my picture site password.
Thirdly, I've lately been under quite a bit of stress, and even people who remark about how calm and collected I always look have pointed out that I've been looking a little ragged lately. For those of you who have an extra second of prayer, I would appreciate it, because there are a few issues at my school, one of which indirectly involves me and some people I hold dear, and its been somewhat of a burden on me. Its made me question the validity of working for an establishment when you're the only one who is having fun, when everyone else is being driven mad by an incompetent supervisor, and fellow workers who would rather talk behind your back then to talk to you face to face; I only question the validity because when I wrote my contract, I specified that I could leave anytime I wanted, within a 30 day window (something they would have never agreed to if they'd actually read my contract..) So if you could just pray for me, I had a really good day today, and was able to get some things off my chest spiritually, but I'm hoping that I can keep things up, without suffering from burnout.
Fourthly, I'm currently in the midst of developing a full website, outside of this blog, so that I have more freedom to be creative, and show things that I can't show now due to space restrictions, and the fact that what I'm using now is free. I hope to have it up and running in a month or so, so if you are patient, then hopefully something better will show in due time. If you have any links to sites that you think have cool ideas, then feel free to drop me a comment about the website and location, because I can use any ideas that are out there.
Otherwise, things for me are going good. My parents are coming up in less than two weeks, and I'm surprisingly excited, even though its going to make my life busier than I will have ever been since I have been here. Its been a little stressful trying to plan things for them, and I'm nowhere near done (I hope they're not reading this). My next post will probably not be for a little bit, or until after they go back home. I've got myself a present coming; sort of a little one year anniversary gift for myself - a new digital camera - so I will be certainly taking more pictures once it arrives.
take care all, and God bless -
me

The Last Untouched Wilderness..

2006-03-12T17:11:00.000+09:00

North Korea - I'm sure that for some of you, hearing the name invokes images of a country that you might think would be awesome to see, however, knowing fully well that you'll most likely never go there, you don't feel guilty about wishing to visit a country with a deceased head-of-state (for those of you who don't know, Kim Il Sung, the former dictator of North Korea, is still listed as the head-of-state, even though he died in 1994).
However, I've long harbored a desire to at least visit the country for a weekend on a sponsored hiking tour of one of their mountains that borders South Korea. (I'm presently looking into spending four nights in North Korea during the end of July, however, that is highly unlikely due to the high cost). This past weekend, I was able to join eight other teachers from my school to travel to Kumgang Mountain

Now, I'm not going to bother you with the whole story of the trip - that would be far too big to put on my blog, and it would be far too boring for some of you to read. What I'm going to do is to write the whole story up in a word document, and then if you're interested in reading about the trip, drop me a basic e-mail at my blogs e-mail link (on the right column of the site) - don't post a comment with your e-mail address, otherwise website-reapers who scan websites for e-mail addresses might pick up your address and send you lots of fun stuff. I'll post another blog when the story/letter is finished - in the mean time, if you want to read it when its finished, just drop me an e-mail.
I hope and pray that things are going well with all of you - if you just want to see the pictures, check out the photo site, which has an updated folder of photo's (some with propaganda!) from the hiking trip.
take care, and I'll catch you on the other side of the bend.
me

Even more great dill pickle taste....

2006-02-21T13:06:00.000+09:00

What I wouldn't give for a bag of fresh dill pickle potato chips.
so I've been trying to follow the Olympics over here, and unless you've got the innate ability to understand their reasoning behind it, they barely follow the Olympics. I asked my kids the other day what was happening in Italy right now, just as a random question, and they all looked at me as if I had just asked them how to decipher the meaning of Pi - they had no clue. It took them five minutes of ridiculous hints to try and tell them, and then, even after they knew what I was asking them about, they asked me in their popular tone "SO"? As if to ask me why I'm bothering them with something so insignificant. I knew before that South Korea isn't exactly known for their winter sports - or summer for that matter, however, I was hoping for a little more than tape-delayed women's hockey games broadcasted at night on the same channel. I've got close to sixty channels, and the only thing they broadcast is women's hockey and speedskating. Now, I have gone to the local Canadian bar in the military district to watch the US and Canadian hockey games, most on tape delay, but its just less than an hour from my house - there's nothing closer. The only highlight of last week was securing bets from two girls for 5000 Won about who would win the US and Slovakia game - the game had been completed the night before - we already knew the score. However, the American girls could not comprehend that their all-powerful men's hockey team would lose to a country they had never heard of before "Slovakia, what is that, some city in Russia"? However, our wager was void when just as we were shaking hands on the wager, the South African saved them by asking if the game was live or not.....At least most Americans are consistent in their lack of geography skills...(not that Canadians are much better)
This past weekend, I went to a Korean wedding - my first since I've been here. It was quite the experience, especially since I knew the bride quite well - she looked beautiful, but its nothing even close to a western style wedding - over here, the wedding hall where you get married actually gives you the option of hiring "extras", so that when you look at the film of the wedding when its over, it doesn't look like you have no friends...(the wedding I was at definitely didn't have that problem - the opposite in fact...) Overall the weather was beautiful, even though it was an indoor wedding, and the trip down riding with my boss was slightly more beneficial with the sunshine - beat riding with him in the rain.
Other than that, things are going good with me, and I hope they are the same with you. Keep your stick on the ice, and your head up - I'll see you later.
me

