Vertebrae Soup

Yesterday, we had vertebrae soup for lunch, with squid, tough tiny transparent fishies, and two of our least favorite kinds of kimchi. The soup featured large chunks of animal vertebrae. I think it was pig, because cow vertebrae would probably be huge. Joanne didn't appreciate my description of our entree, so she just ate rice. Squid is plentiful here, but I have not grown to like it. I have enjoyed squid in Canada, but the way they prepare it here--often raw or dried--makes it rather unpalatable and very difficult to chew.

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Can you guess what the phrase "magic time" refers to in Korea?

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When evaluating the appearance of another person, how often do you notice the size of his or her head? It may sound strange, but this is one of the first things that Koreans notice. Our co-teacher often refers to students by the size of their heads. "Oh, the boy with the small head." I guess descriptions of hair color don't really work here, as I found out when I described a teacher as someone of "medium height, short black hair and glasses." That could be almost any male teacher at our school. So I guess head size may be helpful. It's hard for me to make sense of it. But I digress.

Anyway, there is an ideal ratio of head to body. I don't know where this ratio came from. I can understand the biological source of the aesthetic appeal of a woman's waist being two thirds her hips, as this generally shows that she's fertile and in a recent study it was also linked to higher intelligence in her offspring (something to do with having enough body fat to nurture them in utero). But I digress.

The ideal ratio of head to body is one to seven, and they measure it using the miracle of perspective. Did you ever watch Kids in the Hall? I didn't, much, but I remember a character who was famous for crushing the heads of people he didn't like. He didn't literally crush them, but he put his fingers in front of his eye, such that they would match up with his view/the view of the camera angle, and squish the heads of his far away enemies. Korean students do this too, except instead of crushing our heads they measure them in proportion to the rest of our bodies, seven times or more. I think I may be the right ratio, but Joanne has had to put up with exclamations of students and comments from co-teachers about how her head is tiny. I feel for her, but I think it is all rather silly.

Special Day

"Today is special day. Today is eat-red-bean-soup day."

This is what I heard when I arrived at school this morning, courtesy of one of our co-teachers. It turns out that red bean soup is made once a year; on winter solstice. It is a reddish brown colour, and is quite thick. It also has rice "balls" in it. There are apparently two ways to make these rice balls - you can buy powdered rice at the store, add water, and shape marble-sized balls from the mixture, or you can cook a certain variety of rice, dry it, put it in the blender, add water, and then shape the marble-sized balls. It's quite work intensive, and the result is... well, sticky.

Now that I've filled up on a lunch of red bean soup with rice balls, fried chicken, kimchi and a mandarin orange, I have an entire afternoon to spend as I please. I'm thinking about working on my taekwondo poomsae (form patterns), since I was taught a new one last night in class. I may actually have a lot of time to work on my poomsae, since our last English Town class of the year will be on the 26th. I'm very excited! After that we have a week and a half to prepare for our English camps, two and a half weeks of camps, and then we'll be off to Bangkok. Should be great!

I'm curious to know what everyone is up to for Christmas and New Year's - please leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you get the chance!

Christmas is Coming...

Despite the fact that it's sunny and 15C out today, it really feels like Christmas is coming. The previous tenants left us some white Christmas lights, so they are now wound around some cedar branches I brought home last weekend.

The Christian churches are also very well decorated here, Korean style. They have Christmas lights and scrolling marquees in red and green, and blare synthesized Christmas carols. The frequency of church services has also increased from the usual five per week to seven. One of our co-teachers attends each of these services - including a Sunday morning and Sunday evening service. (She also spends her school breaks highlighting an English bible.)

Christmas Day is actually only a one-day affair here, from what I have heard. On the 24th, couples go out for a romantic evening, or groups of friend head out drinking. The 25th is a holiday, but everyone has to report to work on the 26th. Everyone back home is asking me what we'll be doing for Christmas. If left up to Alden, the answer would probably be running up the mountain behind our place. We may have to negotiate on this... I'll keep you posted.

Address

Okay, so some of you have been asking for an address. Here is our school address, to which you can send postcards, letters and/or, ahem, packages:

Seo Elementary School English Town
898 Seogyo-Dong
Yeosu, Jollanamdo 550130
South Korea (ROK)

Games

I played poker for money for the first time on Saturday, and I more than doubled my money. It was a good time.

Climbing. Or, what do you mean you can't pull up your body weight with one finger nail?

I went climbing outdoors for the first time yesterday. Today, my forearms are so sore I can barely type. I did have a wonderful time, though.

