my kids love the AC.
31.5.11
30.5.11
Saving Money
The other day I was in Busan to pick up an electric fan from some people who were moving home. With the heat of summer approaching a fan will be essential but in Korea they are unbelievably expensive. At the local big box store the cheapest standard low fan with a 35 cm diameter costs 50,000 won($50). Ridiculous.
Refusing to pay that much I managed to find one on a buy and sell and offered 15,000 won, they accepted. Now all I had to do was go to Busan and find their place. After trying to follow their vague directions I got lost and stumbled upon this treasure.
As I found out I got off at the wrong subway stop and walked far away. At long last I did realize that I was in the wrong place and called to get better directions. I eventually found the place and picked up the fan.
Turns out with the travel costs I didn't save as much money(or time) as I thought I would but then again I wouldn't have gotten this picture, and that alone is worth something. Even if it is only a thousand words.
Refusing to pay that much I managed to find one on a buy and sell and offered 15,000 won, they accepted. Now all I had to do was go to Busan and find their place. After trying to follow their vague directions I got lost and stumbled upon this treasure.
As I found out I got off at the wrong subway stop and walked far away. At long last I did realize that I was in the wrong place and called to get better directions. I eventually found the place and picked up the fan.
Turns out with the travel costs I didn't save as much money(or time) as I thought I would but then again I wouldn't have gotten this picture, and that alone is worth something. Even if it is only a thousand words.
29.5.11
Teacher's Day - A Lost Post
This was from a few weeks ago but I forgot to post it.
As Koreans know Teacher's Day was celebrated on May 15. This being my first year I was expecting something that would eclipse Student's Day because everyone knows that teachers are more important than students. Now don't write this off as just an overworked, underpaid teacher complaining, this is biblical. In Luke 6:40 "Students are not greater than their teachers", if that is not enough proof for you just think about what you learned in school when your teacher was gone and you had a sub. Case closed.
You may remember from here, for Student's Day Wednesday was devoted to doing fun stuff, Thursday was a national holiday and Friday was a field trip. As a result of this blowout I was expecting great things, in fact judging by what the kids got I knew that a week off was in the ballpark of what us teachers deserve. I had heard nothing from the management from the school but this was normal. With their communication I would only hear about our week off on Friday at lunchtime.
Wanting to make some plans for my well deserved time off I patiently waited until Thursday morning before I popped the question. It came out something like this, "How long are you going to wait before telling us that we have next week off to celebrate Teacher's Day?" The reply that I received was a little disappointing to say the least. It was, "Teacher's Day is on Sunday, you don't get anytime off." Bummer.
Sensing my disappointment my principle tried to raise my spirits by telling me that the school would be taking me out for supper that day. Being the sucker that I am for free meals, I was back to my old chipper self. As a group, we teachers decided that we should go to VIPS, here. I am not sure if it is an acronym for something(Various Items Possibly Served?) but they are know as Korea's Steakhouse.
I have mentioned before about what I think of things that are labeled as something familiar but have the word Korean in front of it. VIPS was no different. I can say that it was the best steak that I have had in Korea(also the only), but it was not Canadian beef. In addition to the meat, when you ordered a steak you also got access to a fully stocked salad bar.
This was excellent news. This opened up many more options. They had the usual salads with a Mediterranean twist, the mango salad was my favorite as it was 75% mango. A number of different kinds of fresh fruit. There were also fresh pizza and a pasta stand where you could order pastas to your liking. Then there was the smoked salmon, I made sure to take my money's worth as I know how much it costs in the store. There were also soups but I stayed far away from them, my co-teachers said they were delicious.
My favorite part was that they had a little mexican, some tortilla shells and jalepenos. Add to that some tomatos, guacamole, sour cream, choriso sausage, covered with chili and you have one tasty treat similar to a taco.
For beverages they had a couple of juices, the usual soda line up with Pepsi products as well as a coffee maker. For those back home you may not understand the significance of a coffee maker but I have been stuck drinking 3 in 1 coffees here. Not that I am a coffee nut by any means but I do like a cup with dessert. This coffee maker also made cappuccinos, mochas and an espresso function that I made sure to add to every cup of coffee that I got.
Speaking of dessert they had a handfull different kinds, a few cakes, a pudding type thing or two, some cheese cake and the token soft ice cream dispenser. Except that the soft ice cream was made with yogurt and it came in vanilla or green tea flavour. Word of caution, stay away from the green tea flavoured ice cream.
It all came together to make a great meal and while I was eating I definitely felt like I was appreciated.
If you are interested in going to VIPS the steaks are 35,000-50,000 won and if you so desire you can order just the salad bar for about 20,000 won.(These are supper prices I think lunch is a little cheaper.)
In addition to free supper some of my students parents showed their appreciation in the form of gifts. I also got a nice compact umbrella, a green tie, Gucci spray, and handmade/designed chopsticks. I also got other ties, one pink, one purple both with glittery diamond type things that I was never going to use but still had the tags on them. After checking with my Korea co-teachers, I returned the ties for a gift card at the local Homeplus. I will save it for something special that I will use.
