George Bailey Sees The World!

You Can Plan On Me

2011-12-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

University wrapped-up on Friday with some unit planning time, a gift exchange, and a pot-luck. The weekend was all about reading, packing, and Catan with friends. I'm now sitting at the airport, waiting to board my flight home to Calgary. I have been ready to go for a while, but not before I took my Bromptom for one more festive trip around the seawall last night. I'll be home for Christmas... and I don't get to say that very often.

Christmas in Vancouver

2011-12-05T00:22:00.000-08:00

I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I even made a point of napping twice on a Sunday - because dammit, it's Sunday, and I won't be having too many relaxing days anytime soon. I'm trying my best to economize my rest.

In the last two weeks, my room mate and I have taken advantage of some of the holiday merriment that the city of Vancouver has to offer. I'm off to Calgary in just over a week, and I wanted to make sure that I sample what I can before leaving the west coast.

The first was the 2nd annual Vancouver Christmas Market - also known as the German Christmas Market, likely because it appears to be entirely peopled by Germans - except for Arturo, a Peruvian gentleman who was at one of the booths selling his fair trade coffee. I bought a bag of beans from Arturo and he was happy to point out that each biodegradable bag was adorned with a decoration hand-painted by his wife. I chose one with a lovely colored ornament for the tree and told Arturo that every time I looked at the ornament, I would think of his wife. Arturo and I thought that a completely fine comment to make, but my friends thought it was weird. Awkwardness ensued, but now I have a nice bag of fair trade beans for a gift exchange on Friday.

The market itself I would imagine is usually a lot more lively than it was on the day we went: Saturday before the Grey Cup, rainy, and with the market opting out of liquor service for the night for fear that German Grey Cup revelers would overtake the carousel and start another riot. The market was okay. It could have been better. I say this for two reasons:

1) It's expensive. There is a $5 cost to even get into the thing and what one can buy inside is mostly far too expensive for a "day at the craft sale" kind of feel. Granted, most of what's available is actually hand-made and imported from the German, Austrian, and Swiss artisans who are there to sell. There are plenty of food booths as well, and if you're up for it, on busy days there is reportedly a pig roasting on a spit. How Christmassy. Anyway, a family of 4 would be looking at $20 for entry, $12 for a carousel ride, $40 for food, and a significant amount of money for any of the wooden, metal, or blown-glass ornaments available for sale. There really doesn't appear to be a cheap way to experience the market.

2) Okay, there's only one reason. This place would actually be a pretty nice place for a unique Christmas date. The market is erected each year on an empty paved lot beside the Queen Elizabeth theatre downtown, and the theatre has December offerings of Sting, The Canadian Tenors, and the Nutcracker. Just bring lots of money.

That was last weekend. This weekend was the real treat: the "Bright Nights in Vancouver Stanley Park Christmas Train". Maria and I made an evening out of it with two friends. Dinner, coffee and Catan, and then a stroll over to Stanley Park for a walk through crazy lighted displays and a ride on the miniature railway.

Free entrance to the park (with a donation to the firefighter's burn unit) and $11.75 for the train ticket. Totally worth it. This runs from December 1st until the 2nd of January.

The lands surrounding the railway are completely decked-out with a ridiculous amount of lights and Christmas decor. It's fairly chaotic in terms of theme and style, and it looks as though Davie Hogan chowed-down on every Rankin-Bass Christmas special and vomited all over Stanley Park's Rose Garden. I really mean this in a good way. Pictures wouldn't do it justice, but just walking around there creates the illusion that one is in a Christmas special of one's own making.

Tickets for the train are sold half through ticket-master in advance, and half at the park after 12:00 noon on the day of. It's solidly packed - early evening kid-friendly train times going first. We managed to get tickets for the 9:30 departure. With three trains running on the track, the lines move pretty quickly, and you only need to line-up for your 30 minute window to get the train. Didn't see any issues here.

The ride itself was pretty fantastic. Honestly, in terms of Christmas glee, I'm pretty sure that, for my two young nephews, this would have blown away anything Disneyland would have to offer - certainly not in terms of imagineering quality, but in terms of holly-jolliness, this is pretty tough to beat. The miniature trains (20 gauge tracks with guests seated two across) runs through the tall tree forests of Stanley Park, past lit displays over water, through tunnels, and back around again for a new perspective on things. The ride took about 10-12 minutes from what I can recall. There is a great deal of thought put into the displays and the music (piped into the overhead speakers in each mini train car) really adds to the effect.

The ride begins with Mr. Crosby's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and then switches gears into Mahalia Jackson's "Go Tell it On the Mountain" for those who prefer a more non-secular approach to Christmas as the trains leads through choir dioramas and nativity scenes in the trees. The train rounds a bend and we can see dry ice billowing from underneath a facade of the Polar Express while light shines from the open engine door and head light. The conductor (on stilts) marches out to dance and salute the train which slows down for the pass - the music from the film really added to this sequence.

I could go on, but it's enough to say that it was pretty dang festive. My nephews, and specifically my train-loving dad would have gone absolutely crazy on this - the most Christmassy train ride I've ever been on. The sequence when the train runs over a short trestle bridge and across a pond is just ridiculous - the lights reflected on the water are something to see.

I found myself wishing that my family and my rabbit could have been there with me, and I found myself somehow not surprised to notice that, as the lingering odors revealed, some people want to heighten the experience of the Stanley Park Christmas Train even further with the addition of some genuine B.C. bud. Roasted chestnuts and organic popcorn are on hand for anyone who develops the munchies.

The Waiting Room

2011-12-03T00:11:00.000-08:00

Finished watching Twin Peaks tonight. It was the 5th time that I have watched the entire series. I may have mentioned this before, but living on the west coast, if one ever was a Twin Peaks fan, it's easy to get sucked back into that world when one's daily setting is as inviting as this. I am hopeful that some friends of mine might be interested in a Spring journey to some key areas in Washington State where we might be able to see a few key sites, just for poops and ha-has: the falls, the Great Northern, and the log on the beach where Laura's body was found wrapped in plastic - just to name a few.

So, once again I say goodbye to characters I know and love and I watch as two enter into the waiting room before going through the black lodge and hoping to ascend to the white lodge and I feel, through my experience thus far as a student teacher having finished two short practicums and regrouping before moving on to my third, that I too am in the waiting room in a sense. There are people around me who seem to speak in tongues, the coffee sometimes clots, and strange people seem to come at me screaming from behind couches while I do my best to focus on why I crossed the threshold in the first place.

I'm going to take some time, and it will be valuable, and I need to brush my teeth.

Last Month of the Year

2011-12-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

And in the spirit of the season, a descriptive paragraph from a grade 9 student. The focus was to be on sensory words to describe a thing, a moment, a person, or whatever one might feel strongly about...

A Snow Day

The sight of snow causes me to go on a rampage, swiftly diving into the snow, knowing I would make a show. No matter if I collapse into a frenzy as long as it occurs on a snow day. I would dance and fall on my face, eat the snow on the way. Construct a snowman with the spirit I have. Then when the wind would take initiative I would feel the snow dashing on my face. The snow melting and being absorbed, forming a smile on my face. Suddenly, getting hit by a snowball which cleanses and glorifies that smile I wear. I am aware of the smell of the air. It is of an ocean's breeze. I am ready to be enchanted by the visually spectacular winter and of snow's grace.

Writing is sometimes about taking risks.

Before I dig-in...

2011-11-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the last "free" day before I dive into my second 3 week practicum, which will be centered around 4 consecutive full days of teaching as per the structure of SFU's student teacher program.

Again, I'm reluctant to say much about the school, itself - at least in part a result of the increased privacy issues in place here in Canada. However, I'll be happy to comment from time to time about certain lessons and how things go with their implementation. The next three weeks will be a challenge, and I'm going to do my best to be mindful of the fact that I work with three different sponsor teachers - each of whom have their own unique set of styles and expectations. Yours, truly is going to need to check himself not only each day, but with each period when I change rooms.

I will be teaching the following schedule, with each period lasting for 74 minutes:

Day 1
Period 1 - (No class)
Period 2 - English 10A
Period 3 - Resource Room (for struggling students)
Period 4 - Communications 11/12

Day 2
Period 1 - ESL Senior 4
Period 2 - English 9A
Period 3 - English 9B
Period 4 - English 10B

The days alternate one after the other, and it adds-up to four different classes to prep for as My English 9 and English 10 repeat.

I'm excited to get back into the school, and a bit nervous about meeting expectations for lesson-planning, but the more I get on top of with the next three weeks, the better off I'll be when the long spring practicum comes along - I'm going to need the best head start I can manage.

Met Collins for breakfast this morning, realized how lucky I am to have had three visitors to Vancouver already. Good friends and family will make for a very special holiday coming up in Calgary, though I plan on getting the most out of my holiday time in Vancouver as well. There is a Christmas tree that's lit-up each night in the middle of the Lost Lagoon as one enters Stanley Park. That'll be nice, and I'll be sure to get some pictures.

Further to that...

2011-11-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

Reprinted without permission from Slate Magazine (Sunday, November 13th, 2011)

Because Our Fathers Lied: Remembering our veterans and reflecting on the glorious ambiguity of Rudyard Kipling's war poetry
- By Christopher Hitchens

I spent much of this weekend, as I often do this time of year, confining myself to writing and thinking about Rudyard Kipling. This may seem like a pretentious thing to be saying, but if you care about war and peace and justice and life and death, then he is an inescapable subject. The same is true if you care about modern English literature, which for no less inescapable reasons is intimately bound up with the great catastrophe of mortality that overcame British families between August 1914 and November 1918.

There had probably never been such a race for a society to get itself involved in the battle for a perceived moral superiority. Great swaths of young men saw their honor, and huge groups of young girls their virtue, involved in the defense of Belgium against the rape of German imperialism. As a result, a huge and successful post-Victorian people found itself nearly decimated, with a special emphasis on the slaughter of its youth of child-bearing age. And Kipling himself, the man who brought us The Jungle Book and many a school yarn, was desolate because he did not have a real son to lend, or to give, to the fight.

Pay attention when people make use of those terms, about “giving” or “losing” your life in wartime. Often, we have only the uncorroborated word of the losers that that is what they did. Either their lives were offered and accepted—this being the great act of sacrifice and solidarity honored since Pericles and the Gettysburg Address—or they were ruthlessly snatched away. In which latter case we have only the word of the generals and the kings and the politicians that this was indeed a legitimate deal. That, also, would be rather more like an accident.
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Whereas the last alternative, almost too grim to reflect upon, would be that of deliberate theft. In this scenario we encounter cannon fodder, fiddled casualty figures, falsified statistics and all the cynicism of wartime manipulation and propaganda. And again, nobody is on hand to represent the words of the victim. That is what happened to young John Kipling when he was posted “missing” at the end of one of the fiercest early battles of the First World War. His father Rudyard, upset that the boy was disqualified for the military because of his poor eyesight, had in effect smuggled him through customs so as to pass the minimal regulations. His agony, therefore, as to having effectively cheated his boy into vanishing in the trenches, can only be dimly guessed at.

Young John wasn’t properly identified until the 1990s; a dreadful fact about hundreds of thousands of young British men of that epoch who still have not been bagged or tagged from the ditches and drains of the areas of Flanders and Picardy where the supreme sacrifice—another term to watch out for—was actually carried out in those sanguinary years. I wrote about the exhumation, and it seems that he was horribly injured and perhaps blinded toward the end. As a kind of atonement, his father agreed to write the official history of his son’s Irish regiment and also to help design the official memorial to that strange idea, “The Unknown Soldier.” Unknown to whom?

Even as Kipling was repressing his doubts about the nature of the war and the death of his only son, there was a sort of revolution of poets at the other end of the country. In a mental hospital in Scotland were confined, because of their opposition to the war and their “battle fatigue,” men of the stature of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Just contrast what Kipling and Owen wrote. I’ll first cite Kipling:

Our statecraft, our learning,

Delivered them bound to the pit and alive to the burning

Whither they mirthfully hastened as jostling for honor.

Not since her birth has our Earth seen such worth loosed upon her!

… But who shall return us our children?

Wilfred Owen decided to rework the ancient Bible story of the binding and killing of Isaac by his father Abraham. If you recall, Abraham listened to his god’s instructions and carried them out until the last moment, whereupon an angel called him out of heaven, telling him to “offer the ram of pride instead” of Isaac. In Owen’s poem, the action follows this form until the angel makes an appearance. At this point, old man Abraham turns remorseless:

But the old man would not so, but slew his son.

And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

Reading them today, it is surprising how closely the two poems converge. In both cases, fathers grieve in different ways over the slaughter of their sons. They also brood over the paternal responsibility for the bloodletting. This introduces elements of ambiguity into the reflection.

Last week, some mediocre California mayoress announced that she wasn’t going to attend a Veterans Day event in her city of Richmond. Gayle McLaughlin, in fact, was down with the “Occupy” guys and gals instead. You can easily picture the response she got: the city of Richmond insulted, along with the memory of its brave men and women in uniform. Indeed, there might not even be a Richmond if not for those unforgettable volunteers. But if this were true, then the writing of history would always be simple. So would the composition of morality stories. Both Kipling and Owen came to the conclusion that too many lives had been “taken” rather than offered or accepted, and that too many bureaucrats had complacently accepted the sacrifice as if they themselves had earned it.

And this has made a lot of difference. It means, for example, that each case needs to be argued on its own merits. I am convinced that the contingents who went to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, though badly led on a scale almost equal to that of 1914 to 1918, are to be praised and supported. But I take no comfort from the idea that this should be an official position. I must say I think that La McLaughlin expressed herself with awful casualness (because Nov. 11 is, after all, truly—still—a solemn day on the calendar). But it’s still more important on such a day to discuss dissent, and to reflect on whether it might have been your own enemy, or your deeply mistaken father, who brought you bound to the pit and alive to the burning.

Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

I realized, just this morning, that I hadn't attended a proper Remembrance Day ceremony since 2006. Each November since that time had been spent in Korea or Thailand, and there's either too much Pepero or too much Beer Laos in those locales to focus on what the day really means back in Canada.

I was pleased the last two years when teaching in Korea however, when I was able to implement a pretty cool poetry lesson using Jon McCrae's famous poem "In Flanders Fields". It was sobering for the vast majority of the students to recognize that British Commonwealth countries recognize their war dead in such a way. The lesson really worked, and it was nice to note that I was able to collect a great deal of Pepero on the day: students who brought me Pepero on November 11th got a Canadian flag pin in return. I was rolling in Pepero for weeks afterward.

Anyway, I was glad to head down to Victory Square this morning to take in my first Vancouver Remembrance Day ceremony and my first one on Canadian soil in half a decade. There was a great turn-out on a soggy grassy hillside - the rain which had stopped before the ceremony had already had its way with the green space.

It was a beautiful ceremony - what always gets to me the most, among the songs, readings, and wreath-layings, is "Flowers of the Forest", the Scottish Lament - and the silence that precedes and follows it.

It's also interesting to see how people react to the day - from a myriad of personal places of hurt, sadness, gratefulness, or anger. At today's ceremony, a woman waved a Canadian flag from an open window that looked down on the parade below. Her sign called for an end to the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, and she became vocal - with tangible sadness in her voice. Not knowing her, or the place her emotion came from, I can only sit back and respect both her, and the people marching below who fought to maintain a country where she has the right to speak her mind.

When soldiers themselves can be in support of or rally in protest against their wars, it's clear that nobody - not even one directly involved - can have a monopoly on appropriate response. Looking at the variety of those laying wreaths, I see the day being about those who were lost; those who have worn a uniform and survive to continue to do so; and those who have watched others deploy and never come back. There's just something in me that reminds me that I have no right to tell Cindy Sheehan or Richard Tillman to keep their mouths shut - especially on Remembrance or Veteran's Day.

Sea Wall after Sunset

2011-11-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

Had a great weekend - Saturday at the aquarium with friends and a flower girl, and then today I headed downtown with my extra hour of daylight savings time and bought some Christmas cards.

I know, it's not even Remembrance Day yet, but it is chilly enough, and it's after Halloween, so it's more than appropriate to find a festive Starbucks, sit down with a pen, and think about people who aren't here.

The other thing I like about Starbucks is the feeling that regardless of where one is in the world, all Starbucks are pretty much the same. For North American ex-pats, it's a touchstone of sorts - a place to feel "normal" when everything around you can feel different. I know that it's sad that it sometimes takes a large corporation to bring this feeling about, but it is what it is.

Anyway, today - with all of the cold and Christmas action around me (music and blend, I mean), I felt as though I could just walk out of Starbucks and into Samcheong-dong or Myeong-dong and meet my friends who would be waiting for me with Santa hats and songbooks, all ready for some caroling along the Cheonggye-cheon.