We took the train an hour north to Gurye-gu (구려구) and then had a short taxi ride to the mountain. After a five minute hike, we reached the climbing area. We were in a valley with a waterfall, surrounded by stunning cliffs. The foliage mainly consisted of bamboo and gingko trees with bright yellow leaves, and there were also some candles and stone markers that are apparently regularly used for religious ceremonies.

The other five people in our group were all relatively experienced climbers. While we had our first taste of actually climbing up a rock face (pictures coming), the others were practicing lead falls and making their way up some impressively challenging routes (5.10c and 5.11a routes). It was so nice to spend an entire day outside, and to spend it with intelligent, outdoorsy people. Three of the group members had very passable (near fluent, as far as I could tell) Korean, two being Fulbright Scholars, and another had recently completed a six month backpacking/hiking trip. I hate to say it, but this is somewhat in contrast to the general English Teacher in Korea crowd (i.e. beer and soju are very cheap here).

We've been invited to go climbing again - either next weekend in Maisan or next month in Mokpo. I'm going to have to practice my pull-up skills (they are currently non-existent), but I'm hopeful...

tick, tick, tick

Vacation time has officially been booked. We have from January 23rd until February 17th. Now it's time to look into flights. Youpi!

My First Judo Tournament in Asia

I can't get over the fact that Koreans tell me: "Your English pronunciation is very good." It's definitely a compliment when given to other Koreans, but really, is it really worth mentioning that I am "good" at speaking my native language? I usually tell them that they're Korean pronunciation is very good too.

On Saturday I fought in a judo tournament. It had a lot of similarities with other judo tournaments I've entered in Canada. I had to get up way too early in the morning (6 a.m.) to get there. The referees wore suits. The mats were the same colours.

There were also big differences. My name was the only one in the tournament draw written in English letters. I was the only white guy in the building. Children and teenaged girls went out of their way to speak to me. After I threw my first opponent cleanly for ippon, I received many congratulations and little kids told me "very beautiful." After I made it to the final, it was time for lunch.

We went outside and had kimbap (sushi with crab, egg, spam, and carrot) on the grass and leaves. All the little children were very impressed with me. So impressed, that they all decided that they wanted my autograph. I spent something like twenty minutes autographing leaves, while one of the kiddies toddled around listening to Modest Mouse on my iPod. I think I signed more leaves than there were children, and then it was time for me to head back to the mats for the final.

I was losing until the final minute, when I took my opponent to the ground and pinned him. For some reason they don't teach groundwork very well here. In all of the fights I had seen in which someone got a pin, nobody seemed to have the faintest idea how to escape. My fight was no different. My coach had enough English to say to me, "Congratulations, you are a champion" after I was awarded my gold medal.

The day concluded with a celebratory dinner of chicken, white wine, and "The Bourne Ultimatum." It was an excellent day, especially since no thoughts of impending grad school deadlines entered my head.

Taekwondo Demonstrations

Here are a couple videos of taekwondo demonstrations I've seen in the past two weeks. The first was at a concert during the middle school camp in Damyang. The second video was taken at a taekwondo tournament in Yocheon (part of Yeosu). The first one has superb sound effects, and the second has great costumes. Ah, Korea, I love you.




P.S. For the record, my taekwondo classes are nothing like these demonstrations.

May 18th Massacre

What the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre is to China, the 1980 Gwangju Massacre is to South Korea, a mass demonstration and protest against an authoritarian regime with deadly consequences that became an icon for its time.

Following large-scale student protests against military rule, on 18 May 1980 the army was ordered to move into Gwangju on the pretext of quelling a communist uprising. The soldiers had no bullets, but they used bayonets to murder dozens of unarmed protesters and passers-by. Outraged residents broke into armouries and police stations and used the seized weapons and ammunition to drive the troops out of their city.

For over a week pro-democracy citizen groups were in control, but the brutal military response came nine days later on 27 May, when soldiers armed with loaded M16 rifles, supported by helicopters and tanks, retook the city. Most of the protest leaders were labelled 'communists' and summarily shot. At least 154 civilians were killed during the uprising, and an additional 4089 were wounded or arrested. Many of those arrested were tortured. For eyewitness accounts of the still-controversial street fighting, read Memories of May 1980 by Chung Sang-yong (2003) or view www.518.org.

In memory of the pro-democracy martyrs, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights has been awarded since 2000, and recipients have included Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader struggling to overthrow the military rulers in Myanmar.

--Korea Lonely Planet

Wandering and Wondering

I spent a few hours wandering the Chonnam University Campus in Gwangju last weekend during Alden's GRE exam. It's a beautiful campus - rolling hills with notable architecture, impressive fountains and deciduous trees in full colour.

