Tuesday, December 28, 2010

first snow of the winter

well the first real snowfall of the year has hit Daegu. I know northern parts of the country have been hit hard already and are getting through it just fine, but for us Gyeongsan folk snow is a rare and inconvenient thing. It's actually like Vancouver, where when we get six inches of snow the city shuts down and Toronto and Montreal are laughing at us but are also secretly really jealous that we aren't freezing our asses off 6 months of the year. Gyeongsan and Jeolla provinces get comparably less snow and cold weather than Seoul and the northern areas (and suffer the same jokes/envy from people in Seoul, Suwon, Incheon, Daejeon etc.) so hopefully it won't last long.

Actually I do like the snow, it's the lack of salting that can get frustrating/hazardous. While Seoul has a fleet of salting trucks Daegu can barely keep the main roads salted let alone the sidewalks (which are like ice rinks today). Especially since the line between road and sidewalk is somewhat less distinct than in Vancouver, I would assume that it would be a bigger priority, but I guess for the 3-4 days of snow they get they jusy expect you to put up with it. I have enjoyed watching the kids make snowmen and having a few snowball fights with them and feel lucky that I stocked up on winter clothes when I did so I can really have fun in it :)

Either way, now that I am home safe I am going to sit back with my warm ondol system and enjoy the white bliss.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Day 2010

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas this year. I know I sure did :)

It started when I opened a gift sent from my mom all the way from Vancouver. I then talked to family for a couple of hours. It was wonderful to hear from family again, as it's been a while for some of them. We then made a huge meal (a sort of brunchupper) and went out shopping.

It was exactly what I felt like for Christmas this year and, short of going home for a week to do a family Christmas, it was exactly what I wanted.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Korean Christmas spirit pt. 2. no Happy Holidays

You know the Koreans do something around Christmas time that Canadians would find totally unacceptable these days. Offensive, rude and outdated. You know what it is? They wish each other a.... I'm ashamed even to write it...... a Merry Christmas. That's right. No Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas. It's on cards, TV shows and Christmas apparel. Apparently someone forgot to tell them that wishing someone well in a non-denominational way is actually offensive. I certainly know that when they give me lunar new years presents or Chuseok cakes I want to punch them in the nose.

In case you haven't picked it up I'm being sarcastic.

When I worked retail we were told, specifically, to use Happy Holidays (I tried not to anyway, for which some people actually thanked me) because you could actually offend someone. Yes, offend them. I never met this person who was actually offended by it, but apparently they exist, otherwise why the change?

Though to be fair, the Koreans do get offended at this time of year. They've been really offended by north Korea shelling their citizens and killing two marines last month for reasons that have nothing to do with anything except internal politics up north. They are offended by the planned visit by the Japanese Prime Minister to the Yasukuni shine (the shrine that honours Japanese war dead but also houses several military leaders of Japan from the 1930's and 1940's who were responsible for colonial policy and WWII) and the continued refusal to return cultural relics plundered during the colonial era (it comes up every new years with the planned visit).

Being bombed by communists? Colonial era pillaging and raping of their country being celebrated by the purpetrators? This is what they find offensive? Not wishing someone a Merry Christmas? What a backwards country!

But wait. Is it just possible that we've forgotten what offensive actually means? That we have so little to be offended about that we find denominational greetings offensive? You would think that, at a minimum we'd find stuff like: War in Afghanistan, 3rd world conditions of many Indian reserves, skyrocketing cost of living or inadequate and highly overpriced healthcare (it's called taxation) offensive... but I guess not. So while Koreans are offended by the likes of bombings and colonialism Canadians have found the real evil in this world: denominational greetings (unless it's a religion not associated with Christianity, then it's okay). Well done.... schmo's.

So, at the risk of having hordes of the PC gestapo send me off to the PC re-education centre (I think it's at the Centre for the Arts at the University of Toronto) I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Dear Santa Claus, go f*ck yourself!

as you may have guessed from the title, this is a Trailer Park Boys post (actually amazed at the lack of them in my blog to date). Last night was the Trailer Park Christmas special down at Sydney St. We actually had a solid turnout, including a few people who had never seen it before and everyone seemed to really like it. We were trying to figure out how to make a Christmas evening without being all sappy and homesick so Kurt and I (Kurt as a guy from upstate New York who love the show as much as I do, I've only met him a few times but he's a solid boy. We'll get along just fine :) came up with this scheme. Mark decided to have discount Rum and Coke's for the show (provided you never put it down) which was a great addition. In fact, we decided to make it a semi-regular Trailer Park Tuesdays. Kurt and I have already started planning Swish, which at present is Dong Dong Ju (for the bits of crap), soju, rum and cider. I figure that'll be a dirty, shitty tasting liquor that you can barely get in to you, but my fuck will it ever get you some drunk. We'll see if we can keep it going for a bit. In any event, it was a great way to get in to the holidays) which in Korea are not actually holidays) and a lot of fun.

$10 FUCKIN DOLLARS, A MONTH!

Monday, December 20, 2010

the Korean Christmas spirit

might sound funny, but they have it, and the real it.

