well it was really only Christmas Day off, but I'll say holidays.
It was a nice couple of weeks off from everything. First off I hurt my knee running, a first for me. It has had me sidelined since Dec. 23rd. I plan to start up again tomorrow with biking and work my way up to running. What that injury did mean though was that between Hong Kong, Christmas food and drink and general fun, I have put on 7 pounds this winter. I am like a bear. That is both nice and terrible.
I started a couple weeks ago when Yen's roommates had a big Christmas party. Amazing Filipino food and my nacho's (courtesy of Jarrod's online cooking show, long distance cooking). Wine, soju, fried foods, noodles and rice, pork. Amazing.
Christmas Eve and Day were spend with me cooking and eating. Beer, wine, sausages, chicken. Also amazing.
On Thursday Bobby came down and we met Will in Sangin for BBQ and beer. Lots of BBQ and beer.
General food, outings etc. made up the rest.
So tomorrow the gym is open and I start again. I want to kill that 7lbs by Seoul (Jan 24th-26th) and just feel less blah (food and drink in excess does that to me).
Overall though an amazing holiday season and a general death to Korean winter blues that got me last year.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Year 2013
It's the morning of January 1st 2014 and I will soon be getting ready for work (it's lunar New Years that counts here). Surprisingly though, I am in a great mood. 2013 was a fantastic year in a lot of ways, with a new relationship, grad school, new branch at work and some nice things that stayed the same.
I guess the highlights included:
-Yen
-Starting school with Birmingham
-Mom's visit, including Korea and Kyoto
-Philippines and Hong Kong/Macau
-Making a few new friends and reconnecting with older ones
It has been a fantastic 2013, and also one full of change. I feel that 2014 will be less dramatic in some ways, as it is continuing school and work to set for a major life change in 2015. Not that it won't be an amazing year, but I feel that 2013-2014 will be the Moonkkang/Sangin/gradschool stretch of my life.
I read my blog from the end of 2012 and it seems that my view that Korea is kind of the same as it is now. School is really dictating how long I will stay here. On this blog I have posted Feb 2015, Oct 2015 and Dec 2014 as exit dates. I'll be a bit less direct and say I will be out in that ten month span, but I may have another New Years blog from Daegu yet.
So to everyone from Daegu, Vancouver, Goyang, Australia, Seoul, California, Manila, and anywhere else out there, Happy New Year!
I guess the highlights included:
-Yen
-Starting school with Birmingham
-Mom's visit, including Korea and Kyoto
-Philippines and Hong Kong/Macau
-Making a few new friends and reconnecting with older ones
It has been a fantastic 2013, and also one full of change. I feel that 2014 will be less dramatic in some ways, as it is continuing school and work to set for a major life change in 2015. Not that it won't be an amazing year, but I feel that 2013-2014 will be the Moonkkang/Sangin/gradschool stretch of my life.
I read my blog from the end of 2012 and it seems that my view that Korea is kind of the same as it is now. School is really dictating how long I will stay here. On this blog I have posted Feb 2015, Oct 2015 and Dec 2014 as exit dates. I'll be a bit less direct and say I will be out in that ten month span, but I may have another New Years blog from Daegu yet.
So to everyone from Daegu, Vancouver, Goyang, Australia, Seoul, California, Manila, and anywhere else out there, Happy New Year!
Monday, December 30, 2013
One Year at Yongsan
Well it is almost a year since I started at my current school, and with my re-signing in effect I will have at least two, and maybe three years at it (making it half of my total time in Korea when I finally leave).
I actually started at Moonkkang in November of 2012 in Sangin. It was cool but I was working with a group that had all been together for years and had a routine in place. Everyone was incredibly nice and I still keep in touch with a few of them, but in that context I was kind of the new guy. Then I was told that they needed one less teacher in Sangin and one more in Yongsan. Sorry new teacher, you are moving.
A year later and I am very happy for the move. I started at the same time as Eddie, so there was a real sense of starting fresh. My Korean co-teacher is wonderful as well (your life at work here can be miserable with a lousy Korean co-teacher), as are my Korean and western bosses. The third western teacher, Diana had been there for years but was very open and a great person to help the new guys. When she left in came Jason for his first year at Moonkkang, and I can't ask for a better replacement for Diana than Jason. One of the nicest guys on the planet. It has made my year (despite my daily commute) a lot of fun.
I go on sometimes about how Korea is getting a bit played out, how my time here coming to an end (even though it is not til 2015), and the choice I'll have to make next year between staying a third year at Moonkkang (leaving Korea in Oct 2015) or a slight extension and doing my dissertation somewhere else (so leaving Jan-Feb 2015). It is nice to know that I can make that choice solely on the basis of what is good for me academically and financially, as opposed to that feeling of 'I have to get out.'