It was a Saturday morning, but there were still plenty of people on campus. There was some sort of communal fair/garage sale happening on the track, and there were people milling about the dorm areas and around the covered seated areas. I also came across an older guy with white hair and a big bushy white beard waiting around the outside of the dinosaur museum (http://www.dinosaur.co.kr - it's in Korean, but if you click around, there are some good pics). We started talking, and it turned out he was an Aussie professor, who was here to work on a project for a few months. They were busily trying to complete the UNESCO paperwork to try to have the dinosaur nests and footprints in the area declared UNESCO heritage sites (the deadline was in January, and I can certainly believe that there would be that much paperwork). He let me into to the museum, and showed me around. There was also a video playing, discussing the sites and comparing them to other sites around the world. There were even some interviews with scientists working at the Royal Tyrell Museum, so that was a nice touch of home.

I also came across several reminders of the May 18th, 1980 uprising that took place in Gwangju. It is to Korea what the Tiananmen Square Massacre is to China. In response to the martial law imposed by the military government, thousands of democratic protesters took to the streets (some sources say over 100,000 people). Over 200 protesters were massacred during the uprising, which lasted until May 27th. There is a touching write-up in the lonely planet which I will post here when I get the chance. It really affected me... and reminded me of seeing the monument to the desaparecidos in the cemetery in Santiago, Chile.

After this, I went to meet up with Alden. It sounds like the test went well, so now we just have to wait the six weeks until the he gets the results. Here's to hoping!


P.S. For those of you who wanted to see the love motel, here is a picture. The was the inside of the room!

I hope my GRE is also outstanding....

I got wind this morning that I have won the UVic Philosophy Dept.'s award for Outstanding MA Thesis of 2007. Joanne mentioned this to our coteachers, and the next minute Olivia was on the phone calling the vice-principle to tell him the news.

Things operate very differently here.

There is a judo tournament November 10th. Although I've put on a little weight, it's not going to be a problem because instead of fighting -73kg I'm fighting -75kg. If only I could figure out how to throw the competitive black belts, who seem to know what techniques I'm attempting even before I do.

I think the extra kilogram or two is muscle (Joanne says my abs are bigger), but whatever the case, I do have a slight problem in that my new pants don't really fit anymore.

The Weekend

I just finished updating the playlist on my mp3 player - in preparation for a trip tomorrow after school. After our classes and teacher workshop, we'll be heading to Gwangju, where Alden will be writing the GRE exam.

The plan is to take the bus, and then stay in a "love motel". Apparently these motels are used for any illicit activity - basically anything you would not want your neighbour to know about (i.e. extra-marital activity?). Foreigners tend to stay in these motels - they're cheap and conveniently located. I guess we'll see how it is!

Saturday morning is Alden's exam. The GRE is a standardized exam like the SAT, but it's necessary to apply to grad school in the States, as opposed to an undergrad program. There will be two verbal and two quantitative (high school math) sections. We've been having some math coaching sessions; I hope my student does well!

The past few weeks have also been quite busy. I went to a lantern festival in Jinju a couple weeks ago. Mina's friend has a taxi, so we made the 2 hour trip in his comfy ride. I also met Mina's friend Shawna. I felt very comfortable around Shawna - we have similar interests and she's super nice. I then found out she's from Langley, so I think that explains things a bit. It seems like every other Canadian we've met so far is from Ontario!

Here is a picture of the pome- granate lanterns at the festival. There must have been over 200 different lanterns, including a panda with some bamboo, a totem pole, four people doing b-boy moves and people in traditional Korean dress making rice cakes. Many of the lanterns moved (robots of some sort). It was very impressive! We finished off the evening with a snack of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. So delicious.

Taekwondo Week 2

The kids were noticeably more friendly tonight at Taekwondo. I think they're getting used to the idea of having me in their class. Several of the boys ran up to me to say "hi" when I arrived, and two of the girls made of point of talking to me throughout the class.

It was quite the workout tonight - we were practicing our kicks by lining up and then kicking our way around the room two at a time. After five minutes of kicking, I was pretty tired and waiting for the activity to change. Eventually, I realized that this would, in fact, be our only activity of the night. Near the end of the session, and fifty minutes of kicking later, I was completely exhausted. However, this wasn't the end of class. Kwan Jang Nim (Master) lined us up and we raced from one end of the room to the other, by frog hopping and then by walking crouched low to the ground. And to top it off, we did squats! I will be very surprised if I am able to walk to and from school tomorrow without being in a lot of pain.

