One interesting thing about being here in China is that is it surprisingly easy to miss sports scores completely. In Korea the kids would always be watching MLB or even a bit of the NBA. Not here. While basketball and soccer are both popular here, they seem limited to teams where Chinese players are playing. The NBA had a boom here when Yao Ming was playing. Now that he is retired..... not so much.
For me that meant not knowing who won the Grey Cup.
On Sunday I decided to have my coworker Matt over (from Toronto) to watch the game. We drank a bit too much for a Sunday but still got stuck in to am amazing game. I was also happy to see Ottawa win. Partly because no Ottawa team has ever won a Grey Cup, and partially because I simply can't cheer for a Calgary team. It was also an incredibly exciting game, which the Grey Cup usually is, especially compared to the Superbore down south (no wonder they need all those jets and singers :P). Seriously though, probably the most fun I've had watching a Grey Cup since 2011 when BC last won it.
It was fun, and with CFL games available on youtube it'll be fun to start up again next summer.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
BBQ Street, Chinese Style
Don't have much to say on this, but one of my favourite things in Nanning has become going out for Chinese BBQ on a Saturday night. Here in Nanning, even in winter it is still 12-21 degrees on a bad day, and so is almost never too cold to sit outside.
There are a few great places walking distance from me. East of the campus and across from the main gate are a few solid places to eat. It isn't just BBQ either. Spicy tofu, chilli covered greens, and grilled veggies are all a part of it. It is a great way to sit back, have a few pints over some good food, and talk to friends and a few locals.
There are a few great places walking distance from me. East of the campus and across from the main gate are a few solid places to eat. It isn't just BBQ either. Spicy tofu, chilli covered greens, and grilled veggies are all a part of it. It is a great way to sit back, have a few pints over some good food, and talk to friends and a few locals.
Ali mama's
Busy street
lamb
With such a busy work schedule, and Nanning being a somewhat provincial town, it is nice to have these BBQ options for a Saturday night.
Moonkkang is Closing
I just found that my old hagwon, Moonkkang, is closing its doors on December 23rd.
wow.
Moonkkang has been a Daegu institution for almost twenty years, and I have to admit that I am sad to see it go. Not surprised, but sad. I think a lot of us saw this coming and got out in 2014 and 2015. Still, Moonkkang was a great employer. I worked for them from Oct. 2012-Oct. 2015. It paid for my entire MA. I also did a short covering stint there in 2016 for three months while waiting for my job at SCIC to start. I remember getting hired on in 2012 and considering myself lucky. It was a hard gig to get. We had so many great people and I met a lot of my good friends in Korea there. I still talk to Nathan and Tobe regularly and Matt and Kelly, Eddie, Diana, Jarrod, Jung-su, Dan, Miyoung, Mina, Minji, and Hyun are all people I remember very fondly and would love to see again. We had great bosses in Lynn and Chris and later Nicola and Ivan. I am sure I am forgetting others too, there were a lot of good people.
The move to a Chinese/English hybrid academy was what, I understand as an outsider, finally killed it off. They lost their entire middle school student base in three months. I wasn't there for it, but from what I understand it was put through without enough planning and forethought. That being said, a few rapid structural changes, as well as a declining birth rate, didn't help matters. I remember even as far back as 2014 feeling that the ship was starting to sink. There seemed even then to be a lot of sudden changes. Nothing like deciding to have mandatory Chinese lessons, but it seemed less steady than it was in 2012. I may never know exactly what happened.
I feel bad for the people there. However, I understand that Moonkkang is actually taking good care of them, and doing everything legally required of them as a company. Hopefully people will be able to find new jobs, though with so many teachers suddenly flooding the Daegu market it might be a bit tough. I hope a few are willing to head elsewhere. If you are reading this Daejeon is very nice, also very affordable, and only 45 minutes from Daegu on the KTX :) My friend Tobe was the last guy I knew really well there (more than a facebook friend), and he handed in his notice yesterday after getting an offer to work at KNU. Talk about timing.