Fashion industry slave? Or cost conscious....

2006-02-14T09:30:00.000+09:00

So, the past few weeks have been slightly more expensive for me than normal, for a number of reasons. First, since I've come to the realization that I've been here for just about one year, I've concluded that with all of the money I have, I really should be dressing better than wearing my faded old navy "special and discounted" bluejeans. That and I hadn't really bought any new tops except a foray into the internet shopping phenomenon at ae.com (which I add, would have saved me a lot if the stupid customs officials hadn't charged me 55,000 Won on my 160,000 Won purchase- it turned a rather cheap 175.00 shopping trip for six articles of clothing into a rather expensive 230.00 clothing trip...)
South Koreans I've come to understand have this attitude (and others can feel free to correct me) that if you aren't the best at something, you may as well look good doing it - so essentially, make up for your lack of expertise by dressing much more expensive than you can realistically afford. This rule, by nature, means that you end up with a society of nice looking people wearing fashionable clothes. It just means that for people like me who were never born with a shopping gene in their body, nearly faint when, going to a jean shop, discovers that the pair of jeans he's holding are 151,000 Won, or 165 Canadian. Now, I won't lie, my decision to buy the jeans was encouraged by the very cute store clerk who knew enough English to tell me that I really looked good in them (Cripes, I should look good in anything that costs me that much) However, my wallet was still stinging when I was told to expect this when shopping for good clothing. (that may be, but when you're shopping at a dept store, and you don't recognize a single fashion label in the store, how in the world do you know if they're a legitimate store, or just a front for a couple of Chinese sweatshops selling something else other than their brand. I probably don't want to know) So I wore the jeans last week, and I got a lot of compliments, even a scary one from my boss when she stopped mid-sentence in a conversation with a parent to compliment me on my nice new jeans (strange, but not bad)
The other thing that I recently bought was a casual jacket, to be work with pretty much any colour pants that I want. Now, I think its clear by now that I'm no fashion guru - (you should know me better if you disagree with that statement) my fashion sense consists of glances from the first people I run into that I know - if they show one of those hesitating glances, then its off, and I'm already changing something so that they can't say, hesitantly, "Uh, what a nice matching set that you've done..." So this Sunday, when I went shopping with two of my good friends, I was more than snoggered when I saw that the suit jacket that I was interested in was 310,000 Won - really now, who sets the market prices for this stuff. Sure, again, I won't lie, two women's opinions that it really looked good helped lesson the pain of spending that much money, however, maybe I'm in for a rude awakening when I get back home, and realize that prices have either changed a lot since I've been gone, or I've been buying poor quality clothing all my life, and it took a year in South Korea to realize it.
Well, needlessly to say, I'm becoming more Korean. My friends have commented on it already. Apparently, I think like I a Korean, because I've stopped looking for the logical response to everything, and I've just come up with the most unexpected answer possible, and then gone with it (if there was logical thinking in this country, nobody would pay 310,000, 151,000 and 60,000 for three articles of clothing - they'd be nuts) So I guess with that train of thinking, I'm the idiot. If that's so, then far be it from me to change. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
Well, aside from my fashion junket, things are going good. The weathers starting to turn to spring, and just when we adjust to it, we'll get dumped with snow. School's going good, and my forays into the gym 6 days a week are going good. I hope and pray that all things are going well with each of you - take care, and I'll catch you all later
me

Another update....

