On the stairs in my apartment building, I often encounter condom wrappers that have failed to make it from their users apartment to the garbage. I wonder if one of my fellow tenants is just careless or bragging. I don't mind either way, the wrappers are often interesting. Today it was lavender and had a pretty flower in the logo.
Interested in checking out the Korean version of a flee market, Amber and I rode the subway out to the World Cup Stadium. home of the 2002 World Cup. I realized that I never actually been to a Canadian flee market and thus had no basis for comparison. It was very busy and over whelming and all the clothes were very tiny and all the books were in Korean expect for a few trashy romance novels. I did, however, buy a button that says "Buy Korea" and the charter has hearts for eyes and fire for hair.
There was also a man on stilts. I dislike men on stilts almost as much as I dislike clowns. Amber and I were waiting in the coffee line and not more than thirty seconds after I pointed out how much I hate men on stilts, the man on stilts came over to me and started taking in an a fake annoying high pitched voice. He was collecting donations for something. Fortunately, some kids distracted him and he didn't stick around too long, just long enough to cause me extreme discomfort and to poke fun at my nose ring. Amber gave him the change from our coffee after. I wanted to kick his stilts over.
After we finished at the flee market, we watched some B-Boys preform and then we hiked to the top of the mountainous hill beside the stadium to a festival of long grass that was happening. There were a lot of people and a lot of couple shirts and shoes and hats. Couple shirts I understand, they are cheap and cute. But couple shoes, especially if they are New Balance shoes, are kind of weird to me. That's a pretty big commitment, isn't it? One couple in particular that was matching head to toe couldn't have been more than fifteen years-old. Where do they get the money and is it OK to continue wearing the shoes after you break-up?
We wondered around in the grass for a while and took in the spectacular view Seoul and the World Cup park, potentially one of the most beautiful spots in Seoul, lush with trees and even some grass. I miss grass and I will have to continue missing for at least another six months or more, coming home just in time for winter.
I thought of this last weekend as I sat on the beach in Sokcho enjoying the warm sun and sound the ocean. I also thought about how soon I will be as far away from a coast as I could possibly be in Canada. I good reminder of how much I love the landscape of my prairies come unexpectedly today in the form of a random movie choice. After the hike up the mountainous hill, Amber and I decided to see a movie. There were only two English movies that were playing "Bella" and "One Week". I knew a bit about "Bella" and it was our first choice having never even heard of "One Week". However, the next showing of "Bella" was almost three hours away, so we impulsively bought tickets for "One Week". A purely Canadian film from start to finish. Tim Horton's, Canadian Tire, Joel Plasket cameo, Husky the Musky, Terry Fox, Arbroug and an all Canadian sound track (I guess). The main character goes on a motorcycle trip from Toronto to Vancouver. It was so weird to be sitting in a movie theater in Korea and watch an indie film that might not even make to Winnipeg theaters. I enjoyed watching the landscape of home, considerably more diverse than the Korean landscape, which is beautiful but similar throughout the country. There are a lot of references in the film that only a Canadian would understand. I guess all those things were just treats for Canadians though, Amber really enjoyed it and she is from North Carolina. I am not sure what the point of the movie was exactly, but I also enjoyed it beyond the reminders of the good things about home. Looking for information about this film and whether or not is currently playing in Winnipeg reminded me another good reason to go home, live music. I have been starving for good music, good live music, and good DJ's, DJ's who do more than just create playlists. DJ's that mix and remix. I am very excited about live music. Although, worried about bars closing so early. Here, we never get to FF until after one and we dance until five or six. It will be weird to have to leave at two, that seems so early to me now. I suppose that in general I will have to get used to a significantly different and poorer lifestyle. I am not trying to mentally prepare myself for this. I want to enjoy my last days in Korea as much as I possibly can.
The first weekend in October was the Korean version of thanksgiving, Chuseok (추석), except that Chuseok has more meaning that Canadian Thanksgiving (what are we really celebrating at Thanksgiving, what is the origin for us Canadians?) and is a very important holiday. It is so important that my boss gave me (and all the other teachers) a gigantic box of eight gigantic Asian pears, they almost the size of my head. I have been eating one day since chuseok and I am pretty sure that one pear easily exceeds the recommended fruit servings for one day. I cut it up in the morning and then eat some after every meal. Nothing says Happy Chuseok like Asian pears, except maybe Spam or shampoo. The month before Chuseok the grocery stores begin to stock the chuseok gift packs. Sometimes they are practical things like sets of toothbrushes and shampoo and soap, or sometimes they are fancy socks or Olive oil or spam or seaweed paper. The gift packs are nothing if not random. I am just glad I got the pears and not the spam. For Lunar New Year, I got a giant box of dried persimmons which I left out on my table while I went to Busan with my friends and upon my return I found them covered in mould. Nobody told me I needed to refrigerate them. It was such a waste.