Anyway, it was then onto my bike and I thought, even though the sun was down, I could still get a decent ride in. With the hub dynamo lighting, I'm good to go on the Stanley Park sea wall, even when the only other sources of light are the moon or the lights along the Lions Gate Bridge when it comes into view.

It was truly awesome. I think I'll be doing the wall at night more often, and if tonight was any indicator, I'm not the only one to have that thought. There were quiet places on the NW section though where all I could hear were waves lapping the shore and weird cooing/clicking sounds from roaming raccoons.

A fine weekend - topped off with a Flames victory, and Stephanie was good enough to take my Jonas Hiller for her Kiprusoff - so now I can feel really good whenever Peter puts one in the win column.

PS - I didn't bring my camera with me, so I borrowed this photo from Northwest Photography here in Vancouver. Check it out - for all of your Vancouver photography needs.

Take Shelter

2011-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm thinking I'm going to love it. Heading to Granville for an early evening showing with the Boyce. Michael Shannon is the kind of actor who will bring me out of the house to the most obscure film. I've got me some high expectations here, but wanted to wait until the right time to see this one. Before I wrote my mid-term was not the time to see a movie this intense. I'll try to write a review at some point this week.

Just a quick update is all I have time for. My first three week practicum is at an end. It was great for the most part. I was pleased to be able to teach two entire class lessons (74 minutes) as opposed to the recommended 20 minute "mini-lessons" we were encouraged to do during this initial stage. I was asked to teach the next literary element in a line that began with short story plot structure and will end somewhere down the line with theme. My assigned element was narrative point of view, which I won't get into deeply here except to say that it was surprising how bloody confused I can be with the terminology when I've been away from it at a distance for as long as I have. Anyway, pulling a myriad of ideas together to one lesson ended-up being quite the treat for me. For whatever reason, when I began with piecing the lesson together, I came across the 2nd trailer for Speilberg's upcoming Christmas Day release, War Horse. My lesson ended-up using the 1982 novel (which I snapped-up at Chapters to prepare for the lesson) and bridging it to the film through an examination of the 2010 West End production of the story on stage.

Of course, we did spend a fair portion of the lesson reaffirming the 4 selected main forms of POV as outlined in their text, while at the same time reminding ourselves that rarely is one form followed in its purest sense through an entire text. It's amazing the things one can discover when planning a lesson. The War Horse examples ended-up book-ending the lesson really effectively while the text exploration portion of the lesson ended-up being really engaging and generated some in-depth discussion among myself and the students - citing everything from Harry Potter and Game of Thrones (Third Person Limited and Third Person Multiple) to Inception, which showed differing colours depending on whether we considered the film on screen or on the printed page in screenplay form. Anyway, it was fun to nerd-out about it all and I was grateful to have the opportunity to teach the lesson in consecutive days so that I could fix what needed it.

Anyway, glad to be back at campus up on the mountain. I crave the level of discourse there, and I feed off of the discussions generated by the people in that room. I have missed university. Nerd.

I was also lucky enough to celebrate my sister's birthday this past weekend when she came out to explore the city on the coast. It's going to get harder and harder to leave Canada next year.

In other news, while waiting for my colleague to gather her bike parked at Pigeonland near Burrard Station late last week, two gentlemen (I base this on their manner and their state of dress) came up to me all friendly-like and asked inquired with the following:

"Um... excuse me... my friend and I were debating how old you are, because there are some aspects of you that are old and others that aren't." (This is world-for-word).
"Ahhh... how old do you think I am?"
"I say 27, but my friend says 23."
"I'm 35."
"Oh..."
"So... looks like 27 is the big winner."

And that was that. You know, there was a time when I - a man with nothing approaching a 4:00 shadow - could at least revel in the fact that heart-throbs of the day (Titanic Leo and Order of the Phoenix Daniel Radcliffe) were as baby-faced as I. We can't all be Colin Farrell. But now Leo's gone all The Departed and Radcliffe's gone all Woman in Black and I'm left here looking like a guy who is 20 years away from looking like James Cromwell in Babe.

Oh, well - you know who else still has a baby face? The son of Jor-El, that's who!

Friendlies on the train

2011-10-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Holy Dinah - I'm tired. Today marks the last day of this first portion of my first in-school practicum where our focus has been mainly to observe different types of classes. My university chum and I have been visiting many classes - never repeating - and have for the most part been witness to some very cool and very inspired education.

I want to focus on that last word because I've been reminded daily about it's importance. I was also reminded of the importance of defining it properly: through an anecdote delivered by one of our faculty associates at SFU, we were reminded of Christy Clark, British Columbia's Premiere, when she spoke in defense of the cutting of higher education funding suggesting that "skill-acquisition, training, and education are all essentially the same thing." Our faculty associate suggested how cathartic it would have been to have had someone inquire of Ms. Clark right then and there if she would prefer to have her daughter receive from her public schooling, sex skills, sex training, or sex education.

Point is, there is a difference, and a lot of what I've seen has given me great pause when it comes to my approach and shifting views as I go through this year-long program. I graduated high school in 1993. I didn't love all of it, but I was comfortable enough in school. I managed it - what it was then - and made it what I needed it to be. But I couldn't get away with that level of avoidance in high school today. Teachers have been re-taught and as a result everything has been re-thought. They simply don't teach the same way anymore. I like this, but at 35 I'm feeling like a bit of a dinosaur again. 18 years is enough time for paradigm shifts to take place and take root. As Joey Lawrence (or is it Joey Lucas) would say, "woah!"

Anyway, wanted to say that last night I had a chance to meet-up with my friend, Michael, who - along with his wife, Sandra, joined me for a showing of 50/50. It was very good. There was a moment of romantic longing in this film (which also deals with rare spinal cancer and male genital grooming) that ranks right up there with Bill Murray holding Scarlett Johansson's foot in the Park Hyatt, Tokyo. Just awesome stuff, Ms. Anna Kendrick. Thanks for that.

Then off on the train to make my way home to complete a crafty task and while on the way home I bare witness to a sea of disgruntled Canucks fans who gave-up on the late 3rd period 3-0 score VS the Rangers. A nice, older couple in matching Kesler jerseys stands in front of me and I politely inquire as to the score of the game. We strike-up a conversation and I reveal that I'm actually from Calgary - a fact they visibly bristle at - but it becomes playful right away. They have a great deal of respect for Iginla. Well, of course they do. They offer me a memorial program from the Rick Rypien tribute before the game and we eventually get to revealing that I'm here for school, she's a Simon Fraser graduate and a recently retired teacher. Glad to have asked the score and regretful that I'm getting off the train only three stations away.

Nice people, these Canucks fans. THESE Canucks fans.

And still thinking about that phone-call from the car. Go see 50/50.

Cambie Irregular

2011-10-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Finished our first week of practicum tonight. Gathered at The Cambie pub just outside of Gastown with other student teachers to celebrate and shoot the shite.

The Cambie is a hole, a block away from the Worst Neighbourhood in North America, and the only reason to go there is because it's 3 blocks from Waterfront Skytrain station and because the pitchers are $12, which is about as cheap as it gets in Canada.

There were about 20 of us there tonight, and it was a good time - time to regroup and time to check-in and see how everyone's doing thus far.

We are all in our teacher gear - mine consisting of the unapologetic sweater vest and collared shirt.

I make my way to the men's washroom, which previously looked a lot like what you see in the photo below. You can see the rusting communal waterfall urinal situation they had going on for some time, but what you can't see are the blocked toilets in stalls with half-doors so as to prevent dudes from shooting heroin on the premises.

Well, it's all changed. Gone is the graffiti, the rusty spots beside the urinal, and the possibility of users cluttering-up the stalls, all because The Cambie has installed two important deterrents: beefy bouncers at the front door, and kind warning signs saying that people who report graffiti or damage in the rest rooms will get their bar tab taken care of... or something like that.

So, sweater vest and all, I head into the restroom which now sports tiled walls, new marble sinks, and an imposing stainless steel waterfall for the new urinal, and I assume my place at the far left end of the peeing wall. Two Cambie regulars come in and take-up their place beside me. The "Cambie regular" can be recognized as one with a bandanna, a leather jacket, heroin tracks, a goatee on a wizened skeletal visage, or any combination of the above.

So, while nervously releasing, I notice Cambie regular to my right nudge his friend, motion with his head toward me, and say "That guy's the reason we got these new pissers..."

Perhaps it really was an army of bookish and plaid-clad teacher types who marched en masse to the Cambie to demand better conditions for making water, but more likely it was just the fact that when one operates a beer-serving establishment, and one serves it cheaply enough to force one's customer base to empty their bladders almost every 30 minutes on a good night, one shouldn't force them to cross into the 9th circle of hell to do what comes naturally. We're not animals, man.

Is it a bird?

2011-10-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

There is a tiny tweeting thing that has it's tweeting fun somewhere in the ceiling of my room after the sun goes down. I have no idea what the hell it is, but I need to bring the upstairs folk down one of these nights so that they can hear what it is I'm hearing. It's two short tweets, it sounds like a bird, but it can't be. It's not a bat, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, I'm hoping it shuts-up soonish.

Today was the third day of my early practicum in a school that I haven't decided if I should name yet. I'm not sure how easily I want this blog to be found through a basic Google search is all.

But what i have to say can only be glowingly positive so far. I'm journaling a lot about this stuff for university purposes, but I will say here that I'm astounded by two things at this school: 1) The amount of respect the students and teachers show each other, and 2) the extreme high quality of the teachers that have formed a community in the school.

I have observed, since Tuesday, 11 different classes with 11 different teachers. I'm getting "the lay of the land", and the land has been laid well, as it were. I watched an English teacher give a 74 minute lesson (that's how long classes are at this school, by the way) and the students were completely engaged, challenged, and inspired throughout. I know this because each of them responded to the teacher and to each other throughout. The students' unique definitions what "A poem is..." would make you weep for how shabby your own creative writing experience might have been in high school. Dang - these kids be lucky.

The teachers all view their practice as a continually growing and evolving thing. These are the kind of people that don't just line their bookshelves with impressive titles - they READ THEM and APPLY THEM in the classroom. If there are master teachers in the world, the staff at __________ secondary school are doing their darndest to increase the population of such fine folk. I'm going to learn a great deal and I have a long way to go. This, I think, will be my mantra - not just for the completion of the program, but for the rest of the time I'll be a teacher.

More about that later... but for now, let me share with you that I decided to ride my bike home from school today - well, mostly home anyway. I cruised from the far south of Richmond, East to Railway Avenue, then North past the airport and across the Arthur Laing Bridge to the southern beginnings of Granville, then followed that for a loooong time North through downtown and to the Waterfront where I ate my two $2 pieces of pizza by Canada Place and thought how cool it was that I live here for now, how cool it is that I'm becoming a teacher, how cool it is that I'm going to have my sister out here visiting at the end of the month, and how cool it is that I'm going to have the best holiday this year - how's that for expectations? What can I say? I was feeling positive.

Just wanted to add as a foot note that there are a lot of ridiculously beautiful homes in the West End of Vancouver - most notably off Granville in a neighbourhood called Shawnessy - not to be confused with the strip-mall laden suburb in South Calgary. I checked on MLS, and while there are some fine homes available in the area for between 1 and 2 million, you can really break the bank on something like this for a mere 23 million.

There are some gargantuan mansions that have been newly built in the area, but my best 5-8 million would be spent on one of the original homes with a bit more character - like the one below. Huh... so that's how some people live.

PDPool - We are Ready!

2011-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hanging-out at home on a rainy Thanksgiving Monday and listening to the Flames game on The Fan 960 on the internet. Gotta say, and doing my best to ignore any potential bias, I truly think that the Calgary commentators and especially Mr. Maher make the folks on Vancouver sports radio look like the biggest group of ass-clown homers. If you disagree, listen to a Flames radio broadcast and then hear what Rob Kerr does with his new role as Flames play-by-play guy on the Sportsnet broadcasts this year.

Anyway, in other hockey news, I am pleased to report that our program at Simon Fraser has launched our own hockey pool. There are a great many hockey fans at school and we were able to drum-up enough interest to have 13 of us (8 lads and 5 lasses) to run a 15-player draft.

We did a snaking draft of 9 forwards, 4 d-men, and 2 goalies. I decided to do the unthinkable and draft Crosbow 5th overall - get in the game, sir. For all you hockey fans, here are my picks... and I don't want to hear anything about my 4 Red Wings - I would have had 5 if someone hadn't gotten to Zetterberg first.

1. Sidney Crosby (F - Pittsburg)
2. Pavel Datsyuk (F - Detroit)
3. Dustin Byfuglien (D - Winnipeg)
4. Niklas Lidstrom (D - Detroit)
5. Jonathan Quick (G - Los Angeles)
6. Jonas Hiller (G - Anaheim)
7. PK Subban (D - Montreal)
8. Michael Cammalleri (F - Montreal)
9. Evander Kane (F - Winnipeg)
10. Johan Franzen (F - Detroit)
11. Kevin Bieksa (D - Vancouver)
12. Olli Jokinen (F - Calgary)
13. Rene Bourque (F - Calgary)
14. Chris Kunitz (F - Pittsburgh)
15. Tomas Holmstrom (F - Detroit)

So there it is. The season began on Thursday and I'm already in 12th place out of 13. Hurry up, Crosby!

In Vancouver

2011-09-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's now been three weeks almost to the day since I arrived in Vancouver.

For those that don't know, I am here because I was accepted into the Faculty of Education's Professional Development Program at Simon Fraser University. There were other programs I was interested in, and even others that I maneuvered myself toward applying to in years past, but Simon Fraser seemed like the place for me for two main reasons:

1) It's a condensed one year program which allows me to return to Seoul in the late summer of 2012.

2) It's a program with a great reputation and one that a dear friend went through only a few years back with wonderful things to report.

I have to say that I consider myself very fortunate to be in the program. I'm humbled by it and by the people enrolled in it with me. I say this from the experience of having applied to 2 rather exclusive grad school programs (one in B.C. and one in New Brunswick) a few years ago and getting denied by both. I guess life takes you to a point where such things are finally possible.

I don't know how much I'll be saying in detail about the program, though I feel each day that I want to say a lot. It's only been three weeks on campus, but in that time, I can honestly say that I feel as though I know most of the 31 students and 2 professors much better than most friends, colleagues and teachers that I've known for years.

We've already become a tight-knit group, and dang - there be some very interesting people. There are 2 Natalies, 2 Stephanies, and 3 of us Daves. I am okay with being "Calgary Dave", there is also a "Vancouver Dave", and we are rounded-off by "Astro-Dave" who is significantly younger than I, yet only 2 years from obtaining his PhD in Astro Physics. Like I said, I'm humbled to be included in this program.

I don't want to say too much, also partly because I'm going to be journaling about program specifics in another format, but I will say that this is the most introspective group I remember being a part of. SFU really wants us to bring ourselves to our teaching. I think this is good. Each day feels like a gift to be able to head into school and engage with like-minded folk who just want to make education better, should we be so bold to aim for such lofty things.

The Simon Fraser Burnaby campus is located at the top of Burnaby Mountain, and on a clear day, one can see all the way back West toward Grouse Mountain and down into the Eastern part of Burrard Inlet. There was a notification on the university homepage the other day of a bear sighting on campus. So far, I have seen the following animals on campus:

a) Two deer behind the education building
b) A coyote crossing the road in front of the morning bus near the football field
c) A barn owl five feet from the road stretching its wings to take-off into the brush
d) A harbour seal (not on campus, but hiding between boats at Granville Island)

In winter time, the mountain top is nearly always shrouded in clouds, but I'll take the views while they're here. I've rocketed down the mountain hill at over 60km/hour on my Brompton a few times, but haven't yet garnered the energy to make it up the hill in the mornings. I might try it once on a non-school day just for poops and ha-has, but I think it might be best to leave the extreme mountain climbing on bikes to those with mountain bikes. Every day I watch guys on professional 28-speed road bikes climb the hill while standing in their lowest gear. I wonder if it would even be possible on my wee folder. A friend of mine has broken two chains already on his hybrid, so possibilities look grim.

I did manage though to take the bike out a couple of nights ago on a quick jaunt down to Stanley Park and the sea wall. I'm pleased to announce that from my house to Science World at the East end of False Creek is only 20 minutes by casual bike, and it's only 45 to English Bay via Burrard Street Bridge. I rode by the Lost Lagoon with a big fat grin on my face. I really want to make sure that I take advantage of my time in this city. I need to do my best to be by the ocean, to get in a kayak, and to climb some mountains.