2006-02-06T23:25:00.000+09:00

Well, I got tired of the old ugly looking blog - it seemed like it was the type of color pattern, where, after looking at the blog, when you next looked outside, the weather would have turned on you, and it would have started raining. So I changed it - sure, I spent way too much time modifying sites that I liked, and picked out things I didn't like, etc - but remember, I did the changes for YOU. I hope you like them; pull up a chair, stay a while....
me

Just one of those weekends

2006-01-31T23:47:00.000+09:00

Well, I just came back the other day from a long weekend trip to the middle of nowhere, also known as the middle of Korea. I was asked to join a good friend of mine, a fellow teacher named Toni, on one of her final weekend treks to somewhere that she knew a lot more about than I did. Before we went, the trip seemed like it would be ideal - the weather was looking nice, and that would make for beautiful sights in the mountains of Korea.
We started on Saturday morning, leaving on the second biggest holiday in Korea- Lunar New Year. We took a train, with only standing tickets, and were somewhat less than excited by the prospect of four hours of standing on a train by the bathrooms, no matter how fun the trip would be. We finally got there (we found seats after two hours of standing/sitting) and found out that our prospects of a ferry ride to see the eight scenic spots of Danyang were impossible- for the first time in over 20 years, the river was frozen over - so six of the eight scenic spots were out of the question. We hit up the two remaining with the help of a nice local, and then headed off to Chunju to see some other sights.
We got to Chunju, and were hoping to see two things - their famed hot-spring hotel, and also take what was supposed to be a beautiful scenic ferry tour of their man-made lake. Unfortunately, the ferry wasn't anything close to scenic - Toni admittedly fell asleep half-way through, and I just wanted to get off the freaking boat- the rumbling of the poor boat engine was making me sick. We tried to get to the famed hot-springs, however, after being misinformed (for the 3rd time, not the last) by the tourism agent as to where we were supposed to catch our bus, we gave up and stayed in a simple hotel.
The following day, we made off for Daejon, as a stop-between, so we didn't have to take a four hour bus-ride. We decided to stay for a bit longer than just a stop-off, and were highly recommended to see the Expo 93 site, where a world expo apparently took place....Again, the tourist agent told us that, after reminding us that we were lucky that it was Lunar New Year, that we should definitely head there and take part in a huge festival at the Expo park. So after taking a bus ride for over 45 minutes all through the whole city, we get there, to find out that there's just slighly over 30 people total at the park; not exactly what we were expecting. We knew things weren't looking good when, printed in the brochure, over half of the theme park pavilions were closed - even the guidemap had them printed as closed - not stickers, but solid proof they weren't opening soon. So after spending twice the time getting there and back, we jumped ship for our final stop, Jeonju.
In Jeonju, we arrived at night, and after the promise in Lonely Planet of every amenity we could imagine, we packed it in for the night in the Tomato hotel. For once, they were close; not exact, but close. We woke up hoping to stop in and see either the Hanok Folk Village, or Woraksan Park, where they have a suspended cable bridge for over 50 meters. We get to the open tourism booth to find out that on every last Monday of the month, the Hanok Folk Village is CLOSED. Righto...And why wouldn't it be closed....We went anyways, stopped in the open shops, and spent some time to make the visit feel like it was worth it. Woraksan was out of the question, because we couldn't get the bus ticket salesperson to understand our request for when the bus would come back from Woraksan - we knew we could get there, but getting back would be harder if we didn't know when we would actually get back. In the end, we decided to take a bus back to Seoul, and when the bus arrived in Seoul earlier than expected, I was proud to note that for once on the whole weekend, something went right.
All in all, it was more fun than it reads- we did get to see some nice stuff, and it felt good to get away from Seoul. The air is much better out of the city, and I felt that I gave myself another few days on earth by not living in this city.
Well, I hope your weekends had better luck than mine - I hope and pray things are going well - I'll catch you all on the other side around.
Me

My little specs of dust...

2006-01-26T23:38:00.000+09:00

Well, I've got one more day of working 12 hour days this past week, and then I'm done. As many of you will notice, I've done a little upgrading to the old blog...Something that has taken me a while to do, and been somewhat of a moderate distraction. Sure, I probably should have been replying to e-mails, but I somewhat figure this to be an e-mail of sorts, so if you feel like complaining, then know I'm listening...Only because I'm technically in the future, your complaining has already happened - I feel proud knowing I care.
Well, other than the surface details, I've inserted a new quote that I somewhat thought was quite relevant. One of the reasons that I felt I still needed to stay here in Korea, for other reasons, was that I felt that I hadn't accomplished all I had wanted to complete. In other words, I haven't built my mountain yet. When I was in Chicago, after I had left, I felt a sense of incomplete satisfaction; I had taught my students that there was more to life than just books, and that even though you might have scored lower on a state test than what a sixth grader could accomplish, there is more to life (by the way, that's true - my students could have scored better on their state tests had they answered every multiple choice question with the letter "b") - I felt assured knowing that their scores were not testing their direct historical knowledge.... As for here in Korea, I felt that I hadn't accomplished all that I had wanted to. That's one of the reasons that I decided to stay at my institute, otherwise commonly mistaken for a "school" - where there is a competent administration, organization, and most importantly, responsibility (My institute only has gossip and (dis)organization going for it. Now sure, I appreciate the (dis)organization just as much as the other guy, because it allows potential mistakes to completely fly under the radar; sometimes, I like to see mistakes as a chance for a healthy distraction to the otherwise potentially dull regular life dreariness.
Okay, I'm digressing. I hope things are going well with all of you - and if you've actually read all of this, Happy Lunar New Year - I'll be heading out this weekend to some places in the middle of no-where, to somewhat get away from the sweet-smelling odors of Seoul (commonly mistaken as a mid-20th century industrial town, minus the smokestacks).
take care all, and God Bless
Me

