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.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Detailed Information on a Bill
Recently, while pretending to teach English speaking skills to middle school students, I have taken to posing questions to the entire class and then seeing how long it takes for someone besides me to break the silence. Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a gold fish and I am not able to actually time the silences. However, once I waited five minutes, because I looked at the clock at the clock shortly after I asked the question and the started writing what was the first draft this particular blog entry. This question had been posed to an individual student, Seok Min, whom I specifically picked because I actually though he come back with something and I had already picked on Jae Hoon too much. Sometimes, while I am waiting the middle school students to answer questions, I totally zone out, I start daydreaming or planning my evening or thinking about Big Bang, or I fantasize about being able to sing the Korean version of Insomnia at noraebang. (It’s never going to happen because Whee Sung can barely do it, the rapping part is too fast, but I can dream.) I suddenly surface and realize that I have been standing in front of a room of teenagers, some of who are staring oddly at me, but most of whom have taken this opportunity to start a text message conversation with friends stuck at a different hagwon. In Seok Min’s defense, the question did have something to with beauty contests being sexist. (I don’t write the books, I just teach the books.)
In the middleish of July, the Korean government made a step forward in the right direction concerning the over education of the children and decreed that no child is allowed to be at school past 10:00 pm. Good for the kids, good for me, bad for every single hagwon, especially the less important ones like piano hagwons. They only time that many children have in their schedule for something like piano lessons is when English, math, and science hagwon has finished. I don’t care what adults get fucked over because of this law, I fully support it. In fact, if the government decided tomorrow (or Monday rather) that all hagwons should be closed and made illegal, I would happily pack my bags and go home. I think this education is sick and the generation of children who have been raised in this environment (to which I willing and knowing contribute in order to make money and have “adventures”) are going to be fucked up. But I digress. This law means that I get out of school a full twenty minutes earlier. Now the last class ends at 9:40, of course I have been at school earlier to make up for it, but I would rather be out at 9:40. However, this twenty-minute shift has completely screwed up the schedule. It has taken a full week to get used to it, figuring out what time classes start and end and when is the best time to use the washroom without having to wait in line. I feel depressed that twenty minutes could affect me so. I think I am getting old.
Back to middle school students and how much I hate them and love them all at the same time. I spend most of my energy (and anger*) on the more responsive and less well behaved elementary students and don't the energy to get angry at them, so when they misbehave I usually laugh. Actually, the middle school students are not better behaved, just quieter and sneakier. They get so annoyed when I wake them from their oh so necessary mid-class naps, shooting me dirty looks and angry sighs (how dare she try to make me learn? the bitch!). They also don’t appreciate when I tell them to put away their MP3 players or cell phones as if I should allow texting in class (and basically I do, if they would try to hide it better, I wouldn’t bother calling them out). After I told John (I use his English because I can’t pronounce his Korean name) five or six times to put his way and then he used it again, I flipped out a little, what could be so important? What are you , 15? No, teacher, 16. OK, sixteen-year-olds do have important things to do. Yes, very important, teacher. I told him that if I saw it again, I would take it way. There were only five minutes left in class. At least he was trying to hide. Kroos (he picked it himself, I think it is his rapper name) wasn’t trying to hide, but at least he only needed to be told three or four times. Yun Young was passed out the entire class. I’m an ineffective teacher.
*We are one week into a new semester. I decided that this semester, until I leave, I am going to be happy teacher not angry teacher. I am trying to patient and fun with even the most heinous of elementary classes. I almost lost it one class, but managed to pull through with only raising my voice a little bit. I am not going to let the little douche bags get me down.
In the middleish of July, the Korean government made a step forward in the right direction concerning the over education of the children and decreed that no child is allowed to be at school past 10:00 pm. Good for the kids, good for me, bad for every single hagwon, especially the less important ones like piano hagwons. They only time that many children have in their schedule for something like piano lessons is when English, math, and science hagwon has finished. I don’t care what adults get fucked over because of this law, I fully support it. In fact, if the government decided tomorrow (or Monday rather) that all hagwons should be closed and made illegal, I would happily pack my bags and go home. I think this education is sick and the generation of children who have been raised in this environment (to which I willing and knowing contribute in order to make money and have “adventures”) are going to be fucked up. But I digress. This law means that I get out of school a full twenty minutes earlier. Now the last class ends at 9:40, of course I have been at school earlier to make up for it, but I would rather be out at 9:40. However, this twenty-minute shift has completely screwed up the schedule. It has taken a full week to get used to it, figuring out what time classes start and end and when is the best time to use the washroom without having to wait in line. I feel depressed that twenty minutes could affect me so. I think I am getting old.