Of course Moonkkang's salary and vacation benefits don't hurt either ;)
I actually started at Moonkkang in November of 2012 in Sangin. It was cool but I was working with a group that had all been together for years and had a routine in place. Everyone was incredibly nice and I still keep in touch with a few of them, but in that context I was kind of the new guy. Then I was told that they needed one less teacher in Sangin and one more in Yongsan. Sorry new teacher, you are moving.
A year later and I am very happy for the move. I started at the same time as Eddie, so there was a real sense of starting fresh. My Korean co-teacher is wonderful as well (your life at work here can be miserable with a lousy Korean co-teacher), as are my Korean and western bosses. The third western teacher, Diana had been there for years but was very open and a great person to help the new guys. When she left in came Jason for his first year at Moonkkang, and I can't ask for a better replacement for Diana than Jason. One of the nicest guys on the planet. It has made my year (despite my daily commute) a lot of fun.
I go on sometimes about how Korea is getting a bit played out, how my time here coming to an end (even though it is not til 2015), and the choice I'll have to make next year between staying a third year at Moonkkang (leaving Korea in Oct 2015) or a slight extension and doing my dissertation somewhere else (so leaving Jan-Feb 2015). It is nice to know that I can make that choice solely on the basis of what is good for me academically and financially, as opposed to that feeling of 'I have to get out.'
Of course Moonkkang's salary and vacation benefits don't hurt either ;)
Friday, December 27, 2013
North Pace
Jarrod reminded me today of North Face in Korea, which in turn reminded me that I was going to write a blog on this subject.
CNN covers it in their flippant style here.
Though they do get a few things right. Kids wear these yuppie jackets as a status symbol to the point where they will beat each other up for them. The article states that there is a hierarchy according to who has what jacket, and while I have never seen that to such a degree, there is certainly a competition over these stupid jackets. While we had that stuff as a kid it was usually over a new video game or pogs. If I wanted a $70 video game I got it for Christmas. A $700 jacket? Man my parents were too smart to be conned in to that.
Well kids are kids so I can only hate on them so much. What gets me is the parents who encourage this behaviour by buying a 14 year old a $700 jacket (the Beverly Hillbillies, now in Asia). As I have said before Korean parents are creating a generation that will hate their parents. I am glad it is changing among younger mom's, but the kids who are 12-18 have parents who are still of the old generation. Also, the schools seem to turn a blind eye to it. If a kid stole another kids jacket that was a big deal at my elementary school, no matter who the parents were. I guess 50 year old principle still has Confucius stuck up his ass. Thank god for Koreans under 40.
So anyway, remember that in Korea a North Face jacket, skinny jeans and a perm make you cool, not a homosexual yuppie (not that there is anything wrong with being a homosexual).
CNN covers it in their flippant style here.
Though they do get a few things right. Kids wear these yuppie jackets as a status symbol to the point where they will beat each other up for them. The article states that there is a hierarchy according to who has what jacket, and while I have never seen that to such a degree, there is certainly a competition over these stupid jackets. While we had that stuff as a kid it was usually over a new video game or pogs. If I wanted a $70 video game I got it for Christmas. A $700 jacket? Man my parents were too smart to be conned in to that.
Well kids are kids so I can only hate on them so much. What gets me is the parents who encourage this behaviour by buying a 14 year old a $700 jacket (the Beverly Hillbillies, now in Asia). As I have said before Korean parents are creating a generation that will hate their parents. I am glad it is changing among younger mom's, but the kids who are 12-18 have parents who are still of the old generation. Also, the schools seem to turn a blind eye to it. If a kid stole another kids jacket that was a big deal at my elementary school, no matter who the parents were. I guess 50 year old principle still has Confucius stuck up his ass. Thank god for Koreans under 40.
So anyway, remember that in Korea a North Face jacket, skinny jeans and a perm make you cool, not a homosexual yuppie (not that there is anything wrong with being a homosexual).
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Merry Christmas
Well my Christmas has come and gone and wow, what a nice day off. Of course Christmas in Korea is just another day to many people. At best a day off and often just a regular day of work.
We decided to open our gifts at midnight Christmas eve. I got a great sweater and hat. Then off to bed. Christmas Day I ate, had a beer with Will, skyped with as many people as I could and then, after work (bah humbug) Yen came back and we watched a movie.
So wherever you are in the world, Merry Christmas.
We decided to open our gifts at midnight Christmas eve. I got a great sweater and hat. Then off to bed. Christmas Day I ate, had a beer with Will, skyped with as many people as I could and then, after work (bah humbug) Yen came back and we watched a movie.
So wherever you are in the world, Merry Christmas.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Blogs From Before My Blog
With David, my coworker in late 2009-2010 now a father in Beijing, I have been chatting a bit to him and, in turn, thinking more about those times. I tend to think of my Korea time in stages. The first being now almost forgotten Ulsan (were it not for Jenny and Kwangho I would have no ties to that time). That aside there is Seongseo Daegu (roughly Dec 2009-May 2011) working at SEI. Readingtown/Sangin Moonkkang (roughly August 2010-January 2012) and Yongsan Moonkkang (Feb 2012-today). There are a host of reasons for those divisions, but they are not relevant here.