The Friday before Chuseok was a holiday so Amber, Sally, Sarah, and I decided to take a trip. Originally we wanted to go to Busan. Our plan was to leave Thursday night right after work. However, we waited too long and all the train tickets were sold out, even standing room was taken. We had to amend our plan and settled for Sokcho (속초). It is also on the Ocean and is closer to Seoul. Sally and I bought the bus tickets the week before, we got that last four tickets on last bus out on Thursday night. As we all get out of work at 10:00 pm, it is a little bit rushed to get to the bus station near the Techno Mart. Sally and I actually get out a bit earlier and by 10:00 we were in cab on the expressway with lots of time to spare. We got to the bus station at 10:20. We were patiently waiting for Sarah and Amber, who we assumed were on their way to this bus station and would arrive shortly. At about 10:30, Sarah texted Sally, confirming the bus station. They were at the Express Bus terminal, south of the river and far far far from where we were. Trying not to panic, we told them where they actually needed to be and then beyond all hopes that they would arrive before our bus left at 11:05. Continual texts to update on their current location lead us to believe they would not arrive in time. Korea is punctual and we were trying to think of ways to stale the bus. The departure time was creeping closer and closer and I was losing hope. We decided that Sally and I should get on the bus and that they would come first thing in the morning, which worried me because Sarah had all the pension information. Sarah and Amber, at the mercy of the subway system, were two stops and one transfer away when our bus pulled up. Sally gave the ticket man her ticket and then I gave him mine, he noticed that I was holding two other tickets and said something to us that we couldn't understand. We tried to explain that our friends were late. He told us to wait and made us move over to the side while the bus filled up. This bus filled up and then pulled up, the bus behind it pulled up and then Sarah and Amber came running, shouting in joyous victory. We laughed and hugged and cheered and were generally very relieved. It must have been funny to witness. We put our luggage on the bus and all climbed on board, but not before the bus attendant rearranged our tickets so that we could sit together.
The other folks on the bus were generally of younger set and the hum of voices was becoming little loud when an Agassi at the front who was trying to sleep yelled at everybody to stop talking and go to sleep. To this sharp reprimand, we all listened and brought our conversations to a whisper or ceased talking altogether. This would never happen in Canada, somebody would inevitably tell the old man to fuck off. I am going to miss Korea. Today, I saw an old lady cross the street in spite of the red hand telling her not too and she didn't get a single honk.
We arrived in Sokcho at about 2:30 am and grabbed a cab to our ocean view room at our pension. literally, our window, a road, the ocean. We fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing into the breakers. In the morning, Sarah got up early and made a run to the E-Mart, only a short walk away, and bought the ingredients for a delicious breakfast feast which included real cheese. After this we made our way over the beach only a three minute walk and hung out for the remainder of the afternoon. The weather wasn't really beach weather, the wind was a little chilly and although the sun was warm, it was still only about twenty degrees Celsius. The water, however, was lovely, a little chilly at first, but once we got used to it, it was perfect and so clear. We could see to bottom clearly. I watched fish swim around near my feet and had to avoid a jelly-fish once. Not being the beach season at all, the beach was sparsely populated and most of the folk were foreigners like, escaping the city for this rare long weekend.
We got a early supper, late lunch of a seafood stew and Mul Hye, a cold spicy raw fish soup with lots of lettuce. It sounds a little disgusting but is one of the tasty dishes that I have had here. We ate a lot of it.
Friday, we walked around a bit, watched TV, played some damn dutch Blitz and then, after I lost a game of Kings Cup, had a late night dance party on the beach, each of us with our own MP3 players. Unfortunately, the mirth was cut short when Sally's MP3 player found its way into the ocean. Oops.
We went back to the pension and eventually went to sleep.
Saturday night we foraged for wood and built a perfect fire on the beach. We played mature game of Truth or Dare that included Amber singing Insomnia to the guards at the Military Base and made smores.
Sunday was by far the laziest day. Amber and I got up early to watch the sunrise, which was breathtaking lovely. We then slept late, after we finally got up we sat around watching TV most of the day and eventually made it outside for a supper of raw fish and more mul hye. We left Monday morning, bright and early and we home before 1:00, enough time to relax and even nap a little before heading to work. It was the perfect weekend, just hanging out and relaxing. We had no agenda and no goals all weekend. It was a lovely break.
A side note to the birthday blog: On the actually day of my birthday. Sarah and Amber came up to Ssangmun and the four of us (including Sally) went the bar on the first floor or Sally's building. It recently changed owners and was renovated. Space became Rockin. Amber and I waited in the bar and ordered a drink while Sally and Sarah prepared the cake. They brought it in a blaze of sparkling glory and the bar tenders/ owners played a birthday song for me. After the cake calmed down, the cute bar tender with the white glasses and custom darts carried in side pouch, built a flaming shot for me and set the table on fire Xena: Warrior Princess Style. It was awesome and I had to drink the still flaming shot with a straw. It was terrifying and delicious. I like my alcohol to be dangerous. Then, the cute bartender used a straw to make flower cell phone charm for me. This is the reason the bar tenders know my name. They don't get a lot of business so we are especially memorable.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
FIRE!