All in all, Teacher's Day was alright even if I didn't get any time off from school because of it.
As Koreans know Teacher's Day was celebrated on May 15. This being my first year I was expecting something that would eclipse Student's Day because everyone knows that teachers are more important than students. Now don't write this off as just an overworked, underpaid teacher complaining, this is biblical. In Luke 6:40 "Students are not greater than their teachers", if that is not enough proof for you just think about what you learned in school when your teacher was gone and you had a sub. Case closed.
You may remember from here, for Student's Day Wednesday was devoted to doing fun stuff, Thursday was a national holiday and Friday was a field trip. As a result of this blowout I was expecting great things, in fact judging by what the kids got I knew that a week off was in the ballpark of what us teachers deserve. I had heard nothing from the management from the school but this was normal. With their communication I would only hear about our week off on Friday at lunchtime.
Wanting to make some plans for my well deserved time off I patiently waited until Thursday morning before I popped the question. It came out something like this, "How long are you going to wait before telling us that we have next week off to celebrate Teacher's Day?" The reply that I received was a little disappointing to say the least. It was, "Teacher's Day is on Sunday, you don't get anytime off." Bummer.
Sensing my disappointment my principle tried to raise my spirits by telling me that the school would be taking me out for supper that day. Being the sucker that I am for free meals, I was back to my old chipper self. As a group, we teachers decided that we should go to VIPS, here. I am not sure if it is an acronym for something(Various Items Possibly Served?) but they are know as Korea's Steakhouse.
I have mentioned before about what I think of things that are labeled as something familiar but have the word Korean in front of it. VIPS was no different. I can say that it was the best steak that I have had in Korea(also the only), but it was not Canadian beef. In addition to the meat, when you ordered a steak you also got access to a fully stocked salad bar.
This was excellent news. This opened up many more options. They had the usual salads with a Mediterranean twist, the mango salad was my favorite as it was 75% mango. A number of different kinds of fresh fruit. There were also fresh pizza and a pasta stand where you could order pastas to your liking. Then there was the smoked salmon, I made sure to take my money's worth as I know how much it costs in the store. There were also soups but I stayed far away from them, my co-teachers said they were delicious.
My favorite part was that they had a little mexican, some tortilla shells and jalepenos. Add to that some tomatos, guacamole, sour cream, choriso sausage, covered with chili and you have one tasty treat similar to a taco.
For beverages they had a couple of juices, the usual soda line up with Pepsi products as well as a coffee maker. For those back home you may not understand the significance of a coffee maker but I have been stuck drinking 3 in 1 coffees here. Not that I am a coffee nut by any means but I do like a cup with dessert. This coffee maker also made cappuccinos, mochas and an espresso function that I made sure to add to every cup of coffee that I got.
Speaking of dessert they had a handfull different kinds, a few cakes, a pudding type thing or two, some cheese cake and the token soft ice cream dispenser. Except that the soft ice cream was made with yogurt and it came in vanilla or green tea flavour. Word of caution, stay away from the green tea flavoured ice cream.
It all came together to make a great meal and while I was eating I definitely felt like I was appreciated.
If you are interested in going to VIPS the steaks are 35,000-50,000 won and if you so desire you can order just the salad bar for about 20,000 won.(These are supper prices I think lunch is a little cheaper.)
In addition to free supper some of my students parents showed their appreciation in the form of gifts. I also got a nice compact umbrella, a green tie, Gucci spray, and handmade/designed chopsticks. I also got other ties, one pink, one purple both with glittery diamond type things that I was never going to use but still had the tags on them. After checking with my Korea co-teachers, I returned the ties for a gift card at the local Homeplus. I will save it for something special that I will use.
All in all, Teacher's Day was alright even if I didn't get any time off from school because of it.
27.5.11
26.5.11
Everyone Poops - LB
Library Books
Over that past few months I have noticed that our library is stocked with quality books. I thought that you might be interested in knowing a few of the standout ones. I will try to inform you of them as I stumble across them. Pick them up for all the kindergarten aged kids in your life.
The book for today is called Everyone Poos. I have never read it but I have judged it by its cover, and I am pretty sure you will not be disappointed.
Over that past few months I have noticed that our library is stocked with quality books. I thought that you might be interested in knowing a few of the standout ones. I will try to inform you of them as I stumble across them. Pick them up for all the kindergarten aged kids in your life.
The book for today is called Everyone Poos. I have never read it but I have judged it by its cover, and I am pretty sure you will not be disappointed.
24.5.11
Kilometerstone
This past weekend I was able to celebrate quite a milestone with Annabelle. I took her out for a romantic evening ride on the moonlit roads, complete with a candle lit dinner of spaghetti. All this to celebrate her reaching a quarter of a deca deca kilo kilometer. That's right, Annabelle has officially traversed over 25,000 kilometers of Korean countryside.
Here's to another 25000 km.
Here's to another 25000 km.
23.5.11
Party in the ROK
As I am finding out, birthdays are a big deal in Korea, or at least we are supposed to try and make it look like it is a big deal. So once a month we pull out the banners, pick up a cake and fill a table with treats to celebrate all the birthdays that occur during said month. To me it seems like it is just a big show for a photo op.