I am actually more sad about it that I thought I would be. While I rarely think of Dynamic Workshop classes when I look back on my time in Daegu, it was the job that underpinned everything else I did there. They were also fantastic employers in an industry that does not boast a great number of great employers. So much so that I am on their website telling people to work for them. I wrote it in 2014. I meant it in 2014. It was a place that people stayed, and it brought people from around the globe together. I have lifelong friends in several countries now thanks to my time at Moonkkang. It was possible because people wanted to stay there. Running with Nathan or GS beers with Matt are what I will remember about Moonkkang.
They were good days.
wow.
Moonkkang has been a Daegu institution for almost twenty years, and I have to admit that I am sad to see it go. Not surprised, but sad. I think a lot of us saw this coming and got out in 2014 and 2015. Still, Moonkkang was a great employer. I worked for them from Oct. 2012-Oct. 2015. It paid for my entire MA. I also did a short covering stint there in 2016 for three months while waiting for my job at SCIC to start. I remember getting hired on in 2012 and considering myself lucky. It was a hard gig to get. We had so many great people and I met a lot of my good friends in Korea there. I still talk to Nathan and Tobe regularly and Matt and Kelly, Eddie, Diana, Jarrod, Jung-su, Dan, Miyoung, Mina, Minji, and Hyun are all people I remember very fondly and would love to see again. We had great bosses in Lynn and Chris and later Nicola and Ivan. I am sure I am forgetting others too, there were a lot of good people.
The move to a Chinese/English hybrid academy was what, I understand as an outsider, finally killed it off. They lost their entire middle school student base in three months. I wasn't there for it, but from what I understand it was put through without enough planning and forethought. That being said, a few rapid structural changes, as well as a declining birth rate, didn't help matters. I remember even as far back as 2014 feeling that the ship was starting to sink. There seemed even then to be a lot of sudden changes. Nothing like deciding to have mandatory Chinese lessons, but it seemed less steady than it was in 2012. I may never know exactly what happened.
I feel bad for the people there. However, I understand that Moonkkang is actually taking good care of them, and doing everything legally required of them as a company. Hopefully people will be able to find new jobs, though with so many teachers suddenly flooding the Daegu market it might be a bit tough. I hope a few are willing to head elsewhere. If you are reading this Daejeon is very nice, also very affordable, and only 45 minutes from Daegu on the KTX :) My friend Tobe was the last guy I knew really well there (more than a facebook friend), and he handed in his notice yesterday after getting an offer to work at KNU. Talk about timing.
I am actually more sad about it that I thought I would be. While I rarely think of Dynamic Workshop classes when I look back on my time in Daegu, it was the job that underpinned everything else I did there. They were also fantastic employers in an industry that does not boast a great number of great employers. So much so that I am on their website telling people to work for them. I wrote it in 2014. I meant it in 2014. It was a place that people stayed, and it brought people from around the globe together. I have lifelong friends in several countries now thanks to my time at Moonkkang. It was possible because people wanted to stay there. Running with Nathan or GS beers with Matt are what I will remember about Moonkkang.
They were good days.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Chilgok
This was started last June
As most friends and family know, I have come back to Daegu for the spring to cover a shift at my old company Moonkkang. To be honest, I was not especially excited about coming back, as I had hoped that my MA signalled the end of my hagwon life. However, things have ended up working out for the best. I got a job with a Canadian college in Nanning, in China. I also have had an opportunity to help out my old company and see a part of Daegu that I have never been to in all the years I have been to, Chilgok.
Chilgok is in the far northwest of the city, as opposed to Seongseo and Sangin which are both in the southwest, and where I have spent my entire time here in Daegu. Living here has given me a chance to ride the monorail, as it was built to service Chilgok. The neighbourhood is mostly made up of families who work at the factories and refineries in neighbouring Gyeongsan-buk do, but who live in Daegu to take advantage of the education system and amenities the city affords them. It is a nice, if small neighbourhood that is also directly under the main air traffic route from Daegu airport and the air force base to the rest of Korea. Many low flying planes. There is also a nice park, a decent ddokkbokki place, and a couple of nice pubs (hofs), including a makgeolli place just around the corner from my house.