Back to middle school students and how much I hate them and love them all at the same time. I spend most of my energy (and anger*) on the more responsive and less well behaved elementary students and don't the energy to get angry at them, so when they misbehave I usually laugh. Actually, the middle school students are not better behaved, just quieter and sneakier. They get so annoyed when I wake them from their oh so necessary mid-class naps, shooting me dirty looks and angry sighs (how dare she try to make me learn? the bitch!). They also don’t appreciate when I tell them to put away their MP3 players or cell phones as if I should allow texting in class (and basically I do, if they would try to hide it better, I wouldn’t bother calling them out). After I told John (I use his English because I can’t pronounce his Korean name) five or six times to put his way and then he used it again, I flipped out a little, what could be so important? What are you , 15? No, teacher, 16. OK, sixteen-year-olds do have important things to do. Yes, very important, teacher. I told him that if I saw it again, I would take it way. There were only five minutes left in class. At least he was trying to hide. Kroos (he picked it himself, I think it is his rapper name) wasn’t trying to hide, but at least he only needed to be told three or four times. Yun Young was passed out the entire class. I’m an ineffective teacher.
*We are one week into a new semester. I decided that this semester, until I leave, I am going to be happy teacher not angry teacher. I am trying to patient and fun with even the most heinous of elementary classes. I almost lost it one class, but managed to pull through with only raising my voice a little bit. I am not going to let the little douche bags get me down.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Her Florid, Indecent Mouth!
First, I would to apologize to Big Bang*. Drunken Tiger could never replace you in my heart. You are much better looking and your music is much catchier. I didn’t mean I what I said in the last post, I was just trying to be extreme. Please forgive me. Also, I really like when G-Dragon wears his longish hair in the top knot; it’s my favourite hair style on Korean guys.
Pretty much all of my students cheat while taking their vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of class. I let them unless they are being stupid obvious. Then I have to tell them to books away or take away the nifty little cheat sheets they have created. When I first arrived in Korea, I was amazed when some students would point at a cheating student and say “cunning”. Such a sophisticated word for such low level students. Later I discovered that actually they are using the Korean word for cheating or copying. I was considerably less impressed.
And I have some very sad news to report. Tasha, my best teacher friend at Kang Tae Woo is leaving. Her and her husband are moving outside of Seoul, so it would be too for for her to travel to work there anymore. Friday was her last day. After work on Friday, our boss took all the teacher out for dinner, partially as a goodbye for Tasha and partly as a celebration for the end of intensive (back to regular afternoon even schedule next week, and once again Sally has fewer classes and a better schedule than me). Gone are the days of soju and samgupsal; he took us to a restaurant in HomePlus, Ashley Grill and Salad. It was a salad buffet. A salad buffet people, it wasn’t even delicious. Although there was tiny little pieces of cheese cake. We didn’t even get alcohol, not so much as bottle of wine to share between the eight of us. It was really lame. He just wanted something fast and cheap. He’s married now and has a kid on the way. He is much less fun than before. I want raw fish or samgupsal for my last day. I bet I only get a lunch at someplace lame. Anyway, Tasha is gone and school is not going be as fun because I won’t be able to talk with Tasha. She was funny and told me intimate details of her life. I am going to miss her a lot. She is one of the more interesting people that I have met in my life. She was also the most excited about this...
Something every exciting happened a few weeks ago and I totally forgot to mention the occurrence. Don’t too jealous or excited but I saw Rain. Bi. It was awesome. Bryan and I were hanging out near Seoul City Hall, just walking and talking, nothing special. Up ahead we noticed a large gathering of people. There are often street performers in this area so we decided to check it out. As we got closer, I noticed how oddly quiet everybody was and how there seemed to be not much going on. Then I noticed the big lights and assumed photo shoot. I was curious to see who it was, but didn’t expect that it would be someone I know. I stood on my tiptoes trying to see around the people in front of me and just as I was losing my balance and had to come down, I caught a glimpse of Rain! I exactly told Bryan and then I pushed in a bit to get a better view. He was doing either a photo shoot or filming for a CF (what commercials are called in Korea). We only caught the end of the event. When it was finished, he waved and bowed at me then took off real fast bodyguards close behind. The whole thing was cleaned up almost immediately and except for the wet pavement (some sort of effect I assume) one would never have known that Rain had been there. I texted everybody I knew would care (including Tasha) and quickly received a bunch of jealous responses.
