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.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
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.
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!
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!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
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.
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.
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