I'm back at the PC bang, but this time in the morning, there are far fewer people shooting and killing at ten in the morning than ten in the evening. It is so quiet and empty it is almost eerie. I was actually worried that the PC bang wouldn't be open this early in the morning. You might think that 10:00 am is not early, except in Korea. Not much is open at this time in the morning.
I was headed here last night, I had just said good night to Sally and I was planning to continue the epic update, but a moment after saying good night someone yells, "Hey foreigner!" assuming I am being the foreigner summoned, I turn around. Korean Young Jin and Nina from Nebraska want to be my friends. Young Jin made it sound as though Nina had only been in Korean for a month and needed friends. After talking to Nina for a moment, I discovered that she has been in Korea for three years and has lots of friends. She has only been in Ssangmun for month and Young Jin is apparently the one who needs friends. They invited me for a drink at Rockin, I thought a moment, feeling compelled to actually go the PC bang, I had a choice, I could write about adventures or I could have adventures. I chose to have adventures. At Rockin, where the bar tenders know my name (I swear I have only there three times including last night) we played a round of darts that I lost horribly and then Nina made Young Jin go home and grab his Go Stop cards and he taught us how to play Go Stop, much to his embarrassment, apparently that is just something you don't do at a bar. I thought it was fun. Go Stop is my kind game, matching patterns, I love patterns! I even won a round. We left shortly before midnight, Nina paid for the drinks and I forgot to thank her and I feel really bad about it. This is the type of thing that can only happen in Korea. I already miss Korea and I haven't even left yet.
After making new friends, I still intended to go to the PC bang (most are 24 hour establishments) but first I had to pee, then I had to wash my hands which was a reminder that my sink was still clogged. So, I grabbed a plastic bag and began to disassemble my bathroom sink. It only took a a few minutes to figure out how to access the hair trap in the sink. Ingeniously designed to be relatively easy to clean, it wasn't that difficult, but it was sick. Really sick. I'm pretty much awesome though, my sink drains again.
My birthday was last week, I keep getting older, it sucks. However, birthday parties do no suck, especially when I have the kind of friends that I have. My birthday was epic and expect the for year my mom and sister prepared a s scavenger hung and the year the Katie H and Nikki planned an impromptu surprise party due to a misunderstand, I have never been so celebrated in my life. (Maybe my sixteenth, but I'm pretty sure that most people weren't aware that it was a birthday party.) I attended the Korea wedding that I wrote about in my last blog, when I got home later that afternoon, I found a bright pink note on my door from Sally, telling me to meet Tina (a friend whose birthday was September 27) in Hongdae at exit 5 at 8:00. At first I was actually a little bummed, I hate travelling on the subway to Hongdae alone, it's depressing, but then I figured I needed to get Tina gift and therefore needed to go to every body's favourite bookstore Bandi & Luni's. Also, I needed to buy my plane book, I figured Muirkami would be interesting enough to block out the fact that I'm uncomfortable on an airplane. And, I wanted to look for a clutch that I had seen there once when I was with Bryan and therefore pretending that I wasn't interesting in such things, fearing his judgement. However, now I sincerely regret caring about his opinion of me because the canvas clutch with the picture of leopard print clutch on it as no where to be found. I wondered around the gift and stationary section like shoplifter trying to find it. It was a good thing I also needed a card, I was being watched pretty closely at this point. From Bandi & Luni's, I headed to Hongdae with time to spare so that I could wrap Tina's gift. I had to buy tape at a Buy the Way and a journal at Artbox, from which I could rip out and tape together sheets to use at wrapping paper. I sat in a coffee shop and drew a lot of attention with my makeshift wrapping job. Worried about being late, I sucked back my iced latte and hurriedly put the fit together and wrote out the card for Tina. At exactly 8:00, I went back to the subway station and discovered Sally in a neon green shirt and purple tights, not really her usual style. I was a little confused, where was everybody else? This was supposed to be party! As soon as Tina showed up, Sally handed me a card and took off. So the epic adventure began. The card was to inform Tina and I that we would forced to follow clues on a scavenger hunt throughout Hongdae. The first clue was "bean" and "credit card" it took me a while to figure this one out, Starbucks, I have a Starbucks Visa card, because it's free and easy. Tina lead us to Starbucks where found Amber dressed exclusively in neon colors and had her hair done like Sandra Park from 2NE1. It was awesome. She gave the second clue which lead us to Club Drug, where Sally had repositioned herself with the third clue which brought us to FF and found Lisa looking like a babe in neons and short skirts, the bar tenders and door guy from FF were all there and Lisa made them take pictures with her camera. We promised them we would come back for dancing later. Lisa's clue involved math and this took me a while, but eventually we found Dave in drag (almost) at seven eleven. He was in girl pants and tight t-shirt and awesome and T.O.P. sunglasses. His clue had us all parade down to the Luxury Noraebang to find Sarah as CL from 2NE1. There we paraded back past FF to the garlic chicken place that Bryan and I discovered accidentally.