Another thing about it is that we miss class, most of the teachers don't mind it too much seeing as we get a class off. I play along because there is nothing else I can do, but secretly I usually wish that we had class. We have a set amount of work that we need to do every month and I seem to be the only teacher trying to get it done on time. That and I am against kids having fun.
Last week Friday was our party of the month, we had three birthdays we were celebrating and we needed to do something extra special. So I dipped in to my trunk of surprises and pulled the supplies for making balloon sculptures that I had received a while back from my Aunt Susan. I am sure by now she thought that I threw them away or something foolish like that but I have been saving them for the right time, which was now.
Since I am not a clown by profession I was really worried that all the balloons would pop in my hand and wasn't sure if any of the 'sculptures' would work out. But the balloons turned out to be surprisingly durable and with a book of instructions the sculptures turned out just as they were supposed to.
We made some swords and helmets for the boys and some flowers and headbands for the girls. They absolutely loved it and had a blast.
Dear Aunt Susan,
I tried to tell them that they were from you, but all they could understand was that they were from Canada. Which in their words is, "many, many, long away". They loved them, thank-you very much!
Douglas
Another thing about it is that we miss class, most of the teachers don't mind it too much seeing as we get a class off. I play along because there is nothing else I can do, but secretly I usually wish that we had class. We have a set amount of work that we need to do every month and I seem to be the only teacher trying to get it done on time. That and I am against kids having fun.
Last week Friday was our party of the month, we had three birthdays we were celebrating and we needed to do something extra special. So I dipped in to my trunk of surprises and pulled the supplies for making balloon sculptures that I had received a while back from my Aunt Susan. I am sure by now she thought that I threw them away or something foolish like that but I have been saving them for the right time, which was now.
Since I am not a clown by profession I was really worried that all the balloons would pop in my hand and wasn't sure if any of the 'sculptures' would work out. But the balloons turned out to be surprisingly durable and with a book of instructions the sculptures turned out just as they were supposed to.
We made some swords and helmets for the boys and some flowers and headbands for the girls. They absolutely loved it and had a blast.
Dear Aunt Susan,
I tried to tell them that they were from you, but all they could understand was that they were from Canada. Which in their words is, "many, many, long away". They loved them, thank-you very much!
Douglas
22.5.11
Cheese Scones
This past week I played baker one evening and decided to make some cheese scones. I have made scones before but always rasin or chocolate chip, never cheese, so this was something new. As it was my first time making them I decided to pocket the cheese in the middle of the ball of dough because then, I thought, when you break it open the cheese will just be oozing out. One thing that I forgot was that cheese shrinks when melted so it turned out to look like less cheese than I thought it would. They still tasted delicious. Next time I think that I will rather mix the cheese in with the dough.
21.5.11
Gardening in Korea
Seeing as my mom had sent me a number of seed I felt that I should try my hand at growing something here in Korea so I set about trying to make it happen.
First I had to figure out where I would put it, because I live in an apartment I don't have an over abundance of space to garden. It just so happened that one morning as I was looking out at the world while having breakfast on my patio it occurred to me that the gaps between the post on the railing was just about the same size as a 2 litre bottle. Seeing how green I am this gave me the idea that I could cut down 2 litre bottles to reuse them as planters(and save the world at the same time). So that is just what I did I collected a number of bottles, cut them down and cleaned them out.
Next came the issue of dirt, seeing as I live on an island dirt is a rare and valuable resource I had no idea where I would get some legally(can you steal dirt?). Imagine my surprise when I was at the local Daiso(dollar store) looking in their plant section that I found you can buy 2 litres of dirt for 1000 won($1). I picked some up and was ready to start gardening.
I took an evening and got started planting. The soil smelled suspiciously like coffee and tobacco but I'm not one to ask questions. I divided it by the amount of containers that I had and put some seeds in. Despite what I have read about peas not growing in humid weather, I planted a number of pots of peas. I also planted a couple with beans, a couple with melons, a watermelon, a few with flowers and a few mystery pots.
This is what it looked like, I will try to keep you updated on the progress.
First I had to figure out where I would put it, because I live in an apartment I don't have an over abundance of space to garden. It just so happened that one morning as I was looking out at the world while having breakfast on my patio it occurred to me that the gaps between the post on the railing was just about the same size as a 2 litre bottle. Seeing how green I am this gave me the idea that I could cut down 2 litre bottles to reuse them as planters(and save the world at the same time). So that is just what I did I collected a number of bottles, cut them down and cleaned them out.
Next came the issue of dirt, seeing as I live on an island dirt is a rare and valuable resource I had no idea where I would get some legally(can you steal dirt?). Imagine my surprise when I was at the local Daiso(dollar store) looking in their plant section that I found you can buy 2 litres of dirt for 1000 won($1). I picked some up and was ready to start gardening.