My blog covers the last six months of SEI and Seongseo until today. However that 2009 in Ulsan/Daegu has been passed by on this blog.
Anyway, talking to David/thinking about those days got me thinking that David's now closed blog, which was the inspiration for this blog actually, would have several entries that cover y time here. So here are several of his entries that affect me. They are all from his viewpoint obviously, and can be found through this blog on staypuff.net.
Anyway, enjoy (hope you are okay with this David):
June 2009, a camping trip we did:
Ah, the open road. I programmed the trip into the GPS navigation system, however the route it took us was long, windy, and hardly the most efficient. The problem we had is that we took some vital wrong turns, on the main expressways, which screwed everything up. Poor Aaron simply wasn’t getting the navigational support from us, his co-pilots.
We did make one HUGE mistake though and went through the Hi-Pass electronic toll gate when hopping onto the expressway. Basically, a little computer registers you’re on the expressway and your credit account is charged automatically. It’s convenient and means you don’t have to stop and pay for your ticket at the end of the expressway. Our problem is we didn’t have one.
We arrived at Jirisan, 3 hours later (an hour more than it should have taken us) and headed to one of the campsites, which upon arrival were told that it was full. We moved back down the road and I re-programmed the navigation to the next campsite. The navigation, which seemed genuinely annoyed by our refusal to follow it’s directions, took us on what could only be called the scenic route to the park. After another 30 minutes we arrived at the Daewonsa camp ground.
A very impressive bridge over the creek.
Em, looking absolutely radiant as always.
Besides the campsite was a beautiful little creek. Clean water, nice rocks to sit on, and lush trees all-around.
L to R: Kris, Miranda, and Paul enjoy a beer on the creek bank.
Looking back towards the bridge.
As I sat upon a rock, I took a lovely photo of the steam up ahead.
Em, enjoying herself on a rock in the middle of the stream.
On a different angle.
Taking a photo of myself and Em.
Mr. Sexy Legs.
Aaron, his beer, and the whitest skin I have ever seen. What happened to you tan from the Philippians bro?
Rob enjoying a beer. Some Korean men, day hikers, had a bit of a cooling off in the background.
I had purchased some firewood online last week. The wood provided some excellent fuel for the fit pit.
Half of the campsite.
For dinner I had bought some delicious beef patties from CostCo with me. Enough for Aaron, Em, and myself. Rob and Paul gorged themselves on 삼겹살 (pork) BBQ on Rob’s BBQ, while Kris and Miranda had vegetarian sausages and salad.
Rob’s BBQ in full force.
It rained lightly for about 30 minutes, so we all found shelter under the trees, and then later the wash shelter area, but it eased up to fine spitting shortly afterwards. The fire was still going, and after adding some more dry wood, it leaped back into life.
Aaron resembling one of our turtles.
Morning breakfast consisting of cereal, coffee, soy sausages, and boiled eggs.
Breakfast of champions!
In the morning, a thick mist hangs in the air half way up the mountains.
We lit a small fire in the morning and burnt some of the burnable rubbish.
Aaron and Em enjoy a conversation with each other.
David has written a decent post of the weekend events (minus a very bad picture of me!) so I'll also refer any readers to his site. Of course I have a few different photos to post.
I spent Friday night on David's apartment floor and took a sneaky picture of Em.
Rob, Kris & Miranda.
Rob
I took a walk up the river for about 30 minutes. I just love jumping from one boulder to the next trying to avoid getting wet feet.
This will probably be about the size of their apartment when David and Em immigrate to China next year.
Em doing her best to look after the fire.
Cooking time......before it started to rain.
A very enjoyable weekend. Using navigation and driving a car in Korea for the first provided some challenges but after a bit a practice and a few wrong turns we eventually arrived at our location.
A big thank you to David for organizing everything, buying and cooking my food and not letting me pay for anything. Nice work bro.
Oct 2009:
The weekend prior to Halloween, Em and I made a paper mache head using a balloon, newspaper, and a flour/water mix for glue. It was my first time using paper mache, but after 3 days it had fully dried. I know you’re suppose to wait for it to dry between layers, but I was in a rush and the end result was a fairly hard head.
A coat of white and maroon paint gave it a nice skin colour. I ran out of paint, but was able to at least do the face area.
The black hair paint came out extraordinarily well. I was very pleased with this.
Looks good.
Last year we carved pumpkins at the school, but knowing time would be an issue, I carved my pumpkins at home with Em helping me.
Came out well this year.
This huge pumpkin cost me a mere 3,000 won ($3) due to a slight hole in the back.
My scare room, once set up.
The caved pumpkin in the corner of the room.
My paper mache head finished off with some playdoh eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and blood. The effect was more comical than scary, but I was happy none the less. The students seems to really like it, too.