Lots more to say, but for now it should suffice to report that I'm feeling lucky to live here, to attend this program, and to be taking the time needed to make this career a reality.

Back in Calgary

2011-09-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

I'm actually in Vancouver, but before I write about good stuff like loving my university program, discovering that there are many rabid Catan fans in my class, and being able to ride from my house to the Stanley Park sea wall in about 40 minutes, I would like to first comment about my time in Calgary.

I won't spend too much time on this as this blog is mostly for family, and they don't need to read about themselves, but there are a few things I would like to mention...

1) My family is grand - I have to say it. I did get to see friends and I had some quality time with my sister and Jay - most notably on a killer camping trip to Montana - but I spent most of my time with mom, dad, and my nephews as my sister was often at work and that left the little people free to be dropped-off at mom and dad's place. I got to spend a lot of quality time as uncle Dave, and it really only took about 10 minutes of weird time with the boy's being shy at the airport for me to once again work my way into their hearts. I got to swim with the lads at Lake Bonavista and attend Christian's first day of grade 1. Milestones - I miss most, but make it there for some. I hear rumour that my sister might make it out to Vancouver for a visit at the end of October, and I'll be back in my hometown for Christmas and New Year's. It was a whirlwind visit, but not as crazy as others have been. Calgary felt like transition time for me this visit - not rushing to head back to Korea, and knowing that it'll only be a matter of months before I see family again. It's a good feeling. Vancouver is not so far, but it was far enough for my parents to do a road-trip with me with a one-night stop-over on the way out to the coast. Look at me - I'm a 35 year-old college kid. How about that?

2) I feel like I've truly left my old life. I hate the term "growing out of...", and that's actually not how I feel, so conveniently, I don't need to use it. That being said, I have grown-away from some things that had previously been a huge part of my life, and I'm happy to report that it feels okay. The big sign for this was attending the CAT-Awards as emcee. The CAT Awards recognize excellence in non-equity theatre in Calgary. I had been a big part of that community for years leading up to my departure, and my (largely involuntary) involvement in the awards before 2008 had led to me being a bit of a punchline in years when I was absent. It was with honour and humility that I agreed to emcee the awards at the request of the board. I had a great night, I think most of my material went over well, and I was very happy to see some dear friends and other deserving colleagues recognized through the awards process. It was a very special evening in that regard. Sadly, I also witnessed the disappointment of watching some of the community members turn on each other. I didn't know that awards shows could draw such ire from those who aren't recognized as much as they think they should be through the process, but the next morning, there were a lot of bitter folk in full-on rant mode. By this logic, Martin Scorcese might have also been one pissed-off Italian from approximately 1981 until 2007. What the hell, man? Get over yourself, be happy for others, recognize the celebratory purpose of such events. It really is that simple. But as it is, such displays left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, and ironically lead me to close-off memories and feelings toward my time in theatre to the point that I really only hold onto the very best of the good. That's the way it should be, I suppose - and there is lots of good. I am grateful for my time, but I don't miss it. I've packed-up my tent. The arts invites interesting egos. In this case, "interesting" is a euphemism.

And that was Calgary this time. There was mostly good and significant amounts of great. It still feels like my home, but in that I'm defining the contents of home in much more selective terms. That feels nice, too.

Air Canada

2011-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that before I begin blogging about my Vancouver life so far, it would make a lot more sense to first make mention of my time in Calgary - my hometown, the place where I was born, and all that jazz.

I'll start by saying that I was really only there for under two weeks. I arrived on a Thursday, and by Saturday... wait, first, let me tell you about Air Canada...

What can I tell you about Air Canada? Air Canada is cheaper than most other reasonable airlines that make the flight from Seoul to Vancouver to Calgary. There are cheaper ways, but they usually involve flying on some airline that employs out-of-date craft and requires travelers to change planes in five locales with a collective stop-over time of nearly 36 hours. Being that I wanted to get to Canada in reasonable time, and being that I wanted to bring my folding bike with me for the year and didn't want to have it thrown-about among various airlines, I went with Air Canada.

Air Canada, once one has traveled on just about any other airline, in comparison kind of sucks. I know it makes me sound like an ass to complain about being able to fly as far as I recently did in such a short amount of time, but man, as left as I might lean, the affect that airline unions have had on that airline is noticeable and regrettable to put it kindly. I actually admire and commend Air Canada for allowing less-than-runway-quality physical specimens to put on the attendant uniforms for many decades, but I don't like how it seems permissible for attendants to A) treat ESL speakers as less than human, or B) react to the following situation in the following way: when I was offered a choice of roast beef (only one choice) and I inquired if it might be possible to have some sort of vegetarian dish - even simply more salad - because when my girlfriend booked the tickets, she forgot to mention the special meal request, I was told that I should "train" my girlfriend better next time.

It's not those collective experiences among others though that make me want to write complaint letters, but rather the treatment I received regarding the transportation of my bike. Let me do this in point form...

- My Bromptom folds-up to a suitable size for regular checked baggage. I purchased a soft-sided transport bag from Velofix, a bag recommended to me by the boys at Biclo bike shop in Seoul. By all accounts, this is the best way to transport the Brompton as it's light, and you can transport clothes along with the bike by folding the clothes into sturdy plastic bags to act as padding. My bike was padded to the extreme by the time the zipper was done-up.

- Air Canada charges an additional $100 for an over-sized or overweight check-in bag. They charge $225 for an additional piece of luggage. This was not communicated to me clearly when I spoke with the representative for Air Canada at the Incheon Airport from Seoul. When I arrived, I paid $225 when I had expected to be paying $100.

- In addition to the $225, I was told that I needed to pay an additional $55 to mark it as "fragile" and to have it be treated as a bike - handled with more care and placed into the special baggage area with skis, guitars, and the like. Before I even got on the plane, I was paying an extra $280 to transport my bike.

- To my surprise, upon arriving in Vancouver, after waiting by the special baggage claim area for over 30 minutes after making my way through customs, my bike never turned up. I made my way over to the regular baggage carousel and there it was - my bike rotating around with the rest of the suitcases - the "fragile" stickers partially ripped but still on the bag.

- I then took the bike through the Canada transfer hallway where I spoke with an Air Canada employee about what had happened. He apologized profusely, threw another 3 "fragile" stickers on the bag, and assured me that the bag would be handled properly on its way to Calgary.

- As I was sitting in my window seat in Vancouver waiting for the plain to load, the luggage truck came careening toward the plain and made a hasty hair-pin turn by the conveyor belt. Guess what went flying off of the truck. The luggage clowns grabbed my bike from the tarmac and threw it ("fragile" stickers efficiently visible) onto the conveyor belt.

- Imagine how pissed off I was on the flight home.

- When I arrived in Calgary, my bike had once again been placed in regular baggage. I immediately went to the Air Canada's baggage area at Calgary International and told them my tales of woe. They wanted me to open the bike in front of them, which I did to reveal that a closing clasp had snapped in half, and the rear wheel when folded out had been whacked out of line. I'm pretty sure that there had to have also been some unnecessary stresses put on the joints.

- The bike has been fixed (thanks to Bike Bike) in Calgary and at minimal cost, but a cost nevertheless.

- I am in the process of requesting a refund from Air Canada. Specifically, I want to ask that I get my $55 "special treatment" fee back from the airline because, man - if that's special, I would hate to think what would have happened had it not been marked with bright red "fragile" stickers. I think we all know the answer - "fragile" stickers read as "throw" to the people who are most responsible for reading them.

- I'll keep you posted on what happens, but I'm not hopeful. When this airline strikes, I'm going to have a hard time being on the side of the employees. Just sayin'.

Leaving Seoul

2011-09-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Again - it's been a while. But let me begin this update with an admission that I'm not entirely confident that I'll be able to have as many entries here as I did while living in Seoul - especially over the last year when I averaged more than once every two days or so.

Part of the reason for this is that fact that through my program, students are asked to journal about the day's events and to show evidence of self-critical and reflective thought about their learning and teaching. While some are handling this through electronic format, I've decided to keep my electronic journaling to this blog and will be writing in one of them nice moleskin journals for my university needs. The reason for this is two-fold: 1) I want to keep my blog separate and apart from most of the nitty-gritty of what goes on at school. It's good practice for when I get into my teaching practicum and actually need to adhere to the privacy acts that exist in schools in Canada. 2) I'm thinking it would be a good idea to once again get into the practice of writing in a hand-written journal - something I haven't done for probably about 15 years. The journal for school will go with me everywhere, and I'm going to need to make specific time for writing in it on a regular basis. I'm interested to see where this process goes, and how it's worked into the curriculum for my program.

So, that's that. Yet, despite the fact that I'm simply not going to have as much time to give to entries here, I still want to. Truly, I'm not sure who reads this anymore, but I had gotten to a place where the only specific audience in mind was my family who were further away than they are now, and some friends who had moved about the world to end-up also far away. So, I suppose I will still be writing with y'all in mind.

And, I suppose if I'm going to get into anything approaching a regular rhythm with my entries, I should begin with what it was like to leave Seoul this time. It was different.

I was going to write that I have now officially been away from Seoul for the longest amount of time since I started living there. Suwon was a different animal, and it's hard to look at the time I spend in Canada immediately after Suwon as even being in the same ballpark as what I'm experiencing now.

This past August 25th, I left a job I've held for the last 2 and a half years. The job was mostly unsatisfying for a great many reasons which I don't really need to get into anymore... so that's nice. But it also provided me with the opportunity to meet some really good people, to live in a comfortable apartment that I made my own, and to investigate my own teaching methodology that, struggle with it as I did in that arena, became stronger I think through the adversity that I faced with it.

I also left a city I have grown to love - not without its blemishes - and one that I plan to return to before this time next year. I love living in Seoul, and I aim to find an even better situation for myself, work-wise, when I return, though I know that the friendship landscape will look a lot different than it did when I left there - it always does in Seoul.

And of course, I had to walk away from the woman I love as I went through customs at an airport. Not to belabour the point, but when you feel that much sadness in parting, you know that the strength of what you have will bring you back together. The rabbit has plans to visit Canada this Christmas, which pretty much guarantees that this will be the best holiday in the lengthening chronology that is my life. If this is the last Santa Claus year for my nephews, then I'm overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to be there with my fiance to share it with them.

So, Seoul waits over there, for me, for now, and that's okay. I will be a busy man over the next year. Canada time - a year of it - might be just what's required for me to re-approach Seoul with the right directed energy when it's time again.

Still here... but...

2011-09-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two weeks I think since I last blogged. This is because:

1) I left Seoul on August 25th.
2) I had to keep it a secret as I was asked to host a theatre awards event in my hometown two days after I got back to Calgary.
3) I have been busy with friends, but mostly with family, since being back in Calgary.
4) Tomorrow morning, I will leave for Vancouver where I will be enrolled in the Professional development Program at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby for one year.

Whew!

I will write about these and other things as soon as I get a chance.

Summer Vacation Part 4: Haein-sa

2011-08-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken so long for me to update - for nearly a week now I've been in a constant state of packing, organizing, cleaning, and moving. This in an attempt to have my last week in Korea (for a year) be a relaxing one and free of worry. More on that later.

In the meantime, Haeinsa...

I had my sights set on seeing this temple back in my Suwon days. I'm not a Buddhist, but I'm curious about the history and the teachings and I happen to be living in a part of the world where millenia-old relics are available to view, or walk-through and I'm going to darn well take advantage.

First let me say that getting there was a challenge. We basically planned to move from Namwon to Haein-sa with necessary bus transfers at Geocheong and Hapcheong where I was told there were frequent buses up to the temple. Not true, it turns out, so rather than wait half a day, we ended-up taking a direct bus to Haein-sa from Geocheong. For anyone planning to visit the temple in the future, go from the express bus terminal in Daegu. Just trust me.

Haein-sa is located in the mountains of Gayasan National Park - a tiny little national Park just an hour West of Daegu. The temple itself is fairly unremarkable in terms of its appearance (though there are some lovely mountain views), but what makes it one of Korea's three "jewel temples" is that fact that it holds the Koreana Tripitaka - the 80,000+ wooden printing blocks completed in the mid 1300s that canonized the entire Buddhist writings then in use.

The blocks were carve in Chinese of course and carved in reverse as to allow for proper transfer during the ink-printing process. That's a lot of whittling time. By gum!

The blocks (an obvious national treasure) are currently stored in another national treasure: the Janggyeong-gak, a square arrangements of wooden buildings consisting of shelving that begins about a meter off of the floor and the floor is made of sand containing powders to keep-away insects and to maintain a proper level of moisture in the building.

The wood itself looks like it did the day it was carved. The trees were cut, soeaked in sea water for three years, then in fresh water for three years, then dried for three years before carving began. The result is the world's largest and most complete and error-free canon of the East Asian Buddhist text. Buddhists from across the world make pilgrimmage here.

Of course the blocks mean little to me aside from their historical worth, but it's hard not to be impressed by them all. What adds to the aura of the bulding are the fact that they can't be entered - only peered-through. The wooden slatted windows help to allow for air-flow and as tempting as they are to stick your camera lens through, you're own eyes and memory will have to suffice as no cameras are allowed in use withing the courtyard of the Janggyeong-gak. This, I understand, as without the ban there would be a never-ending swarm of people like me blocking the windows with cameras. Rain started falling through and I managed to sneak away from the guards long enough to take a couple of photos of the buildings themselves. Nothing like having a Canon G11 at your displosal - it's small size and swivel screen allow for some pretty stealthy stuff. Security in high here though - as it should be. Lest we forget the Namdaemun gate arson of a few years past. You don't have to be a Buddhist to feel at least a sense of awe at the history and artistry maintained at Haein-sa.

Gayasan National park is well worth thr trip for anyone heading south and though are day was mercifully cool, it would even be better in the fall. The temple admission is a minimal charge and there are restuarants and cafes along the path not too far away, and tastefully done.

And that was how we capped-off the trip - a cool and calming trip to the "Temple of Reflection on Smooth Sea". A pleasant and scenic bus ride to Daegu, a boarding on the KTX, and a trip home to Seoul. 5 Nights, 6 Days. Gang ho-dong, eat your heart out.

Summer Vacation Part 3: Namwon

2011-08-17T22:37:00.001-07:00

It should first be said that I choose to return to Namwon, and convinced the rabbit to do so out of pure nostalgia. Namwon was one of the many stops on our school field trip itinerary two years ago with the grade 3 students, it is a city that serves as the backdrop for Korea's most famous love story, Chunhyangjeon, and it was the place where the rabbit and I, as cheesy as it sounds, started our own little love story.

Namwon is a small town with a slightly smaller population than Buyeo's, though I would venture a guess that they get a little more traffic than does the former Baekje capital.

As a result of the Chunhyang story, Namwon seems to have happily adopted the role of "Theme City of Love" which is actually the city's official slogan, like "Happy Suwon" and "Seoul: Soul of Asia". Namwon's official logo is a stylized heart, whereas Buyeo's is a mascot with a head made of the famous incense burner, and Jeonju's is a couple of mascots with hanji fans for hair... you get the idea.

Anyway, the high point for most visitors to Namwon is Gwanghalluwon, a traditional garden that is probably the most historically lovely one in the country - take that, Biwon! It's a smallish area that can be pretty fully explored in less than an hour, but on a nice day, it's a great place to take one's time, sit in one of the many pavilions, and just relax.

For those who want to further explore the Chunhyang tale, however, Gwanghalluwon is also the place. Using some of the photos I took in Namwon, let me relate the much abbreviated story of Chunhyang here, accompanied by some helpful photos which add their own colour to the tale...

"Mong-ryong, a son a of a Namwon nobleman, goes out to Gwanghalluon one night to take a break from constant study. While hanging-out in the garden's main pavilion with his servant, Bang-ja, he sees a hot girl on a swing. This is Chun-hyang, the daughter of a local entertainer.

Mong-ryong decides that he needs to meet this beautiful girl, so Bang-ja arranges a meeting that night at the girl's mother's house. Apparently, that's enough to convince all three parties that the two yoots should marry that very night, but in secret only, as it simply wouldn't do to have the son of a lord marry such a lowly, however lovely, girl. Mong-rong takes his nightly prize over the next few months while the pale and nightmarish mom watches.

Sadly, Mong-ryong's father is relocated to Seoul, and Mong-ryong must accompany him to the capital in order to complete his high level exams. Chunhyang begs him not to go, and apparently narrowly avoids getting run over by his horse.

With Mong-ryong's father away, the new magistrate in Namwon begins to act-out - ignoring his duties to the citizens of the area, Namwon begins to fall apart while the magistrate sets his sights on bedding every possible young girl in town. He finally seeks-out Chunhyang, and when she refuses, citing her loyalty to her absent husband, he beats her and imprisons her.