I took an evening and got started planting. The soil smelled suspiciously like coffee and tobacco but I'm not one to ask questions. I divided it by the amount of containers that I had and put some seeds in. Despite what I have read about peas not growing in humid weather, I planted a number of pots of peas. I also planted a couple with beans, a couple with melons, a watermelon, a few with flowers and a few mystery pots.
This is what it looked like, I will try to keep you updated on the progress.
19.5.11
Victory - A Korean Wedding
This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a real live Korean wedding. The wedding was held in Busan on the top floor of the Jagalchi Fish Market at a wedding hall called OASE. At first I was hesitant to go when I heard that it was at the fish market because I had seen the fish market before. More than seen, I had smelled the fish market before and wasn't sure that it was the ideal place to attend a wedding.(see here) But I was told that there would be an all you can eat seafood buffet afterward, which was an offer that I could not refuse. After all I cook for myself these days.
I was invited by a friend of mine after she heard that I had never attended a wedding since my arrival in Korea. The wedding was for my friend's cousin or her father's nephew and as I found out, they weren't very close. That's not to say that they didn't get along, they did, it's just that they had only seen each other once or twice in their lives. They were so distant in fact, that before the wedding her mom went to congratulate the grom and congratulated the wrong guy. I comforted her by letting her know that it happens to me all the time, and I just blame it on the fact that Koreans all look alike.(I kid)
I arrived at the Jagalchi subway station about 20 minutes before the ceremony and was met by my friend. We made our way to the fifth floor of the market and I found that it was worlds apart from from the first floor, which is a good thing if you want to get married there.
Fifty feet from the elevator doors was the entrance to a room that looked like it might be where the wedding would be held. It was decorated with some pillars, flowers and candles. There was an aisle down the middle with rows of four comfortable looking seats on each side of said aisle. My friend confirmed my thoughts.
My first question was, where are the doors? The hall in front of me had three walled sides and the back was wide open aside from a couple of pillars for decoration. I was told that there were no walls at the back in case there weren't enough chairs for all the guests. That makes sense... if it was a quieter area and the elevator doors weren't right there. I would soon understand.
We walked in and took a seat in about the sixth row or about a quarter of the way from the front but were soon escorted to sit with the family in the second row. As we met the family my friend informed me of their relation to her as well as when they had seen each other last. Turns out they don't have as many family gatherings as we do back home and the ones that they do have the family will go to the fathers family.
Shortly after relocating, the emcees got the wedding got under way. I say emcees because I don't know what other word to use. There were two guys stage right who would give a play by play of what was going on in the ceremony. I should note here that they were so obnoxiously loud that a number of people plugged their ears. Due to the language barrier, I assumed they were from Most Xtreme Elimination and made up my own commentary which kept me entertained.
This was a good thing because if I came expecting to be entertained I would have been sorely disappointed. There were two things that made me think, "Wow, I should have that at my wedding!" The first was the dry ice fog that lined the aisle. There were slits in the ground running the length of the aisle that oozed a cloud of distraction whenever someone important walked down the aisle.
The groom walked in first and up stood at the front. He was alone. The bride walked up with her father shortly there after and the groom came to "collect" her. As it turns out there is no groomsmen or bridesmaids in Korean weddings. They stood at the front and faced the person officiating the wedding.
From this point on I understood why it didn't matter that the room wasn't closed off as people started taking calls and talking to the people around them about anything and everything. This continued until the couple turned around.
Then came the second thing that I will carry with me. The groom threw his hands in the air and yelled "Victory" three times at the top of his lungs. Nothing says I love you like victory.
A photographer took a handful of pictures of the couple and then one of the family(which I declined to be in) then we were whisked away to eat. From what I am told they rent the halls by the hour and so the length of weddings are very predictable.
Seeing as it was a buffet the food was plentiful and (for the most part) pretty delicious. I got to try many things I have never tried including snail, fermented Korean meat(as bad as it sounds), Chinese fermented duck egg(it was black) and all sorts of shellfish. They even had raw beef but I have my limits.
One thing at the buffet that I found interesting was that they have a live feed from where the wedding hall so that if people don't have time to go to the wedding and eat don't have to. They can eat while watching the wedding. Quality.
All in all it was fantastic to experience and I am glad that I could take it in.
I was invited by a friend of mine after she heard that I had never attended a wedding since my arrival in Korea. The wedding was for my friend's cousin or her father's nephew and as I found out, they weren't very close. That's not to say that they didn't get along, they did, it's just that they had only seen each other once or twice in their lives. They were so distant in fact, that before the wedding her mom went to congratulate the grom and congratulated the wrong guy. I comforted her by letting her know that it happens to me all the time, and I just blame it on the fact that Koreans all look alike.(I kid)
I arrived at the Jagalchi subway station about 20 minutes before the ceremony and was met by my friend. We made our way to the fifth floor of the market and I found that it was worlds apart from from the first floor, which is a good thing if you want to get married there.
Fifty feet from the elevator doors was the entrance to a room that looked like it might be where the wedding would be held. It was decorated with some pillars, flowers and candles. There was an aisle down the middle with rows of four comfortable looking seats on each side of said aisle. My friend confirmed my thoughts.