Lots of web.
Our plastic bag wall. That’s going to be a real bitch to clean up today.
A couple of posters.
Miranda’s fairy room. The room was also a big hit and the students enjoyed playing games, watching Halloween videos and, of course, receiving candy.
Pin the nose on the witch.
Cut outs and a large castle poster.
In the hallway. Little detail like that made it really special for the students.
L to R: Robert, Emma, Rachel, and Jenny. All getting into the Halloween spirit.
There’s always a handful of scream masks each year!
Jenna as a Korean ghost.
The touch room was a huge hit. We had;
Em and her Chinese friend.
My costume.
JANUARY 2010:
Rob, Sterling, and myself had planned to meet at Hands Coffee 20 minutes before we had to show up to work. None of us actually remembered that almost all coffee shops (aka as cafes) don’t open in Korea until 10 or 11AM. In the end I had to settle for a GS25 Taster’s Choice Supremo. Harsh, but did the trick nicely to wake me up.
At the rest stop. Nicole teacher on the right, Min teacher second from the left, Jiny teacher with her arm around the neck of a student, and Carrie teacher on the right again expending more energy than required.
James and Lio. I think James’ mother bought me a coffee and can of cherry sweet’s in the morning (or at least a ‘James’ mother did).
Rob taking photos outside the women’s toilet
Oh Rob…
3 of Sterling students I had for the day, Daisy, Ria, and Sarah(?).
Actually, they were the three of the most well behaved students and a joy to have on my ‘squad’.
Bell. "Dong!"
My group. All well behaved.
On numerous occasions I kind of wondered off hoping no one would notice, however the students (especially the three girls in one of the above photos) attached onto me like glue and the Korean teacher’s only noticed I was missing when they realized none of the students were with them!
I think this shot would have been 10 times better if I had taken the time to centre it.
The three girls again. "Teacher foto!" was the catch phrase of the day.
Pagoda and Ria.
Another pagoda… and Ria.
The kids played duck duck goose for a while.
A fast paced game that simply was beyond my participation in the cold with my sore knee.
Tommy and another student in full flight.
Julia and Diana, much too refined to play such silly children’s games.
From the second storey of the museum. Rob and I managed to slip away for a quiet drink (non-alcoholic of course!).
Buddha’s head.
Bronze gilt Buddha (heard that one a lot during the day, too).
It’s a little know fact that Gyeongju used to be made solely out of plastic during the Silla period.
The once proud palace in Gyeongju, reduced to a PC room these days.
An old tteokbokgi jar with customary eggs.
Afterwards, as mentioned above, we went out with the Korean teachers for dinner. We headed to the newish fire-chicken place (ë‹ê°ˆë¹„) restaurant and enjoyed a meal together. It was particularly satisfying being able to poor my director glass after glass of beer and maekgoli (rice wine) and have him pour me some back in return. I think he was equally as happy as me being able to sit down and have a meal together before I left.
My blog covers the last six months of SEI and Seongseo until today. However that 2009 in Ulsan/Daegu has been passed by on this blog.
Anyway, talking to David/thinking about those days got me thinking that David's now closed blog, which was the inspiration for this blog actually, would have several entries that cover y time here. So here are several of his entries that affect me. They are all from his viewpoint obviously, and can be found through this blog on staypuff.net.
Anyway, enjoy (hope you are okay with this David):
June 2009, a camping trip we did:
Over the weekend, Em and I, along with a few of our co-workers and friends (amongst them our good buddy Aaron) headed down to Jiri-san National Park for a spot of summer camping. You may recall last year that we took an almost identical trip, and seeing as both Em, Aaron and I enjoyed the camping experience in Korea, as different as it is, we figured we’d do it again.
Along with us were our co-workers Kris and Miranda, as well as some other friends, Rob and Paul.
Aaron popped in on Friday afternoon and spent it dropping his stuff off at my academy, and then seeing a movie at the local Lotte Cinema. He arrived back when I had finished work and we both went over to meet Em at her work, so we could have some dinner at a local chicken BBQ place around the back of our apartment.
We had a somewhat early night as the next morning Aaron and I had to head out to West Daegu bus terminal to pick up the rental SUV we had hired for the trip. Aaron had arranged the reservation earlier, seeing as he was the only one of us with an international driver license.
We caught a taxi to SongHyeon subway station, and after a quick phone call to the rental place, managed to find it easily enough. The paperwork was done in 5 minutes, and after a quick demonstration of how the navigation works (thank God I can read and write Korean) we headed back home to collect Em, our stuff, and then the rest of the guys.
Within half an hour we’re on the open road.
For adventure notes and photos, click here…
Ah, the open road. I programmed the trip into the GPS navigation system, however the route it took us was long, windy, and hardly the most efficient. The problem we had is that we took some vital wrong turns, on the main expressways, which screwed everything up. Poor Aaron simply wasn’t getting the navigational support from us, his co-pilots.