Highlights from here on in include dalk Samgyupsal, the Big Bang gift back that Tina gave me, the choose-your-own-adventure that Sarah made for me, which included a situation in which I go to to a noraebang with Big Bang and we make the baby sing Super Junior songs, free cover and a free drink at FF because it was my birthday party, dancing all night long, street dukkpokki, and my favourite people in Korea. It was awesome. They dressed up like 2NE1 for me! That's love.
I was headed here last night, I had just said good night to Sally and I was planning to continue the epic update, but a moment after saying good night someone yells, "Hey foreigner!" assuming I am being the foreigner summoned, I turn around. Korean Young Jin and Nina from Nebraska want to be my friends. Young Jin made it sound as though Nina had only been in Korean for a month and needed friends. After talking to Nina for a moment, I discovered that she has been in Korea for three years and has lots of friends. She has only been in Ssangmun for month and Young Jin is apparently the one who needs friends. They invited me for a drink at Rockin, I thought a moment, feeling compelled to actually go the PC bang, I had a choice, I could write about adventures or I could have adventures. I chose to have adventures. At Rockin, where the bar tenders know my name (I swear I have only there three times including last night) we played a round of darts that I lost horribly and then Nina made Young Jin go home and grab his Go Stop cards and he taught us how to play Go Stop, much to his embarrassment, apparently that is just something you don't do at a bar. I thought it was fun. Go Stop is my kind game, matching patterns, I love patterns! I even won a round. We left shortly before midnight, Nina paid for the drinks and I forgot to thank her and I feel really bad about it. This is the type of thing that can only happen in Korea. I already miss Korea and I haven't even left yet.
After making new friends, I still intended to go to the PC bang (most are 24 hour establishments) but first I had to pee, then I had to wash my hands which was a reminder that my sink was still clogged. So, I grabbed a plastic bag and began to disassemble my bathroom sink. It only took a a few minutes to figure out how to access the hair trap in the sink. Ingeniously designed to be relatively easy to clean, it wasn't that difficult, but it was sick. Really sick. I'm pretty much awesome though, my sink drains again.
My birthday was last week, I keep getting older, it sucks. However, birthday parties do no suck, especially when I have the kind of friends that I have. My birthday was epic and expect the for year my mom and sister prepared a s scavenger hung and the year the Katie H and Nikki planned an impromptu surprise party due to a misunderstand, I have never been so celebrated in my life. (Maybe my sixteenth, but I'm pretty sure that most people weren't aware that it was a birthday party.) I attended the Korea wedding that I wrote about in my last blog, when I got home later that afternoon, I found a bright pink note on my door from Sally, telling me to meet Tina (a friend whose birthday was September 27) in Hongdae at exit 5 at 8:00. At first I was actually a little bummed, I hate travelling on the subway to Hongdae alone, it's depressing, but then I figured I needed to get Tina gift and therefore needed to go to every body's favourite bookstore Bandi & Luni's. Also, I needed to buy my plane book, I figured Muirkami would be interesting enough to block out the fact that I'm uncomfortable on an airplane. And, I wanted to look for a clutch that I had seen there once when I was with Bryan and therefore pretending that I wasn't interesting in such things, fearing his judgement. However, now I sincerely regret caring about his opinion of me because the canvas clutch with the picture of leopard print clutch on it as no where to be found. I wondered around the gift and stationary section like shoplifter trying to find it. It was a good thing I also needed a card, I was being watched pretty closely at this point. From Bandi & Luni's, I headed to Hongdae with time to spare so that I could wrap Tina's gift. I had to buy tape at a Buy the Way and a journal at Artbox, from which I could rip out and tape together sheets to use at wrapping paper. I sat in a coffee shop and drew a lot of attention with my makeshift wrapping job. Worried about being late, I sucked back my iced latte and hurriedly put the fit together and wrote out the card for Tina. At exactly 8:00, I went back to the subway station and discovered Sally in a neon green shirt and purple tights, not really her usual style. I was a little confused, where was everybody else? This was supposed to be party! As soon as Tina showed up, Sally handed me a card and took off. So the epic adventure began. The card was to inform Tina and I that we would forced to follow clues on a scavenger hunt throughout Hongdae. The first clue was "bean" and "credit card" it took me a while to figure this one out, Starbucks, I have a Starbucks Visa card, because it's free and easy. Tina lead us to Starbucks where found Amber dressed exclusively in neon colors and had her hair done like Sandra Park from 2NE1. It was awesome. She gave the second clue which lead us to Club Drug, where Sally had repositioned herself with the third clue which brought us to FF and found Lisa looking like a babe in neons and short skirts, the bar tenders and door guy from FF were all there and Lisa made them take pictures with her camera. We promised them we would come back for dancing later. Lisa's clue involved math and this took me a while, but eventually we found Dave in drag (almost) at seven eleven. He was in girl pants and tight t-shirt and awesome and T.O.P. sunglasses. His clue had us all parade down to the Luxury Noraebang to find Sarah as CL from 2NE1. There we paraded back past FF to the garlic chicken place that Bryan and I discovered accidentally.