The downside of this area is that it is FAR from virtually everywhere else in Daegu, and will run 15,000 won to get anywhere in the city. Because of that I only go out to see Zeke downtown, or visit Yen's old friends at the best Chicken bar on the planet, Chickn: the Home, or meet to go to Anjirang for gopchang, Daegu's delicacy and the dish I will truly miss come July. Otherwise I play Travian with Paul online and just try to kill time until I head to Manila at the end of July.
I know that within a year of leaving I will be very nostalgic for Daegu, but for now I am just ready for the next phase of my life (Nov 2016 - already get nostalgic regularly).
Anyway, here are a few pictures:
As most friends and family know, I have come back to Daegu for the spring to cover a shift at my old company Moonkkang. To be honest, I was not especially excited about coming back, as I had hoped that my MA signalled the end of my hagwon life. However, things have ended up working out for the best. I got a job with a Canadian college in Nanning, in China. I also have had an opportunity to help out my old company and see a part of Daegu that I have never been to in all the years I have been to, Chilgok.
Chilgok is in the far northwest of the city, as opposed to Seongseo and Sangin which are both in the southwest, and where I have spent my entire time here in Daegu. Living here has given me a chance to ride the monorail, as it was built to service Chilgok. The neighbourhood is mostly made up of families who work at the factories and refineries in neighbouring Gyeongsan-buk do, but who live in Daegu to take advantage of the education system and amenities the city affords them. It is a nice, if small neighbourhood that is also directly under the main air traffic route from Daegu airport and the air force base to the rest of Korea. Many low flying planes. There is also a nice park, a decent ddokkbokki place, and a couple of nice pubs (hofs), including a makgeolli place just around the corner from my house.
The downside of this area is that it is FAR from virtually everywhere else in Daegu, and will run 15,000 won to get anywhere in the city. Because of that I only go out to see Zeke downtown, or visit Yen's old friends at the best Chicken bar on the planet, Chickn: the Home, or meet to go to Anjirang for gopchang, Daegu's delicacy and the dish I will truly miss come July. Otherwise I play Travian with Paul online and just try to kill time until I head to Manila at the end of July.
I know that within a year of leaving I will be very nostalgic for Daegu, but for now I am just ready for the next phase of my life (Nov 2016 - already get nostalgic regularly).
Anyway, here are a few pictures:
Daegu Chicken.
NOT the greatest Chicken bar in Daegu
Chilgok
park by my apartment
Anjirang.
Greatest BBQ street on earth.
Janggidong
Giant church in Chilgok
the monorail station near my place
the tracks
Getting Back to isteacher
Sorry to be spamming the blogs, but I've been putting these together for a while. I'm trying to get back in to writing this blog. I have about 20 half done blogs going back to my time in Daegu earlier this year.
To be honest, when I was in Daegu I didn't have much interest in writing. I had gone back to my old job to cover a vacancy for four months. I had really thought to be past doing cram schools and was not thrilled to be there. Not that I have anything but good things to say about Moonkkang, but as I have said a few times, it was well past time to move on. I think being somewhere I didn't want to be, and really doing very little while there, left me with very little to write about. I was working on a blog on the neighbourhood I was in in Daegu. It is almost done. I should just finish it and post it. But because of that doing this felt a bit like a chore.
Now in Nanning I am starting to get the urge to start up again. Maybe not the 15 a month I did back in Daegu in 2011. To be honest I am too busy to do that, and I don't do all that much. Mon-Sat I am working either at the university or at home. I may write a bit about my classes, but I want to leave work, the good and the bad, off of here. For the most part it is good, and any issues I have a better discussed somewhere more professional than here. That means that it is mostly weekends, where I explore a bit and do a few things, but really except for big trip such as meeting Will in Macau a couple weeks ago, I don't go far.
I' going to finish up a few I have started this year, so I may just have a huge dump of them for 2016 in Nov-Dec. After that I'll see how busy I am.