Christmas here in Korea is an interesting thing. About 30% of the population are Christians, and not the ones who go to church to be baptised, married and for their own funeral or the ones who check Protestant on their census forms but can't actually name which denomination but the real ones. Church every Sunday, prayers before bed etc etc etc. There's even Korean Pat Roberts' and Jerry Falwell's who essentially use the church as a money making scam or to preach hatred and intolerance of everyone and everything. They have it all!

However, for the other 70% of the population it's all rather unimportant. They are mostly Buddhists, mostly the never actually meditated, not sure which sect of Mahayana Buddhism they are and go to temple only when they want something without seeing the inherent contradiction in that kind, but there are a few devout ones as well. However, the first group, in my opinion, has nailed Christmas. Sounds funny but here's why:

For them Christmas is celebrating, at most, the birth of a man who advocated peace and more usually just a public holiday with the importance of the Queen's birthday in Commonwealth countries. So what do they do? Couple's go out for coffee and do a bit of shopping, some might go on an overnight trip together. Friends go to eat together or go to get a few drinks. Parents take their kids to the park or to a movie or just give them a day to play video games and hang out (something they get to do far far too little here). Gifts may be exchanged but they are small. Earrings for the girl, new shoes for the boy etc. There's no mad dash to the shopping malls (E-Mart was quiet last night), no spending three paycheques on buying garbage for people who don't need it anyway. Retail at Christmas in the west shows you the true evil of humanity (there's only one $800 gaming system left! Rampage!).

Now that's not to say the nominal Korean Buddhists have Christmas figured out exclusively. Korean Christians do something that virtually no Christians do on Christmas Eve and day (the census Christians). They actually go to church. For real. They have realized that Jesus actually plays an important role in their religion (in fact, I think the idea that he is the saviour is what differentiates them from Muslims and Jews) and the importance of celebrating his birth. One of my students (a Christian) told me that her family gets up Christmas morning, goes to church, then the father drops them off and goes to Baskin Robbins for a big ice cream cake that they then all eat together. That is Christmas for her, and she can't wait.

Now that isn't to say that Koreans have it figured out with all things. As mentioned above the older generation all go to the Buddhist temples to pray for their grandchildren's test results, or their son's promotion or their own hip surgery etc. I'm fairly certain that the central tenets of Buddhism involve shedding yourself of desire and that Siddhartha specifically said NOT to worship or pray to him. So praying for him to satisfy your desire seems to me to be the opposite of what you should be doing, but hey, maybe in 2500 years they'll mess up Christianity as much as we have (Buddhism is that old, it's not a type-O). I just think it's funny that they have shed away 2000 years of bs and, as a society, and have come up with their interpretation of Christmas, and it's far more faithful to the original idea than ours is.

Spanish food. Feliz Navidad?

On Saturday I woke up still feeling the full effects of the virus mentioned previously, but with a few trips to the pharmacy (among other places) I managed to get myself feeling better. With that in mind I decided to go downtown for Spanish food and some shopping. I didn't get there til around 5 and so didn't do all the shopping we had planned, but did manage the bookstore and a scarf . Then off to Spanish food, which was fantastic. I haven't had that in.... well years so it was a great change from what I normally eat (no kimchi was served). I then went out for coffee and back home.

Sunday was still having me feeling half dead, so we just hung out in 성서 doing a bit of shopping and eating. It was a nice, low key weekend. Exactly what I needed :)

Friday, December 17, 2010

being sick in Korea

When working with kids, the common cold is a real occupational hazard, especially in winter, and Korea is no exception. With the cold weather finally descending on southern South Korea the usual coughs, runny noses and fevers are making their way around the school and, as has happened the last two years, I have caught it. Now being sick is never fun, but I find it especially harsh in Korea where, short of being on your death bed, you are considered fit to work or attend school. This leads to many... many many many children who would have stayed home in Canada coming to school and spreading viruses everywhere. Combine that with the Korean aversion to covering their mouths when coughing or sneezing and you have cold epidemics :)

Now I should state for the record that I find many westerners seem to feel the need to take a sick day when they have anything worse than the hiccups and that I find many people WAY too quick to say "oh, not feeling 100%. better stay home". The fact is is that I am perfectly able to work, I just don't do a very good job of it now because I'm not feeling well :) That being said, Koreans have swung the other way to such an extreme that people come to work with serious viruses that DO require a day or two to rest. This is equally true of the students who come to work with things growing out of their eyes or noses that would have House scratching his head. I wish the ones who are really sick would just stay home, as they would slow the spread of the viruses and they would get better much faster.

For now, the best thing to do is hit the pharmacy and get their over the counter cough meds (of which they only give you 2 days worth), vitamin tablets and drink lots of fluid..... ie. the common sense stuff Grandma taught you. Fortunately my cold this year is much better than last years (knock on wood) and a good nights sleep should set me right.