Mon-ryong, having graduated from his exams with flying colours, decides to become a secret royal inspector. He returns to Namwon in disguise as a beggar and stealthily interviews the locals from whom he learns that not only has Namwon gone to shit, but his lady love has been sexually assaulted and imprisoned.

A few days later, the magistrate plans to celebrate his birthday by executing Chunhyang in the palace courtyard... but wait! Still disguised, Mong-ryong appears with his royal guards and reads aloud a newly written poem which reveals all of the wrongs the magistrate has done to the city. Mong-ryong denounces the magistrate, and then, just to make sure that his now-bleeding and broken secret wife is still faithful, asks her with his disguised voice from behind a fan if she will sleep with him. Fat chance of that - if this girl can have both of her legs flogged and still say no to royalty, what hope does this new guy have?

When Chunhyang again replies that she will remain loyal to her husband, despite the fact that apparently all royal visitors to her town want to have sex with her, Mong-ryong reveals himself, expresses admiration for Chunhyang's loyalty, and she remarkably doesn't punch him in the face.

They live happily ever after."

So, that, minus a few details, is the story. Namwon hosts a "Chunhyang Festival" every year, celebrating the girl's faithfulness to her husband and highlighting the town's own unique history and culture. A "Miss Chunhyang" contest is also held each year.

I don't so much mind the story. In the context of the Korean canon of "dutiful sons" and women who remain inexplicably faithful to absent and abusive husbands, it's a relatively mild affair, and told well, even has its charms.

A few film versions of the story exist, but the one the rabbit and I checked-out in a DVD bang the night before leaving Jeonju was a 2010 film by the name of Bang-ja Jeon...

Remember this dopey-looking summumabitch?

No - not me... Bang-ja! He's Mong-ryong's loyal servant who arranged the lover's meeting in the first place. The new film reveals a new spin on the traditional tale, in that Bang-ja, not Mong-ryong, get's into Chunghyang's bed chamber first, and that theirs is the love worth remembering, even if it wasn't worthy of surviving as a nationally treasured folktale - something the film suggests was manufactured out of greed.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most film versions of the Chunhyang story are likely as banal and unsurprising as the wikipedia entry of the folktale. I don't want to give away too many surprises, but should you decide to satisfy your Chunhyang curiosities and watch what is now considered a blasphemous version of the famous story, you will at the very least be entertained (and perhaps periodically infuriated) by Bang-ja's Story (방자전).

The people of Namwon protested the film's release last year as, in many senses, the new story craps all over the town's main reason for being. A warning though for those with sensitive constitutions, there is a lot of sexy time in this film. Bang-ja tries a whole bunch of new stuff with Chunhyang, and it turns out he's a pretty strong guy.

It also turns out that most every version of the Chunhyang tale on film will come with it own depictions of explicit Mong-ryong / Chunhyang trysting. The photo below was taken of an otherwise tame movie that was playing in a Chunhyang history hall in a corner of Gwanghalluwon - this near the kiddy swings and arrow-tossing games. The still photo didn't accurately capture the thrusting motion.

Still, I think the new version of the story has enough surprises and depth to merit a watch. Go for it.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Namwon as a brief stop-over or overnight visit. Gwanghalluwon is a must-see, though you would be fine skipping the "Chunhyang Theme Park" which is a collection of 3D models and houses representative of the story and time, though you can avoid the 6,000 won entrance fee after 6 PM. If you happen to be in the area in May, certainly seek-out the Chunhyang festival. I would imagine there would be some real points of interest then.

But where did we stay in Namwon, the Theme City of Love? As much as I wanted to go for a love motel, we went for a quaint little inn just outside of the city. It was comfortable, but there were no mugs - only drinking glasses in which to have our morning coffee, so I protected our hands from the heat with my socks. Don't worry, they were clean.

Summer Vacation Part 2: Jeonju

2011-08-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

This one's going to be a bit shorter as we didn't do anywhere near as much running around in Jeonju as we did in Buyeo.

For the most part, we really only had the one destination: The Jeonju Hanok Village. Jeonju is the capital city of North Jeolla Province and it's mostly famous for its bibimbap. As a side note, it appears that virtually every Korean city needs to be "famous" for some kind of food, even though most varieties of cuisine are served all across the peninsula. You'll see bibimbap restaurants in Seoul advertising that they serve "Jeonju Bibimbap" on the premises. But the Jeonju people might be able to tell the difference, like true Quebecois could tell you the difference between real maple syrup and Aunt Jemima.

Anyway, back to Jeonju. The city is significantly smaller than Suwon (Jeonju's population is just under 650,000 while Suwon's is just over a million) and it expectedly has a much slower feel than Seoul. For the tourist with a couple of evenings to kill, Jeonju is a great little discovery, and like I said - most cultural points of interest are centered around the Hanok Village.

So, what is the Hanok Village? Well, it's a touristy spot in the south of the town which begins right beside the city's only surviving gate and extends toward a smallish mountain in the East of the city. The best way to describe the place would be to relate how it began, as related to me by the rabbit. Apparently during the early 20th century occupation by the Japanese, the Jeonju citizens decided to band together and create a place that would celebrate, cultivate, and maintain the Jeonju flavour of Korean culture in the face of oppression.

What exists now is about 700 some-odd hanok-style houses (not all of them original buildings) that serve as cafes, guest houses, and galleries. For Seoulites, think of it as a larger Samcheong-dong/Insadong cross. It's all very maintained, and manicured for the tourist dollar, but I'm not complaining as I knew at least in part that it was what we were getting into. That being said, there is also enough authenticity lurking behind certain doors, and down certain alleyways, if one cares enough to look for it. There is, in the Hanok Village, only one Paris Baguette, and one Family Mart, and we are hopeful it stays that way.

The Hanok Village makes a perfect destination for first-time visitors to the city, and you can see and do most of what you would want to in two or three days. It was easy to spend a couple of afternoons and evenings wandering the cafes, checking out the galleries, and enjoying a couple of bowls of authentic Jeonju bibimbap - one of which was consumed at Jeonju's most famous and ridiculously busy bibimbap restaurant, which the rabbit was good enough to locate through bibimbap sonar - a bit North of the Hanok Village toward Jeonju's own "Myeong-dong" style area of shops, which the map labels as "Street that is Desired to Walk".

We also made a point of enjoying a paper-crafting class. Jeonju is also famous for it's fans constructed from handmade paper ("hanji"). We missed booking a time with an actual paper-making studio, which would have been messy fun, but we did manage to slip down an alley to Ji-dam, a hanji crafting house, where we were able to craft-up some small gifts for folks back home.

It's hard to compare Jeonju to Buyeo, other than to say that we were in both places for vastly different reasons and conducted ourselves as such. If you're looking for a relaxing weekend away - somewhere outside of Seoul that offers some slower-paced strolling, eating, and crafting, you could do a lot worse than Jeonju. In fact, we are considering another trip back in the fall when we won't need to put those Korean fans through such a workout.

As for accomodations, we considered staying in a Hanok guesthouse, but it was high season and staying in one would have cost us a fair bit, so we opted for a nearby jimjil-bang which I will comment on later. For now, I will say that the Spa L Aqua (which shares a name with one of the more high class onsen in Tokyo) was a great bang for the buck. It was like a spa wonderland, but later...

And before I forget, on our way from Buyeo to Jeonju, we stopped-over at Nonsan - a bus transfer town within a short taxi ride from Gwonchok-sa - a smallish mountain temple that is relatively unremarkable save for its giant-headed statue of the Unjin Mireuk Buddha - the Buddha of the future of the Goryeo Dynasty. It happens to be Korea's largest free-standing stone Buddha and it's carved from one solid piece of rock. It also happens to be fairly entertaining to look at. Just try not to smile when you gaze upon his gargantuan melon.

Summer Vacation Part 1: Buyeo

2011-08-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hello, folks - It's been a week since I've posted as I've been out of town on the aforementioned "5 night, 6 days" journey through South Korea with my rabbit. All-in-all, a wonder-filled time. We packed a lot into our days and our trip was largely colored by three factors: 1) We have no car, so our journey was one planned entirely on buses and trains, 2) At this time of year, most vacationing Korean families are hitting the coast for some beach action, so the areas on our itinerary were mercifully devoid of large crowds, and 3) there was a fair amount of rain continuing throughout the peninsula so temperatures were not unbearable for two folks lugging their backpacks about.

Anyway, we saw and did a lot, and I would like to tell you about some of it...

Rather than be a turd burglar and turn to Wikipedia to tell you a bunch of historical facts, I'll just relate what I can recall from memory. It's sometimes overwhelming to recognize how much documented human history exists in such a tiny place as Korea. I'm from Canada where our old stuff simply gets knocked-down for high rises. Here, they build around it.

Buyeo was the latest capital of the Baekjae Kingdom which ruled over the various parts of the peninsula and greatly influenced parts of China and (most notably) Japan before getting run-over buy the neighbouring Silla Kingdom which allied itself with the Tang dynasty from China. Just for the sake of numbers, the Baekje Kingdom was in existence roughly from 18 BC until 660 AD when it fell to the Silla/Tang invasion. Buyeo (then known as Sabi) was the last capital of the Kingdom, and therefore the site of many found relics which have since become national treasures of the entire South Korean Nation. According to all credible sources, The Baekje Kingdom was pretty much the bee's knees when it came to advances in metal works, stone masonry, pottery, and architecture. They brought Buddhism to the peninsula from China, exported it to Japan, and taught the Japanese how to build a bad-ass pagoda. And that is today's history lesson with Teacher Dave.

But back to Buyeo...

As a visitor to the smallish town (under 100,000), there are not a ton of activities to engage in that don't involve immersing oneself in history. I am completely okay with that. Most of Korea still feels new and undiscovered to me, and I find must of this stuff fascinating, so I didn't at all mind museum-hopping and staring at old pagodas in the rain. Buyeo is the perfect place to witness a small town building itself entirely upon a relatively newly uncovered history. Some of it is inspiring, a little bit of it was frustrating, and all of it was fascinating.

A few highlights:

The Jeongrimsaji Temple - (probably built in the middle of the 6th century isn't really a temple at all anymore, though there are (I think unfortunately) plans afoot to rebuild the majority of the original temple structure. What does remain on the site, which is situated roughly in the middle of town) is a 5-story stone pagoda (National Treasure #9) and a simple (and relatively newly-built) lecture hall which houses what is surely the world's cutest stone Buddha statue. I saw pictures of the statue standing without its current wooden protection back in the early 1930s and it makes you just want to go give it a hug.

A small lotus pond rimmed with stone also remains, and there are obvious markers that define the original placement of the rest of the temple structure, but for the most part, Jeongrimsaji is pretty much a stone pagoda and and odd Buddha statue in the middle of a field. I really like it that way. To me it was more awe-inspiring to imagine what was once there as opposed to having today's artisans rebuild what once was. Anyway, should I visit Buyeo in the not too distant future, I believe there will be a newly constructed temple around Mr. pagoda and Mr. Buddha then.

For those that are curious, a ticket to a quality museum dedicated mainly to the temple and the Buddhist history of the Kingdom can be yours as part of the 1,500 won admission price to the temple site. There was a great deal uncovered at this temple site in recent years that has given the people of this area a much better perspective of the cultural contributions made by the Baekje people. Jeongrimsaji was my first Buyeo point of interest and I must say that I have a fondness for those two works of stone. This is a great starting point for your Buyeo itinerary as it gives you a decent perspective of what was once here.

Buyeo National Museum - like Seoul's National Museum of Korea, only about a 10th the size. This new location opened in 1993 and is an impressive space with outdoor and indoor displays in the tradition and style of its larger Seoul cousin. Again, cost is minimal and one can rent a helpful MP3 player in English which is motion activated by the displays (a handy little feature) for only 3,000 won. This is a museum focused solely on artifacts of the Baekje age, as opposed to those museums with dioramas and interactive doo-dads for the kiddies. It was a rainy day, and this was really the perfect place to spend a few dry hours once we located the lockers and put our goodies away.

Aside from the expected stone knives and pottery shards that are a fixture of such places, the Buyeo National Museum had two items which seem to stand-out as favourites among visitors:

1) The Baekje Guilt-Bronze Incense Burner (National Treasure #287) which was unearthed in 1993 and has since become the De facto symbol of the Bakje Kingdom and the city of Buyeo, itself (There is a large statue of the burner in the middle of the round-about when you enter Bueyo from the East). It's an impressive and widely celebrated piece of work that would be instantly recognizable to anyone who's lived in Korea for a decent length of time. Of course, there is an ongoing and unsurprising pissing contest regarding the burner and its historical significance in relation to similar burners found in China. I'll leave the pissing to those with their dick in their hand and simply say that as a museum piece, it's impressive, and as a cultural relic, it's telling. It's the museum's centre-piece and worth a visit.

2) Hoja (Tiger-shaped Chamber Pot) - as the guidebook will tell you: "Although hoja means "a tiger-shaped vessel", this particular object seems to have served as a male chamber pot. The humourous facial expression above the hole draws our attention." I have to admit, at first I saw this as a cute little juice jug. Oh, well. I now see it as the perfect illustration of a certain portion of the Korean male psyche - both in the wishful thinking that went into the size of the hole, and in the fact that using the thing means to symbolically piss in a tiger's mouth. South Korea still imports tiger bone from Indonesia and sells it to gullible folk who believe it will cure their arthritis. It also imports tiger penis to sell to idiot folk who make a soup out of it and believe it will "put a tiger in their tank" when it comes time for a little love-making. So, I wonder why these tiger chamber pots aren't for sale in the neighbourhood Home Plus.

Gungnamji Pond - A very simple little pavilion in the middle of an ancient man-made lake was a relaxing retreat for Baekje Royalty and is now surrounded by lotus leaf ponds and remains a relaxing spot for tourists. This was our last stop on our first full day and all of this is within easy walking distance from the centre of town. I don't have too much to say about this place except that it was beautiful and simple and that I've never seen that many lotus flowers together in one place. I could have spent an afternoon watching the giant leaves collect roaming beads of water before sending them splashing back into the pond or onto a leaf below.

It was also cool to see the pond highlighted in the evening's MBC K-Drama on TV back at our hotel. Gae-baek is the celebrated Baekje General who did his best to defend his kingdom at often seemingly insurmountable odds. He even went so far as to kill his own wife and children by his own sword so as to not have to worry about them being taken by invading armies and to not have anything to take away his concentration on war. So, there's that. But it was kind of fun to have visited the unadorned set of a TV show the same day that it airs. It was also fun to note that all Baekje warriors from the drama had flowing K-pop style black (and sometimes brown) locks which shimmered in the moonlight.

Baekje Cultural Land - This was our first morning visit on our second full day in Buyeo, and it happened to be right across the street from our hotel. Admittedly, this place needs a new name, but I was impressed by the sheer scope and contributions of all levels of government to get the thing built. Basically, this is a massive (and still-growing) themed cultural centre which is essentially a rebuild of the ancient Baekje capital and an example of a surrounding village. Just referring to the pamphlet I have in front of me, I can tell you that the park has cost a total of 690.4 billion won (approximately 636 million US dollars) and looks to be completed in 2013 or so after having broken ground in 1994. That, my friends, is a hell of a cultural investment.

The park is centered around a full-scale recreation of the ancient Baekje fortress at Sabi (now Buyeo) at a location North of the river, where the original had been in the center of town south of the mountain and south of the river bend. The place is huge, and we were lucky enough to be practically the only ones there for the first 30 minutes or so of our visit. We used the freedom to take some decent pictures and the be cheese balls dressing up in the costumes a wardrobe assistant had on hand. The place is also the main filming area for MBC's Gaebaek drama, though they weren't filming that day.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the park is the 5-story (38 meter) stone pagoda at the recreated Neungsa Temple. This is the place where the incense burner was discovered and this newly located recreation serves as an architecturally accurate depiction of the original temple which was (again) located south of the river in its time. The pagoda now exists as the only large-scale wooden pagoda in Korea. I remember being saddened during my visit to the Gyeong-ju National Museum when I saw a scale model of the 9 story pagoda that once existed in Geyongju at Hwangnyong-sa Temple before it was sacked by a Mongol army in the 13th century. With all of the originally architectural beauty that still exists untouched in Japan (specifically Kyoto) and was largely exported by Baekje architects, it's a tragedy that no original wooden pagoda structures exist in Korea. Apparently there is now talk of rebuilding the structure as they have done in Buyeo.