The dog days of January

2006-01-15T19:03:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm at the half-way point of my busy month of January - this is another one of the months where I work an extra two classes in the morning - this time around, my regular class break occurred in my favour, where instead of working my usual seven o'clock class, instead I'm finished at 6:50, which is a nice bonus. Sure, it will cut into my overall overtime bonus at the end of the month, however, I'll take the earlier finishing time, because overtime for me is 1.2 times my regular pay; not exactly motivation to bust your butt, but its more money than I'd make doing nothing. For those of you who know math, most of you who know my contract situation probably know that sometime soon, I should be finishing. However, as crazy as those who've worked with me at my school might think, I decided to stay at my school for another nine months after my first contract ends. The most major reason being that I'll only be in Korea for another nine months, and not a year; I missed one Huizinga family Christmas party, and I'd rather not miss another if possible. That, and I don't see myself sticking around here forever. I'll go home sometime around the first week of December, make the rounds and visit friends, and then start looking for a job starting after Christmas school vacation. If all else fails, I'll go on a one-month trek through the Mediterranean countries, mostly just Greece, Italy, and possibly Spain. I know, it sounds rough, but sometimes you just need a vacation. And after that vacation, I still can't find a job, if worse comes to worst, there's one of the best international school's here in Korea, and the majority of the teachers go to my present Church....And who knows, if God wants me there, then I'll be there. (and as you read this, my parents are probably praying that there will be a job opening)
Now, I'd been intending on doing this earlier, sometime around the new year, however, if you know me best, then most of my ideas just stick to being ideas, and leave the actual grunt work to somebody else....So, now that "somebody else" has stepped up to the plate, here are the most things that I can think that I'm thankful for. (In no particular order)
1) I'm thankful for Brooke and Kavan pushes my sarcasm to an all-time high, all the while keeping it closely confined to only them.
2) I'm thankful to have hockey back, and for the invention of the internet, so I can listen to live feeds of audio broadcasts.
3) I'm thankful for a job, where I can work and have friends who appreciate me, for all the times that I've let them down.
4) I'm grateful for parents who love me for who I am, even though I'm going to be sticking around her for another nine months.
5) I'm especially grateful that they have already bought plane tickets to come up and visit me coming up in April...I'm sure my mom's already circled the date on all the calendar's at home.
6) I'm thankful for Korean friends who've shown me a whole new world, and that while friends might be a universal word, it does mean things in different countries (both good and bad)
7) I'm grateful that my friends Jenni and Kim could be both experiencing something that, while I may be incredibly jealous of them, they're nice enough to let me live vicariously through them and experience grad-school life with them.
8) I'm thankful for friends who pray for me, even when I may get far behind them in my consistency of praying for them.
9) I'm thankful for some videos of my nephew that I got to watch when I opened my Christmas package from my family - it might have been the cheapest gift in literal value, but it's the one I appreciated the most.

As of right now, that's all I can think of - if you feel angry that you were left out, feel free to post a reply and complain about it - and I'll be sure to lodge it with the proper authorities. Other than that, not much is new with me. I'm currently almost finished reading all of the Chronicle's of Narnia, in their original form, in one massive volume. I must say that I appreciate C.S Lewis's humour much more now than when I was a mere kid reading them, and trying to figure out what "jawing" and other classic Lewis vocabulary expressions. Well, I need to get going - I hope and pray that this finds you all doing well, and I'll write some other time.
me

Ho, ho, doh!