After class, I took the Taekwondo bus home again. Kwan Jang Nim dropped four of us off at the Hai Tai Apartments. As I was walking toward my building, one of the boys yelled something. I couldn't understand (Joanne: Hangeumal motayo - Korean language I don't speak), so one of the boys managed to translate to "Let's play!" We made a stop at the swing set. I basically went through my entire Korean vocabulary with them. They acted impressed, though I know that at least one of them has a much better grasp of English than I do of Korean. We managed to communicate that I live on the 10th floor, that I work at English Town and that I have a boyfriend (one boy sang the Wedding March to ask whether or not we were married). The boys were smiling and having a great time while we were chatting. Actually, the whole class seemed to be having fun while we were at Taekwondo. It's so nice to see all the kids so happy to just be participating and hanging out with friends. I'm really looking forward to going again tomorrow!

Taekwondo

I have sustained my first Taekwondo injury. It's nothing major, but I spilled some blood. However, the actual Taekwondo classes have been great fun so far! The class consists of me and about 20 munchkins. Well, there are four or five high school boys, but the rest of the class is in elementary school. Practices are five nights a week, so the students are amazingly good. Most of them have black belts or are within one or two levels of a black belt (red or a combo of black and red).

There is one girl in the class that speaks English very well (she also attends an English school every day), and has basically become my friend and translator. She has a black/red belt, and can do the splits. She's in grade 5. Basically, she's amazing.

The rest of the kids are curious about me, but we haven't gotten past the words hello, hi, tall and crazy. Every Korean kid seems to know the word crazy, and it's quite an insult here. They use it on each other with regularity. But that's another story...

Photos of Japan

I have posted photos of our trip to Japan on my Flickr site (click on the next photo in the "photostream" to see the others). Sorry there haven't been any stories yet... they are coming. For now, here are a few select photos.

No swimming?

On our way to hike in Jogyesan Provincial Park yesterday, we passed a dam and a huge dammed lake. It was breathtakingly beautiful (I realized later that I probably found it especially serene due to the lack of clear cuts on the surrounding mountains). As we were driving by, I tried to ask about going swimming in the lake. ChiHo was having trouble understanding what I was getting at; both he and EunJu couldn't understand why I would possibly want to go swimming in a lake - it's too deep! I was informed that Korean people like swimming in the ocean (where they can touch the bottom), but that a lake is much too deep. End of discussion.

You know you're a white person in Korea when...

little children open car doors to shout "Hell-lo!" as you walk down the street.

Cleaning Time

It is 1pm right now, which is the official time to clean the school. There are no school janitors here; instead, the kids spend half an hour every day cleaning the entire school (classrooms, hallways, teacher's rooms and bathrooms). Normally, I would welcome anyone into my place of work that would be willing to clean it for me, but in this case... well... To start with, the kids use the same cloths every day. Each kid has one cloth, which they use for absolutely every surface they touch. I've seen kids clean the floor, and then come over to my desk and wipe it down. Super.

Also, there is a stain on my desk that has been there since the day I got here (six weeks ago). It's a fairly visible sticky spot. I see the kids wipe it every day, but not once has it been scrubbed - so it's still there.

To summarize, my work area is not getting any cleaner, in fact, it's probably dirtied by the cleaning effort. Ah well, I guess that's just how things are done here.

National Television

At 6:30 last night we were sitting around, about to start making dinner, when Mark called and invited us over for dinner/filming. We only met Mark on Saturday night at a birthday gathering at the local club, Elle Lui, so this was a bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one nonetheless. He offered to come by and pick us up, so we were outside and waiting by the Hai Tai Market within a few minutes.

When we arrived at his apartment (on the 15th floor of a high rise, in a sea of high rise apartment buildings), a cameraman, a high-up boss and a Korean friend were waiting. It turns out that Mark's job is pretty high-profile - he is one of the first teachers to teach at the schools on the islands near Yeosu. The island kids would not normally get any English instruction, but a large company is sponsoring Mark... so of course the company wants some publicity. Thus, a tv special on Mark's life - doing the laundry, cooking dinner, entertaining guests (us), preparing his lesson plans, talking to his family on the internet, etc.

Our grand television entrance started out by knocking at the door and being welcomed in the apartment. Hugs all around, despite the fact that we had known each other exactly 24 hours. The cameraman then wanted to interview me about where I was from, how I felt about the dinner party, how long I had known Mark... I was prompted to say "I've known Mark for about a year now, and we're very good friends". When I said I was from Canada, they all exclaimed "Oh, you're from the same country". As soon as he stopped filming, I turned to Mark to ask him: "You're from Canada too? Where are you from?"

It all turned out very well. The dinner Mark cooked was very delicious* ("magisoyo", which I had to say on camera), and it was fun to hang out with the group.