A couple weeks ago I discovered that the coffee shop from First Shop of Coffee Prince exists and is in Hongdae. Next week I’m going try and get Sarah to come with me to find it. She likes K Drama’s almost as much as I do and is therefore the most fun person to take a long. I’ll make it a facebook event and invite her. I hope it’s like the drama and only handsome boys work there.
*This a the Japanese version of the song. I have not been able to find the Korean version.
Pretty much all of my students cheat while taking their vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of class. I let them unless they are being stupid obvious. Then I have to tell them to books away or take away the nifty little cheat sheets they have created. When I first arrived in Korea, I was amazed when some students would point at a cheating student and say “cunning”. Such a sophisticated word for such low level students. Later I discovered that actually they are using the Korean word for cheating or copying. I was considerably less impressed.
And I have some very sad news to report. Tasha, my best teacher friend at Kang Tae Woo is leaving. Her and her husband are moving outside of Seoul, so it would be too for for her to travel to work there anymore. Friday was her last day. After work on Friday, our boss took all the teacher out for dinner, partially as a goodbye for Tasha and partly as a celebration for the end of intensive (back to regular afternoon even schedule next week, and once again Sally has fewer classes and a better schedule than me). Gone are the days of soju and samgupsal; he took us to a restaurant in HomePlus, Ashley Grill and Salad. It was a salad buffet. A salad buffet people, it wasn’t even delicious. Although there was tiny little pieces of cheese cake. We didn’t even get alcohol, not so much as bottle of wine to share between the eight of us. It was really lame. He just wanted something fast and cheap. He’s married now and has a kid on the way. He is much less fun than before. I want raw fish or samgupsal for my last day. I bet I only get a lunch at someplace lame. Anyway, Tasha is gone and school is not going be as fun because I won’t be able to talk with Tasha. She was funny and told me intimate details of her life. I am going to miss her a lot. She is one of the more interesting people that I have met in my life. She was also the most excited about this...
Something every exciting happened a few weeks ago and I totally forgot to mention the occurrence. Don’t too jealous or excited but I saw Rain. Bi. It was awesome. Bryan and I were hanging out near Seoul City Hall, just walking and talking, nothing special. Up ahead we noticed a large gathering of people. There are often street performers in this area so we decided to check it out. As we got closer, I noticed how oddly quiet everybody was and how there seemed to be not much going on. Then I noticed the big lights and assumed photo shoot. I was curious to see who it was, but didn’t expect that it would be someone I know. I stood on my tiptoes trying to see around the people in front of me and just as I was losing my balance and had to come down, I caught a glimpse of Rain! I exactly told Bryan and then I pushed in a bit to get a better view. He was doing either a photo shoot or filming for a CF (what commercials are called in Korea). We only caught the end of the event. When it was finished, he waved and bowed at me then took off real fast bodyguards close behind. The whole thing was cleaned up almost immediately and except for the wet pavement (some sort of effect I assume) one would never have known that Rain had been there. I texted everybody I knew would care (including Tasha) and quickly received a bunch of jealous responses.
A couple weeks ago I discovered that the coffee shop from First Shop of Coffee Prince exists and is in Hongdae. Next week I’m going try and get Sarah to come with me to find it. She likes K Drama’s almost as much as I do and is therefore the most fun person to take a long. I’ll make it a facebook event and invite her. I hope it’s like the drama and only handsome boys work there.
*This a the Japanese version of the song. I have not been able to find the Korean version.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
I Am Your Star Captian
My love for the boy bands of K Pop may have just been replace with the hip hop/ rap “artists” of K pop. Drunken Tiger eats children like Big Bang for breakfast. He’s not even good looking, but he can cuss up a storm and the chains; Chains are badass. He's so sexy. Also, my boss really likes Drunken Tiger. I wish I could post a picture of my boss so that you would all know how super this is. He’s a small man who smiles a lot.