Highlights from here on in include dalk Samgyupsal, the Big Bang gift back that Tina gave me, the choose-your-own-adventure that Sarah made for me, which included a situation in which I go to to a noraebang with Big Bang and we make the baby sing Super Junior songs, free cover and a free drink at FF because it was my birthday party, dancing all night long, street dukkpokki, and my favourite people in Korea. It was awesome. They dressed up like 2NE1 for me! That's love.
Monday, October 5, 2009
I'm Pomme
A couple of weeks ago, somebody spilled water on my keyboard (I can't imagine who the irresponsible person could possibly be, sitting in bed, with a glass of water and laptop, outrageous) and apparently water causes the "r", "f" "4", and "volume down" keys to cease operation. This is especially annoying because I can't write about the F4. I have since learned that r's and l's are especially important in my life because all of my passwords contain one or the other, meaning I cannot sign into to blogger to access this blog. Fortunately, I'm perma-signed into Facebook, otherwise my life would be over. And so, I find myself once again sitting in a PCroom, among noisy boys shooting things and strategising at computers that don't have spell check. Although, I just discovered that if let the cursor hover over a work long enough, I am given the Korean spelling and English pronunciation, unless the word is spelled wrong. I suppose one of the upsides of the PC room is the "service" free green tea (!) and Korean keyboards (아싸!). I am not really too bummed about the the destruction of my laptop, this is the perfect excuse to buy a new one (macbook macbook macbook!). Mac's are just too good, they never fall apart unless you spill water on them. My iBook G4 is an archaic four (4!) years old. I have been avoiding sending messages or typing on my laptop since the someone wrecked my laptap, either I have to replace the r's and l's with x's, which is awkward to read, or I have to copy and paste the r's and l's, which is rather time consuming. This accident, coupled with a few lazy lazy weeks is the main reason for not posting here in over a month.
Now I shall try to make up for it by updating everything from the past month or more. I sit here in the PC bang, surrounded by notebooks and loose sheets of paper containing all the items I want to write about and you, dear readers, shall eventually get it all, but I'll try to be nice and divide the posts. Also, there is a good chance that I'll have to pee soon, at which point, I'll feel to awkward about leaving my computer and will just pay and leave. Let's begin.
In the past month, I have accomplished a number of things that were on my list of things that I needed or wanted to do before I left Korea and a few things that were necessary before I die.
1) See Big Bang perform live. The Asia is One Asia Song Festival was in Seoul in the middle of September at the World Cup Stadium. Not only did I get to see Big Bang, I also got to see 2NE1, Super Junior, and Girls Generation, along with performers from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Ukraine (random, I know). Each group or performer only got to do two songs, with the exception of Super Junior who did Sorry Sorry as the encore. Big Bang was the last group to perform but had to leave immediately because G-Dragon was performing right after the Global Gathering. The Global gathering actually would have been my preferred place to be but the tickets for the two day event were 180,000 ₩ while the Asia Song Festival was free. The stadium was packed with adolescent folk, screaming their love for the various bands. Each of the Korean groups had their own fan club. Fan Clubs here are officially business. These kids are card carrying members of these clubs and the perks are apparently fantastic, including preferred seating and glow sticks. I am considering joining Big Bang's fan club, but I can't read Korean, a problem, I assume. They sang a song I didn't know and Lies. I was really hoping for Haru Haru but I guess it was good anyway. I would have also liked to see G-Dragon sing Heart breaker but beggars can't be choosers and I am just thankful that I got to see Big Bang in person. It was awesome.
2) Drink and hang out at a convenience store. I drank beer and ate snacks with my friends on the plastic furniture outside a Family Mart. Most convenience stores have plastic patio furniture set up outside and it is common for people to hang out and drink at these makeshift self serve hofs. It has been a dream almost since I got here to do this. Sarah, Sally, and I hung out for a while eating chips and drinking crappy beer until we were finally sufficiently creeped out by the old drunk dude sitting at the table next to us who kept looking at us and talking to himself. At one point he even took some of our chips. The cashier tried to cash him away and tell him to leave us alone but he was persistent. It was getting late anyway. Although, my original dream was to order pizza and then eat it at the convenience store while drinking beer, I will settle for this. It was still a lot of fun.