I also found out that this will be broadcast nationally on the Korean equivalent of the CBC - I've been asked to keep my co-workers posted on the date and time of the broadcast. I'm going to be "very famous"!


*"very delicious" is the common phrase used to describe any meal. It applies even if the food is barely edible. Of course, the dinner was actually very good, but there is no way to distinguish between barely edible and very good, because everything is described as "very delicious".

Typhoon Nari

Yesterday, we braved a typhoon.

The rain was falling as a solid sheet, the wind was howling, the power was out. The floor-to-ceiling windows were shaking so badly I thought they were going to shatter. And smart foreigners that we are, we went out to try to find a taxi during the worst of it. Of course, since we couldn't understand the weather reports or the helpful announcements that came directly into our apartment via the loudspeaker on the wall, we didn't realize there would be a typhoon. And when we became aware that a typhoon was coming, we still didn't realize that the worst of it was already there.

Our friends Foz and Kim were down for the day from Suncheon and needed to get back to teach first thing Monday morning. So there we were, wandering around in the typhoon, trying to hail a taxi. We didn't get a taxi, but we sure got a lot of strange looks. Broken umbrellas. Wet clothes.

Today, it is beautifully clear, sunny and hot. Incredible.

Klutz

We've barely been in the apartment two weeks and I've broken the toilet seat and the shower, worsened the tendinitis in my knee, and pulled and re-pulled a hip flexor. Nevermind the fact that I've developed a pretty awful head cold.

Maybe I should stop running the twenty floors of our apartment four consecutive times on a weekly basis. I don't know what to do about the destruction of the household goods though.

Happenings

We had a fairly busy weekend - going to Mosageum Beach on Saturday and visiting Odongdo Island on Sunday. Mosageum Beach is basically a foreigner beach. It's a bit farther away than the beach the locals use, but it's way more beautiful in my opinion. The cab ride from our apartment cost about $7, and it was quite a ride! We went through this one lane tunnel, and basically played "chicken" with each of the cars coming the other way. There were little pull offs every 100 metres or so, but whose turn it was to drive was determined by which driver was more aggressive. We luckily got through without having an accident! The rest of the ride was along a seaside road; very pleasant.

At Mosageum Beach, we met up with about 30 other foreigners - some from Yeosu, and some from the nearby cities of Gwangyang and Suncheon. There was a beach volleyball net set up, and lots of people were swimming. It was nice to see of the people from our orientation again - it sounds like everyone is pleased with their sitatuion. (Mind you, it's hard to not be happy with your situation when you're hanging out at the beach on your weekends.)

On Sunday, we spent five and a half hours walking to Odongdo Island. It's a favourite spot for local sightseeing, complete with a lighthouse, a water fountain/light show, and even a dragon's cave (i.e. a hole in the rocks). There are also some statues, which Alden decided that he liked very much. (There are pictures.)

I also took some photos today of the school assembly. The loudspeakers were blaring and the kids all bowed the heads and put their hands behind their backs in unison. I think this will be happening every Monday. (?) The other picture is the view from the rooftop of our apartment building. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Enjoy!

Judo

Last week I started judo here. They seem to like me at my new sojung. All of the younger judoka were very excited to have a foreigner at the practice. Many told me that I am "very handsome." After a couple practices they were telling me that I am "very strong." After my last practice the coach, or 'gwan jang nim,' told me "good stamina." So I guess I'm impressing them to some degree. I kicked a two hundred pound black belt over my head (for what would have been a full score if there was a ref) last practice. One of the kids watching said "nice" which made the beating I took after the throw worth it.

I have to say, though, the level of competition here is not what I expected. I am living in a rural area by Korean standards, and so all of the elite judoka are probably in Seoul. If there are any here, I haven't found them. There seems to be only one sojung for the whole city. But I'm having fun going to the one I'm at now; it's turned out better than I expected it to be after my first class. I was initially disappointed that there weren't more competitive players. A lot of them are younger novice belts and the older ones mostly seem to be done with serious competition.

Someone explained to me that by high school most students here have to quit sports because of the academic pressures of school. The ones who don't quit get really serious and move to a big city where they have the resources to become seriously competitive. When I moved to Victoria, I mistakenly imagined that the judo there would be more competitive as I would be closer to Japan¹. Now I am even closer to Japan and for the second time the judo here has not proved to be as high of a calibre as I expected. The most competitive and challenging judo practices I've participated in are still the provincial team sessions that I was part of at the University of Manitoba.

I've played with the idea of using one of my vacations to train at the Kodokan in Tokyo, but I think I would rather travel somewhere fun with Joanne. There will be tournaments this year in Yeosu and Suncheon, so hopefully that will satisfy my desire for competition.