Last Friday I was invited to some real hot yoga with some friends at a jjimjilbang. I met them at their hagwon, only about 20 minutes from me. We walked into the market area and then turned into what seemed liked a random building in the market, the jjimjilbang. This being only my second jjimjilbang experience, I was a little apprehensive. After paying my 7000₩ and collecting my clothes and towel we walked into roomful of naked women. Quickly changing into the jjimjilbang clothes, I was warned to remove my regular bra (I brought my sports bra) and underwear (commando!) because the sweat was going to intense (and it was). We climbed the stairs out of the lady area and into the common area. I was once again amazed at the calm atmosphere of the common area. The lights are kept low. There are many people sleep or quietly chatting with friends. A number of people were watching Boys Over Flowers reruns on the big TV. There a few people in the massage beds and on the massage chairs. It all just looks so comfortable and relaxing. All the women are in pink, all the men are in blue and all the children are in red. It is like utopia. This jjimjilbang also had two restaurants in the common room, giving you more than just ramyeon and hard-boiled eggs to snack on.
We started we in the sauna that was 70°c. I got a little light headed as soon as I walked in the scorching heat and I started sweating immediately. We stared with a few way poses and stretches. It quickly go to be too much for me, so of you may know that don’t handle intense heat to well. I’m so weak. I managed to make it the first break without being too passy-outy, we got some water and relaxed than went back in. I had to get out a little bit before the second break. Then we hung out in the cold room for bit and went to the 50°c sauna, a few more poses and break. Then we went to the salt sauna and hug out in the salt. We lay down in the in the sat rocks. Apparently they are supposed to draw out the seat even more, which was good because I wasn’t totally drenched in sweat already. I have never actually been sweater or smellier in my life. There was not a single dry spot on my clothes. The sweat was dripping for face and even my arms were all beaded with sweat. It was kind of cool. WE back to the 50° sauna and finished up our yoga. The whole process took about two hours. After the yoga part was over, I had to prepare myself for the naked part.
Back in the change room, I purchased the necessary shampoo, conditioner, and soap (there were many choices for each) and bravely descended the stairs in to the shower room. I took a deep breath and I walked into the shower room and was confronted with many a naked ajumma. I suddenly felt considerably less intimidated. I chose a spot to remove my clothes and timidly started pulling them off. Once the clothes actually came off, it wasn’t so bad. Everybody was naked and I was with a group of foreign folk so I wasn’t a freak show alone. I found a shower spot and stared to shower. No problem, expect when I almost bumped into two girls trying to share shampoo. No touching well naked! After showering, I spent some time in a hot tub with some very strategically placed jets and then in the bigger cold pool. It was lovely to be naked and fully immersed in cool water. I imagine that it would much like skinny-dipping but without the risk. I guess not as fun, but still pretty good. I have never been skinny-dipping.
Finally, it was time to scram. Amber and I had to meet Sally in Hyehwa to see public enemies. Because I’m a bad friend, we were already two hours later than expected. We left at a good time though, because plenty of attractive young folk were coming pouring inside. Jjimjilbang are a popular safe place for the youngish of Korea to hang out with friends of both sexes. They will often stay for night or late into the night, along with the drunken businesses people* who have missed the subway home.
I liked Public Enemies, but it was kind of bummer. I don’t like when movies make me all sad.
A small gym update because I work out everyday now. No jokes. In two weeks I have only missed three days, which includes two Sundays and the Friday that I did hot yoga at the jjimjilbang. We picked a good gym because it is never busy, which is especially good because if there are ten people in there if feels really crowded. It’s a small gym. There is one older man that walks on the treadmill in sandals. A younger guy who walks alone for a long time but very quickly on the treadmill. There a couple of young guys that don’t some to do much except sit and chat with each other. They occasionally take breaks to pretend to lift some weights. There are a couple of older ladies that could kick my butt with both hands tied behind their backs. They wear gloves when they use the weight machines, not to be sanitary, but to be tough. They scare me. There is only sweaty body builder who likes to look at himself in the mirros during and between lifing sessions. He also grunts a lot. There is one younger girl who seems to have never learned that she should wear a bra while working. Sports bra, regular bra, any bra. She also likes to be naked in the change room to show off her hot body to Sally and I.
Last Saturday, Song Min’s (the trainer) family visited. He doesn’t look very old but he is already married and has two adorable little children. The younger one is pretty much brand new, and the older one, a little boy, is literally just a tiny Song Min. They were trying to play squash for a while. It was cute. Yesterday, Song Min was wearing really tiny shorts. They kind of made me uncomfortable but I just couldn’t look away. He showed us the bicep curl machine. Today I could barely lift my arms above my head. I’m so weak.