To be honest, when I was in Daegu I didn't have much interest in writing. I had gone back to my old job to cover a vacancy for four months. I had really thought to be past doing cram schools and was not thrilled to be there. Not that I have anything but good things to say about Moonkkang, but as I have said a few times, it was well past time to move on. I think being somewhere I didn't want to be, and really doing very little while there, left me with very little to write about. I was working on a blog on the neighbourhood I was in in Daegu. It is almost done. I should just finish it and post it. But because of that doing this felt a bit like a chore.
Now in Nanning I am starting to get the urge to start up again. Maybe not the 15 a month I did back in Daegu in 2011. To be honest I am too busy to do that, and I don't do all that much. Mon-Sat I am working either at the university or at home. I may write a bit about my classes, but I want to leave work, the good and the bad, off of here. For the most part it is good, and any issues I have a better discussed somewhere more professional than here. That means that it is mostly weekends, where I explore a bit and do a few things, but really except for big trip such as meeting Will in Macau a couple weeks ago, I don't go far.
I' going to finish up a few I have started this year, so I may just have a huge dump of them for 2016 in Nov-Dec. After that I'll see how busy I am.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Not Seeing Much of China
Admittedly I have only been here three months, but it is looking increasingly like I will not see anything of PR China beyond Nanning this year, and not much next year. It isn't that I don't want to, but right now Shanghai and up is getting cold. Beijing has a daytime high of 1 degree today. I do have a serious winter coat, in storage in the Philippines. I could get it this winter, and I probably will, but even with it going that far north sucks when it is cold.
Also, both of my vacations will be spent at least partially in the Philippines. Yen and I have a bit more paperwork to do before she can get a visa and we can get ready for August. This year has been miserable in that respect, with us getting a total of about 7 weeks together all year. That is not something I want to repeat in 2017, so I will be in Manila as long as it takes to get it done.... and not a second longer.
In August we will be back in Cebu, which I was previously in last October. This time however we are going there to get married. We are hammering out details, but should be first week of August, after my academic year is finished.
While that is all exciting, it does mean that, Guangzhou aside, I will not see any of the PRC for at least the first year I am here. I mean being the size of the US it isn't like Korea where I can slip off to Busan for the weekend. Beijing is a 4 hour flight. But there are still a few places I would really like to see here, obviously. I would also like to do it with Yen, so when we are settled in here that will be a better time to go anyway.
For now it is busy days in Nanning.
Also, both of my vacations will be spent at least partially in the Philippines. Yen and I have a bit more paperwork to do before she can get a visa and we can get ready for August. This year has been miserable in that respect, with us getting a total of about 7 weeks together all year. That is not something I want to repeat in 2017, so I will be in Manila as long as it takes to get it done.... and not a second longer.
In August we will be back in Cebu, which I was previously in last October. This time however we are going there to get married. We are hammering out details, but should be first week of August, after my academic year is finished.
While that is all exciting, it does mean that, Guangzhou aside, I will not see any of the PRC for at least the first year I am here. I mean being the size of the US it isn't like Korea where I can slip off to Busan for the weekend. Beijing is a 4 hour flight. But there are still a few places I would really like to see here, obviously. I would also like to do it with Yen, so when we are settled in here that will be a better time to go anyway.
For now it is busy days in Nanning.
Nanning Weather
So I have been here since September, and with the exception of a few days around the beginning of November the weather has been consistently tropical. 22-33 and humid. However, I have been told again and again that there is a winter of sorts this far north. Indeed, today I woke up to 15 degrees, with a high of 17 this afternoon. I am sure people back in Vancouver or Daegu would laugh at the idea of that being cold, but I have not felt anything under 20 since last April. It will get down to the low teens during the day in December and January, and apparently last year it got below 10 degrees overnight, but apparently that is not normal. However, the humidity makes it seem colder than it is. But being from Vancouver, a relatively warm but humid winter is not that unusual. It actually reminds me a lot of Hanoi last Christmas, and I guess we are on a similar latitude so..........
In any event, may have to drag my hoodie out of storage.
In any event, may have to drag my hoodie out of storage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)