2005-12-26T00:58:00.000+09:00

Well, as one of my friends just recently posted, I have been somewhat lax in my postings, so Kim, this one's for you...
Christmas has come and gone, as as I might have expected, this Christmas had quite a different feel to it, for numerous reasons. First, Christmas isn't even slightly similar to Western thinking. Over here, the only semblance of Christmas that you see on television is the occasional infomercial or shopping channel, where they're pushing gifts of fire-engines, and the like; otherwise, there are no Christmas commercials whatsoever. It kind of sneaks up on you, even when you aren't watching television. Along with the lack of media, there's no mail or flyer barrage in your mailbox of this years popular Christmas toys. It made shopping that much more stressful, because when I actually realized what month it was in December, I needed to get my gift to send home pronto, because I had to allot for shipping, etc. Even for things with my Korean friends, shopping was tough, because I haven't had a day off in over a month (aside from the usual Saturday and Sunday).
This year, Christmas also had a completely different feel because it was when I felt the double joy that comes when you give a gift that was completely unexpected. With my close Korean friends, gift exchanges are very new, partly because if I hadn't suggested the idea, it wouldn't have happened. Koreans don't really buy gifts around Christmas; its really only for the smaller children. Even for my slightly lesser Korean friends, giving them a Christmas card made them all emotional, because they didn't expect it (who'd have thought that something so simple as a Christmas card would have a completely different meaning, as opposed to now, where families receive dozens or more of them now, and you get into the habit of writing down who sent you one, so you can make sure to send them one again next year, as so forth..) For my gift exchange, I luckily got my best friends name, and my gift actually brought her to tears, so score one for the good-team. And funny enough, not receiving gifts actually made the gift-giving feel that much better, no matter how much it cost me - I appreciated the gift-process that much more.
Of course, Christmas Day didn't feel the same - waking up for my church commute at 7:20, to get to church by 9:25 (1 hour commute) didn't have the same appeal, and opening my box from my parents and family didn't have the same joy that comes when you can see the persons face when you open the gift. That and the joy/happiness that came from the best gift of all, watching five videos of my nephew, and just getting to see him move, talk, and just be himself made me miss being there to watch him grow up, especially now - he's missing out on his Uncle Bryan time (and it really made me double-think my desire to stay here for another nine months after my initial contract finishes in mid-February.
News on the contract front has been interesting - just writing my own contract was interesting, and then finding out that my own boss was ready to sign me to a contract that she didn't even read came with its own frustrations (she thought I was going to stay for a whole year, whereas on my contract it was in bold that I'm only here for an additional NINE months...) Don't get me wrong, I love my job - I love the feeling that I get from teaching, and seeing my students grasp something gives you an emotion you can't describe unless you're another teacher, but my administration is quite possibly like the administration from Office Space, or the British Comedy series, "The Office" - comically stupid, but to a point. Our Christmas party was "Subway" subs, at the school....Nice touch - I work over nine-ten hours at the place, and then when I want to leave it asap, I'm stuck for another hour and thirty minutes while we all chow down on Subway subs...
Overall, my Christmas was somewhat disappointing - my two best friends have been sick for the past three days with serious bouts of the flu and sinusitis, and the like, so any hope of seeing them was put to bed with them staying inside all day - that visit wasn't going to happen. (That and the fact that today, Monday for me, I have to go to work - where's Boxing day when you need it - I don't even want to go shopping...) I'm glad I'm in Korea, and getting to experience so many new and exciting things, but its sometimes the days like Holidays, where you realize that no matter how much fun you have, and how much you are enjoying the experience and the like, nothing replaces Christmas at home with the family.
I hope and pray that all of you are having a wonderful Christmas, and if you're reading this on Christmas day in North America, shame on you for taking time out to read it- time's better spent eating turkey and stuffing....mmmmm.....stuffing, and not microwaved...mmmm....... Have a Blessed Christmas all, and I'll make it my New Year's Resolution to post more often....and I'll try to keep it.
love me