*I have had to teach many a unit about “jobs”. I try to make an effort to teach politically correct and non-gender specific titles to the children. However, the books don’t like to help on this one. I end up teaching waitress, waiter, businessman, stewardess, etc. What I want to teach is server, flight attendant, businessperson, etc. It is frustrating to teach them bad stuff, but it would also be very confusing for them if I deviate too much from the book. Also, I try hard, when playing “the action game”, to make sure that boys have to be nurses sometimes, too. They always fight me, but I always make them do it or sit down.
More about teaching... recently I have been coming down really hard on kids for speaking too much Korean in class (mostly because they make jokes about me that I can't understand) and I have made many rules about no Korean in class. Every time I yell at them for speaking Korean I have this horrible sensation of guilt and I all I think about is residential schools and how am participaiting in the destruction of Korean culture. I am basically a really bad teacher and a bad person, but I have been making it up to them in the past week by playing a lot of games. I am trying to be chill teacher not angry teacher. I find this to be exceedingly difficult.
Last Friday I was invited to some real hot yoga with some friends at a jjimjilbang. I met them at their hagwon, only about 20 minutes from me. We walked into the market area and then turned into what seemed liked a random building in the market, the jjimjilbang. This being only my second jjimjilbang experience, I was a little apprehensive. After paying my 7000₩ and collecting my clothes and towel we walked into roomful of naked women. Quickly changing into the jjimjilbang clothes, I was warned to remove my regular bra (I brought my sports bra) and underwear (commando!) because the sweat was going to intense (and it was). We climbed the stairs out of the lady area and into the common area. I was once again amazed at the calm atmosphere of the common area. The lights are kept low. There are many people sleep or quietly chatting with friends. A number of people were watching Boys Over Flowers reruns on the big TV. There a few people in the massage beds and on the massage chairs. It all just looks so comfortable and relaxing. All the women are in pink, all the men are in blue and all the children are in red. It is like utopia. This jjimjilbang also had two restaurants in the common room, giving you more than just ramyeon and hard-boiled eggs to snack on.
We started we in the sauna that was 70°c. I got a little light headed as soon as I walked in the scorching heat and I started sweating immediately. We stared with a few way poses and stretches. It quickly go to be too much for me, so of you may know that don’t handle intense heat to well. I’m so weak. I managed to make it the first break without being too passy-outy, we got some water and relaxed than went back in. I had to get out a little bit before the second break. Then we hung out in the cold room for bit and went to the 50°c sauna, a few more poses and break. Then we went to the salt sauna and hug out in the salt. We lay down in the in the sat rocks. Apparently they are supposed to draw out the seat even more, which was good because I wasn’t totally drenched in sweat already. I have never actually been sweater or smellier in my life. There was not a single dry spot on my clothes. The sweat was dripping for face and even my arms were all beaded with sweat. It was kind of cool. WE back to the 50° sauna and finished up our yoga. The whole process took about two hours. After the yoga part was over, I had to prepare myself for the naked part.
Back in the change room, I purchased the necessary shampoo, conditioner, and soap (there were many choices for each) and bravely descended the stairs in to the shower room. I took a deep breath and I walked into the shower room and was confronted with many a naked ajumma. I suddenly felt considerably less intimidated. I chose a spot to remove my clothes and timidly started pulling them off. Once the clothes actually came off, it wasn’t so bad. Everybody was naked and I was with a group of foreign folk so I wasn’t a freak show alone. I found a shower spot and stared to shower. No problem, expect when I almost bumped into two girls trying to share shampoo. No touching well naked! After showering, I spent some time in a hot tub with some very strategically placed jets and then in the bigger cold pool. It was lovely to be naked and fully immersed in cool water. I imagine that it would much like skinny-dipping but without the risk. I guess not as fun, but still pretty good. I have never been skinny-dipping.
Finally, it was time to scram. Amber and I had to meet Sally in Hyehwa to see public enemies. Because I’m a bad friend, we were already two hours later than expected. We left at a good time though, because plenty of attractive young folk were coming pouring inside. Jjimjilbang are a popular safe place for the youngish of Korea to hang out with friends of both sexes. They will often stay for night or late into the night, along with the drunken businesses people* who have missed the subway home.