The amount of work by skilled artisans and historians that went into the construction of this place is simply astounding and a lot of it can be better appreciated with a walk through the Baekje Historical Museum which is also located within the grounds and offers a very impressive collection of hands-on displays and examples of how the original palaces and temples were built and how they have been recreated using a combination of ancient and modern techniques. I thought we might have been museumed-out after our first day, but this really helped to give a proper perspective of the scale of this venture.

Despite the initial potential cheese factor, I left Baekje Cultural Land with an overwhelming feeling of awe for the level of pride and care this region's people have for their history. It may have taken the addition of the Lotte Company building a hotel/condo/golf course across the street to get the thing properly financed, but it seems to me that the compromise was worth it. Lotte now owns the only legitimate resort hotel and condominium in Buyeo, and that should go a long way towards keeping the money flowing - in addition to the throngs of school tours that will keep the turnstiles spinning throughout the year. The park is well-worth the 9,000 won admission. If you go to Buyeo, hop a bus or taxi north of the river and check it out.

Busosanseong Fortress - This now exists as a hillside park (I'm reluctant to call Busosan a mountain) with a few very interesting historical sites - the most memorable for most being Nakwa-am ("Falling Flower Rock"). I admittedly first read about this place in my school's summer reading novel, where the main character participates in a pivotal plot moment at a cliff over-looking the Baekma River.

During the last moment of the Baekje Kingdom, after the king had moved his court up to the hillside fortress to escape the invading Silla and Tang armies, the legend goes that 3000 court maidens threw themselves off of the rocky precipice and killed themselves on the rocks, sand, and water below, rather than fall into enemy hands. The falling billowing dresses appeared as flowers falling from the sky. The souls of the women are mourned in water-side ceremonies each year and the legend grows. There are sign markers and a wooden pavilion at the top of the cliff to commemorate the women.

A little further down the path toward a boat launch you can find Goran-sa, a small river-side temple which includes this partially hidden painting on its outside back wall depicting the maidens going through with their hopeless task.

The cynic in me wants to point out that the number is greatly exaggerated, and that the reigning king at the time was a bit of an ass, so it's likely that the women were at least "encouraged" to end their lives - perhaps even at the King's own request. Regardless, it's a powerful place that's certainly worthy of a visit. We made our way back to the park entrance via river boat from where we could see a largely green-covered cliff face that is reportedly red in the fall. You can come-up with your own reasons as to why this would be.

And so that was our trip to Buyeo - we did a lot. I could write about the places we stayed, but for now I'll sign-off by saying that the rabbit treated us to one night in the Lotte Resort Condominium on our second night in Buyeo and it was, as expected, very high-end. Our jimjil-bang (Korean sauna) on the first night was not - but I'll save my jimjil-bang comments for another post.

Shortly after our boat ride, it was off to Jeonju, which I'll get to blogging about tomorrow...

Sad Movies

2011-08-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've seen some sad movies of late - here are three that I watched within the past week...

Sad Movie (2005) - You'd think the title would prepare you, but it doesn't. This one was chosen by me because of the relative success of the previous multiple storyline Korean dramas we had rented. I can be a sucker for an earnest-as-hell Korean weepy - at least they are engaging. This one though is out of control. Four stories: 1) A fireman is close to proposing to his girlfriend, but she's reluctant to marry as she fears losing him in a fire. 2) A perennial loser can't get his girlfriend back until lightning strikes and he develops his own paid service: delivering personal break-up notices for people too shy or emotional to break-up themselves. 3) A deaf girl with burn scars on her face plays a costumed mascot at Everland amusement park and falls for a sketch artist in the park, while he falls for the mystery of what the girl behind the mask looks like. 4) A withdrawn young boy discovers his mom's true love for him when he finds and reads her diary.

Charming as much of this is - especially the Everland stuff (surprise, surprise), it all goes up in flames - if you think I'm spoiling endings here, I'm not. Just imagine the worst case scenario for each story and you'll be correct: 1) The fireman dies in a warehouse inferno but not before leaving a weepy goodbye video that was somehow miraculously recovered from the smoldering wreckage. 2) The man is a sudden success at his new break-up business, until he one day gets a message from his old girlfriend asking him to essentially break-up with himself for her because she's found a new love. 3) The woman with the burn finally takes off her mask for the artist to draw the "real her" as opposed to the imagined beautiful and flawless girls he had been drawing, only to discover that he can't bring himself to even look properly at the girl, let alone accept that she has facial scars - he can't even draw them. 4) The kid's mom dies of cancer and he wails for his loss.

This is so ridiculously over the top. It's called Sad Movie for a reason.

Late Blossom (2010) - This one came out in late 2010, just in time for Christmas. Apparently, the source material is a serial cartoon, followed by a live theatre version, followed by this film version that did quite well in the theatres. This is the story of 4 elderly people living in a hillside neighbourhood. One couple, whose children have all married and moved away is struggling to make ends-meet: he, as a parking lot attendant on the hill, and his wife slowly decaying from Alzheimer's Disease back at the house where she is locked-in daily for fear of her escaping and hurting herself. The other couple is formed by the world's most surly scooter delivery man/grandfather who berates a poor scrap paper collecting woman one winter's night in the street. Watching this foursome play off of each other is in turns heart-warming, silly, and ultimately depressing as hell. You thought Sad Movie was sad? Late Blossom makes sharp turns from a tale of love in the twilight years to one of absolutely zero hope of happiness for the elderly whose families have abandoned them or failed to understand their wants and needs. Even when two characters find happiness and admit it, they won't allow themselves to enjoy what they've found. I'm giving this a light recommendation for curiosity sake, but if you're a Korean who is considering moving away from your parents, don't watch this with them, or your days will be riddled with guilt from here to eternity.

The Illusionist (2010) - this one is a French animated tale from the director of The Triplets of Belleville - the one that should have won the Oscar in 2003. In brief, this is a largely wordless story (though there is some French, English, and Gaelic included) of a past his prime French Stage Magician in 1959, whose only constants in his life appear to be his feisty white rabbit and a couple of worn suitcases. He moves from job to job, ending-up in Edinburgh, accompanied by a young girl from a Scottish Isle who is looking for some real magic in her life. This is sad, to be sure, but it's the kind of hand-drawn animation that is so full of life - every frame just stuffed with something deeper than we're used to seeing from such films. There are happenings here though which will break your heart - never has a "Dear Jane" letter elicited such undeniable pathos. This film takes its time establishing its wistful reality, and you'll feel richer for having paid attention.

I'm going on vacation!

2011-08-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

I'll have a lot more to write about when I return, but for now, here's where the rabbit and I will be headed, starting this evening...

1) Buyeo - historically rich city in the South West, and former capital city of the Baekje Kingdom.

2) Jeonju - Capital of North Jeolla Province and renowned for its delicious "Jeonju Bibimbap" and well-maintained hanok village.

3) Namwon - Korea's "City of Love", based at the foot of Jirisan and the setting for Korea's famous fictional romance, Chunhyang.

4) Haeinsa - This is the temple that houses thousands of ancient wooden blocks, upon which are carved the world's most complete collection of original Buddhist texts. Very cool - read all about it.

We will be gone for 5 nights and 5 days - returning on Saturday evening on a KTX train from Daegu to Seoul. Looking forward to some time away and some adventures with my girl. I'll be sure to write all about it upon my return.

Walking the Seoul Fortress

2011-08-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

This is something that my friend Maria and I have been trying to do for a while, but weather and our schedules had not cooperated until yesterday. We were very lucky with the weather.

I won't write a great deal about the history of the Seoul Fortress Wall here, except to note that it is effing big, and effing old - but not Great Wall big or Great Wall old. The Seoul Fortress Wall was initially constructed in 1396 in an attempt to safeguard the city residents and protect various shrines and temples that had been built in the city. To put things in perspective in Korea terms though, the walls of the Suwon Fortress reach a total length of 5.74 kilometers with it's one true climb being that up Paldalsan to the bell tower (143 meters). By comparison, as far as city fortresses go, Seoul's is massive - just under 19 kilometers in length with 3 notable elevations: Ingwangsan (338 Meters), Bugaksan (342 meters), Naksan (125 meters), and Namsan (262 meters). In early August with temperatures in the low 30s and 70% humidity for the majority of the day, it could have been worse, but it was tough going at times.

Just to admit it right off the bat, we didn't complete the full fortress walk, but stopped short by about 5 kilometers, leaving the Namsan portion of the wall for another day.

What I really love about this hike is the variety of scenery one can take-in in a day.

Maria and I began early in the am (7:00) at the old south gate (Namdaemun) which is still under repair from arson damage suffered in 2008. There are observation points where one can view the progress of the construction, which will still take some time as the powers that be are insistent on using specific materials and processes accurate to the time of the gate's original construction. I applaud their efforts.

From there, large sections of the wall are entirely missing or simply "suggested" by markings on the sidewalk, or signage through parks. With the expansion of the city in modern times, entire sections of the fortress were blown-out to make way for traffic thoroughfares and above-ground mass transit lines. It was a fun little adventure however to use our various guidebooks and maps to follow the old line as best we could. The city's missing West gate (Seodaemun) is now represented by a stylized wooden wall topped with green glass and a plaque explaining the significance of the landmark. From there - it was the beginning of the NW ascent of the mountains that surround the top end of the capital.

I won't bore you with a step-by step description of our hike, but what began at 7:00 PM wrapped-up for us around 10 hours later after a great deal of climbing, exploring, and sweating - I'm pretty sure that I went through approximately 6 liters of water during the hike and I only visited the casa de pepe once. The Davey needed constant replenishment.

If you've lived in Seoul for any length of time and haven't done this hike yet - do. You'll see sides of the city (mountain forests, historic neighbourhoods, and military installations) that you never knew existed. It was a treat to be surrounded by greenery - flora and fauna while the concrete spread-out beneath us for kilometers in the distance on all sides.

One particularly interesting portion of the hike is the section behind the "Blue House" (Cheongwa-dae), the residence of South Korea's president which sits at the southern foot of Bugaksan. Maria and I met-up with Andy at the NW gate to begin this climb. For this section, foreigners need to provide their passport or Alien Registration Card to obtain an ID tag to be worn for the 2.2 kilometer journey up the mountain and down on the NE side near Hyehwa. The main reason for this is that Bugaksan was the location for a failed presidential assassination attempt by North Korean soldiers in January of 1968.

This was pretty nasty stuff, and the fact that 31 North Korean soldiers were able to make their way to a point only 800 meters from the President before being driven-back by police forces caused the country to go into a new era of high alert - creating a reserve army and closing Bugak Mountain to non-military personnel until 2006. All along this portion of the Fortress Wall, one can look over to the North side to see double fences that appear to be both electrified and covered in razor wire (and likely armed with mines between them).

There are also military posts nearly every 100 meters. A lone tree stands not far from the path, marked with bullet holes from where a shoot-out occurred between the Northern Commandos and the South Korean defensive forces. It's some pretty weird stuff. That being said, the portion of the mountain which was only 5 years ago off limits to most everyone, was yesterday crawling with families.

We broke for a much needed lunch and rest in an air-conditioned hanok house just outside of Waryong Park before continuing south to Hyehwa, up Naksan, and down into Dongdaemun where we cooled our feet in the Cheonggycheon. We finished our day walking through the partially completed Dongdaemun History and Culture Park on the former site of the Dongdaemun Stadiums and then we trained it West to Andy's place for dinner. We could have made it up Namsan, but we were content to leave our day as a happy memory, rather than one that ended on one more hot and humid ascent. We might have been bitter and hateful people after that climb. I actually headed to UNIQLO to get some new boxers, a $5 T-shirt, and then stopped at a market by Andy's house to buy a hard scrubbing cloth for a quick shower before dinner. There were layers of filth, my friends - layers.

For those considering doing the hike, I would caution you against doing it in the summer. Wait until fall, unless you feel like losing your entire body weight in sweat. But, if you go, look for your "stamp tour" map available at any of the 4 stamp points: Namdaemun (the burned gate), Seodaemun (the missing gate), Sukjeongmun (The North Gate at Bugaksan), or at Dongdaemun (the East gate) - usually at a guard house found near the gate. If you get all four stamps, you can exchange the completed map for a commemorative button. I'm guessing that rarely in the world's history has a trio of adults ever been as excited about earning a button.

Alas, ours will have to wait as we neglected to get stamps at our first two locations. This will be tops on our priority list for next week when we complete the Namsan climb.

Mr. Fix-it

2011-08-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

The light bulb in my hub dynamo lighting system on my Bromptom finally burned-out. I had been doing a fair amount of night riding - not this year, but last, and it was time.

What's frustrating is that my bike shop doesn't actually stock or order replacement bulbs - they only sell entire replacement lighting systems for around 45,000 won. My regular bike shop guys told me though that I could find replacements online for about 300 won per piece. That's about 30 cents. Good.

But I hate ordering stuff online, and I have been relying on the rabbit a lot lately for online ordering and organizing stuff (especially for our upcoming trip), so I wanted to solve this problem on my own. Surely, the Youngsan Electronics Market could help me out. It is after all the biggest electronics market the world has likely ever known.

But no - no such luck. The lighting area folk from the Electronics towers near the I'Park Mall guided me to the old market across the tracks. Now, if ever there were a real world example of the phrase "coming from the wrong side of the tracks", it exists in Youngsan. The old market is a dark, dingy, and thoroughly nasty place - full of shops that sure deal "stuff" on the side, and grim-looking thuggish characters driving slowly through parking lots in shiny black cars. I got in an out as fast as I could, as the people there too told me that I couldn't find such a bulb anywhere but in Jongno 3-ga. It was way too late for that.

So, a few days later, during the beginning of what would end up being Seoul's worst rain flooding in the last century, I made my way rather blindly through the Jongno-3-ga electronics market. I kind of appreciate how Seoul is divided into specific areas for your specific household needs. There is no Home Depot here, from what I can see - but should you every find yourself in need of a 6-volt halogen bulb with a 1 cm base, there is an entire 5 x 5 block network of narrow alleyways to get lost in that is specifically dedicated to one trade. If you want plumbing supplies - got to Jongno 5-ga, mechanics supplies - go to Yeongdeung-po, light bulbs - go to Jongno 3-ga, video game systems - cross the tracks into dark old Youngsan market territory, and for everything else, try your luck at Dongdaemun and you just might be surprised.

Anyway, walk out of Jongno 3-ga and turn right into any number of narrow alleyways toward the Cheonggycheon (downtown stream) and you'll soon find yourself in a different world. It begins as what looks to be a market for Science teachers (flasks and microscopes and the like) and then soon melds into streets with shops specializing in circuit boards, and then finally into rows of shops that deal in store-front and home/apartment lighting. I couldn't possibly give an accurate count of the number of lighting shops in this area - they all looked exactly the same to me, but each shop keeper I encountered kept pointing me further and further toward the Cheonggyecheon, where I finally ended-up at a tiny shop (maybe 3 x 6 meters) that was filled to over-flowing with flashing LED, strobe, and tracking lights and one shop-keeper who clearly had no history of epilepsy in his family.

He was eager to please, and looked at my burnt-out bulb to get an idea of what he was looking for - he found it in a 5.95 volt look-alike (with a slightly bigger glass dome) that he assured me would be just fine. I bought 3 bulbs from the guy, called it a day, and went home to discover that the bulb's dome was in fact too large to fit into my light casing.

Back the next day, this time with light casing in hand, to show the man that it wasn't happening. Both of us slogging through inch-deep water in sandals in his electronics-filled shop of flashy stuff. This is what he did:

1) Took the bulb he had given me from out my hand.
2) Dug around in a series of drawers to find a 5.95 volt cap-less bulb dome.
3) Held my purchased bulb with one hand (roughly over where our feet were).
4) Smashed the bulb with a pair of pliers sending tiny glass shards to the watery floor and over our feet.
5) Using a rusty pair of needle-nosed pliers, pried the bits of remaining glass from the cap like he was giving the world's clumsiest root-canal.
6) Took out a can of soldering glue that was full of shards and remnants of repair jobs past and looked like a can of boogers from a particularly disgusting episode of Ren and Stimpy.
7) Grabbed an already-smoking soldering gun that was adding to the area of a sizable burn mark on his desk and proceeded to clip, strip, burn, and solder-together a brand new light bulb for yours truly.

He tested the bulb on a generator, handed it to me, and declared "Korea, number one!" before charging me 6,000 won for his labour.

How could I not be impressed. It fit, it worked, and it was hard to not be wowed by the man's ability to whip-together a new light bulb with a complete disregard for potential embedded glass shards or the threat of sputtering, sparkling, LED-lit electrocution for us both.

I went home, re-attached the light casing to my bike, and spun the tire to make sure it worked. It did.