¹On a side note (or is it a footnote?), of all the foreign countries in the world I could have selected to judo in I picked the one that does judo in a language other than the one I understand it in. As far as I know, judo is done in Japanese everywhere else in the world. But since Japan has invaded Korea more than once, they're not about to make a point of speaking Japanese here. In my dojos in Canada, before practice began we would bow to a picture of Jigoro Kano (the Japanese founder of judo) and then our senseis. Here, at the sojung where I practice judo, we bow to the Korean flag and then our gwan jang nim. But the biggest difference is the language. I don't know what any of the techniques are called in Korean, and so I have to figure out what's going on by watching others.

New Names

After two and a half weeks in Korea, I am now at the point where I actually really enjoy some of the food. Today's school lunch was bibimbap, soybean and seaweed soup, fried chicken and a little yogurt drink. Mmmm!

These first few days at school have been interesting. We've started figuring out what works and what doesn't... so as long as the class management isn't an issue, it's really quite fun! We've been having the kids complete a "My World" worksheet where they write down their Korean name, their English name, hobbies, favourite foods, etc. Some of the responses have been quite humorous, especially the English name. One of my kids has the English name 'Mushroom' - he claims it's because of his haircut. Kids in other classes have named themselves 'Microsoft' and 'Desk', and a little boy in one of Grace's classes is named 'Shiny'.

Another person who has acquired a new name is Alden. Everyone calls him 'Harry Potter' because of his height, dark hair and glasses. However, it sounds more like 'Hay-lee Pah-tah'. Superb.

First Day

It was a good day, but I have to say - I now have even more respect for teachers.

Prep

The last week or so has been great. We've settled into our new three-bedroom apartment (huge by Korean standards), have met our wonderful co-teachers, and have felt welcome in the ex-pat community thanks to Grace, another foreign teacher at our school. We've also been talking to some friends we met at orientation, but haven't gotten together yet... but there is lots of time for that.

As it turned out, we had nearly the whole week off. We were required to come in on Thursday morning for an intro at the staff meeting ("annyonghaseyo, Joanne imnida, cho'eum pepgetsumnida"), to start the immigration paperwork and to submit our new bank account info to the school. Other than that, we have had a week of getting to know our neighbours and neighbourhood. We went to a pub named Long Life (pronounced "Longa Lifuh") on Tuesday, out for
lunch with Grace and our co-teacher Mina on Thursday, to an acoustic guitar coffeehouse perfor- mance at Tom N Toms Thursday evening and to a fellow teacher's apartment on Saturday. Seeing Natalie's apartment was informative... we realized we must have one of the better teacher apartments in Yeosu. Her place is apparently one of the bigger/nicer places, and it was one open room with a bed, a closet, a hotplate, a bit of counter space, and a fridge. The bathroom was a toilet, a sink, and a shower head attached to the wall above the toilet. The drain in the middle of the bathroom floor allows the whole room to act as the bathtub. From what I hear, this is the norm - we're lucky to have our tub... even if there is no shower curtain and the water still sprays the whole bathroom.

Today we went out for dinner with "Korea Brandon" and his wife. Alden met Brandon through an internet philosophy community about a year and a half ago, and by chance we happened to move to the same city as them. We went out for a chicken bbq dinner, which was superb. Their company was also great - they've been here for about two years and speak Korean well (they had several 2/3 minute conversations with the server), and know the ins and outs of Yeosu. They also just got back from a three week trip to the Philippines, Borneo, Bali and Taipei... needless to say, it was great to meet them.

We came back home tonight to our pending lesson planning. It may be some of the only lesson planning we do all year - it turns out that at our particular English Town, we will be seeing a new group of students every morning and every afternoon. This basically means that we only need about 3 hours of material, which we will rinse and repeat 500 times over the course of this year. I'm sure I'll be able to recite the prescribed dialogues in my sleep by the end of September. The good news is that since the English Town will be a field trip for the kids, it should be fairly interesting for them. The school has all the separate areas set up - an airport ticket office, an information kiosk, a store, a family living room, a doctor's office, a dentist's office, a restaurant, a post office, etc. - for which we will be practicing dialogues in the classroom, and then bringing the kids into the English Town to "act out" the dialogues.

The job sounds pretty good - easy, but at least we'll have free time for other pursuits. Alden has already been to his first judo session (I'll let him write about the set-up he has there), and I'm planning to attend the school's yoga sessions and volleyball games. So many things to look forward to!

Homemade Dinner

Blue soup with green noodles, anyone? Here is a pic of the dinner disaster from the other night. After this, we both agreed that we'd like to eat out more often (especially since eating out here is almost the same price as cooking at home).