I liked Public Enemies, but it was kind of bummer. I don’t like when movies make me all sad.
A small gym update because I work out everyday now. No jokes. In two weeks I have only missed three days, which includes two Sundays and the Friday that I did hot yoga at the jjimjilbang. We picked a good gym because it is never busy, which is especially good because if there are ten people in there if feels really crowded. It’s a small gym. There is one older man that walks on the treadmill in sandals. A younger guy who walks alone for a long time but very quickly on the treadmill. There a couple of young guys that don’t some to do much except sit and chat with each other. They occasionally take breaks to pretend to lift some weights. There are a couple of older ladies that could kick my butt with both hands tied behind their backs. They wear gloves when they use the weight machines, not to be sanitary, but to be tough. They scare me. There is only sweaty body builder who likes to look at himself in the mirros during and between lifing sessions. He also grunts a lot. There is one younger girl who seems to have never learned that she should wear a bra while working. Sports bra, regular bra, any bra. She also likes to be naked in the change room to show off her hot body to Sally and I.
Last Saturday, Song Min’s (the trainer) family visited. He doesn’t look very old but he is already married and has two adorable little children. The younger one is pretty much brand new, and the older one, a little boy, is literally just a tiny Song Min. They were trying to play squash for a while. It was cute. Yesterday, Song Min was wearing really tiny shorts. They kind of made me uncomfortable but I just couldn’t look away. He showed us the bicep curl machine. Today I could barely lift my arms above my head. I’m so weak.
*I have had to teach many a unit about “jobs”. I try to make an effort to teach politically correct and non-gender specific titles to the children. However, the books don’t like to help on this one. I end up teaching waitress, waiter, businessman, stewardess, etc. What I want to teach is server, flight attendant, businessperson, etc. It is frustrating to teach them bad stuff, but it would also be very confusing for them if I deviate too much from the book. Also, I try hard, when playing “the action game”, to make sure that boys have to be nurses sometimes, too. They always fight me, but I always make them do it or sit down.
More about teaching... recently I have been coming down really hard on kids for speaking too much Korean in class (mostly because they make jokes about me that I can't understand) and I have made many rules about no Korean in class. Every time I yell at them for speaking Korean I have this horrible sensation of guilt and I all I think about is residential schools and how am participaiting in the destruction of Korean culture. I am basically a really bad teacher and a bad person, but I have been making it up to them in the past week by playing a lot of games. I am trying to be chill teacher not angry teacher. I find this to be exceedingly difficult.
Monday, August 17, 2009
I look Once More, Just Around the River Bend
IA about a week ago, the manger of my school came up to me while I was sitting at my desk. He picked up my calendar and pointed to August 16. Do you want to go rafting on this day? He asked. All of Kang Tae Woo campus’ can go on this day, no money. Unable to provide me with any further information, he still needed an immediate answer. Sure! I said, a little bewildered.
And so, bright and early Sunday morning, 6:00 to be exact, I crawled out of bed and reluctantly started to get ready for the day ahead. Unfortunately, the night before, I went to Hongdae, just for supper, but got a little carried away in conversation and wasn’t able to get on the last subway that actually got me home. I had to get off about seven stops away. I ended up walking to next subway stop and then waiting about 15 minutes or longer before I finally got a taxi to take me home. I didn’t get home until after 1:00AM, making the early rising rather difficult.
Uncertain of exactly what to wear or bring, I packed bag. I had no idea what to expect. I met Crystal, one of the Korean teachers in front of the school. We were the only two from our campus that could be convinced to go. We had to take a cab over to the Junggye campus to catch the bus and meet up with people from the other campuses. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:20, but due to someone’s birthday party the night before, a bunch of people showed up really late and we didn’t actually leave until 7:40. We made one stop to pick up the folks who live down in Gangnam, including Kang Tae Woo, and then headed east, I think, out of the city.
The bus ride was about four hours long with one rest stop. We arrived at the river; I think it was the Donggang River. As we crossed the bridge we saw scores of folks in PFDs (because they are different from life jackets) hanging out on the river bank, some were being forced to do jumping jacks before they could get in the boat.