I didn't get a chance to take my bike for a night ride for a few days, and when I finally did, I was surprised to see that there was indeed no light coming from my front lamp. I pulled over, and found the result.

Anyway... Korea, number one!

Dr. Evil

2011-08-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

It's the end of my second day in the last week of camp this summer. It's hard to believe that after Friday, the next time I teach a group of students will be in September in a different country on a different continent.

Anyway, I'm trying to make the most of my last week, so today we began as we have the last two Tuesdays with our refidgerated water balloon toss. Students not participating in the current round sit on the nearby steps of the front door and cheer-on their team mates. Naturally, this produces some sounds of joy and surprise.

There is a gentelman who works at my school, but who would also fit quite well in an underground lair or in the vast cavernous expanse of an extinct volcanic island. He mostly spends his time wandering the hallways with a sense of vampyric authority, and the only times he deals with me directly are when it's time to figure-out English camp budgets. During such times, he won't make eye-contact with me, but will refer to me only as "way-gook" (foreigner) as opposed to "won-a-min sun saeng nim" (Native Speaking Teacher) while speaking to my co-teacher about why I can't be trusted to carry the school's credit card, myself, when I'm attempting to shop on my own free time for camp supplies. He will often move away from the conversation only for a moment to sigh, look out his barred window on the first floor, and methodically spray his houseplants, only because he lacks a cat to methodically stroke.

So, today, he parks his car right beside my students during the water balloon toss, gets out, and motions for me to move out into the middle of the field because we are being too loud...

Three things:

1) We are the only class in the school this week as the extra summer classes finished last Friday. That's me and 15 students.

2) For every day of the school year, weather permitting, for 4 of 6 periods a day, the school yard is filled with 90+ students participating in their PE classes. This means a yard full of students who yell and scream and sing at the top of their lungs. It's deafening in any room of the school as ours is designed with each classroom's windows facing out onto the school yard. This is a daily norm during the semester and nobody says a thing.

3) There is daily construction on the new school gymnasium - still going on despite the rain. This involved welding and jackhammers.

Somebody's being a grumpy pants.

So, today I stood with a whole class watching me get treated like a second class citizen by the school's resident chief of the fun police... and I had a full and refridgerated water balloon in my hand. You tell me what happened next.

Melancholy and Sitting on Strangers

2011-07-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

Feeling more than melancholy today.

Yesterday (Friday) was the last day of my week 2 summer camp group - a collection of 16 students that really did their best each day and were respectful and willing to have fun. I was sorry that I was unable to be more energetic on our last day due to the flu, but we managed to get through the day. I was seriously tempted to use a sick day, but this is the problem with running a camp by myself - nobody there to cover in times of illness.

I was happy to see that the team 1 girls loved their prizes so much. They told me that they were "moved" by the vases, and as they were all of an English level where they were able to complete their novel reading, the celedon vases seemed to hold extra meaning for them. It was refreshing to have a table full of female middle school girls who never once took out a comb or mirror in class, and who participated in all of the activities with a smile.

Yesterday was also sad in that I had to say goodbye to my friend, Lex, about whom I could probably write a book now - well maybe not a book, but a very long poem, perhaps an epic one. She is one of the most unique and inspiring people I've encountered in my life, and it makes me sad to know that I won't be seeing her for some time. She is currently on her East Coast Korean vacation with her mom, then she'll be heading back to Australia to continue her graduate studies. Though she doesn't leave the country until the 13th of August, our vacations overlap, which means that yesterday was goodbye for now.

Like the true cheese ball that Lex is, she invited friends to her favourite place in Seoul (The National Museum of Korea) for some afternoon Catan in the cafeteria - why not, right? The rabbit surprised me by meeting me at the subway station and accompanying me to the museum. We looked quite the pair with both of us in masks - me, from my flu, and rabbit, from the surgical removal of the metal plates she's had in her face since her original dental surgery a year and a half ago.

We stopped-by the group for a quick hello and goodbye - we delivered rabbit's giant jar of nuts to Lex to share with her mom on her trip, and then Lex escorted us out of the museum. Lex has left Seoul 3 times now, but I think it will be a while before her next visit. It was really hard to say goodbye this time. Perhaps a visit to Australia will be in the cards for rabbit and I. I'm happy to report that Lex won her very first game of Catan in her favourite place in Korea. She reportedly did a victory lap around the cafeteria.

Anyway, my flu has been overwhelming. I'm thankful that it hasn't caused any vomiting, but I still feel feverish and hit-by-a-truck-ish. I've also been sweating up a storm. I wake-up with my pillow soaked through, and it seems as though I sweat it out from the shoulders - up. It's like I had my hair washed in the sink and the damp towels have soaked through to my upper-arms.

I woke up this morning and dragged myself onto the train to go to my last Saturday class. I felt like garbage - stairs were difficult and I was dizzy enough to miss the handrail when the train lurched to a start and I almost fell. The best part was that after I had finally found a place to sit (the much sought-after end of the bench seat), I had to stand to put on a shirt to avoid the air-conditioner chill and the dude who had been sitting beside me just slid right into my spot.

This isn't an unusual phenomenon - people really want that end of the bench seat, presumably because it's the only time in their daily trek when they don't have to be surrounded at close proximity by strangers on both sides. If an end of the bench seat opens up, there is often a mad scramble to occupy it. If the person next to the end doesn't slide in right away, I've seen people from nearly a full car-length away come rushing toward the empty end seat to score their prize. It's really weird. There could be someone standing directly in front of the end seat when a person leaves it, but the person sitting next to the end seat will slide into place before the standing person can sit down. It's kind of embarrassing to watch sometimes. I usually just go with it except for one time when a girl one door down from me pushed her way through the exiting crowd and ran about 20 feet to sit in the empty seat just to the right of the door I was standing at - patiently waiting for patrons to leave before I boarded. As I had my bike with me, an end seat was what I needed. The girl nearly had to run at a sprint to leap into the seat before I could sit down. I stood in front of her and stared her down until she slid over one spot.

Anyway, today, as I stood to put on my extra shirt, my feet were still in the same position that they were when I had been sitting. That was enough of a sign apparently for the guy beside me to slide into my seat. Being that I was rather sick, dizzy, and delirious from the flu, I didn't even notice anything wrong until I had sat down in my seat, but this time on the dude's lap. I'm guessing he was surprised, but I was just sad. Because of the lack of energy I was suffering from, I just sat on this dude's lap for what seemed like at least three or four seconds. After a time, he patted me on the back, I stood-up, and he moved back to his seat. I think I could have sat there on his lap for the rest of the journey, and just slept. I didn't have the fight in me at that point. It must have been an entertaining sight.

Anyway, today was my last Saturday class. I regret that I was feeling so low energy for them, but it was fun to watch the very creative video presentations that they had made as an end-of-term project. We then finished our class with a "rolling papers" activity where each teacher and students passes around a paper with his or her name on it for others to sign. It's a chance for people to say goodbye, and for my students, a chance to express themselves personally and openly - something that they were reluctant to do at times in class.

I stayed the extra hour to complete this activity with the students, and then it was time to say goodbye. I held the emotions in-check, but it was easy to blame any shakiness in my voice on the flu. I'll miss this class a lot. It really made me feel like a teacher, and it made me challenge myself to become a better teacher and person. I really connected with these students and I'll miss reading and responding to their essays. They don't know how much teaching them has meant to me, but I tried my best to tell them.

I stumbled out of class, wishing I could have been more coherent for my last hours with them. I'll treasure the "rolling paper" I was given today. Reading it, I learned that Yin-na really liked my duck shirt, and that many of these students have really appreciated this class and are genuinely sad that it's over - that's the ultimate compliment, really. For Korean students to devote four more hours of study to an English class on Saturdays, and then to miss the obligation, well, that's something.

There were lots of nice things written on my paper, but I'll share this one with you:

"When I came here first, I was strange and embarrassed. That's why I acted timid. But your bright class makes me brave. I'm afraid you would forget me because you have many students, but I meet only a few native English teachers. So, I will always remember you and remain you with respect. I was happy in this class because of you and your passion. Keep in touch!"

Means the world to me.

Prizes

2011-07-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

I feel like garbage. Started feeling a cold coming on at camp while doing our pottery-making again today. So, as the baseball game was once again rain-delayed, I stumbled home after camp and crashed for 4 hours. But first - crafting time!

I remember the first time I "aged" paper to make a scroll-style sign for Elementary school. I had only enough energy to sit in my apartment out of the rain and do something low-key.

I decided that the gifts of celadon vases for our camp's winning teams should have some kind of marking on them to be a memento of the summer, but I didn't want to write anything on the vases themselves - even on the bottom.

So, I sat the little signs in wet coffee grounds for a few minutes and then set them aside to dry by the window. Took a nap, and finished the deed after I woke-up.

Not, bad, right? Whatever - I can't get outside today (the rain just won't stop) and I feel like I've been hit by a truck... and the rain had fried the wires in our English classroom to the point that our TV and computer won't work - rendering the presentation, review, instructions, and games to accompany our pizza-making day completely useless.

If I'm going to crawl into class tomorrow to finish week two of camp, I'll power myself through the experience with the satisfaction that at least the prizes look nice. Though I'm very temped to use a sick day, I really like this week's kids, and I don't want their last classroom experience with me to be with me as a no-show.

Hello, Neo-Citran.

"Dreams Come True:...

2011-07-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

... the Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales" is the name of the exhibit currently showing at the Hangaram Design Museum at the Seoul Arts Center. Being that the rabbit and I (along with Maria and Adrian) were already at the center to attend a Beethoven concert in the afternoon this past Sunday, we decided to make it a double-bill.

This is a very focused exhibit, and one organized with great attention to detail by the Walt Disney Animation Research Library. As the title would suggest, this is all about the "classic fairy tales", so while here you will find representative pieces from Snow White to Rapunzel (Tangled), there is nary a Peter Pan or a Lady & the Tramp to be found.

The Good: As a waning Disney enthusiast (I once worked at the company store in my hometown and was a 4-time Western-Canadian district Disney trivia champion - something I still like to put on resumes for shits and giggles), I still harbour a long-held interest in the theme parks and animated films - especially the concept work that rarely sees the light of day. I'm especially fond of the contributions of the background artists - there's something about the textures found in the background paintings of the really early stuff (Pinocchio and Snow White to be specific) that I have deep affection for. There is a fair amount of such work on display, and A LOT of completed original cels used in the production of the films.

The Disappointing: The best stories are the ones Disney never wants you to see. While there is plenty of attention paid to Uncle Walt as the source of inspiration for most of the studio's product, it would have been refreshing to have seen a little more focus on the actual animators. Walt's ghost-written quotes dominate the empty spaces on exhibition walls, but the real treats are the small and unassuming pieces hidden among the reproductions - the most affecting among them being some actual storyboard frames for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and a really wonderful character sheet drawn by Glen Keane for Rapunzel - suggesting many of the ways in which she might use her hair. More of this would have been welcome.

Now that I've been out of the company for more than a decade, and now that I have some distance from the machine, it's much easier for me to be subjective about the whole Disney experience. It's tiresome for me to watch and hear short films (designed for 5 minute museum consumption) that white-wash what is actually quite a historically and artistically fascinating process. I know this exhibition was all about dreams coming true, but for the hard-core Disney enthusiast (if indeed there is such a description), this is really all stuff you've seen before. I'm hopeful that a more exploratory exhibit focusing on the brilliance that was left on the drawing room floor will make its way to a town near me soon.

That all being said, the exhibit was worth it for me just to see these two pieces from Beauty & the Beast. Officially, one is not allowed to take any photos inside the museum and there are guards on every corner of the walls to enforce this rule, but I have my ways. These are the original animator's drawings for what is still my favourite film - animated or otherwise. They make it worth the price of admission, so I guess I'm a bit of a Disney nerd yet.

Summer English Camp (Day 3,4 & 5)

2011-07-25T00:27:00.001-07:00

Things got a bit better in the middle of the week - mainly because the ring-leader of team 4 decided to stay at home on Wednesday. When she was telephoned to ask where she was, her mom was irate because the girl had told her that I had told the girl to not come to camp anymore. So, rather than cleaning-up her act, she looked for an out that involved lying to her mom about what I had said to her. I still see a clear difference between "If you don't want to be here, don't come" and "don't come". Other students translated for me so there is no using ESL as an excuse.

Anyway, mom was pissed because she paid all of this money for her daughter dear to come to camp and blah, blah, blah. I asked my co-teacher (who was also present for our conversation the previous day) to explain the situation to the mom and I started the class. Apparently mom was unaware that her daughter is a slacker who looks for any excuse to bail-out of English class - doesn't she know that it's either this or Math boot-camp?

Day 3: Team Challenges - We decided to split the day up into 3 segments - an activity followed by chapter summary exercises for each hour.

Lowlights: Other than the previously-mentioned phone conversation, not much at all.

Highlights: With the ring-leader away, team 4 really lightened-up and had a good time. We began with a scavenger hunt in and around the school - teams following hidden clues in the English room, on all four floors of the school, and in the school yard where I had hidden them the day before. After the chapter 4 summary, we had a water-balloon challenge where team members faced each other and tossed balloons back and forth, taking one step back after each catch - last team without a broken balloon earned points. It's amazing how much a fun game with easy surprises can create laughs among sleepy and phone-deprived children. The day's last activity before the vocabulary quiz involved taking Monday's "rock, paper, scissors" cards and having students create circle stories at their tables - turning over each card after it's used. Stories were read aloud at the end of class.

*Another things that helped was asking all students to put their cell-phones on my desk after each break. It's like removing their life-force, until they remember that they don't actually need to hold it in their hands with thumbs moving furiously in order to be fully-functioning human beings.

Day 4: Field Trip to the Onggi Museum - Onggi is the glazed, yet "breathable" brown pottery that is used to make kimchi pots and other workman-like items. Very few decorative items have been made with onggi - that's what celedon is for. I had visited this museum with teachers before my first summer vacation at this school. It's a cool little place, and the best part is that it offers an onggi-making course for small student groups. This fit in well with our story theme from summer reading, so I was looking forward to getting out of the school for a more hands-on approach.

Lowlights: Getting 16 students back on buses was no easier than it had been on Tuesday. Oh, well.

Highlights: My voluntarily absent student from the day before was brought into the office and interrogated until she admitted that she lied to her mom. This pleased me. I don't like making students cry, but I like reminding them that they can't always get-away with being lying twits. Of course, the best part of the day was having the students work with the clay. A museum staff member was able to instruct the students into making small onggi mugs and cups. Though I knew that those large kimchi pots were made with the same glaze and firing process, I had no idea that they were also made with the same roll-the-clay-into-snakes-and-coil-them-up routine. Huh... learn something new everyday. The kids appeared to be in a great mood when I bought a big bowl of ddeok-bokki and shared it with them just before we got on the bus back to school. Koreans seem to have no qualms at all about sharing food from common vessels, and I got a kick out of feeding them all with a toothpick like baby birds.

Day 5: Pizza-Making Contest - Rather than rush through pizza festivities for the sake of having enough time to watch a feature-length film, we took our time with the book wrap-up and took our time with the pizza making. This left about 45 minutes to watch a great 30 minute (largely wordless) Nick Park short clay-mation film ("The Wrong Trousers") and give-out our prizes to the winning team and the certificates to everyone.

Low-lights: A couple of my team 4 girls sneaked out of their dish-washing duty as the other students were cleaning and organizing the room. They were phoned to return to school and though they said they'd be back in 10 minutes, they never returned. Little do they know that the principal of the school will be phoning them this week to request that they now be present for the last two Fridays of camp in order to clean the dishes for the other students. I just don't let kids get-away with shit. It's amusing that they are so surprised.

Highlights: I love pizza-making day. I play the soundtrack from Big Night for background music and the kids get busy slicing bagels, and preparing their veggies. I provide them with colored paprika, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and tomato sauce. They can bring whatever else they want from home. I am using my mini-oven from home as well as my stand-up toaster oven. Dishes and cutlery are borrowed from the Home Economics room. Students make two mini-pizzas for themselves (two halves of a bagel) and each team makes me a half pizza to try. Teams are rewarded for the best tasting and the best looking pizza. I'm thankful that team 2 "The Potters" have won the overall competition for the week and as a result, are rewarded with beautifully-wrapped celadon vases that were purchased by me in Insadong, and wrapped by the nimble fingers of the rabbit. Sang-eun seems especially touched by his prize and he's proud as he should be since he was the one who carried his team through their homework and quizzes. It's nice to see people rewarded for their dedication.