My first question was, where are the doors? The hall in front of me had three walled sides and the back was wide open aside from a couple of pillars for decoration. I was told that there were no walls at the back in case there weren't enough chairs for all the guests. That makes sense... if it was a quieter area and the elevator doors weren't right there. I would soon understand.
We walked in and took a seat in about the sixth row or about a quarter of the way from the front but were soon escorted to sit with the family in the second row. As we met the family my friend informed me of their relation to her as well as when they had seen each other last. Turns out they don't have as many family gatherings as we do back home and the ones that they do have the family will go to the fathers family.
Shortly after relocating, the emcees got the wedding got under way. I say emcees because I don't know what other word to use. There were two guys stage right who would give a play by play of what was going on in the ceremony. I should note here that they were so obnoxiously loud that a number of people plugged their ears. Due to the language barrier, I assumed they were from Most Xtreme Elimination and made up my own commentary which kept me entertained.
This was a good thing because if I came expecting to be entertained I would have been sorely disappointed. There were two things that made me think, "Wow, I should have that at my wedding!" The first was the dry ice fog that lined the aisle. There were slits in the ground running the length of the aisle that oozed a cloud of distraction whenever someone important walked down the aisle.
The groom walked in first and up stood at the front. He was alone. The bride walked up with her father shortly there after and the groom came to "collect" her. As it turns out there is no groomsmen or bridesmaids in Korean weddings. They stood at the front and faced the person officiating the wedding.
From this point on I understood why it didn't matter that the room wasn't closed off as people started taking calls and talking to the people around them about anything and everything. This continued until the couple turned around.
Then came the second thing that I will carry with me. The groom threw his hands in the air and yelled "Victory" three times at the top of his lungs. Nothing says I love you like victory.
A photographer took a handful of pictures of the couple and then one of the family(which I declined to be in) then we were whisked away to eat. From what I am told they rent the halls by the hour and so the length of weddings are very predictable.
Seeing as it was a buffet the food was plentiful and (for the most part) pretty delicious. I got to try many things I have never tried including snail, fermented Korean meat(as bad as it sounds), Chinese fermented duck egg(it was black) and all sorts of shellfish. They even had raw beef but I have my limits.
One thing at the buffet that I found interesting was that they have a live feed from where the wedding hall so that if people don't have time to go to the wedding and eat don't have to. They can eat while watching the wedding. Quality.
All in all it was fantastic to experience and I am glad that I could take it in.
18.5.11
It's "Quality Time"
Earlier in the week the forecast was for rain and so my plan was to go up to Busan and go to Costco and for supper with a couple of other people. Thankfully, on Thursday night before I confirmed that I would be going I checked the weather and found that it would be a sunny day. I let them know I had other plans and so I would not be joining them.
This is how Annabelle and I got to spend some quality time exploring the island. I ended up having Saturday class from 9-12 but after that I was free. I went home had lunch, got sidetracked and talked to my old roommates for a bit but then I was off.
The previous weekend I had gone out with a friend and we had done a loop that was quite enjoyable but due to leaving our map at home we turned left at a T that we wanted to turn right at and cut it short. Today it was just Annabelle and I so we decided to go back and turn right at the T to see where it led.
Checking a map that was on the side of the road.
Some of the curves, scenery and other traffic we dealt with during our time out.
We climbed a pass and saw the South coast from the top.
Being a bit of a busy road I waited at the top until there was a sizeable gap and then flew down the mountain side. There were quite a number of sharp switchback but that didn't stop my ears from popping as a result of the speed of the decent. Upon reaching the South shore the plan was to head East but the traffic was locked up and so we turned around and doubled back for a bit.
A turn on to a different road led us to this gem of a place. Swan paddle boats with a fountain in the middle, prefect for a date. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Annabelle ride so we burned the place down.
After that incident we decided to continue on and after a bit more of a ride we ended up at the North coast a few miles West of Gohyeon. Gohyeon is where my home is and so after a picture we headed for home with a quick stop at Angel in Us Coffee for a smoothie.
As you already know from here, I love Angel in Us Coffee smoothies. I was going to stop by and try the only flavor that I haven't yet tried Lemon Yogurt. But as it turns out they have two new flavors for summer, kiwi and melon. I opted for the melon and was, if I am honest, a little disappointed, I have come to expect more. Unlike their other smoothies, this one seemed to have an overpowering artificial melon flavoring taste to it.
The only thing that made it worth it was there loyalty cards. In addition to having their normal loyalty card, it turns out they now have a smoothie loyalty card where you buy five smoothies and get one free. They stamped both. Also I was hot and thirsty.
This is how Annabelle and I got to spend some quality time exploring the island. I ended up having Saturday class from 9-12 but after that I was free. I went home had lunch, got sidetracked and talked to my old roommates for a bit but then I was off.
The previous weekend I had gone out with a friend and we had done a loop that was quite enjoyable but due to leaving our map at home we turned left at a T that we wanted to turn right at and cut it short. Today it was just Annabelle and I so we decided to go back and turn right at the T to see where it led.
Checking a map that was on the side of the road.
Some of the curves, scenery and other traffic we dealt with during our time out.