Once we arrived at the head quarters, were all giving our own PFD and a helmet, to protect us from all the super dangerous rapids we were about to encounter. After we got back on the bus, Kang Tae Woo brought his daughter over to Crystal and quickly said something to her in Korean and pushed his daughter forward and pressed a hair tie into Crystal’s hand. He wanted her to tie up his daughter’s hair because he didn’t know how. After we finished rafting and showering, I saw him ask a different girl to tie it again. Three handsome young boys joined us on the bus and we rode out to the starting point. We were given some instructions in Korea. Crystal vaguely translated it to be something about being safe. OK.
At the starting point we were divided into groups of 10, 10, and 9. Despite a solid effort on my part, I was once again grouped with the super annoying guy from the Girum campus (FUCK!) and I was in a raft with Mr. Kang Tae Woo and his two children and I was separated from Crystal. Furthermore, all the cool kids ended up in one raft with the really cute guide (they were all pretty cute, but he was cutest. The guides made us do stretches and jumping jacks before we were allowed to get on the raft.
The guides were awesome. Tanned and muscled from paddling all day in the sun, funny and entertaining, not just making sure we get from point A to point B without drowning, but making sure we laugh while we do it. Also, they had really nice legs. It was funny watching them flirt with cute Korean girls, tossing them around and what not. I wish I were small enough to be tossed around in the name of good fun. We didn’t really experience any sort of deadly rapids, but we did get pushed in the water a few times and we did stop once to play games on the rafts, like that game I used to play on Nintendo, Snoopy Olympics, where Snoopy and French Snoopy battle on the boat to see who can push the other off. Just like that, expect with annoying white guys and handsome Korean guys.
The actual rafting only took about two hours and the break was about half an hour long. The scenery was beautiful; there were mountains all around and big cliffs on one side of the river. The trees were full and green. It was almost breathtaking. Apparently this area is one of the most beautiful areas in Korea.
After the rafting, we had an opportunity to take a shower. I was prepared to do so, physically (I had brought soap and shampoo) and mentally (ready for public nudity) but then I walked in the shower room and realized I was not prepared for the sheer number of naked women. I think I can now handle the naked part but I am not ready for the naked in small places and touching part. I decided to forgo the shower this time.
After the showering and changing, of which I did neither, we again boarded the bus for lunch. Once again, despite a solid effort on my part to avoid him, I ended sitting across from the annoying guy from Girum. Aeeessh!!! Besides being loud and saying embarrassing things and doing embarrassing things, he has a bad mealtime habit of being vocally vegetarian. We get dude; you don’t eat meat. What does he expect during communal meals? This is Korea; everything has meat. Why must he act surprised every time that there is only meat? And then he was complaining about lack of beer choices, he only drinks Cass because it’s delicious and not Hite because it is like horse urine. First, I would not call Cass delicious by any stretch, although better than Hite, I agree. Second, Hite is only marginally worse than Cass and everybody I know still drinks it if there is nothing else and doesn’t really complain too much. Finally, he’s an ass and can do no right in my opinion. Fortunately, he was lured to another table by grilled kimchi halfway through the meal. At which point, I quickly invited someone else over to fill his spot. A guy who has been here for three months and has only had traditionally Korean food once! Dude is missing out. Seriously,
We had a number of choices for the meal, a couple of tables had samgupsal and some other grilling meats and there was also a chicken and potato soup option. I didn’t realize that we had options and choose the chicken and potato soup unwittingly. Good choice though, much healthier than the samgupsal and still quite delicious. Also, the side dishes were awesome and we were eating under a trellis with real grape bunches hanging down off the vine and we ate some of the grapes, still a little sour but good.
Finally we boarded the bus and began the five hour bus ride home, Sunday night traffic into Seoul is real bad and it always takes longer than getting out. I was a little exhausted girl before I was finally able to shower and climb into my bed.
And so, bright and early Sunday morning, 6:00 to be exact, I crawled out of bed and reluctantly started to get ready for the day ahead. Unfortunately, the night before, I went to Hongdae, just for supper, but got a little carried away in conversation and wasn’t able to get on the last subway that actually got me home. I had to get off about seven stops away. I ended up walking to next subway stop and then waiting about 15 minutes or longer before I finally got a taxi to take me home. I didn’t get home until after 1:00AM, making the early rising rather difficult.
Uncertain of exactly what to wear or bring, I packed bag. I had no idea what to expect. I met Crystal, one of the Korean teachers in front of the school. We were the only two from our campus that could be convinced to go. We had to take a cab over to the Junggye campus to catch the bus and meet up with people from the other campuses. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:20, but due to someone’s birthday party the night before, a bunch of people showed up really late and we didn’t actually leave until 7:40. We made one stop to pick up the folks who live down in Gangnam, including Kang Tae Woo, and then headed east, I think, out of the city.