Monday, December 13, 2010

a weekend in 서장

this past weekend, I took a trip down to 서장 (I don't know the English spelling, Seochang maybe?) to visit my friend Paul, have a few beers and hang out. 서장 is about halfway between Ulsan and Busan right on the old 1127 bus line (for anyone who has ever lived in Ulsan). It's a small town with a University that specialises in Tae kwon do (it's a BA program in Korea). But as with all University degrees in Korea you need to pass the Korean English language test (TOEIC) so that why Paul and his three co-workers are in the small town. Paul and I met two years ago in Ulsan and have kept in touch regularly since then. His apartment is huge (another reason to get a Uni job) so unlike my shoebox having guests is no worries for him (he has a guestroom....... hell he has a tiolet paper room :P)  서장 is, for me, a great place to visit. The sky is actually blue (Daegu's industry makes the sky here an interesting mix of grey, brown and black on more than a few days of the year) and thus the air is clean, the small town vibe is interesting and a good look at a more traditional Korea (parts of 서장 still look like Korea must have 30 or 40 years ago) and it's great to get out of the city.

To be honest, all we really did was play a bit of Travian, do a bit of Korean studying and went to a few places around his apartment. We had planned to head down to the ice bar, but the -2 degrees outside had us changing our minds by about 8. Anyway, this week is shaping up to be a week just like any other week ("ahhh it just keeps getting worse and worse" - Homer Simpson :) so I'll be hanging out with friends and keeping the hanja and Korean going. Seven weeks til winter break :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

the last 7 days... cold weather, hot food, hanja

Well I've been wanting to blog about something amazing or exciting for the last few days, but with winter belatedly arriving in Daegu I've just been doing my best to stay warm (easy enough at home, harder at work where they seem to want to have the heater on only just enough that we don't freeze) and not doing much else. This past weekend was quiet. The missus and I did some shopping and watched a few episodes of Bones (her favourite crime show that I can't help but get in to, Hollywood though it can be). This week has been low key as well. A long skype chat to Paul and a wed night of food and hangouts with the missus were the highlights. I've also been going hard out on my Korean and started writing some hanja (traditional Chinese characters). They is 바보.

Weekend looks a bit better, with a trip to 서장 and a Sun afternoon downtown planned.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Travian.... god damn Travian

well it happened again. Paul and I started a Travian account a few weeks back, Kris and Miranda have one and they are right next to us, and now even Geoff has an account also near us. For anyone who isn't aware, Travian is an online browser game where your objective is to build up a big empire and attack people, trade etc. You can be Gaul, Teuton or Roman (each with their own pro's and con's). It is highly addictive if taken seriously and it can consume some people (and when you see the bigger accounts you realise that it does). Last time we played, the four of us had one huge account that we shared, but it started to eat away at a substantial chunk of our time so we decided to quit it. We've started again with more modest ambitions, the first of which is to just have fun.

To be honest, I'm not much of a gamer. I find an hour of Civilization II (yes, the 1996 game) a month is more than enough. I'd feel guilty if I spent an afternoon playing games these days for many reasons. One, I'm way too old for it. Two, there are way better things to be doing. Three, it's just not THAT much fun, real life is much better. However, this game has a real social aspect for me, as Paul and I will get together, have a few makkoli's and play for a while, or get on skype with K&M in Halifax and have a chat about strategy that turns in to a "how's life in general" sort of conversation. Actually, I bet I've talked to Paul more in the last 2 weeks than in the two months before that, and that is reason enough to play a round. Also, with much smaller goals, it ends up taking very little time (30 mins a day or so). Being that it hasn't cut in to my "actually doing stuff" time at all I'm happy to keep it up for now.

teaching a genius

Last week I inherited a 1 on 1 class with a grade 4 girl (I don't feel it's appropriate to publish students names, even their English ones, so forgive the omission) who is, without exaggeration, a genius. I don't mean that she is very smart, or has a gift for languages, she is one of those 200 IQ points, the kid in Shine type geniuses. First off she is fluent in English and Japanese as well as her native Korean. Her writing has a few problems, but it's as good as my grade 9 and 10 students. However, by her own admission she is lazy (and she is :P). She tells me that she plays 3-4 hours of computer games a day, hates homework and school and doesn't want to study but does a bit because her parents make her. She tells me she can read books in Japanese except for the hanja (the Chinese characters that have been adopted as one of Japan's three alphabets and was the old alphabet in Korea before Hangeul) because hanja has too many characters and they sound stupid (as apparently does spoken Chinese in her opinion :). She is also doing middle school math and social studies. Now teaching a kid like this is not especially easy, as none of our textbooks are really appropriate (she's done the first 3rd of a 6 month course in about 3 weeks). Also, usual topics for writing and discussing are either below her level or get in to topics that she has no interest in doing. This is because, while her level is that of a High School or even College student, she is still a 10 year old girl. I've managed to improv with articles about things like Japanese animation, KPop and travel articles all from English language websites (where she read it and then answers 10-15 questions) and so far it's been okay. I also give her lots of time just to chat and, unlike so many Koreans who are very reserved and seem unwilling to express opinions on anything, she is very willing to discuss and give opinions ranging from why Jeju-do is a great place to visit but a terrible place to live (she lived there for a year) to why Japanese animation is better than American animation to why spoken Chinese sounds terrible and their writing system is inefficient to why her being blind in one eye is actually a good thing because it makes her different and gives her a free trip to Seoul every year to go to the clinic there. Overall, teaching her poses a few challenges, but it's becoming one of my favourite classes and I hope to be teaching her for a long time to come.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