3) Attend a Korean wedding. I have heard a lot about them and I really wanted to experience one for myself. In the middle of September, I attended the wedding of two Friends, but it wasn't exactly a Korean wedding as only one half of the couple was Korean. Amber invited me to the wedding of her former co-worker. I gladly agreed to attend. I had heard the wedding is merely for show and really all about the pictures. I thought it was an exaggeration, I was though wrong. There were two or three photographers and a videographer, all of which were on stage with the couple and the officiator. They had no qualms about moving things around and even going so far as to reposition the bride and groom as needed. It was a Christian wedding and they didn't even stop for the prayers. The ceremony was relatively short, although there was a small sermon, which I couldn't understand for obvious reasons. After the ceremony, we went to the dining hall. (I should back up... weddings in Korea are almost all held at Wedding Halls, huge buildings dedicated to weddings. There are usually a number of floors so there are multiple weddings being held simultaneously and the reception is just a buffet of which more than one wedding party might be partaking. ) The food was awesome and there was a huge variety. This was my second favourite part. My favourite part was being introduced to Amber's co-workers as Justin Timberlake's girlfriend, as this is how they remember Bryan (and apparently still talk about him). I was so proud.
3) See middle school students get flirty. I have sub categories here.
a) I caught a sweet and generally well-behaved middle school boy texting in class. I was going to let it go, but then he got a bit rowdy and eventually I had to demand the hand phone. With great reluctance, he eventually handed it over. At the end of class, I gave it back to him with a smile. I really like him. Later, as I was leaving the school, the boy chased me down, very worked up. He shoved the cell phone in my face, showing me text, full of exclamation marks. It was in Korean. “My girlfriend!” He yelled. “You...my hand phone.... she....soooo angry.” A look of horror on his face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. This skinny middle school boy with his geeky glasses and his sweet smile; he has a girlfriend. I immediately had a mental image of them together and I could picture them holding hands and maybe singing to each other at noraebang. I bet he is a really good boyfriend.
b) In a different class that has a few more outgoing students, I was a witness to some middle school flirting. It wasn't much, but at least the boys and girls were talking to each other. It was fun class in which little was accomplished. It was heartwarming. It was the last class before the middle school students got a break for testing and it was the last time I will probably see a lot of those students, many of whom were my favourite middle school kids. It was nice to see them come out of there shells for a moment. I freaked them out by reading Korean. We laughed a lot. They thought I was sad. I was. They noticed. I love them right now. I will probably hate them tomorrow. The sexy sullen boy wasn't in class that day, which is probably why the girls were more comfortable.
4) I went on a trip on which, every meal consumed outside the pension involved seafood. Literally every meal. And there was a variety. Stewed fish, raw fish, broiled fish, claims, prawns, crabs, squid, stuffed squid, everything. Stand-out being a dish that sounds kind of sick but is mazing. A cold spicy soup with raw fish and lettuce. Muel-Hae. It was freaking delicious.
5) Attending a day long competition between two of the biggest and best universities Korea. Maybe this wasn't actually on the list of things I need to do before I leave Korea, but it should have been. I went with Sarah to witness Yonsai University compete against Korea National University in various sports. Apparently, these schools have a big rivalry and one day a year all their sports teams compete in all events. I happened to witness Rugby and Soccer. Although, the stadium was rather full during the rugby game, I'm pretty sure that only a handful of people were actually watching the rugby game. Most spectators were focused on dancing harder and shouting louder than the other fans. The cheerleaders never stopped, not even during play, which was fine because their stages blocked the view of field anyway. There were also lives bands and canned music and dancers, lots and lots of dancers. It was intense and deafening. It was awesome. We left during the soccer game to avoid being rained on, which were anyway in the dash from the Stadium to the subway station.
And it various unrelated matters...
I have have a younger elementary student, who has taken to giving me whatever loose change he happens to have in his pocket, so far I think it adds up to about 550₩. If this keeps up, I’ll be rich soon. He is also generous with his gum, g-u-m, gum. I have him in a regular class and he is also a regular out the extracurricular speaking class I have twice a week. He is in a much lower level then the other two boys that regularly come, making it difficult to play a lot of games, as he has a super unfair disadvantage. He is kind of a brat, but not a mean-spirited one. He is kind of frail looking and doesn’t like to wear shoes. He takes them off as soon as he gets to class and walks around on the dirty Kang Tae Woo floors in his socks. I bet his mom gets so mad at him. He is extremely likable and cute. She probably can’t stay mad at him, just like my mom could never stay mad at my brother. Asshole. Sometimes he is the only student in the speaking class and we play hang man for fifty minutes and then I him give candy.
I was really looking forward to 09/09/09 and I totally missed it. I love when things are all the same. I remember 06/06/06 everybody thought the world might end and that scary movie was released.