The bus ride was about four hours long with one rest stop. We arrived at the river; I think it was the Donggang River. As we crossed the bridge we saw scores of folks in PFDs (because they are different from life jackets) hanging out on the river bank, some were being forced to do jumping jacks before they could get in the boat.
Once we arrived at the head quarters, were all giving our own PFD and a helmet, to protect us from all the super dangerous rapids we were about to encounter. After we got back on the bus, Kang Tae Woo brought his daughter over to Crystal and quickly said something to her in Korean and pushed his daughter forward and pressed a hair tie into Crystal’s hand. He wanted her to tie up his daughter’s hair because he didn’t know how. After we finished rafting and showering, I saw him ask a different girl to tie it again. Three handsome young boys joined us on the bus and we rode out to the starting point. We were given some instructions in Korea. Crystal vaguely translated it to be something about being safe. OK.
At the starting point we were divided into groups of 10, 10, and 9. Despite a solid effort on my part, I was once again grouped with the super annoying guy from the Girum campus (FUCK!) and I was in a raft with Mr. Kang Tae Woo and his two children and I was separated from Crystal. Furthermore, all the cool kids ended up in one raft with the really cute guide (they were all pretty cute, but he was cutest. The guides made us do stretches and jumping jacks before we were allowed to get on the raft.
The guides were awesome. Tanned and muscled from paddling all day in the sun, funny and entertaining, not just making sure we get from point A to point B without drowning, but making sure we laugh while we do it. Also, they had really nice legs. It was funny watching them flirt with cute Korean girls, tossing them around and what not. I wish I were small enough to be tossed around in the name of good fun. We didn’t really experience any sort of deadly rapids, but we did get pushed in the water a few times and we did stop once to play games on the rafts, like that game I used to play on Nintendo, Snoopy Olympics, where Snoopy and French Snoopy battle on the boat to see who can push the other off. Just like that, expect with annoying white guys and handsome Korean guys.
The actual rafting only took about two hours and the break was about half an hour long. The scenery was beautiful; there were mountains all around and big cliffs on one side of the river. The trees were full and green. It was almost breathtaking. Apparently this area is one of the most beautiful areas in Korea.
After the rafting, we had an opportunity to take a shower. I was prepared to do so, physically (I had brought soap and shampoo) and mentally (ready for public nudity) but then I walked in the shower room and realized I was not prepared for the sheer number of naked women. I think I can now handle the naked part but I am not ready for the naked in small places and touching part. I decided to forgo the shower this time.
After the showering and changing, of which I did neither, we again boarded the bus for lunch. Once again, despite a solid effort on my part to avoid him, I ended sitting across from the annoying guy from Girum. Aeeessh!!! Besides being loud and saying embarrassing things and doing embarrassing things, he has a bad mealtime habit of being vocally vegetarian. We get dude; you don’t eat meat. What does he expect during communal meals? This is Korea; everything has meat. Why must he act surprised every time that there is only meat? And then he was complaining about lack of beer choices, he only drinks Cass because it’s delicious and not Hite because it is like horse urine. First, I would not call Cass delicious by any stretch, although better than Hite, I agree. Second, Hite is only marginally worse than Cass and everybody I know still drinks it if there is nothing else and doesn’t really complain too much. Finally, he’s an ass and can do no right in my opinion. Fortunately, he was lured to another table by grilled kimchi halfway through the meal. At which point, I quickly invited someone else over to fill his spot. A guy who has been here for three months and has only had traditionally Korean food once! Dude is missing out. Seriously,
We had a number of choices for the meal, a couple of tables had samgupsal and some other grilling meats and there was also a chicken and potato soup option. I didn’t realize that we had options and choose the chicken and potato soup unwittingly. Good choice though, much healthier than the samgupsal and still quite delicious. Also, the side dishes were awesome and we were eating under a trellis with real grape bunches hanging down off the vine and we ate some of the grapes, still a little sour but good.
Finally we boarded the bus and began the five hour bus ride home, Sunday night traffic into Seoul is real bad and it always takes longer than getting out. I was a little exhausted girl before I was finally able to shower and climb into my bed.
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