We did make one HUGE mistake though and went through the Hi-Pass electronic toll gate when hopping onto the expressway. Basically, a little computer registers you’re on the expressway and your credit account is charged automatically. It’s convenient and means you don’t have to stop and pay for your ticket at the end of the expressway. Our problem is we didn’t have one.
We ended up, as mentioned before, taking a couple of wrong turns as soon as we got on the expressway and somehow managed to find an exit. The lady at the booth, somewhat surprised we didn’t have a token, instructed us, nicely, to the toll gate office.
We spoke to the very kind lady their who seemed very sympathetic to our problem, and made us pay only 1,100 won ($1.10AUD), instead of slapping us with a huge fine. She thought the whole thing was rather amusing and we all felt rather silly. It was quite the start to the trip.
Above is a photo of the toll gate office.
We arrived at Jirisan, 3 hours later (an hour more than it should have taken us) and headed to one of the campsites, which upon arrival were told that it was full. We moved back down the road and I re-programmed the navigation to the next campsite. The navigation, which seemed genuinely annoyed by our refusal to follow it’s directions, took us on what could only be called the scenic route to the park. After another 30 minutes we arrived at the Daewonsa camp ground.
It was a tiny campground, for about 20 tents, and we’re the only ones there. Even the ranger station seemed long deserted.
We found some nice camp spots and pitched our tents.
A very impressive bridge over the creek.
Em, looking absolutely radiant as always.
Besides the campsite was a beautiful little creek. Clean water, nice rocks to sit on, and lush trees all-around.
L to R: Kris, Miranda, and Paul enjoy a beer on the creek bank.
Looking back towards the bridge.
Most of us were actually quite beat after the car ride, but Aaron and Rob continued up stream .
As I sat upon a rock, I took a lovely photo of the steam up ahead.
Em, enjoying herself on a rock in the middle of the stream.
On a different angle.
Taking a photo of myself and Em.
Mr. Sexy Legs.
Aaron, his beer, and the whitest skin I have ever seen. What happened to you tan from the Philippians bro?
Rob enjoying a beer. Some Korean men, day hikers, had a bit of a cooling off in the background.
I had purchased some firewood online last week. The wood provided some excellent fuel for the fit pit.
Half of the campsite.
For dinner I had bought some delicious beef patties from CostCo with me. Enough for Aaron, Em, and myself. Rob and Paul gorged themselves on 삼겹살 (pork) BBQ on Rob’s BBQ, while Kris and Miranda had vegetarian sausages and salad.
Rob’s BBQ in full force.
It rained lightly for about 30 minutes, so we all found shelter under the trees, and then later the wash shelter area, but it eased up to fine spitting shortly afterwards. The fire was still going, and after adding some more dry wood, it leaped back into life.
We talked for a few hours around the campfire, enjoying each others company and sharing stories (although one too many Korean jokes), before a few of us called it a night.
Em and I had purchased some sleeping bags prior, and they were more than comfortable keeping us warm throughout the night. I had also purchased a foil thermal blanket from HomePlus for 1,500 won ($1.50 AUD) in the discount bin. I’m not sure how good it would have been, but we didn’t end up needing it.
In the morning Em and I joined out sleeping bags together and were able to cuddle up.
Aaron resembling one of our turtles.
Morning breakfast consisting of cereal, coffee, soy sausages, and boiled eggs.
Breakfast of champions!
In the morning, a thick mist hangs in the air half way up the mountains.
We lit a small fire in the morning and burnt some of the burnable rubbish.
Aaron and Em enjoy a conversation with each other.
The camping trip was a most enjoyable trip. As with every camping trip there’s always a few things one would do a little differently. I always feel we bring too much with us for camping, as done everyone else, but where you go through your equipments, there always seems to be a justifiable reason to take everything. I guess were just ‘city campers’ ey?
The camping site was absolutely superb! We hardly saw anyone else and had the whole campsite to ourselves. One had the feeling that it wasn’t all that well-known and we only got there because of the navigation (I actually thought we’re going back to the campsite we went the first time, but this was significantly better).
A big thank you to Aaron who did a great job as driver and put up with 6 other people giving him directions and advice.
The trip home took a considerably shorter time, as we spent most of the time on the expressway (whereas we only spend 10 minutes on it last time).
>
>
We’re all relieved to finally get home, have a shower, and get some lunch in our bellies. Although Aaron and I did have to take the car back before he went back home to Wonju and his impending exams tomorrow.
As for Em and I, we had a really good time and already thinking about our next trip, maybe in late August or September (from now until then we are busy with holidays and playing happy tour guides, more on that another time). We’ll choose somewhere different and hopefully we can get some other people to come with us who were unable to come this time sue to prior engagements.
What an awesome weekend, but Em and I both slept for about 4 hours when we got home. We’re beat!
AND FROM AARON'S BLOG:
As mentioned previously, last weekend I took a trip to Daegu to join a group of David's mates who were going camping in Jirisan National Park. I'd been camping in Jirisan once before (last August)and really enjoyed myself.