Final thoughts: I've actually just started my 2nd of three camp weeks. I'm sure there will be more highlights and lowlights, but hopefully things will go a little more smoothly from her on out. This will be my 5th 3-week vacation camp run for this school. That's a lot of weeks, but it can be fun. As much as I would like to do a proper novel-study with related activities, I'm not given the ability to control who signs-up for camp - hence the shabby ladies of week 1 and the student abilities that range from barely knowing the alphabet, to those who have already read our book in advance of the first day of camp. The only way I see to solve this is to spend about a third of the camp time on actual edumacation stuff, and the rest on fun and games - it is summer after-all, and as much as I would like the personalities of my summer camp students to match those of my students from my Saturday class, I have to work with what I have. If that means tempering actual English learning with periods of throwing a balloon of refrigerated water at each others faces, so be it. I would like to have my last teaching experience at this school be a happy one.

Summer English Camp (Day 1 & 2)

2011-07-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

...is finished.

This means that I have suffered through some challenges that have served to keep my on my toes and try my patience, but most importantly, I've had the opportunity to refine a few things before moving on to week #2.

As I mentioned before, all native speaking English teachers are required to deliver a 3 week camp to their school's students. If for whatever reason we don't have enough kids sign-up, we don't have to run the camp, but then we also don't get paid for those three weeks - at least this is what the contract states. As I'm doing my best to save for university, my choice is to run the camp, so I do my best to plan a good one. So, rather than have the same group of students, I have a different set of 16 students (4 teams of 4) for each of the 3 weeks. This allows me to make 5 really fun full day plans as opposed to stretching it all out into 15 days with the same kids.

My first week looked kind of like this:

Monday: Introductions - We ran some ice-breakers, introduced the summer reading book through activities and comprehension questions, did a vocab quiz, created teams, had our first team challenge.

Lowlights: Inevitably, some students that sign-up for English Camp do so in an attempt to appease their parents who looked at their child's failing English grade and wanted to turn things around over the summer. Well, you can lead a student to English Camp, but even if the Kool-aid is Purplesaurus-Rex flavour, that doesn't mean they're going to find it delicious. I had a group of 4 girls who immediately formed a quartet of bitterness from before the moment of the first bell. When I wake them from their sleep or gossip session, take their combs and mirrors away, or take their cell-phones away, they look at me as though I'm their step-father who's pestering them to take out the trash. Thankfully these lovely ladies will only be with me for a week.

Highlights: Korean students love playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. I utilized a mixed set of vocab cards from our English room collection which have alternating symbols for rock, paper, or scissors on the top corner. Students sat-across from other team's students and basically played "War" with their cards for a set time before changing seats and facing a new opponent. Each team member then brought their spoils back to their team table to total them all up, and points were rewarded for the most of whatever category each team was able to keep or take through card combat: most adjectives, most food items, etc. As an added bonus, students also got to re-enforce stereotypes of unrealistic beauty standards through these cards, and continue down the road that leads to the inevitable country-wide support of the Korean plastic surgery industry. Good thing that "Ugly" and "Pretty" at least are equal in terms of their "scissors" value.

Tuesday: Field Trip to Seoul Dream Forest - we took an ill-fated trip to the North Seoul Dream Forest in order to get out of the school, enjoy a scavenger hunt, and check-out some cool modern art installations.

Lowlights: Though I had visited the Dream Forest 2 months previous to take photos, explore the art gallery, and organize a fairly in-depth scavenger hunt, everything went wrong. The exhibition which had been advertised to run until August 31st and had been free when I visited back in May (and had been the basis for the worksheets that I had made to accompany the scavenger hunt) had gone through some significant alterations. When we arrived at the museum, the staff were now looking for a 6,000 won charge per student - which was irrelevant as 75% of the exhibit had been switched over for new pieces - rendering my scavenger hunt material useless. We spent the rest of the time looking for the few scavenger hunt pieces not included in the museum. The majority of the students were good sports about it, while the quartet of K-pop princesses ate ice-cream in the shade and lied about finding all items - including the ones that they couldn't have physically seen since they were no longer on display. I let the girls know that if they didn't want to be at English Camp, they didn't have to come. I also learned that herding 16 students onto a bus (when half of them have large bills instead of T-money cards) is an unpleasant thing.

Highlights: The weather was beautiful.

Turtle Release Party

2011-07-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday afternoon, I headed-out to Utsav restaurant in Hongdae with a handful of friends to release Flip & Flop into their new home. Clearly, we were grief-stricken at the thought of saying goodbye.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, except I'll add that I know this was the right thing to do - the restaurant owner and turtle aficionado is truly the man for this job. He was lamenting the fact that Sunday night was the night when he would be changing the water in the central pool. He does this every three weeks and invited me back at some point this week so that I could see my two friends frolicking in the depths.

It was probably the best turtle release party I've ever hosted - it began with Flip making lightning-quick dash into the pool as soon as she was set-down on the concrete, and ended with us all enjoying the South East Asian buffet - a bit pricey on Sundays at 19,800 won per person, but delicious and compared to prices back home, it was about right.

We also did a George & Mary style send-off to Bailey Park by offering freeze-dried shrimp, so that life may always have flavour, and Flip & Flop's favourite rock, so that joy and prosperity may reign forever. I was only lacking bread, but being that they are living in a restaurant now, I'm pretty sure that, for Flip & Flop, life will never know hunger.

The best part was that we had a 2nd floor view of the central courtyard down to the pool where we could do some Flip & Flop spotting from above. We all considered the price of the meal to be like life insurance for our turtle friends - a gesture of gratitude for the restaurant owner for taking them in to their new turtle paradise.

I'll post pictures from when I visit again - maybe this weekend.

My last day of teaching

2011-07-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I should clarify - it's actually my last day of teaching regular classes at my middle school. Mostly, this means two things:

1) I won't ever again have to share my classroom with person X, who has demonstrated week-in and week out since coming to our school in March that she should have been put out to pasture as a teacher long ago. People are people, but when apathetic and vile people adversely affect my work and my students, it's time to call a spade a spade. Shaking off this thick soup of negativity that I've been swimming through 6 periods per week this semester will feel great. I can only hope, for the sake of next year's student population, that the rest of the staff step-out of their usual avoid-confrontation-at-any-cost stance on work-related conflict and actually make some changes. I can only hope that the students at our school matter more than saving face.

2) I will have to say goodbye to 래송 ("Rae-song", who wanted an English name so I gave him "Raymond".) Raymond is one of the grade 3 students in our school who will be graduating this year, and who I will miss.

Raymond is not a strong English student - he began that way and will leave the school without having learned too terribly much. He's got curly hair, he's badly in need of some orthodontic work, he's bigger than 99% of the school population (including staff), and as he walks our halls with his familiar apologetic lope, he's reminiscent of a shy Jar-jar Binks with a Jheri Curl.

Raymond is large and ungainly, but gentle, and though he's not what I would call "popular", he has a lot of friends - most of whom are so small comparative to him, that when Raymond sits down at his group desk during lunch, it seems like he's about to read them all a bedtime story.

Raymond had always been in my lowest level-differentiated class, until this year when the grade 3s were all grouped-together in their complete homeroom form for their time with me. In the first year, Raymond went from not speaking at all, to quietly repeating one word at a time with me, but only if no others were around. I clearly remember the very first time that I called on him in class. The question was "How are you today?" Raymond looked down at his desk like he was Lennie and I was George and I had just told him to "shut-up about the damned rabbits!" Raymond avoided my gaze for the first three months - head drooped-down like a child: "If I can't see him, he can't see me." During the entire first year, Raymond never came to class with a book. Daily, I asked him where it was, but never scolded him.

In year two, he graduated to speaking slowly in class, but only when called upon, and not always then. Still, Raymond would freeze-up completely during a speaking test, and more often than not, get a score of zero.

This year, something changed. Toward the end of year two and into this year, I made a point of caring less about the initial potential of embarrassment and awkwardness, and would sit beside Raymond from time to time in class during the small group worksheet portion of the activity. Previously, during this period, students could be counted upon to do anything with their worksheets from making paper airplanes, to tearing them into tiny shreds, to actually writing something of some educational and practical value on them. Raymond could be counted on to stare solemnly at his for a good 10 minutes with no hint of progression.

I decided it would be on me to help Raymond out this time around. It really is the smallest thing - taking 3 minutes of our class time to focus on someone who needs a little focus. Turns out, Raymond is capable of a whole lot.

This semester, Raymond proudly says hello to me in the hallway, and a few times, he's even sought me out at lunch time or in the hallway between classes or after school, and he seems to have lost all shyness with me as he sometimes adds to his greetings with the offer of a candy - usually a blue lollipop in the shape of a hand - available at the convenience store around the corner from our school gate.

For my last speaking test, I focused on asking a set of prescribed questions about the students' researched travel destinations from our "Travel Korea" lesson. It was easy for those that did the work, and impossible for those that didn't. Just rewards for the dedicated, as it turns out. During this multiple-week lesson, Raymond came to class with a new folder, upon which he had written the words "English Class Teacher Dave". Each day, he would open it up to reveal his worksheet that was steadily looking more and more complete as the weeks past. Raymond even came into my office one day at lunch to show me his progress and to have me check his work. This blew my mind.

When the speaking test day came for his class, Raymond was the last student on the attendance list, and therefore the last one to take the test. The other students had left the room as the bell had already rang. Though they were finished, four or five of Raymond's sheepish little friends stayed behind to cheer him on. Raymond sat down across from me, wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, and we began. I was cheering for him and hoping for a ten, but when he emerged from the test with an 8, he stood up, did a silent fist-pump, and had the goofiest grin on his face. I swear he left the classroom telling his hangers-on about each segment of his grand 45 second war with the English language, and how he had emerged victorious through the deft relation of why Everland Amusement Park was a famous place, and how far it was from there to Daecheon Beach, and how he had arrived there by car. Raymond was also one of the only students in his class to have a completed answer sheet, which was considered as a portion of the grade for the speaking test.

That was the last time that I will teach Raymond, and realistically I have no reason to think that he is on his way to becoming a more dedicated learner, but I have a little more reason to hope.

I told all of my students this week that I was leaving. Sadly, I didn't get to teach Raymond one last time because of a scheduling conflict with student outings on our regular class day. On Thursday, all students went on a brief morning field trip: the grade 1s to a nearby park, the grade 2s to the National Museum, and the grade 3s to the Korean War Memorial and Museum. I did my best to visit all three venues through the morning, but made it only to two. On my way to the entrance of the War Memorial, I saw that many of the students were already on their way home. I saw Raymond and his friends walking past and I called his name. He looked at me and smiled and said "Teacher... Canada?"

I said "yes."

I asked another student to take this picture. The statue behind us is entitled "Brothers".

I've still got one blue hand lollipop in my fridge and it may be one of the most meaningful mementos I will take with me when I leave Korea for a year this August. Certainly, it is the most meaningful souvenir I take with me from my time at my school.

There's been so little caring to witness in our halls and classrooms in recent months. It's disheartening, to say the least. But I'm honestly grateful that something so small as Raymond's joy at his 8 out out of 10 on a speaking test can still make me feel like a teacher. It's so easy to lose these moments. I know there have been others. It's what I want teaching to be.

A New Home for Flip and Flop

2011-07-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Another thing that comes with me leaving for Canada for a year is having to find a new home for my turtle companions.

From what I understand, the turtles began their lives in the pet section of a Home Plus type superstore here in Seoul, were picked-up by a friend of a friend, then transferred to my friends when the original owner departed for his home country, then the were transferred to me when my friends went back to Canada, and here they have been - sharing my wee apartment for the last two years.

I'm come to the conclusion that turtles should not be sold at Home Plus. They are irresistibly cute in the shop - their little round shells no bigger than the diameter of a squash ball. But they will grow... and how!

What most pet shop owners won't tell you is that the cute little bitters you see in the tanks will actually grow to be the size of a small dinner plate and live for 35-40 years. Every week or so I swing-by the turtle tank at my neighbourhood Home Plus and one week there will be 10-15 little guys swimming about - the next: none. This means a lot of little turtles being sold to people who most likely have no idea what they are committing to. It's become a well-known fact that many turtles get put into the Han River when they get too big for a people house. This doesn't end well for the turtles.

As you might be able to tell by the photo, my turtles (Flip & Flop) have grown. Though I was happy to provide them with a new aquarium complete with filter and sunning rock when they first arrived at my abode, they have long since outgrown it. I completely change their water, clean-out the filter, rinse the gravel, and scrub-down their rocks (a labour-intensive 30 minute process) every 5 days now. Their diet has added a significant increase to my monthly grocery bill, and they simply need a bigger place.

Believe it or not, I am a dedicated enough turtle father that, if I were staying here in Seoul, I would head to Dongdaemun market, get myself a 33 gallon aquarium, and start a new life for my two semi-aquatic pals. But, as I will be leaving, and can't see myself bringing two pet turtles to Canada from Korea for a year, and as I don't want to saddle anyone else with the now sizeable job of being a turtle parent, I was looking for another option.

It appears that I have found the perfect one in the form of Utsav - a very cool Indian restaurant in a quieter corner of Hongdae.

I found a very promising photo on a friend's facebook a while back - showing a beautiful courtyard with a pond in the middle of a resutaurant - under high ceilings and a skylight... and TURTLES!!! The rabbit and I went to visit there today with hope in our hearts.

The owner is a proud turtle father, himself - having had his oldest one for over 15 years. He currently has five red-eared slider turtles free-roaming in the courtyard of his restaurant - a huge 9 x 4 meter pool with fountains. This appears to be quite the turtles' paradise in all seasons.

We were afraid that perhaps this guy receives inquiries all the time from people looking to unload their grown-up turtle broods, and it turns-out he has. Turtles can be aggressive though, and if they aren't big enough, they simply won't do well in a competitive turtle environment.

I brought my camera to show some Flip & Flop photos just in case of such a reply. The man was convinced, and within a week or two, I will be taking my friends on a journey south to Hongdae for a teary farewell, and an introduction to a new life of greater freedom and much more varied cuisine.

You know how I can tell that this restaurant owner loves his turtles? Because one of the first things he asked me is what my turtles' names were. Turns out that all of his turtles are named after Indian cuisine: Tandoori, Palak, Paneer... and I can't recall the other two. He speaks of them like a proud papa, and I know he'll take good care of my babies.

You know how else I can tell this place is the right one? Lee Hyori says it's okay through her choice to film an episode of her TV show there, and what's good enough for Lee Hyori, is good enough for Flip & Flop.

I will be having a turtle release party very soon, and I'll be bringing-along their favourite rock, a tin of cubed shrimp, and a head of green lettuce, because they will need something to comfort them when the shock that they are, in fact, not the only turtles in the world hits them square in their little turtle faces. I imagine they will stick together the first while, and I imagine that Flop will fight tooth and nail to defend Flip's honour when called-upon.

This is a good thing, and I know I can visit them from time to time, but saying goodbye will be sad.

심태성 남학생!!!

2011-07-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

I'll be leaving Korea on August 25th for one year - more on that in future posts - and this means that next Friday will be my final day of regular classes at my school.

As I've noted a few times of late, things have been a challenge in that there place, but it hasn't been all bad. This past week I had a fair amount of downtime, which I actually felt quite good about - using it to get a lot done in regards to my summer camp planning. Desk-warming periods don't always result in productivity, but I'm grateful that I was able to get a lot out of this past week.

Supervising exams has also been interesting - well, not "interesting", but eye-opening at times. I learned recently that exams in the first two grades of middle school mean absolutely nothing in terms of applying to high school. It isn't until the 3rd year of middle school when finals mean anything other than a source of pride or applying what one has learned in the class to some form of measurable exercise. For some, this means a lack of sleep and hair-pulling. For others, whom I watched with my own eyes, this means accepting the test in-hand, randomly crossing-off answers, placing those answers from the test paper onto the computer scoring sheet, turning their paper over and going to sleep - before all of the students have received their test paper. I watched one particular girl go through this routine for three straight periods. She'll have a one in four chance of getting her 20 multiple choice questions correct, and a 100% chance of getting all of her short written answers wrong. That means failing grades in Math, Chinese Characters, and Music. But she's only a grade 2 student - so who cares?

Anyway, exams are done. I'm mostly ready for summer camp. A Single Shard is a beautiful little novel and I'm thinking I'll be buying some little celadon pottery vases with a piece of our prize budget - as opposed to the jigsaw puzzles and frames I've given the last couple of camps. The novel is well-beyond the reading ability of the majority of my students, so they will be reading 3 chapters per day in their Korean version of the book, and then answering a series of comprehension questions and studying 6 vocab words per chapter in English with page references to their English copy of the book. Gotta do what I gotta do - without the Korean version, the English one would unfortunately be worth very little to my students.