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday

2005-12-03T11:18:00.000+09:00

Leave it to America to invent a musical band, where the entire chorus is just one word - Saturday. Why this song is currently stuck in my head is beyond me.
I'm on a bit of a soundtrack binge. Leave it to Greg, one of my former roommates, who enlightened me to the joys of listening to soundtracks with no-name bands being displayed; it shows you scores of new artists who you would have never given the time of day, but because they're on a "soundtrack", for some reason we believe they deserve a place in your musical repertoire.
Two new soundtracks that I've recently come across are "Elizabethtown" and "In Good Company". I remember sitting in the movie theatre with another movie buff and fellow former teacher, Kavan, when we both walked out of the theatre and remarked that the movie had a slick soundtrack. Well, now that I have the soundtrack, it's more than slick - its pretty downright cool. As for the Elizabethtown soundtrack, Cameron Crowe, (not the actor) is incredibly gifted at compiling soundtracks, and he's made another amazing one in Elizabethtown. He also compiled the soundtrack for "Almost Famous", which is also worth checking out. And if your really desperate for a fix, check out "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton"....That's right. I said it. I've seen the movie, and it wasn't half bad.....
Things overall are going quite well. "Winter", or winter as we know it has arrived in Korea, with the whopping -5 Celsius daily lows, and the arrival of children arriving to class wearing two dozen layers of clothing....and then proceeding to sweat and stink in my classroom, because the heat kicks in, and I open my windows.....I'm still wearing short sleeves, so whatever books or pamphlets that these mothers are reading about taking care of their children, they obviously are adhering to the policy of "if your mom is cold, then YOU have to wear extra clothing...."....been there, had that happen to me....and I'm glad I saw the light on that issue...
Just finished a nasty bout of "two-day cold and flu". It wasn't bird-flu, but it sure felt like it. I had the chills, the sledge-hammer to the head type headache, the whole nine yards. To top off the whole week of miserable phone teaching and report cards, I got to kick a student out of my class for making me miserable during my last class - I got to throw his grammar book twice - and even though I was yelling all over the place, it felt soooooo good. After being the benevolent dictator for far too long, I got to play the part of Castro, and then whip into a raging fury. I think for the first time in a long time, on Monday, they'll all come to class on Monday, and have their homework done. Hazaa for the pain-in-the-ass teacher.....(I'm discovering that I'm fitted perfectly for this role....Is this any surprise to anyone who knows me well?)
Well, it's time for me to ship my but off to school - when your sick, you don't do anything that might require you to stick around school - but now that I'm much better, I've got to play catch-up.
I hope things are going well with all of you, take care, and throw a snowball at a car for me - I miss that part of winter in Chicago.....
Me

What no foreign experience should be without....

2005-11-16T21:55:00.000+09:00

Well, by this point, some of you probably already know I recently underwent minor surgery over here in Korea. Not having a clue of what to expect, I thought that I would just let you in on some strange and funny stories about my whole experience of two nights, and three days in a hospital in Korea.
Firstly, let me say that I truly hope that none of you ever have to go through having surgery in another country without family. Not having someone to complain to can completely understand what you want to complain about something, such as it pain, or just frustration in general, is mentally challenging. Not having someone to be with you can be tough, but not impossible to deal with. However, over here in Korea, I have been blessed with the next best thing to having family by your side - another family and army of friends who would do anything to help me out, in any situation. They are a true blessing to me, and if you are ever looking for a place to find friends, Korean friends are some of the most loyal I have ever known. My roommate himself spent over 2/3's of my hospital stay with me, just in the off-chance that I needed something, he could translate easier for me - not only must it have been incredibly boring for him (he swears to me that it was no problem) but I also know that I complained a fair bit at one point, and he faithfully asked the nurses three times, knowing full well what they were going to say, just so that I would probably stop asking....(more on that later)
Secondly, all surgery in Korea is always at least one night - that night being the night before the surgery. My surgery started at 7am the following morning, and my stomach and everything else needed to be completely clear. You also sign all of your paperwork and signatures the night before, everything except your final checkout signatures, so that the next day, your work is minimal. While this sounds ideal, it makes for a boring time after visiting hours are finished...You're healthy, so why in blazes are you sleeping on a crummy bed, for a crummy sleep, when your bed at home is much nicer - not to mention, cheaper than one night in a hospital....
Third. Nothing like a 5:30 am wakeup, for them to start up the old IV and put on the hospital gown....and then back to bed, until they wake you up again at 6:30 for the hospital porter to take you to the surgery waiting room until your ready. Normally, I'm not all that popular among Koreans anymore- in public, there's lots of foreigners always walking around. However, in a hospital, in the surgery room, I felt like the treat of the week....Everyone is stopping by, chatting in Korean, and then giggling and walking around, big smiles all around....
Fourth - and this is probably the most important. They're advanced with their medicine here, no doubt about it. However, whenever they get around to it, if in a North American Hospital, they ask you if you want a spinal anesthetic, instead of the old sleeping gas, opt for the sleeping gas. My surgery was only supposed to take 30-40 minutes max. So my anesthesiologist decided that I didn't need to sleep - a simple spinal freeze would do the trick...They stick a needle in your spinal column, and then your whole body goes numb. Only problem was a) she missed my whole spinal column on the first try, and only my right side when numb, while the left still had feeling. The second try worked, to a degree. The needle didn't go in far enough, so when they thought I was numb, they tested things out, and surprisingly I still felt a little. At this point, I start to get a little sleepy, so I must have missed the part where they said they were going to test my feeling again....I must not have heard, and they must have thought that it meant I had no feeling. So they started the incision, only, I was awake, and I surely felt it when they started....my lurch was enough for them to put me to sleep......
Now, I can laugh at it when thinking back...I still vaguely remember their shocked voices asking me what I think they just did, and me telling them, frantically, "I want to be put to sleep please....."..hehe....
Other than that, things have been going good. One of the frustrating things about having a spinal anesthetic is that (and this is even though mine didn't "work") is that you have to make sure that you lie flat on your back post-op, so that the spinal freezing liquid does not flow up to your head. So me, with no pillow, and in enough pain to be bitterly unable to sleep, was stuck lying flat on my back, and my everything below my chest was still partially numb from the spinal miss....so I had no feeling, and poor Kevin, my roommate faithfully went back and asked them every time if could please do something but lie flat on my back, starting at the ceiling...I couldn't see the TV, or barely even see any visitors who came by....I was a miserable bag.
Apologies aside, things are going great now, praise and thanks. Tomorrow I go back for my one week follow up, and things feel so good, I don't think there's anything amiss, and I feel great!
Well, in order to keep this short, I'm going to end it now. I hope that this finds everyone well. Other than this, there hasn't been a whole lot to report on. If anything's new with anyone, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an e-mail.....
God Bless,
me