We climbed a pass and saw the South coast from the top.
Being a bit of a busy road I waited at the top until there was a sizeable gap and then flew down the mountain side. There were quite a number of sharp switchback but that didn't stop my ears from popping as a result of the speed of the decent. Upon reaching the South shore the plan was to head East but the traffic was locked up and so we turned around and doubled back for a bit.
A turn on to a different road led us to this gem of a place. Swan paddle boats with a fountain in the middle, prefect for a date. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Annabelle ride so we burned the place down.
After that incident we decided to continue on and after a bit more of a ride we ended up at the North coast a few miles West of Gohyeon. Gohyeon is where my home is and so after a picture we headed for home with a quick stop at Angel in Us Coffee for a smoothie.
As you already know from here, I love Angel in Us Coffee smoothies. I was going to stop by and try the only flavor that I haven't yet tried Lemon Yogurt. But as it turns out they have two new flavors for summer, kiwi and melon. I opted for the melon and was, if I am honest, a little disappointed, I have come to expect more. Unlike their other smoothies, this one seemed to have an overpowering artificial melon flavoring taste to it.
The only thing that made it worth it was there loyalty cards. In addition to having their normal loyalty card, it turns out they now have a smoothie loyalty card where you buy five smoothies and get one free. They stamped both. Also I was hot and thirsty.
16.5.11
Short Skirts - A Serious Post
As I was trawling for news on the Bieb(not Bieber, BBC), the other day I came across this article. As I read it I thought to myself, "this is terrible, the only way to solve this is going to cost a lot of money." That was until the last line which says, "The matter would be much more easily and cheaply resolved, it says, by enforcing the rules on school uniform."
Based on my experience it seemed to me like a very Korean thing to do, rather than hold to the rules that were in place they let it slide and now to cover it up they will need to shell out. But as I thought about it more, mostly in a way that would make light of the situation it struck me. Albeit on a different scale, we all face similar situations on a daily basis.
I see it every day at school. Let me explain using an example that affects my life on a daily basis. I work at a kindergarten and as such the kids are highly impressionable which makes it even more important how I act and react to what they do.
I still remember in my interview for the job when asked about how I would deal with problems that arose among the kids my answer was consistency. Let them know what my expectations of them were and in return what they could expect of me. That is easier said than done.
A few weeks ago the kids started using their play time to practice their Tae Kwon Do "moves" during break. You see one of our rules is that the kids should, as much as possible, keep their hands and feet to themselves. At first they weren't touching each other, they were just going through the motions, so no harm no foul. Instead of having the foresight to see where this was heading I let them be, after all it allowed me to have some much needed peace and quite to get some work done. This practicing quickly morphed in to wrestling. This was not acceptable but they were entertained and I could continue on with what I wanted to do. So I turned a blind eye.
Last week it escalated to the point where every time they had play time some one ended up in tears. It was clear that something would have to be done. In my case it won't cost me $700,000, if I did want to "buy" them back the most it would cost me is a bit of candy. That route would be easier for the short term but it would instil in them a sense of entitlement, and make it harder to "buy" them back the next time.
As such, that is not the route I plan on taking, instead of candy, it will cost me a bit of extra time and energy, redirecting their energy to be used for noble purposes. Had I been consistent in the first place this is time and energy that could have been saved.(But think of the lesson I would have missed out on...)
The idea of consistency is also something that has been on my mind for the past few months in regards to my own life. I too, like my students, am at a very mouldable point in my life, the decisions that I am making now will affect my entire adult life in many different ways. Cool, eh?
If all goes as planned I will never have to shell out $700000 for not enforcing the dress code, and that's a serious post on short skirts. I just attended a Korean wedding this past weekend so tune in next time for "Is That What you Call a Wedding Korea?"
Based on my experience it seemed to me like a very Korean thing to do, rather than hold to the rules that were in place they let it slide and now to cover it up they will need to shell out. But as I thought about it more, mostly in a way that would make light of the situation it struck me. Albeit on a different scale, we all face similar situations on a daily basis.
I see it every day at school. Let me explain using an example that affects my life on a daily basis. I work at a kindergarten and as such the kids are highly impressionable which makes it even more important how I act and react to what they do.
I still remember in my interview for the job when asked about how I would deal with problems that arose among the kids my answer was consistency. Let them know what my expectations of them were and in return what they could expect of me. That is easier said than done.
A few weeks ago the kids started using their play time to practice their Tae Kwon Do "moves" during break. You see one of our rules is that the kids should, as much as possible, keep their hands and feet to themselves. At first they weren't touching each other, they were just going through the motions, so no harm no foul. Instead of having the foresight to see where this was heading I let them be, after all it allowed me to have some much needed peace and quite to get some work done. This practicing quickly morphed in to wrestling. This was not acceptable but they were entertained and I could continue on with what I wanted to do. So I turned a blind eye.
Last week it escalated to the point where every time they had play time some one ended up in tears. It was clear that something would have to be done. In my case it won't cost me $700,000, if I did want to "buy" them back the most it would cost me is a bit of candy. That route would be easier for the short term but it would instil in them a sense of entitlement, and make it harder to "buy" them back the next time.