David has written a decent post of the weekend events (minus a very bad picture of me!) so I'll also refer any readers to his site. Of course I have a few different photos to post.
I should add that we camped at the Somatgol Campground, on the far Eastern side of the park. In contrast, we stayed at Dalgung Car Campground last August. The former campsite is far superior in my opinion (for anyone wanting advice on where to camp in the park).
A Kia Carnival similar to the one we rented. Driving it was relatively easy, although the length meant there were considerably sized "blind-spots" but nobody looks over there shoulder away when changing directions in Korean.
I spent Friday night on David's apartment floor and took a sneaky picture of Em.
Entering the campsite required a short walk over a lovely swing bridge.
Rob, Kris & Miranda.
David had a bit of trouble trying to navigate some rock obstacles beside the river (although he was wearing sandals).
Rob
I took a walk up the river for about 30 minutes. I just love jumping from one boulder to the next trying to avoid getting wet feet.
This will probably be about the size of their apartment when David and Em immigrate to China next year.
Em doing her best to look after the fire.
Cooking time......before it started to rain.A big thank you to David for organizing everything, buying and cooking my food and not letting me pay for anything. Nice work bro.
Oct 2009:
"The other night we went out to celebrate John’s last week, and Rob’s first week, here at the academy. Nothing too fancy, dinner at Gimbap Heaven (김밥 ì „êµ) followed by a few hours of drinking at WA Bar afterwards (a few glasses of wine went down well).
It’ll be sad to see John leave. He was the sounding board for a lot of my thoughts and ideas at the academy, and for the most part we shared the same opinions regarding work, although both happy to disagree with each other and respect each other’s opinion. I’m not sure about John’s feelings about leaving, but I do know he’s going back to Gwangju and I have no doubt he’ll be happier in a more familiar location with people he knows.
I’m still amazed a year has gone since he joined. I think it was only the other day I was saying how many things have happened in the last 12 months.
In his place comes Rob ‘Teacher’. Rob is close friends of Kris and Miranda, having worked with them in Ulsan, and I’ve had the pleasure of his company when we went camping earlier this year, as well as a handful of time I went drinking with Kris and Miranda. He’s a nice bloke and seems confident in the classroom, so I don’t think he’ll have much, if any, trouble settling into the academy.
It is somewhat a period of change at the academy at the moment. There’s a few new Korean teachers having started in the last couple of months, and with John leaving next week, Kris and Miranda in December, and I’ll be heading off in mid-February, there will certainly be a different feel around the place early next year.
Of course change in any academy is good, especially for the students who are able to have more exposure to different foreigners and their varying accents.
I also realized that I’m again the oldest foreigner working here AND that only 3 of the Korean teachers have been here longer than I have. When did that happen!?"
ALSO IN OCTOBER:
The Halloween party is now only a week away but preparations are well on their way to ensure it’ll be the best Halloween party I’ll have here in Korea. My first three Halloween parties in Andong were very memorable, although I was saddened to see the enthusiasm for them diminish during the three years I was there. That wasn’t due to a lack of effort on my behalf, but merely the nature of the management at the academy I was working at.
Last years Halloween party was a lot of fun, not to mention a lot of darn hard work. It didn’t help when the situation was made, well, more complicated then they needed to be, so this year I’ve made extra sure that the Korean teachers are well informed of what’s expected of them. Actually, it’s more to do with the fact that instead of the Korean teachers being told what to do, I’ve simply asked them what they would like to.
Instead of activities and games, they will instead stick to fact sheets, educating the students on the meaning(s) of Halloween, a few games for the younger children, and perhaps one or two Simpson’s Halloween video’s for the older students.
I’m happy that they’re happy with what they want to do.
As for us native teachers, we are all working on our little projects collectively. As with last year, I’ll be decorating my room as the scare room. It was a big hit last year and I have no doubt it’ll be a lot better this year, simply because I have a better idea of what does and doesn’t work from last year. The plans have been laid down already, so there’s not a huge amount of further planning I need to do.
Miranda, who has the biggest room, will be decorating it to be ‘princessey’. She’s already started making some of her decorations already, with the help of Kris, and I think it’s going to look absolutely fantastic.
Rob, will not directly in charge of any room, will have the important task of pitching in and helping.
The third room, which I think will be a collective effort, will the oddly named, ‘Touchy Feely’ Room. With four or five boxes with items that the students have to reach into a feel what it is (ie. monkey brain).
With a good week under our belt, we have arranged to get together this Saturday afternoon and constructed some paper mache heads and limbs, something I’ve never done before. It should be a lot of fun, because after all, that’s what Halloween should be.
NOV 2009:
So Halloween has come and gone and all the preparation time we spend on it certainly paid off as both us, the teachers, and the students, had an awesome day.