many changes at work

As anyone who's read a few of my posts knows, my work has been going through many structural changes. Our old system consisted of the students having one day with a Korean teacher, one day with us and repeat. The problem is that we were moving way to fast for the average student, so while a few students with a gift for languages or one hell of a work ethic did okay, most struggled. The last two months has been a lot of restructuring and the result is that I've spent many a class sitting and watching my students write tests, essays etc. Personally I find the whole idea of keeping kids quiet in a language class very counterproductive and very boring. The result was that I was feeling fairly bored and useless. After talking about it with Robbie I was happy to know that he was feeling the same way. When you come home from work feeling like you've done nothing you feel down, or feel that you are wasting your time/life. So I was really happy when Min, one of my favourite Korean teachers, came in with a new four day schedule. In our new system some kids will have us once every four days, others every two and my 8pm class everyday (which is great as they're one of my favourite groups). The only downside is that I don't teach all my classes in the same room anymore, but I still teach 70% of them in my room 4 so it's not that bad. I also felt like I had a good day yesterday, and that I did something. I'm hoping this continues.


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Hello? Where are you prum!

This morning on my way down to the local Starbucks I was accosted by a group of elementary school students wanting to know where I was from, how old I was and then wanting to tell me how handsome and good I am. This is something I'm sure friends in Korea, China and elsewhere in the non-western world can relate and to and even appreciate. To be honest, when it's a group of kids I just act all smart ass to them, saying: "나는 북한 사람" (I am North Korean) and then asking them where they are from. Or "나는 영어 말를 할 수 없어요" (I don't speak English). This is met with howls of laughter and more "you are very good" comments. These moments actually can make me very happy to be a foreigner in Korea.

What I've come to appreciate less is when a clearly unwilling child is being forced in to talking to me by an overeager parent. This can happen (and has) on the Daegu and Seoul subway systems, on the Apsan cable car even at a restaurant. It's frustrating because:

a- the child is clearly very uncomfortable and may be struggling with English, so this conversation only serves to make them even more uncomfortable and even resentful towards me.

b - private lessons start at 40000 won a pop for people who can legally teach them (which is not me). Petition your government to change those labour laws and I'll give your kid a month of free lessons :)

c - I teach English as a job (I imagine dentists encounter an unusual number of people with teeth problems at parties, mechanics people with car problems, massage therapists people with back spasms etc etc etc.). It's not a hobby or something I do to kill time and I don't necessarily want to do it in my free time.

d - it almost never happens when I'm with a Korean person, leading me to believe that it is considered rude to bother someone in this way (a theory Koreans have supported).


My standard response is usually to be nice to the child (as I'm on their side in this one) but abrupt. If it continues, I say to the parent "나는 영어 멀을 할 수 없어: (deliberately leaving out the "요"). I'd recommend it to all foreigners in Korea as it usually staggers them long enough for you to make your escape (and the child will often smile at you and look very grateful).

Monday, November 29, 2010

Christmas tree 2010 is up. Quiet weekend

This past weekend, I set up the Christmas tree and put on the decorations. Last year I inherited this tree from Kris and Miranda (along with the oven of earlier posts) and seeing as how it's almost December decided now's the time. Christmas is the only time of year that I ever get a bit of homesickness in Korea. It's not so much any desire to return to Vancouver (because to be honest I have none of that) but to return to all those childhood Christmas memories (and the loot :p) and the family that I spent them with (most of which is luckily still with us). However, being that it's my 4th Christmas away from home (and 3rd in a row) I'm starting to get a bit used to it.

The rest of the weekend was spent buying a new table and some exercise stuff. I'm also happy to report that I walked to and from Yongsan, Keimyung area and then back to Keimyung (for a Starbucks coffee, my one guilty western pleasure thing). The table was cheap but is really necessary when you have two or more people over (as my old "table" was really only good for one) and the exercise stuff is because I'm finding, with the cold weather coming in at night, I no longer feel the desire to run after work and due to the fact that I am by no means a morning person I rarely find the energy to do it before work. Therefore, I was starting to feel fairly lethargic and cramped (you know that feeling when you really aren't doing much physical?). Hopefully problem is solved.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Sterling teacher is no. New teacher is no. Good SEI teachers is yes.

Today was the final day of Sterling teacher at SEI. Sterling came on as Kris and Miranda's replacement and did a year as a solid teacher. I thought he adapted to Korea fairly well, manging to gain a basic understanding of the language and meet a Korean girlfriend. He's off to another academy next year after a much needed month back in Toronto, taking a vacation days cut but a substantial pay raise. Sterling was a good guy to have at the academy. We saw eye-to-eye on many issues relating to the academy, esl teaching and Korea in general and he was always happy to voice his opinion on almost any matter. I'm happy that he is staying in Daegu and hope to catch up with him in the new year for a beer or two.