As such, that is not the route I plan on taking, instead of candy, it will cost me a bit of extra time and energy, redirecting their energy to be used for noble purposes. Had I been consistent in the first place this is time and energy that could have been saved.(But think of the lesson I would have missed out on...)
The idea of consistency is also something that has been on my mind for the past few months in regards to my own life. I too, like my students, am at a very mouldable point in my life, the decisions that I am making now will affect my entire adult life in many different ways. Cool, eh?
If all goes as planned I will never have to shell out $700000 for not enforcing the dress code, and that's a serious post on short skirts. I just attended a Korean wedding this past weekend so tune in next time for "Is That What you Call a Wedding Korea?"
14.5.11
Seoul - Take Two
Sorry for the delay, Blogspot has been down for the past few days and so I have been unable to access or update the blog. At long last here is the rest of the Seoul I saw.
When I left you last, I was in the subway on the way to meet a couple of people with whom I had gone to school with back in Canada. We met at Seoul Station because of it's convenience and dropped our bags at the local Lotte Mart.
Little Korean travel tip if you don't want to carry your bag around all day stop by a department store and drop it off. They have lockers near the entrance, to use them all you need is a 100 won coin which you get back when you take out your bag.
We made our way over to Insadong for lunch at a small traditional Korean restaurant and ate all this. To introduce you the we was Hyekyoung and YooMin.
Insadong is a walking street close to downtown Seoul, there are many coffee shops and people selling crafts. Neat vibe. One must stop is the guys who make some kind of candy from honey and nuts, they have a chant that explains what they are doing, because I wasn't Korean the did a special version and it was hilarious. I found that the candy, on the other hand, was a little bland.
What would a big city be with out some wall art?
YooMin is from Incheon which is right by Seoul, she had done some research and so when ever we were wondering what to do next she pulled out a paper with a list of things to do, the times, prices and how to get there. Solid.
Next stop was the Seoul Tower, we were not alone. This was the shuttle bus to the top.
While there we (sort of)saw a traditional wedding ceremony, rode the fastest elevator in the world, mailed a postcard from the highest Post Office in Korea and I used my first coupon in Korea and saved 900 won($0.90).
If you remember from one of my trips to Busan(found here), you have heard me mention "love locks" before. "Love locks" are locks that couple who are in secure to something in a popular area to tell of their love for each other. At the base of the tower was a large area dedicated to this, there were five of these trees and then you can see in the background the fence is covered as well. I would guess the number of locks to be somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. I guess lots of people love each other.
By the time we were done looking around Seoul Tower it was early evening so we headed to Myeongdong to do a little shopping and then to School Food for dinner.
From here Hyekyoung left us to meet up with another friend and YooMin and I headed for Incheon. She kindly offered that I could stay the night and having no reservations at any another accommodation, I gladly accepted the offer. As I found out I was the first foreigner that had stayed with her family, cool. They were very welcoming and I felt very much at home.
Her mother cooked up a feast of rice, seaweed, kimbap, crab soup and fruit for brunch after which we headed out once again for the one and a half hour ride back to Seoul. I counted it up and over the course of the three days I was in Seoul I spent almost 15 hours on or waiting for public transportation. That does not include the 4.5 hour bus ride to and from Geoje. Here is one of the better decorated subway tunnels... or mine shafts, you decided.
Our activity for the day consisted of going to Lotte Korea Folk Museum in Lotte World, which is a huge mall and amusement park and a few other things. Once we finally got in it reminded me of the Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg. It went through the entire history of Korea. It was good but by the end we were both historied out.
I saw once we finally got in because the line took almost an hour. In the picture you will see the line and there were only about 5 more people out of the frame. When we got to the window we found out what the wait was all about. Apparently if you have the right credit card you can save 50% so the people in front of us had 10 cards out(I counted). To see if the discount applied they had to swipe all of them one at a time and wait for them to be processed. The entrance to the museum was 5000 won...
We went for supper and by that time it was time for me to catch my bus back home, we said our goodbyes and that was Seoul. Hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for a post on short skirts in Korea.
When I left you last, I was in the subway on the way to meet a couple of people with whom I had gone to school with back in Canada. We met at Seoul Station because of it's convenience and dropped our bags at the local Lotte Mart.
Little Korean travel tip if you don't want to carry your bag around all day stop by a department store and drop it off. They have lockers near the entrance, to use them all you need is a 100 won coin which you get back when you take out your bag.
We made our way over to Insadong for lunch at a small traditional Korean restaurant and ate all this. To introduce you the we was Hyekyoung and YooMin.
Insadong is a walking street close to downtown Seoul, there are many coffee shops and people selling crafts. Neat vibe. One must stop is the guys who make some kind of candy from honey and nuts, they have a chant that explains what they are doing, because I wasn't Korean the did a special version and it was hilarious. I found that the candy, on the other hand, was a little bland.
What would a big city be with out some wall art?
YooMin is from Incheon which is right by Seoul, she had done some research and so when ever we were wondering what to do next she pulled out a paper with a list of things to do, the times, prices and how to get there. Solid.