Last Thursday we spent about 3 hours decorating both Miranda’s and my room, as well as the hallway between the classes. The scare room took longer than I thought as Rob had the splendid, but time consuming idea, of taping black plastic bags to the windows over the cardboard. The result left the room pitch black and additionally quite dark when the lights were turned on.
On Halloween, itself, I showed up at noon, a couple of hours early, to finish off the small detailed on my room, such as putting the cobwebs up, hanging the posters, and getting the ‘touchy feely’ room set up. Miranda and Kris had pretty much finished their room and, thankfully, did the touch room by themselves.
It really was an amazing day but, of course, the photo’s will be a lot more articulate then I can be, so click here to see all the dun from Halloween…
The weekend prior to Halloween, Em and I made a paper mache head using a balloon, newspaper, and a flour/water mix for glue. It was my first time using paper mache, but after 3 days it had fully dried. I know you’re suppose to wait for it to dry between layers, but I was in a rush and the end result was a fairly hard head.
A coat of white and maroon paint gave it a nice skin colour. I ran out of paint, but was able to at least do the face area.
The black hair paint came out extraordinarily well. I was very pleased with this.
Looks good.
Last year we carved pumpkins at the school, but knowing time would be an issue, I carved my pumpkins at home with Em helping me.
Came out well this year.
This huge pumpkin cost me a mere 3,000 won ($3) due to a slight hole in the back.
My scare room, once set up.
The caved pumpkin in the corner of the room.
My paper mache head finished off with some playdoh eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and blood. The effect was more comical than scary, but I was happy none the less. The students seems to really like it, too.
Lots of web.
Our plastic bag wall. That’s going to be a real bitch to clean up today.
A couple of posters.
Miranda’s fairy room. The room was also a big hit and the students enjoyed playing games, watching Halloween videos and, of course, receiving candy.
Pin the nose on the witch.
Cut outs and a large castle poster.
In the hallway. Little detail like that made it really special for the students.
L to R: Robert, Emma, Rachel, and Jenny. All getting into the Halloween spirit.
There’s always a handful of scream masks each year!
Jenna as a Korean ghost.
The touch room was a huge hit. We had;
Children’s Teeth: Unpopped popcorn
Monkey Brain: Udon noodles in an onion bag
Gorilla Tongues: Banana skins
Pig’s Eyeballs: Peeled grapes.
Monkey Brain: Udon noodles in an onion bag
Gorilla Tongues: Banana skins
Pig’s Eyeballs: Peeled grapes.
Every year I think the touch room won’t do so well, but it always comes up triumphs. Wouldn’t be Halloween without it.
Em and her Chinese friend.
We headed down to the university area after the party (I ran home for a quick shower) and had dinner and quick drink. We would have stayed longer but had an early morning bus trip to Seoul the next day.
My costume.
Overall it was a hugely successful day. I don’t have any photo’s of my costume at hand, but will put some up once I can get a few off Rob. I spend most of the time in the scare room which, I’m very happy to say, worked out just beautifully. As the students walked in, they would walk passed the portable whiteboard (covered with black plastic bags) where Rob would jump out and scare them.
Without fail, the students would all turn around (screaming in the process) and look at Rob. I would then come out from the back of the room (behind a blackened divider) and literally walked up to them and wait for one or two of the students to notice me and start screaming. The rest would then, naturally, scream too more or less out of utter surprise that I’m there. My costume was a black cape with skeleton gloves and a scary skeleton mask (as above) and in the dark light was rather scary.
So today I have to go in and clean my room up which I know will be a mammoth effort. Not to mention it is the start of the November classes, so I’ll need to get all that organized, too.
I’ll probably get some more Halloween photos and will add them later, not to mention my trip to Seoul over the weekend.
Anyway, my fifth, and last Halloween party in Korea. How sad
JANUARY 2010:
Last Saturday was my third, and final, field trip with the academy. As with last winter, we again decided to go to Gyeongju Museum, and even though most of the teachers and students had been before, we’re all fairly happy to go on another visit. The other 2 sister academies weren’t going this year, for reasons I was not able to get out of the head teacher, so it was only going to be us lot, which I think made the trip a lot nicer (and certainly less crowded).
Actually, the last time we went on the winter field trip to Gyeongju, I met up with Em afterwards as I had a taekwondo camp that, amazingly, also was on the same day in Gyeongju. This time I was staying, as well as having a nice dinner with the teachers once we returned to Daegu. It would be nice to sit down with them again and share a meal, especially as I’m only 2 weeks away from leaving.
I also took my camera and managed to grab a few snaps here and there. I also managed (thanks to some info on Paul’s site) to play around a little with my ISO settings and my ‘dark’ photos came out a lot better than they had in the past.
I’m still getting huge amounts of fun discovering features on my camera.
Speaking of which, here’s some shots of the day…
Rob, Sterling, and myself had planned to meet at Hands Coffee 20 minutes before we had to show up to work. None of us actually remembered that almost all coffee shops (aka as cafes) don’t open in Korea until 10 or 11AM. In the end I had to settle for a GS25 Taster’s Choice Supremo. Harsh, but did the trick nicely to wake me up.