However, unlike in previous departures, we have no one new to look forward too. SEI is again cutting back the number or native teachers to just two for at least the winter. This means that it will just be Robbie and I for the forseeable future, which is actually okay with me, as Robbie is also a great guy to have around. But it does mean that we have quite a few new Korean teachers who all seem nice, but who don't seem to grab my attention the way I hoped they would interest wise. Add in to it all of their training which means that I haven't really had much of a chance to meet a few of them anyway and it really makes the academy a bit of me and Robbie in one group and everyone else in the other. I'm just happy the other guy in my group is solid and not a schmo :)

Actually, at SEI in general I've had solid native teachers as coworkers, which is even more important here than back in Canada. Kris and Miranda, who were friends before I moved to Daegu, were great co-workers as well. David, whom I had met before I started working there but didn't know especially well, also turned out to be a great guy and I'm happy to say that I still keep in touch with all three (and I'm sure it will go up to four). Add to that the above mentioned two and it's been a good lineup. None of them ever were counted among the foreigners who's life consists of going to work, get off and go to the bar to booze and bitch until 4am, go to bed, get up the next day and stagger to work half cut (and repeat) and certainly nothing like some of the real creeps I came across in Ulsan who felt that Korea was here solely for them to booze in and have sex with (the girls marital status, interest and even legal age all being minor considerations for them). They have all been (and continue to be) interesting people who I can swap travel stories, talk about work stuff, plan further education etc.

Anyway, enough "praise" for today.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

a Wednesday night at Sydney St..... the warm spell

As you may know, last year I inherited a small oven from Kris and Miranda before they left. Well I say small but it's big enough to do a full tray of nacho's, make cookies etc. However, being that I rarely entertain at home (the cheapness and abundance of eating and drinking establishments combined with the size of my place makes it seem pointless) I decided to sell it to Mark and Tina, who run the Sydney St. Cafe and pub. I basically traded it for 2 beers and a plate of nacho's and I'm happy to give it to someone who will put it to good use, especially as I happen to like both them and their bar quite a bit. I had planned to head down with Geoff but my two co-workers, Robbie and Sterling, were also heading down so it ended up being the 4 SEI teachers, which was a lot of fun. Being that it's also Sterling's last week it'll probably be the last time we all do something together as coworkers, although being that Sterling is moving a grand total of three subway stops further away, I have no doubts that we'll still see plenty of him.

This comes after a wonderful Tuesday night spent with the missus watching her favourite show and having a great dinner. We had planned to go to a Vietnamese restaurant near my place but found out they close at 10, last order at 930 so we settled for ordering in and TV.  Sometimes a night like that is perfect. With a busy weekend coming up, I'm looking forward to a quiet night tonight.

Also, reading about the cold spell in Vancouver can't help but make me smile, as our daytime highs are still in the 12-16 degree range and sunny. Last winter in Korea had record lows but this winter is shaping up nicely. While I know January will probably be freezing I love that fact that my jacket is optional in the afternoon on November 25th (though it's not an option at night by any means). Not too shabby.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Kim Jong-Il has another hissy fit

There are two things that amaze me every time the Korea's have a spat:

1- that the North still insists on randomly blowing up planes, ships etc. sneaking people in to the south, tunneling under the DMZ etc etc etc

2- That western media jumps straight to the "this could lead to WWIII....." conclusion. I guess when you run news 24/7 you need something to fill the void.

The fact is that this is one of the largest bombings attacks by either of the Korea's since 1953 and, yet again, it comes on the heels of South Korea taking another step in its development. You'll note that the G20 conference was recently held in Seoul and that war games (I love that they are called "games") that were supposed to be held between the US and South Korea in the Yellow Sea and were cancelled due to CHINESE concerns have been restarted as a South Korean excercise with US observers. the same thing happened in the lead up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics (plane bombing), Korea's nomination to host the G20 summit (ship bombing), Korea's first democratic election (Rangoon bombing) etc. and nothing ever happens.

The simple fact is that North Korea's old friends, China and Russia now have many thousands of their citizens living and working in South Korea (there are many Russian students in Korea and many Chinese students and language teachers, much higher numbers than the 20,000 ESL teachers that are here), they do billions of dollars in trade with the south and the south isn't looking for handouts from them every week.

How this usually works is that China will "suggest that North Korea halt its actions" and then offer some food or financial credit when they do. The Americans, who have spent the 21st century to date scared of everyone and everything, immediately jump to the WWIII scenario, which is stupid but gets them thinking North Korea. Finally the South Koreans might lift some food restrictions, or they may not. However, they will continue to be China's 3rd largets trading partner, America's 5th or 6th (I'm not actually sure but it's in the bottom half of the top ten) and have one of the highest standards of living in Asia.

Finally, the south knows that one war like the 1950-53 one will destroy 30 years of building and unprecedented growth, so they will NOT go to war. Since South Korea is linked to every major power in the Pacific economically and is home to tens of thousands of nationals of those countries, those same countries will not allow South Korea to be attacked. Finally, North Korea knows that a real attack is suicide, and the Kim regime does know how to hold on to life so they WILL NOT actually invade.

The two Koreas are a great study of those who believe that a big military is strength versus those who believe that economic power and friendship is strength and I'm happy to see that the military side has lost this debate thoroughly.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Korean..... history? ...... oh and thanks David :)

In an effort to keep fresh with academic research and to keep out of the trap of working 7 hours a day and spending the rest of my time on the internet or boozing I've started studying korean language and, more recently, culture and history. To that effect I purchased a book called "A Review of Korean History" by Han Young Woo (한영우). The actual research and chapters have so far been interesting but his introduction of Korean history (running over 40 pages) is downright shocking for someone educated in western methods.