Next stop was the Seoul Tower, we were not alone. This was the shuttle bus to the top.
While there we (sort of)saw a traditional wedding ceremony, rode the fastest elevator in the world, mailed a postcard from the highest Post Office in Korea and I used my first coupon in Korea and saved 900 won($0.90).
If you remember from one of my trips to Busan(found here), you have heard me mention "love locks" before. "Love locks" are locks that couple who are in secure to something in a popular area to tell of their love for each other. At the base of the tower was a large area dedicated to this, there were five of these trees and then you can see in the background the fence is covered as well. I would guess the number of locks to be somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. I guess lots of people love each other.
By the time we were done looking around Seoul Tower it was early evening so we headed to Myeongdong to do a little shopping and then to School Food for dinner.
From here Hyekyoung left us to meet up with another friend and YooMin and I headed for Incheon. She kindly offered that I could stay the night and having no reservations at any another accommodation, I gladly accepted the offer. As I found out I was the first foreigner that had stayed with her family, cool. They were very welcoming and I felt very much at home.
Her mother cooked up a feast of rice, seaweed, kimbap, crab soup and fruit for brunch after which we headed out once again for the one and a half hour ride back to Seoul. I counted it up and over the course of the three days I was in Seoul I spent almost 15 hours on or waiting for public transportation. That does not include the 4.5 hour bus ride to and from Geoje. Here is one of the better decorated subway tunnels... or mine shafts, you decided.
Our activity for the day consisted of going to Lotte Korea Folk Museum in Lotte World, which is a huge mall and amusement park and a few other things. Once we finally got in it reminded me of the Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg. It went through the entire history of Korea. It was good but by the end we were both historied out.
I saw once we finally got in because the line took almost an hour. In the picture you will see the line and there were only about 5 more people out of the frame. When we got to the window we found out what the wait was all about. Apparently if you have the right credit card you can save 50% so the people in front of us had 10 cards out(I counted). To see if the discount applied they had to swipe all of them one at a time and wait for them to be processed. The entrance to the museum was 5000 won...
We went for supper and by that time it was time for me to catch my bus back home, we said our goodbyes and that was Seoul. Hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for a post on short skirts in Korea.
Seoul - Take One
This past weekend I made the 4.5 hour trek to Seoul. I did not have a plan but I had a long weekend and few phone numbers of people in Seoul. This is an account of some of the things that happened. I started off my tour of Seoul by meeting Jin at a subway stop. This is Jin:
Not sure he would choose the same picture to introduce himself but that is neither here nor there. My connection to him was that a friend of mine had met him at school in South Africa and said grade A. He was. We met outside of the Wang Jang Market and took a look around, there was the usual food court.
On Jin's recommendation we had soup for lunch. If I am honest soup is one of the foods I like least about Korea, for the most part they put seaweed and red pepper paste in hot water and call it done. While it was still Korean soup it was better than most I have tried.
In the same area, down a bunch of unmarked, poorly lit hallways Jin brought me to a clothes market of sorts. I was told that all the clothing was used, but most of it looked hardly used. It was quality stuff. I didn't have a list else I would have definitely picked up some things.
Down another dark hallway they were selling rip-off designer hand bags.
With very little direction we wandered our way to the Chongyecheon Restoration Project. It is an stretch of river that the current President of Korea turned in to a river walk hang out area. It was a real nice area.
Along the way we saw an old palace/house(?) and a building that looked like this. Cool, eh?
From there we wandered to Deoksugung Palace. It was very similar to all the other palaces in Korea except that they had a lovely welcoming committee waiting for us.
This is where Jin told me that one of the Korean emperors, King Sejong, created the sundial. Having been in Korea for a few months already I know that this is impossible, the sun comes out at most every other day and so this would not be a very useful way to keep time. Based on that my gut tells me it was invented in Egypt, because it is always sunny in pictures of Egypt.
To prove it to me he took me to a museum dedicated to King Sejong. It was free and actually kind of cool. We did some calligraphy, saw a(really cheaply made) movie in 4D and did not find any information that he invented the sundial.
Upon my return I have done a little research and found that the Wikipedia page on Sundials does not mention King Sejong, or Korea at all. It does however mention Egypt, and I quote, "The earliest sundials known from the archaeological record are the obelisks (3500 BC) and shadow clocks (1500 BC) from ancient Egyptian astronomy" Eat it Jin.
At about this point we found out that this was the weekend that the Lantern Festival was occurring in Seoul which is supposed to be a big deal. It was fortunate as we found out about an hour before the parade started and we were only a few blocks away from where it would be passing by.
Once we had our fill we continued on our way, which turned out to be heading to Jin's area of town. He lives in Anyang which for a non-Korean speaker like myself sounds a lot like their word for hello, "anyong". This entertained me for most of the subway ride. We ended up going for supper and watching some Champions League, before calling it a night.
The next day was Sunday so I attended church with him and made my way back in to Seoul to meet some others for lunch. Stay tuned for Seoul much more.(Seoul many more where that came from)
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