Leave it to family.....

2005-11-03T22:40:00.000+09:00

Well, leave it to family to put a foreigner living in another country to put him back in my place. When my brother Eric told me to get off my duff, and hold true to my promise of making a posting following my trip to the caves, I figured one of two things: 1) either its a close sign of the apocalypse... (my brother reads my blog?) or 2) He was right, and I needed to stop working and be true to my faithful readers.
First things first, I thought I would receive more slack for my posting on eating dog meat. But my main man Dustin (or Dusta Rhymes as I refer to him) stepped up to the plate and backed me up on the validity of eating dog meat. Dustin, I miss you dude, and if it weren't for your notes and phone call before my vacation in China, I'd probably still be stuck there now, trying to figure my way out. As for you dog meat haters out there, you'll bend eventually.
Well, I just finished uploading a few pictures to my pictures site- if you need the address, check back in prior posts; I could post it here, but you should have it memorized by this time, so allow me to have absolute ignorance and pretend that you're clicking the back button to find it. You'll find some sweet Halloween pictures- mostly of the pre-school children. The preschool children were the only section of my school that had a Halloween party. Most of the teachers wanted to have a whole-school party, so we could scare the creeps out our kids, especially the real pains-in-the-ass ones, who make you question whether you're actually teaching, or doing something closer to a primitive form of babysitting.... However, it made things easier for me, as I went as a yellow toga-wearing roman.....Poor kids thought I was trying to be Ghandi, or the Dali Lama....It was either bright yellow or plaid....and I wasn't going to go as groundskeeper Willy from the Simpsons....so I just told them to check their history books.
Samcheok was actually over a week or so ago, and it was just beautiful. Due to our cabbie dropping us off at the wrong half of the bus-station (on a side note here, for a country as developed as Korea, they use buses here like we use cars. The bus stations are filled to the brim with buses going everywhere in the country; and you better buy your ticket in advance, because they fill up fast. Trains are more expensive, and their buses drive like they're being filmed for a Hollywood stunt chase - they're the types who shouldn't have their license, but by some stroke of luck, nearly avoid collisions just enough for you to have a sliver of hope that you'll get there alive...) What was more of a wakeup that we're living in a mountainous country was that while we were driving (or closer to careening towards) to our destination, it began to snow quite heavily. Our bus driver, for what its worth, saw this as an opportunity to drive quicker, as if he could outrun the snow...Regardless, we got there. Aside from me losing my really nice shampoo in the yeogwan we stayed at, it was a nice weekend. There are outdoor pictures only because my camera has a serious issue with trying take indoor pictures. The caves (the primary reason we went to Samcheok) were amazing. I wish I could show you pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it. It was just as nice to get away from the city.
Other than that, not a whole lot is new with me - thanks for those of you who have posted comments on my site - much obliged. Fall's turned the corner here, and now that the tree's have changed colours, things are rapidly progressing to "winter" in Korea, which is just a cold fall in Canada (not that you'd know by the way they talk about it)... Take care all, and I will talk to you all soon.
God Bless,
Bryan

Fido says what?