For example, the entire thing seems little more than an attempt to compare Korea with both China and Japan (always favourably of course). He makes several mentions of "distortions of Korean history" though fails to name any individuals who have done this. His introduction has several lines such as: "Korean people..... developed their own culture that was different from the Chinese culture, but envied by the Chinese people" or "as China became unified and grew in to a civilized country during the Tang" (the Tang dynasty started c. 600AD, AFTER the Han dynasty and 800 years after unification) or, and this is my favourite "Japan's cultural thirst was not so severe when a great number of Korean exiles entered there during the Three Kingdom's period" (During a paragraph on how Japan's isolation gave them a cultural thirst that forced them to attack Korea or request and receive Korean envoys).

The author of this work is Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University (one of the big 3 universities in Korea, akin to a Harvard or Oxford but in the Korean language). Yet this introduction would not pass muster in a first year history class at a community college in Canada. Now I should point out that when he gets past his introduction and in to the actual history he is well researched and actually very imformative, but it's shocking and quite scary that this sort of petty nationalism can be treated as serious work anywhere (I've skipped the quotes describing the "naturally optimistic character" of the Korean people as they are long winded and I can't be bothered to copy them down). It's also sad that he must go to such pains to put down Japan and China whenever possible in order to promote Korea, instead of just relaying an account of Korean history. Finally, at the end of his 40 page introduction he has a section discussing how history must be viewed objectively and not have any bias infused in to it..... I guess that translation of objective = Japan sucks.

On a totally unrelated topic, my friend David gave my blog a bit of press time. David was an old co-worker of mine at SEI and also a friend and good bloke (props to the Aussie:).David also has a blog, staypuff.net and actually his blog was one of the reasons I started doing mine (I remember reading an old one where his two new co-workers, a young Cnadian couple had just shown up. He had invited them out but they were going down to Ulsan to visit friends. Well those co-workers were Kris and Miranda and that friend was me :P. It's kinda neat to read it from that perspective and I'd imagine it's even more fun to read your own past in that way). Anyway he's in Beijing now and his blog also makes a great read for anyone interested in life in China. Thanks David :)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

this week

I should apologise for my lack of posts, but this week has, to say the least, been routine. However, on Sat I manged to get downtown with Geoff to get a few things we needed and hang out. We were also looking for a couple of books and a power converter. Neither of us really found what we wanted but I did get a couple of books that I can use, though not what I was looking for :(. We had even less luck on the power converters, after trying the Homeplus in Yongsan and the Emart and HiMart in Seongseo (adaptors everywhere, but not one with a  voltage converter in it). However, it was a beautiful day, and with our jackets hardly being necessary, it was great just being downtown and walking around the suburbs in the beautiful weather. After deciding to give up the hunt for a converter we went back to my place for a coffee and then down to Sydney St. for a few beers and some food (not what I should be doing when trying to slim down, but oh well :P). Sydney St. is a great bar run by a Korean/Aussie couple and is the only foreigner bar in Daegu (or so far Korea :P) that I actually really enjoy going to, and being a 20 min walk from my house is a real added bonus.

This week promises a little more excitement, so I hope to have more posts in the next 7 days.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Paul comes for a visit

Last friday night, my buddy Paul came up from 서장 for some much needed hangouts. We'd been trying to coordinate a weekend for several months but illness, extra work and sketchy phones always seemed to get in the way. So it was great to hang out friday. We didn't get up to too much, just a trip down to the local makkali jip for a kimchi pajeon and some bulgogi (and of course the makkali :P). Then wandering the streets of Korea until we wound up back at my place. He woke up feeling pretty wrecked but I seemed ok (the reverse is more common, must be the Pocari Sweat I crammed in before bed :P) so he left early to meet his girl and I slowly got up. We also started up a new travian account, probably a bad idea and neither of us seem that in to it but we'll see.

The rest of the weekend was filled with a hike, a movie, some good food, including a new 돼지국밥 place (a pork and vegetable soup served with several side dishes). Now back and the time left until my next break is now 10 weeks (of 18 originally :P)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Keeping in Touch (Futureshop and Korea)

For anyone not aware, before I moved to Korea I worked at the Futureshop in North Vancouver. It was low wages, long hours and you got almost as much respect from the public as zoo animals usually do (minus the free popcorn of course). That being said, it amazes me how many people from that old company I still keep in touch with over two years after I quit. In fact, I've heard from no less than five of them this week (thanks Sherry, Mel, Allan, Dale and Jaclyn :). The best news was from my buddy Allan, who is putting in his two weeks tomorrow after almost five years there. Now don't get me wrong, I actually have great memories of working there and I'd actually really recommend it for someone starting their working life, wanting a second job or who has a passion for electronics and can sell (I have neither :P). After doing a teenage year at Wal-Mart I know what a terrible employer is and Future Shop is not one of them (to this day I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart under any circumstances). That being said, I know Allan has been really unhappy there for a long time, so I'm happy to see him moving on to bigger and better things. I was also happy to hear from so many of my old coworkers, some of whom are working there and others who have moved on to other things.