Lesson learned: do not combine purple cabbage with gooey brown noodles.

Queries

To get a scooter or to not get a scooter, that is a question.

To get an air conditioner or to not get an air conditioner, that is another.

Both will cost at least $300. Driving is dangerous here. I've heard several stories about foreign teachers getting their legs broken by erratic drivers while scooting around. The last thing I want is a broken leg.

It's incredibly hot and humid here. Everything seems to grow mould and I feel like I need a shower every twelve hours. I wonder if an air conditioner would cure this.

Some of the signs here are really funny. I particularly enjoyed the "Do not lean on the elevator or you will fall and your head will explode" one in the elevator. To the right is another sign I found amusing.

After two months as nomads, we finally have our own place again.

We're starting to settle into our new apartment. It's bigger than our old one, and in Korea, that's saying something. We have three bedrooms, which gives us room for lots of visitors. I don't know if any friends from back home are going to visit and take us up on our offer of free accommodation, but we definitely have room for all the friends we made during orientation. I hope they come visit us at least. Even if they don't, the other teachers in Yeosu seem really cool and I'm looking forward to hanging out with them.

Our co-teacher is really really nice. She took us to Lotte Mart (or as the Koreans say it, 'Lottie Martuh') and helped us get groceries for our new place. She kept remarking at how all of my choices were 'low calorie' and for 'people who are trying to lose weight.' Eventually she looked me up and down and told me that I'm crazy for being so thin and eating so healthily.

An teenaged girl said 'hi' to me in a sultry way and then she and her gaggle of friends broke into giggles when I turned around. Being a celebrity is going to take a bit of getting used to. Supposedly, 53 elementary schools of children are going to visit our 'English Town' in the course of the next year, so we're going to be very well known in Yeosu, at least among the little children we'll be teaching. We get a different class to teach every morning and afternoon. I'll say more about it when I know more.

It looks like the two women here before were quite the partiers; there are nearly six bottles of half-drunk wine in the kitchen, and plenty of soju, beer, and vodka in the fridge. The other teacher at our school must miss them, from the sounds of things she really wants to hang out. I'd be happy to go out tonight, but she didn't answer her cell phone when I called. So I'm sitting her rambling.

We don't have to go to work until Thursday, when we'll be meeting the rest of the teaching staff. I'm not sure when we'll start teaching, but I think we should take advantage of these two days respite to see Yeosu and have some fun.

Initial Meeting

We just met our co-teacher and vice-principle. Our co-teacher, Olivia, told Alden that he looks like a genius. This bodes well.

End of Orientation

It's the last day of our orientation in Gwangju today. We'll be meeting our co-teacher in about an hour, driving a couple hours to Yeosu and be dropped off in our new apartment. We've been told by another couple from Yeosu that our co-teacher is awesome, so I'm hoping for the best. We'll need help applying for the alien registration card, setting up the internet - heck, even just figuring out how to work the washing machine and floor heating. (We may not have any internet at home for 2-3 weeks, so the updates may be less frequent over the next while.)

I have discovered that Koreans have a favourite English word. It is "maybe". Over the past week, I have found out that I will have a new group of kids everyday. Maybe. That the English Town is new and in great condition. Maybe. That our co-teacher is young and super nice. Maybe - if they are thinking of the right teacher. Basically, I just have to wait and see... and go with the flow. After the next couple weeks, I should have all my answers - I just need a bit of patience.

Time to finish the packing (my stuff and folding Alden's shirts). Alden is off trying to return a purchase I made last night at the Kumo World (6 storey electronics store)... but they didn't provide a receipt and I'm the one that bought the radio alarm clock, so I'm doubtful he will be successful. Ah well. Maybe.

Fresh & Powerful

I'm sitting here in the hotel room, listening to Tegan and Sara and drinking some soju & o.j., about to head out on the town with the group. I have discovered that "fresh" flavoured soju is actually mint flavoured... and that it does not mix well with o.j. Live and learn.

The day today was spent in lecture sessions. We learned Arirang, a traditional folk song from the Jeolla region, from a hysterically funny and fun music teacher. She had us singing a four-part round in Korean. She also had individual students (teachers) come to the front and either play the janggu (a two-sided drum) or sing Arirang solo. Alden was picked to play the janggu for one of the renditions - the look of concentration on his face was priceless. I have a video, which I intend to use as blackmail if the need ever arises.

The culture shock session provided some interesting information, but a highlight of the day was the "How to Have Fun" session. We covered 'having fun at school' and 'having fun in general' - I am looking forward to some good times.