2005-10-20T23:17:00.000+09:00

Before I continue, apologies to all those members of PETA and any other animal rights organizations who might be reading this posting...however, before you start promoting those causes, please be sure to leave South Korea out of your list of "evil" countries. This just in, dog meat is pretty darn tasty.
Allow me to explain. Even for those of you who don't know that South Korea has the worlds fourth largest city (Seoul - 23,000,000) or that South Korea's Gross Domestic Production ranks three places behind Canada (13th compared to 16th), or that South Korea packs 48,000,000 people into a space slightly smaller than the State of Indiana, even if you didn't know those facts, you probably know that South Korean's eat dog meat. We aren't talking about your pound puppy type dog, we're talking about dogs bred solely for the purpose of consumption. Before you struggle to not close your window of this blog, and declare your outright hatred for me, understand that this is no different from a cow; the only difference being that we can't milk a dog. So when one of my friends who I teach invited me to join him for dog meat, I jumped on the opportunity, and wrote into my mental calendar....(where I store all of those birthdays I forget, and those e-mails I was supposed to send out a long time ago...)
After spending the afternoon forgetting about it, I met my friend, and, well, dog meat is quite tasty. Its texture looks similar to a good tasty roast, and the taste is close to a mix between chicken and roast. I was quite pleased. Not knowing what to expect, I was thinking that it would be chewy and not as tasty as it was. There were pieces of the meat that were looking similar to fat on a steak, but were also quite tasty. I wish I could have shown you a picture, however, I wasn't going to take my camera into the restaurant. When we entered the restaurant, the owner came and ushered my friend and I into the private room, with luxurious chairs and table settings. When I tried to just get a normal seat, she resisted, and my friend translated that she wanted me to have the room - it was her honour.
So far, I'd rank dog meat right up there on my list of experiences, that along with my rice-flavoured protein shakes. This weekend I'll be traveling to visit some historic caves of Korea, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post for you, to inject some new hightlights into my travels.
I hope things are going well with you all...
God Bless,
Bryan

Randomness things and such

2005-10-09T11:11:00.000+09:00

Do I ever miss hockey. With so many Koreans playing baseball in the US, we always have baseball games of some sort on television - they will give preference to games where Koreans are playing, even if they are on the bench. However, they don't even know what hockey is, much less how its played, where its played, or anything else regarding hockey for that matter. I'm contemplating trying to download the games afterwards, but the temptation to check the scores of the games makes trying to watch the games almost 24 hours after the game without having checked the scores is almost impossible. One of the things that I have enjoyed considerably is living to the games live on the internet, via radio. Its somewhat nostalgic - comparable to people who listen to baseball games on the radio while attending the game. You get more play by play on the radio, and the colour commentary isn't exactly of Harry Neale quality, but the excitement can't be matched when you listen on the radio, and the delayed crowd reaction when a goal is scored, trust me, the feeling is the same. Either way, I wish I had SportsNet on cable here, because all I would be doing is watching hockey.
In Korea, as I might have previously mentioned, Koreans wear suits, (even the women, with a skirt) that we sometimes joke that they even go as far as to sleep in them. All this suit wearing means that dry-cleaning is a major business. So when I went to the dry cleaner to get my shirts dry-cleaned (and ironed, of course...) imagine my surprise when I discovered that for five pairs of pants, and seven shirts, it was only ONE dollar to dry-clean, and less than that to iron 'em. For all those shirts and pants, I paid 20,000, or just over 23 Canadian. Awesome. The dry-cleaner was so excited to see so much "work", that he gave me a discount.
Things here in Korea are otherwise going well - the weathers changed for the better, into the fall season, or as Koreans will tell you, season THREE of FOUR seasons that Korea has...right...The tree's haven't changed yet, but eventually they'll do so rather quickly, and then its a mad rush to the mountains to go hiking. And then after they all go to the mountain, the Koreans go to one of the Sea coasts - either the East or West coast. It's also massive shrimp season right now. On a side note, I absolutely love shrimp right now. I feel like I've missed out on a whole opportunity to enjoy seafood when I was living in Grand Rapids. Sure, Sarnia's not a hotbed for shrimp or squid or octopus, but I'm sure that Grand Rapids had some nice restaurants. Over here though, seafood is not only cheap, but its also incredibly healthy. Right now, its fall "super-shrimp" time in Korea, where a special kind of shrimp is in season - fist-sized shrimp...shrimp the size of a fist. Even though I haven't tried it yet, I just like typing it- shrimp the size of a fist. Mmmmm....Now that's a meal.
Well, I need to get going - a few of the people at my school are planning a Thanksgiving turkey type festival this afternoon, but I don't know what's going down - so its my time to check out what's going on, and what part I need to arrange. Take care all, enjoy your thanksgiving turkey, and remember to thank God for everything that he has blessed you with

Caio,
Bryan