On that same note I also managed to get in touch with several old friends from Ulsan this week. Korea, much more so than back in Canada, is full of people coming and going and you are unlikely to be hanging out with the same people for very long. So I was really happy to have a chat with both Caroline and Leanne this week and am very happy to have Paul coming up tonight for a long awaited visit (having a guy you have known for over two years in Korea is actually not very common and is pretty cool).

So overall, happy to be connecting/reconnecting with so many people these days.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Pepero Day 2010

On November 11th, while Canada (and most of the western world) is celebrating Remembrance Day, Koreans head to the Homeplus' and Emart's in their thousands for the equally exciting Pepero Day. For those who are unfamiliar Pepero is a long narrow stick of chocolate covered cookie which, it was noted by young Koreans (and the Lotte corporation that manufactures them no doubt), that four pepero sticks standing upright make 1111, or 11/11. Thus the hallmark holiday or all hallmark holidays was born. In essence every student comes to school with boxes of these sticks and gives them to their friends and their teachers. It cracks me up to watch two kids exchange two of the EXACT same box and yet be overjoyed by it. Personally, I didn't have the desire or the finances to buy for every student, but I did buy for my 8 o'clock class, who are all middle school kids and my favourite group of students. I also enjoy playing up the stupidity of the event (imagine a company in the west trying to pull something like that with a Coca-Cola Day or a Dorito's Day) and so tried to celebrate many a Pepero Day miracle and tried not to be the grinch who stole Pepero Day when kids didn't do their homework. I did make off like the fabled Pepero Day bandit though and will have lots of chocolate for the week (at least).

I also managed to send home a million won this morning, which at present is only $860 Canadian dollars and while I know that includes a few fees (esp. on the North American end..... jeez) but that's still a brutal rate. Fortunately my favourite woman at the back at the bank. She's great and was always very helpful when I first started going in and has always been helpful with problems or even just routine transactions.

Anyway, tomorrow has Paul coming up for a visit, so should have more to blog about then.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Bullodong

Last Sunday, I went to Bullodong to see a part of Daegu I've read about but haven't managed to get to in over a year of living here. Bullodong is an ancient Korean...... well..... graveyard in northeast Daegu. It has several hundred burial mounds called tumuli (which mostly look like piles of dirt covered in grass, but they are the graves of Korean nobles from the 4th-6th centuries). It was a nice chance to get out on what will probably be our last warm day for a few months. I also went to a small dam and park in the area, which was a nice distraction from the city (which is really starting to get smoggy, I'm hoping the forecasted rain/wind come true) and just relaxed.

I also found a great little restaurant near the tumuli park, that really felt like an old Korean restaurant with some absolutely amazing food. I love finding little gems like that as one of the problems with Korea's rapid modernisation is that it has become so easy to forget that there is a 2500 year history in this country (especially in the cities there is really very little evidence of that history as anything old seems to be torn down or upgraded) so finding a really old style restaurant next to 1500 year old graves is a great reminder of where you really are. It's especially great for me, having grown up in a city where a building from WWII is considered a heritage building you can forget what old really is.

I'm also happy to report a 90 minute Korean study today. Not bad given how lazy I have been, hoping to keep it up tomorrow :P

Saturday, November 6, 2010

a lazy Saturday

This Saturday, I decided to give myself a free day to rest and chill out. This morning I decided to try calling Caroline again. She was one of my best friends when I lived in Ulsan, and we've been pretty good at keeping in touch (but it's off and on at times, and being as we were in an "off" period, I decided to fix that). Well three and a half hours later it was 2am in Maine and she had to go to bed, it was great to catch up but it also meant my morning hike got started at about 3 in the afternoon. I must say I am loving skype phone features, I can talk to someone overseas for that long for less than $10, amazing technology.

Anyway, my hike was great, as I found a good trail about 20 mins from my place. Although it was too late to do much of it, I was able to explore up a ways and figure it'll be a good place to go in the mornings before work.

Finally, I'm a little annoyed with myself for getting lazy with the Korean studying (I was up to 90 mins a day for a while but have been quite lazy the last few weeks). If I'm planning for the April TOPIK I'm gonna have to work a bit harder, so I figure by writing it on a public space I'll have to do it or embarass myself :P

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

new market, Thai massage

last Sunday, with so many foreign teachers doen with post Halloween hangovers, I decided to go out for a Thai massage down by Duryu instead. Feeling relaxed I went out for a traditional Korean dinner (complete with 20 sidedishes :) and started walking towards home (with the idea of hopping on the subway when I got tired of walking). I walked to Gamsam where we found a huge market. It was a traditional market like Chilseong or Nampodong in Busan, but way less touristed and a bit more laid back (will be good for future clothes/food shopping).