At the rest stop. Nicole teacher on the right, Min teacher second from the left, Jiny teacher with her arm around the neck of a student, and Carrie teacher on the right again expending more energy than required.
James and Lio. I think James’ mother bought me a coffee and can of cherry sweet’s in the morning (or at least a ‘James’ mother did).
Rob taking photos outside the women’s toilet
Oh Rob…
3 of Sterling students I had for the day, Daisy, Ria, and Sarah(?).
Actually, they were the three of the most well behaved students and a joy to have on my ‘squad’.
Bell. "Dong!"
My group. All well behaved.
On numerous occasions I kind of wondered off hoping no one would notice, however the students (especially the three girls in one of the above photos) attached onto me like glue and the Korean teacher’s only noticed I was missing when they realized none of the students were with them!
Of course my explanation that everything in the museum was made out of kimchi seemed a lot more interesting then having to fill in worksheets with the Korean teacher.
I think this shot would have been 10 times better if I had taken the time to centre it.
The three girls again. "Teacher foto!" was the catch phrase of the day.
Pagoda and Ria.
Another pagoda… and Ria.
The kids played duck duck goose for a while.
A fast paced game that simply was beyond my participation in the cold with my sore knee.
Tommy and another student in full flight.
Julia and Diana, much too refined to play such silly children’s games.
From the second storey of the museum. Rob and I managed to slip away for a quiet drink (non-alcoholic of course!).
Buddha’s head.
Bronze gilt Buddha (heard that one a lot during the day, too).
It’s a little know fact that Gyeongju used to be made solely out of plastic during the Silla period.
The once proud palace in Gyeongju, reduced to a PC room these days.
An old tteokbokgi jar with customary eggs.
Afterwards, as mentioned above, we went out with the Korean teachers for dinner. We headed to the newish fire-chicken place (ë‹ê°ˆë¹„) restaurant and enjoyed a meal together. It was particularly satisfying being able to poor my director glass after glass of beer and maekgoli (rice wine) and have him pour me some back in return. I think he was equally as happy as me being able to sit down and have a meal together before I left.
When dinner concluded, the Korean teacher, our director, and Sterling headed off to the singing room. Rob, much like me, was more looking forward to the company of his girlfriend (umm… but me, my girlfriend, you dig?) so we decided to call it a night.
I have to admit, it really was a fun day. As always, the bus ride to and from the museum was a bit of a nightmare, especially when one Korean teacher, who shall remain nameless, felt the need to shout into the microphone. I also found it a little bizarre that most (almost all actually) of the conversation from the Korean teachers to the students was in Korean, and not English. So, as you can imagine, us three ‘foreign’ teachers spent a good 3-odd hours listening to Korean. Not what you call the most fun of trips.
Still. a good time by all.
FEBRUARY 2010:
The dawn shines down on my last Friday here on the Peninsula, and after having a few drinks last night, was happy to roll out of bed around 10 this morning. With all the early starts I’ve been having, from rushing to the vet with the rabbit, to carrying boxes to the post office, I was happy to have a slightly more subdue morning cuddled up with my Em in my ever so soft bed.
That’s how a good morning should start.
Ideally a freshly brewed cup of coffee would be waiting, as with a big greasy breakfast, but seeing as we have neither of those at our disposal, I’ll skip coffee and breakfast and enjoy a nice lunch instead.
It’s a funny feeling knowing this is my last full week in Korea. This time next week I’ll be in Beijing waking up at Em’s grandparents place wondering what sort of rice or noodle dish I should be having for breakfast. And, thankfully, there’s a Starbucks, with wifi, around the corner from their place. Imagine that, a Starbucks in suburban Beijing.
Last night I was pleased to enjoy a quiet drink with both Rob and Sterling at WA Bar. Beforehand, we also engaged in some fine dining at Mac Donalds, which seemed like one of the few place any of us felt like (although Rob resisted the urge to eat the devil’s food). It was nice to sit down with the boys and enjoy a few drinks and talk about Korea, work, and other aspects of our lives here and back home.
Cheers for the drinks, guys.
On the way I couldn’t help but notice the rose/flower guy selling stuff from his van. Earlier in the day, while I was at work, I had Em running around getting Millie’s papers sorted out. I was a little insistent for her to get things done, more for my peace of mind than anything else, and she did so without complaint. I thought some roses and flowers would be a nice way to show her that I really appreciated her efforts and her patience with me over the last few stressful weeks.
And of course a white chocolate bon-bon from GS 25 never hurt either. She was, of course, moved.
This weekend we’re heading up to Busan tomorrow, for some last minute shopping and snacking. And on Sunday is a free day to clean, pack, whatever needs to be done.
So whatever you’re doing today, I hope you have a wonderful day.
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