Although most Koreans would claim that their daily kimchi consumption protects them from Swine Flu (or whatever we are supposed to be calling it now, H1N1? not nearly as catchy as Swine Flu, damn pigs!), most Koreans are terrified of contracting this illness that kills fewer people than regular flu strains. This has caused a huge spike in the sale of hand sanitizer and led to the addition of soap in the bathroom at my hagwon. Prior to fear of the flu, it was difficult to find hand sanitizer, I was keeping my eyes open for it due to the lack of soap in the bathroom at the academy. A few weeks ago, it started popping up everywhere and suddenly, I find myself being forced to use the hand sanitiser a lot more frequently than I would like (here is where I rant about not allowing our bodies to become naturally immune to diseases, eventually making us a weak society of constantly sick people), like at the University game I went to, we all received a squirt of hand sanitiser before we were allowed to enter the stadium. At the gym, bottles have appeared on every desk and at every entrance. I found fancy sanitisers in the beauty shops, it doesn’t smell quite so bad, so it is probably less effective. When the students enter the hagwon, a T.A. checks their temperature with a ear thermometer and makes gives them a squirt of hand sanitizer. I guess an epidemic here could be particular damaging because the kids have so much contact with each other. They see some kids at school and then see different kids from different schools at hagwon. But they eat a lot kimchi and so they have nothing to worry about, I eat it, too.
I have been here in the PC bang for almost two hours emailing and blogging. This is a lot of work.
I will hopefully hit one up tomorrow morning before I go grocery shopping (I'm out of raisins) and continue the up dating for those of you who still read this. My typing muscles are sore.
Now I shall try to make up for it by updating everything from the past month or more. I sit here in the PC bang, surrounded by notebooks and loose sheets of paper containing all the items I want to write about and you, dear readers, shall eventually get it all, but I'll try to be nice and divide the posts. Also, there is a good chance that I'll have to pee soon, at which point, I'll feel to awkward about leaving my computer and will just pay and leave. Let's begin.
In the past month, I have accomplished a number of things that were on my list of things that I needed or wanted to do before I left Korea and a few things that were necessary before I die.
1) See Big Bang perform live. The Asia is One Asia Song Festival was in Seoul in the middle of September at the World Cup Stadium. Not only did I get to see Big Bang, I also got to see 2NE1, Super Junior, and Girls Generation, along with performers from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Ukraine (random, I know). Each group or performer only got to do two songs, with the exception of Super Junior who did Sorry Sorry as the encore. Big Bang was the last group to perform but had to leave immediately because G-Dragon was performing right after the Global Gathering. The Global gathering actually would have been my preferred place to be but the tickets for the two day event were 180,000 ₩ while the Asia Song Festival was free. The stadium was packed with adolescent folk, screaming their love for the various bands. Each of the Korean groups had their own fan club. Fan Clubs here are officially business. These kids are card carrying members of these clubs and the perks are apparently fantastic, including preferred seating and glow sticks. I am considering joining Big Bang's fan club, but I can't read Korean, a problem, I assume. They sang a song I didn't know and Lies. I was really hoping for Haru Haru but I guess it was good anyway. I would have also liked to see G-Dragon sing Heart breaker but beggars can't be choosers and I am just thankful that I got to see Big Bang in person. It was awesome.
2) Drink and hang out at a convenience store. I drank beer and ate snacks with my friends on the plastic furniture outside a Family Mart. Most convenience stores have plastic patio furniture set up outside and it is common for people to hang out and drink at these makeshift self serve hofs. It has been a dream almost since I got here to do this. Sarah, Sally, and I hung out for a while eating chips and drinking crappy beer until we were finally sufficiently creeped out by the old drunk dude sitting at the table next to us who kept looking at us and talking to himself. At one point he even took some of our chips. The cashier tried to cash him away and tell him to leave us alone but he was persistent. It was getting late anyway. Although, my original dream was to order pizza and then eat it at the convenience store while drinking beer, I will settle for this. It was still a lot of fun.
3) Attend a Korean wedding. I have heard a lot about them and I really wanted to experience one for myself. In the middle of September, I attended the wedding of two Friends, but it wasn't exactly a Korean wedding as only one half of the couple was Korean. Amber invited me to the wedding of her former co-worker. I gladly agreed to attend. I had heard the wedding is merely for show and really all about the pictures. I thought it was an exaggeration, I was though wrong. There were two or three photographers and a videographer, all of which were on stage with the couple and the officiator. They had no qualms about moving things around and even going so far as to reposition the bride and groom as needed. It was a Christian wedding and they didn't even stop for the prayers. The ceremony was relatively short, although there was a small sermon, which I couldn't understand for obvious reasons. After the ceremony, we went to the dining hall. (I should back up... weddings in Korea are almost all held at Wedding Halls, huge buildings dedicated to weddings. There are usually a number of floors so there are multiple weddings being held simultaneously and the reception is just a buffet of which more than one wedding party might be partaking. ) The food was awesome and there was a huge variety. This was my second favourite part. My favourite part was being introduced to Amber's co-workers as Justin Timberlake's girlfriend, as this is how they remember Bryan (and apparently still talk about him). I was so proud.