This week I'm finally setting up a language exchange with a Keimyung University student. I've been really lazy on that front for a week or so so now would be a good time to get back in to it. The TOPIK test is in April and I'm falling behind in my studies.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween Party

On Friday we had our annual Halloween Party, complete with the scare room, decorations and games. It was a hit. In fact, these parties have become so popular that many kids brought friends and siblings as well, making an hour block with 80 kids in to over a 100. While I like that these parties have become so popular, all the extra kids meant that all the games we had planned became difficult, if not impossible to do (50 kids in a classroom who don't speak a lot of English is just chaos). Some serious improvising managed to get us to the six o'clock block (when the herd thinned out) but needless to say we were all quite tired (six consecutive scare room showings followed by a game with fifty or so 3rd and 4th grades can be exhausting..... and it does wonders for your voice). For anyone not familiar, the scare room is a room we cover over and make pitch black, we then have a few decorations (this years theme was a graveyard). We then lead the kids in and then jump out and scare the hell out of them. Most of them freak out and then lights go on and I take off my mask and they laugh. We had a few cryers, but even they get happy when I take my mask off and give them a candy (but they're terrified until I take it off, even when the lights are on). I should mention it was a yellow and red Mexican wrestling mask Geoff brought me from mexico. However,  the highlight for me was when a few of my middle school students decided they wanted to help me jump out and scare everyone in the scare room. I wasn't sure if the older kids actually enjoy the Halloween party or if they just want to eat candy and watch the Simpsons, but when they were as excited as the little ones and really getting in to it I had my answer, and was happy with it :) However, it ended on a bit of a sour note with the big boss talking to the Korean teachers, and he seemed upset about something (what I don't know). Not sure why it couldn't have waited until Monday but I guess it's not my place to worry about it (and if a few of those kids who came to the party decide to enrol I bet the higher up's will be very happy :)

I'll post pics on facebook later for anyone interested.

After work I was exhausted so the three of us just grabbed a convenience store beer together and then went our separate ways. I was boring and just went home to watch a movie called Seven Years in Tibet. Not a bad film (actually I quite enjoyed most of it) but really took a political tone towards the end and it was, well lets say somewhat one sided in it's views on the Dalai Lama (though I in no way condone Mao Zedong or his fanatics did in 1950-1951, or what the Chinese government has done against the Tibetan culture and people in years since, it should have been mentioned in the interests of fairness that Tibet had been a part of China for almost 400 years at that point, so it was not the invasion comparable to Nazi Germany's actions as the film suggests). Anyway, a great film for the relations between Pitt's character and the Dalai Lama if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Getting Ready for Halloween

following in our Hagwan's tradition we are doing another halloween party. Last year, with four teachers we managed to do three separate rooms. This year, with only three teachers, we decided to make the hallway/scare room in to one big haunted house and keep the entertainment room, complete with games and Simpson's halloween specials going back to when I was the age of these students (many many years ago.....). The scare room is now in the graveyard section and I'm hoping that we can really get the younger kids. Either way I'll post a lot more after it's done.

I also managed to sneak out last night to my favourite Japanese place. It has a name but we just call it the Nagasaki noodle house (that being the dish we usually order as our main). Unlike most other Japanese restaurants in Korea, this one is authentically Japanese (no kimchi udon, gimbap or soju on the menu) and so is a nice change from the Korean fare (though I should mention that I happen to love Korean food, that being one of the nicest surprises about moving here).

Anyway off to shower and bed, I have some children to terrify tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

this week

well I'm still really new to this whole blog thing, so I'm just going to fill up with what I've been doing this week and see how it goes.

With winter here on the peninsula it is again flu season, complete with Korean kids who don't seem to ever want to cover their mouths no matter what is coming outta there. The result: I have managed to get sick on successive weekends. It was kinda nice just relaxing and watching Supernatural all weekend, but with the really cold weather coming in we only have a few weekends left so I was hoping for another road trip, maybe to Andong. Geoff and I had also planned to go to Gwangju last weekend, but of course it was not to be.

Of course the other side to spending last weekend at home is that we got to spend it on my new bed. It was one of my requests when I renewed and so far I'm more than happy with it. For anyone who has not been to my place, it's sort of what you'd imagine a hobbit ghetto to look like (but it's free, so I can't complain) but that means that having a new piece of furniture in there is great, especially when I plan to spend eight hours a day on it. It also replaces a very old, sagging mattress that was okay for one, but impossible for two.

Finally, there's been a few big changes at work. One of our oldest Korean teachers, Michelle, decided to leave last week. Unofficially I hear it's because she was getting passed over for promotions, raises etc. and was not happy about it. Also, they are changing the curriculum around and all the teachers seem really stressed. What really bothers me though, is that she didn't bother to say goodbye to any of us (I mean, we did work together for a year). We just showed up on Monday morning and she wasn't there. When Jiny left (another teacher that was there a long time) it was big goodbye's, phone number exchanges etc. The personnel and curriculum changes are making for a stressful few months but overall I am pretty happy with our SEI, especially given how the teachers at the other one are being treated. I'll spare everyone Bobby's saga, but it's enough to make anyone angry (and does). Another big change coming up is Sterling leaving at the end of November. It's strange for me both in that he's been there a year already and that it's been a year since Kris and Miranda left Korea. He's a good guy but he is not being replaced (part of the changes means less native teacher classes) so it will just be two of us from now on.

Finally, my favourite Korean student quote for today: when describing how someone appeared she said: "you look humourous"

Monday, October 25, 2010

My very first blog :)

Well after two years of living in Korea I figured I might as well start my own blog. I know I really enjoy reading Stephanie and David’s blogs (both of whom are now in China) so I thought I would imitate them (the highest form of flattery right) and make this. Stay tuned for updates.