Speaking of good times, it's time to join Alden & the others on the hotel roof top. The plan is to head to a hof/soju place, and then head to a nori-bang (karaoke). I'm thinking it's about time for some ABBA...

Tea, Beach, Town, Baseball

Today's fun-filled activities began with a trip to the Boseong Tea Plantation. The group was pretty impressed with the plantation, but I have to admit that I was a bit surprised when we drove up in our big tour bus, and we had to pay an admission fee and walk past at least 15 souvenir shops before actually arriving to the tea hills. The last time I saw a tea plantation was in India, and we just parked our bicycles on the side of the road and started venturing into the plantations. No ticket booth, no green tea ice cream, no $120 tea cups for sale... just the locals and the tea. But then, I remembered that I am now in Korea - better known as the Land of Endless Souvenirs (kitsch). Anyway, the hike to the top was humid and sweaty, but beautiful.

Next stop was for lunch at an enormous hotel. We ate our bibimbap (veggies, egg and rice, with chilli sauce mixed in), and headed over to the beach. It was more of a fisherman's beach than a suntanning beach, but was pleasant nonetheless. Again, humid and sweaty, but beautiful.

The old Korean town we visited had been in existence since the 13th century. There were thatched roof mud brick houses, a temple, flower gardens, lily ponds, mountain scenery and... a ton of tourist shops. Also, when you visit an "olden days" town in Canada, everything is re-created and there are actors playing their parts. However, people still live in this old Korean town! There was laundry hanging out to dry and trucks parked in the yard. A few of the thatched roof mud brick houses even had glass windows. Good to see that all space is being put to good use!

This evening we went to a Gwangju (the city) Kia (the car company) Tigers baseball game. The fans were very excited - constantly keeping up rhythms and songs. There were also lots of kids, including the ones sitting next to us. They spent most of the game taking pictures of the foreigners with camera phones. No joke - I had my picture taken for a straight hour and a half! I feel like quite the celebrity. (Especially after yesterday's encounter with the press at the Gwangju Cultural Museum! There were about 10 professional photographers with 10" lenses, all simultaneously sticking their cameras in my face. I was playing my instrument and pretending not to notice them... Andrea told me that I'm probably in all the Gwangju papers today, but I haven't actually bought any papers to check.)

We just got back from the game, and it's off to bed now. Alden has decided to get up early to work out first thing tomorrow morning... unfortunately/fortunately for me, it's a men's only gym, so I don't even have the option of working out. Ah, Confucianism.

"My advice to you: smile and nod and go with the Korean flow."

The flight was more than thirty hours, and it was so exhausting I don't want to really remember it. I did get to watch three movies: Disturbia, 300, and Spiderman 3. They were all better than I expected.

I don't have any drinking buddies yet, but I'm having a good time. Yesterday we visited a Buddhist temple amidst several impressive mountains. Today we went to the Gwangju Museum and watched a spectacularly skilled display of Korean music and dance after we shoddily plunked away on the same percussion instruments. The cameras were on us while we played though. Half a dozen photographers filled the room, carrying cameras with enormous lens extensions.

Joanne has taken excellent pictures and video of these events, so I feel that it would be a waste to spend further words on them.

I still haven't quite adapted to Korean food or time. I keep waking up at 6am and the level of fat, salt, and sugar in the stuff the hotel provides us is a bit more than I can handle.

There are tons of couples here. I think we outnumber the singles. In a way this is good, because not many people want to be a third wheel. In another way, it is not so good, because couples can happily socialize among themselves and so it makes meeting new people a bit more challenging.

Tonight I've organized a SojuHotelParty. We'll see how it goes.

Embarking for life as an ELI...

It's been confirmed. Joanne and I will be working together for the next year as English Language Instructors at Yeosu West Elementary School. We're both thrilled about this. Perks of the job include a three-bedroom apartment, five weeks vacation and living in a city on a sandy beach--the sand is black, but I'm not sure that makes a difference. We are also in the same city as "Korea Brandon"(termed such so as to distinguish him from the one we know in Victoria) who kindly pointed me to Canadian Connection when Joanne and I embarked on our search for work in Asia months ago.

First person to seamail me a 10kg jug of whey isolate gets the best Korean souvenir I can find.

Planning

The passports are sitting in front of me, complete with work visas for the Republic of Korea. The contracts are signed. The plane tickets bought. Nothing left to do now but research health insurance. Oh, and find out where we'll be teaching! Perhaps an e-mail to our placement agency should be in the works?

This is the place for those hoping to follow our adventures over the next year, teaching in an elementary school in Jeollanamdo province in South Korea. We hope to update fairly regulary - please do your part and comment!