3) See middle school students get flirty. I have sub categories here.
a) I caught a sweet and generally well-behaved middle school boy texting in class. I was going to let it go, but then he got a bit rowdy and eventually I had to demand the hand phone. With great reluctance, he eventually handed it over. At the end of class, I gave it back to him with a smile. I really like him. Later, as I was leaving the school, the boy chased me down, very worked up. He shoved the cell phone in my face, showing me text, full of exclamation marks. It was in Korean. “My girlfriend!” He yelled. “You...my hand phone.... she....soooo angry.” A look of horror on his face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. This skinny middle school boy with his geeky glasses and his sweet smile; he has a girlfriend. I immediately had a mental image of them together and I could picture them holding hands and maybe singing to each other at noraebang. I bet he is a really good boyfriend.
b) In a different class that has a few more outgoing students, I was a witness to some middle school flirting. It wasn't much, but at least the boys and girls were talking to each other. It was fun class in which little was accomplished. It was heartwarming. It was the last class before the middle school students got a break for testing and it was the last time I will probably see a lot of those students, many of whom were my favourite middle school kids. It was nice to see them come out of there shells for a moment. I freaked them out by reading Korean. We laughed a lot. They thought I was sad. I was. They noticed. I love them right now. I will probably hate them tomorrow. The sexy sullen boy wasn't in class that day, which is probably why the girls were more comfortable.
4) I went on a trip on which, every meal consumed outside the pension involved seafood. Literally every meal. And there was a variety. Stewed fish, raw fish, broiled fish, claims, prawns, crabs, squid, stuffed squid, everything. Stand-out being a dish that sounds kind of sick but is mazing. A cold spicy soup with raw fish and lettuce. Muel-Hae. It was freaking delicious.
5) Attending a day long competition between two of the biggest and best universities Korea. Maybe this wasn't actually on the list of things I need to do before I leave Korea, but it should have been. I went with Sarah to witness Yonsai University compete against Korea National University in various sports. Apparently, these schools have a big rivalry and one day a year all their sports teams compete in all events. I happened to witness Rugby and Soccer. Although, the stadium was rather full during the rugby game, I'm pretty sure that only a handful of people were actually watching the rugby game. Most spectators were focused on dancing harder and shouting louder than the other fans. The cheerleaders never stopped, not even during play, which was fine because their stages blocked the view of field anyway. There were also lives bands and canned music and dancers, lots and lots of dancers. It was intense and deafening. It was awesome. We left during the soccer game to avoid being rained on, which were anyway in the dash from the Stadium to the subway station.
And it various unrelated matters...
I have have a younger elementary student, who has taken to giving me whatever loose change he happens to have in his pocket, so far I think it adds up to about 550₩. If this keeps up, I’ll be rich soon. He is also generous with his gum, g-u-m, gum. I have him in a regular class and he is also a regular out the extracurricular speaking class I have twice a week. He is in a much lower level then the other two boys that regularly come, making it difficult to play a lot of games, as he has a super unfair disadvantage. He is kind of a brat, but not a mean-spirited one. He is kind of frail looking and doesn’t like to wear shoes. He takes them off as soon as he gets to class and walks around on the dirty Kang Tae Woo floors in his socks. I bet his mom gets so mad at him. He is extremely likable and cute. She probably can’t stay mad at him, just like my mom could never stay mad at my brother. Asshole. Sometimes he is the only student in the speaking class and we play hang man for fifty minutes and then I him give candy.
I was really looking forward to 09/09/09 and I totally missed it. I love when things are all the same. I remember 06/06/06 everybody thought the world might end and that scary movie was released.
Although most Koreans would claim that their daily kimchi consumption protects them from Swine Flu (or whatever we are supposed to be calling it now, H1N1? not nearly as catchy as Swine Flu, damn pigs!), most Koreans are terrified of contracting this illness that kills fewer people than regular flu strains. This has caused a huge spike in the sale of hand sanitizer and led to the addition of soap in the bathroom at my hagwon. Prior to fear of the flu, it was difficult to find hand sanitizer, I was keeping my eyes open for it due to the lack of soap in the bathroom at the academy. A few weeks ago, it started popping up everywhere and suddenly, I find myself being forced to use the hand sanitiser a lot more frequently than I would like (here is where I rant about not allowing our bodies to become naturally immune to diseases, eventually making us a weak society of constantly sick people), like at the University game I went to, we all received a squirt of hand sanitiser before we were allowed to enter the stadium. At the gym, bottles have appeared on every desk and at every entrance. I found fancy sanitisers in the beauty shops, it doesn’t smell quite so bad, so it is probably less effective. When the students enter the hagwon, a T.A. checks their temperature with a ear thermometer and makes gives them a squirt of hand sanitizer. I guess an epidemic here could be particular damaging because the kids have so much contact with each other. They see some kids at school and then see different kids from different schools at hagwon. But they eat a lot kimchi and so they have nothing to worry about, I eat it, too.
I have been here in the PC bang for almost two hours emailing and blogging. This is a lot of work.
I will hopefully hit one up tomorrow morning before I go grocery shopping (I'm out of raisins) and continue the up dating for those of you who still read this. My typing muscles are sore.
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