Where was I... oh, yes... the reason for this post was to tell you about a great souvenir I picked-up yesterday. My school's been a challenge of late, but I will miss it - and I might just mist-up a bit when it comes time to say goodbye to a couple of the students I've known for 2 and a half years. Next week, I'll be wearing my brand-new S******** Middle School boy's summer uniform shirt - made specially for me by the ajushi who runs the uniform shop by our school. He makes uniforms for only two schools, but there are over 1200 students in each, they are growing fast, and they need two seasonal uniforms each year. He must be doing okay.

He gave me a deal on my specially made shirt - 25,000 won as opposed to 30,000, and the name-tag was made for about 50 cents.

The name reads Shim Tae-seong, which is the Chinese version of the more uniquely Korean Shim Han-byeol - both of which mean "Great Sun". I may have blogged about this way back in the day, but the name's origin is shared between a good friend and a favourite essay topic assigned to my hagwon students in my first year in Korean. Shim (심) is the family name of my good friend and Korean sister (Shim Misun, AKA: Tanya) and she honored me by asking me to be her brother almost three years ago.

The given names comes from Sally - whose essay on the subject of "choose a Korean name for Teacher Dave" moved me. She said that I was "like a sun shining on the students' life road." That is certainly a bit much, but it's praise I'll do my best to humbly accept in the form of a Korean name that was stitched into a blue patch, and subsequently sewn onto my shirt last night by a kind rabbit.

I'll be wearing the shirt on my last day of school before summer break. I'm debating whether or not to tell the students that I'll be leaving. I'll let you know what I decide at the end of next week.

Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon

2011-07-08T04:25:00.001-07:00

This weather makes me moist, and it makes me sleepy. Thank fully, there is watermelon ("Su-bak") to replenish the weary.

Subak started making appearances in grocery stores as recently as two months ago, but it's certainly in season now. I can't remember how much it is back home in Canada at this time of year, but here it seems a bit pricey - does $20 for a whole melon sound like a lot to you?

I make myself content with a quarter melon for around $5 and the rabbit gets right at brandishing a long knife. She's got the thing de-seeded, cubed, and popped into a nearby glass-lock container to chill for a late night snack.

Subak also showed-up yesterday after our last day of exams. The teachers were lured into the main office with the stuff and then had to stay for a meeting about the end of semester - all of them slightly bitter, but soothing their sorrows and soaking their chins in juicy red goodness. The principal's address was punctuated with the sound of resentment-filled slurping and dripping.

That wasn't enough subak for me though, so I met-up with Mr. Kim, and Mr. Lee (who left our school last year and I hadn't seen since then) for some tofu stew, beer, and then topped it off with some subak-infused popping-su. The rain had prevented us from attending the Doosan Bears vs Lotte Giants game, but popping-su and beer put a smile back on our faces. We're just a trio of wild and crazy guys.

New Sunglasses

2011-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

The rabbit got me a very generous "stay safe in Canada" gift. She's always wanted to get me a decent pair of sunglasses, and I've never once owned a pair, so it was a good fit.

After a trip to Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong, we found the right ones. Being that this is my first pair, I went with the brand that sounded to most trustworthy.

Then, it was off to the Myeong-dong underground shopping center and the endless hallways of glasses shops. We were recommended one by the girl who sold us the glasses. This particular ajushi is apparently the go-to guy when the Lotte Department store requires some repairs on its own glasses stock. For future reference, if you're looking for glasses, adjustments, or anything eye related, this guy is quite the optometrist as well. Just look for Iris (아이리스) with the only orange sign in a sea of white ones. He'll set you up like Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow.

Anyway, I'm really pleased with my new glasses - the first prescription pair I've ever owned. The lenses are a bit thick because of my truly shabby eyes, but if these Ray-bans are good-enough for Mukmuk, they're good enough for me.

Summer Camp Approaches

2011-07-05T02:57:00.000-07:00

It's final exam week at my school, which means we have to be quiet in the hallways, but it's perfectly okay for jack-hammering to continue at the gymnasium construction site meters from the classroom windows.

I'm doing my best to relax this week. For some reason, I need to lend a hand supervising the exams this time around - something I haven't been asked to do since my first semester in the school in the early Spring of 2009. It's boring as hell, as we must stand silently at the back of the classroom for 45 minutes at a time. I amuse myself by stealing glasses set-aside on the desks of sleeping students, pocketing mine and putting on theirs and see what they make of that when the bell rings.

Gladly though, I also have a fair amount of time in the day to consolidate some materials I've collected over the years, clean, itemize, and organize the classroom cupboards, and most importantly - get ready for summer camp.

Another flash-back to my first semester at the school is the fact that I'll be teaching this camp alone again. I don't mind. Having a co-teacher for camp can be grand in terms of sharing the work and bringing two schools together for a new dynamic, but ultimately, it can also be more work in terms of planning - "Is this activity okay? How about this? Would you like me to take care of that?" etc.

Another thing that should make this camp a good one is the fact that the school has hung-on to my suggestion from this past winter: to use the three weeks to run 3 separate 5-day camps for 3 separate groups of students. With 16 different students every week, instead of the same 16 for 3 weeks, I can allow 48 students into my camp. Some teachers were a little bit reluctant to go this route as one never knows how many kids will be interested in signing-up. Thankfully though, I seem to have made a good impression on my grade 1 students and the camps filled-up in the first 3 days after posters went up.

I'm also grateful to learn that the summer reading book selected for our district is A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park. Here's what the publishers have to say about the book:

Park molds a moving tribute to perseverance and creativity in this finely etched novel set in mid- to late 12th-century Korea. In Ch'ul'po, a potter's village, Crane-man (so called because of one shriveled leg) raises 10-year-old orphan Tree Ear (named for a mushroom that grows "without benefit of "parent-seed"). Though the pair reside under a bridge, surviving on cast-off rubbish and fallen grains of rice, they believe "stealing and begging... made a man no better than a dog." From afar, Tree Ear admires the work of the potters until he accidentally destroys a piece by Min, the most talented of the town's craftsmen, and pays his debt in servitude for nine days. Park convincingly conveys how a community of artists works (chopping wood for a communal kiln, cutting clay to be thrown, etc.) and effectively builds the relationships between characters through their actions (e.g., Tree Ear hides half his lunch each day for Crane-man, and Min's soft-hearted wife surreptitiously fills the bowl). She charts Tree Ear's transformation from apprentice to artist and portrays his selflessness during a pilgrimage to Songdo to show Min's work to the royal court. Readers will not soon forget these characters or their sacrifices. Ages 10-14.

I know that 12th century pottery may not be as thrilling as Starcraft II to most of the students who signed-up, and the short novel is mostly beyond the understanding of 95% of the students who likely signed-up for the camp, but I'm also excited to be teaching a Newberry Medal winner to a class that may gain a new appreciation for one of their country's more celebrated art forms: celadon pottery.

Though we won't be reading the entire book together, I'm taking the time to go through the book and make comprehension questions, crosswords, vocabulary lists etc to be completed in teams each day. Students will earn a better understanding of the novel up to the point of the beginning of Tree-ear's journey to Songdo, and then I'll let them see what happens in the last three chapters on their own.

So, I'm getting ready for camp, and this, minus the daily novel study bit, is what the 5 day (9:00am - 12:00pm) plan will look like:

Monday: Introductions, team-building, introduction to the novel
Tuesday: Field trip to North Seoul Dream Forest, scavenger hunt, art gallery visit.
Wednesday: Team challenge day, outdoor & indoor team games, activities & treasure hunt.
Thursday: Field Trip to the Onggi Pottery Museum where students can learn about pottery making methods and try there hand at designing their own molded piece.
Friday: Pizza-making contest and Movie Day

I'm not yet sure what I'm going to show for the movie, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a hard time finding something pottery-themed. Maybe I should just stick with the idea of the quest. Suggestions?

Anyway, I'm excited about the plan. The book is great, and though it's out of reach for most of the students, it may give some of them an edge should they decide to take part in the Golden Bell book quiz during our school's English Day celebrations in the fall.

Here's hoping for happy, pottery-making students and good attitudes for the three weeks of camp. I'm actually looking forward to it, and I'm glad to have finally found two decent field trip destinations that are within 10 minute bus rides from my house, as opposed to 70 minutes by subway.

Velofix

2011-06-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've begun to pack - living in a place for over two years provides me with just enough time to accumulate stuff that will not fit into a suitcase back to Canada. So, I begin the process of boxing, storing, and seeing what exactly will fit into my bags and still keep them under the Air Canada limits.

On thing that will definitely bring me over the limit is my bike, but this isn't an option for me and the $100 excess baggage fee is a small price to pay to have my Brompton with me on the West Coast.

Looking on-line for a time, I had been thinking about the "Brompton Pod" - a hard shell case that has just recently been recalled for being not as hard as advertised. Enter the Brompton Bag from Velofix - a padded case fit with a handle and shoulder straps should you ever have the urge to walk a fair distance with a 23kg bike strapped to your back. At any rate, my bike will be cozy on its way to a new land. Thank you, rabbit, for your Korean website navigating ways.

An Incident at School

2011-06-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

This is a long post about school. You have been warned...

Things at work have been a struggle lately. This story offers a sense of why.

The past two weeks have been mostly about running my last group of speaking tests and doing speaking test review with others. It can’t help but be a monotonous activity – as I teach every student in the school, I must have 330+ of the same conversation for each of the 3 grades in my middle school, and this happens every period of every day for a two week run. This, I can deal with – with the help of a sense of humour, some strong coffee, and some White Stripes playing on youtube as students enter the classroom.

Of course, for the tests to happen at all, I require the class to be relatively quiet while students come to the back of the room to do their test one at a time. In a room of pre-final-exam stress, you might think that the pressure would cause the students to use their time to either quietly study for the speaking test they are about to have, or to study for other subjects quietly at their desks. You’d be wrong.

It’s not always madness though. It’s during a speaking test that I can really notice the varying levels to which my co-teachers have control over the classroom. On the one end, I have a co-teacher who leads the students silently into the classroom, where they sit – in absolute silence - with their text books open for the entire duration of the speaking test. On the extreme other end, well… we have the following incident…

Class 3-7 meanders into the classroom in little chunks of humanity – students frantically asking me (for the first time) to check the answers on their practice sheets, or to get an additional practice sheet (the completion of which is worth points toward the students’ overall test score) so that they can presumably copy the answers from a classmate – their last three copies of the practice sheet already lost.

The bell rings with only half of the class present. The rest of the students file-in sporadically over the next five minutes, and the co-teacher arrives minutes after that. I know that the standard for student behaviour held by this particular teacher is so low as to not really register on any of the students in this class, so – it is up to me if we are going to be able to get-through all 33 students within the now 36 minutes that remain in out 45 minute class time. I instruct students to remain in their seats and to quietly practice with their friends while I work one-on-one with students at the back of the room. As I am engaged in testing with one student at a time, my ability to assist in the classroom management responsibilities with this co-teacher is pretty much unavailable.

5 minutes into the test, the noise level is to the point where I cannot hear the student sitting across from me. Being that this noise level doesn’t seem to phase my co-teacher, I politely get the class’s attention and ask for quiet. This happens every couple of minutes.

15 minutes into the test, students are out of their desks, screaming, hitting each other and throwing practice sheets while the co-teacher leans on the counter and stares blankly across the room. Again, I ask for quiet.

20 minutes into the test, I look to the front of the room to hear yelling, then one student, who is standing over another, grabs the sitting student by the hair with his left hand, and with his right, open-palms the sitting student across the face, sending his glasses flying and knocking him out of his chair. This all occurs after I’ve asked students to remain seated during the test. At the point of this attack, half of the students were out of their seats.

I run from the back of the room to restrain the student who was responsible for the slap. He looks like he’s going to lash out again, so I stand to his side and reach around his shoulders to restrain his hands while I move him down the hallway to the discipline office. He is seething and ready to fight me, but I have a strong hold of him. I reach the office and am able to briefly explain the situation before running back to the classroom where my co-teacher leans against the counter and stares blankly at the anarchy surrounding her.

Very calmly (and with the history I have with this co-teacher, I am very mindful to be calm at this point), I ask all students to do three things for the remaining 10 minutes of class: 1) Remain in your seat 2) Put your head on your desk 3) Do not talk.

Within the next 10 minutes after I resume testing, students are out of their seats and dancing, wrestling, and pushing the swivel chairs violently across the room at each other. All of this occurred with my co-teacher staring blankly at the windows.

I am not exaggerating any of this.

I snapped – with the fury of God’s own thunder (to quote President Bartlett), I yelled for all of the students to leave the classroom at once – save for the 5 or 6 students that remained to be tested. And then I turned my fury on my co-teacher. It turns-out that she thinks I’m too strict.

I am not proud of any of this.

There are things we can control in the classroom and things we cannot, but the least we can do is try, and what we can strive for is to maintain a level of respect and decorum, regardless of what’s going on with these students - hormonally or otherwise. Yes, this is middle school, but it’s not effing Gangster’s Paradise.

The issue that I can sum-up as being one of “having different standards of behaviour in the classroom” has now been dealt-with through the proper chain of command at my school. With just over 1 teaching week left before summer camp begins, and with my departure from this school happening shortly after, this was not an attempt to salvage a single working relationship that has clearly become unsalvageable, but rather an attempt to provide for a better transition for my school’s new native speaking English teacher, who (I’m guessing) would prefer not to walk into a rookie teaching scenario where he or she is expected to deal with that level of disrespect and apathy from his or her co-teacher. I am grateful for the fairness and warmth that my Vice Principal employed in her dealing with this issue. Of the 6 co-teachers I work with at my school, there is only one that is capable of creating such a destructive and careless learning environment.

Aftermath:

Being that this incident occurred yesterday, I had to admit that I was still smarting from the experience. I don’t like losing my cool – especially in front of students, but I am firm in my belief that my level of anger at what was occurring within the walls of my classroom was justified, if not directed appropriately at first.

Speaking with the head discipline teacher at my school today at lunch, we discussed the following, some of which I was already aware of:

The attacking student (Student A) had come into the classroom without his practice paper (something he had been expected to bring with him every week for the past month, but was never in possession of, despite having had it replaced each time). He asked Student B to borrow his paper so that he could sneak a blank one and copy Student B’s work. Student B, being one of the smallest students in his grade, was reluctant to let him copy, but backed-down under physical threat. Student B asked Student A not to copy everything exactly because it would be obvious to the teacher (me) during the speaking test. Student A ignored this request and copied everything from Student B verbatim. When the paper was returned to Student B and he could see that Student A had copied everything word for word, he said “Why?”. This is when Student A grabbed Student B by the hair and slapped him clear out of his chair.

All of this happened within view of my co-teacher, who did nothing to prevent it, stop it, or intervene after it occurred.

Student A had returned to my middle school after nearly a year absence due to his parents’ divorce. He has been back and forth with his mother and father during that time, and the stress that the situation helped manifest is making its presence known almost daily in the classroom. Student A has reported that he suffers physical abuse from both parents. When asked by the discipline teacher why he held Student B’s hair in that manner before hitting him, Student A replied that his father hits him like that.

Nobody can fix this young man’s problems, but that least we can do is provide a safe school environment where he can’t lash-out and hurt others or hurt himself. To create such an environment, I would argue, involves caring, patience, and classroom management – specifically in the form of rules and real consequences when they are broken.

I’m disappointed. This group of middle school grade 3 students (grade 9 in Canada) were the ones I was most looking forward to working with this year. But, the widening gap between the students who are striving to succeed and those who have long since given up is more and more clear. I see it in the hallways and I see it in the classroom, and it makes me sad.

There are some classes, such as class 3-2 which I began my day with today, that is the perfect mix of trouble students and those charismatic leader students who are willing to drag the others up to their level.

Then, there is class 3-7. At the low end is a girl who lost a point in her speaking test because she was unable to pronounce the one location she needed to know, learn, and speak about over the past month. Instead of saying “Nami-seom” (Nami Island), she said “Nami-san” (Nami Mountain), which is not surprising as she too was a student who lost her practice paper and had it replaced each class the month previous. When she lost the point during her test, she looked at me with purpose in her eyes and voice and told me, in Korean, to go fuck myself.

There is reason for all of the worsening upheaval this semester. Up until last year, in a Korean middle school, teachers were allowed to administer corporal punishment to their students. For most, this took the form of hitting a student’s open-palm with a ruler or stick. From most reports, this was effective more for its ability to shame than to inflict pain. I’m not saying that I agree with it, but as an observer, the transition to no corporal punishment in the schools has (ironically, I suppose) been a very painful one. Students know what they can get away with. This includes beating on each other without the threat of getting beaten on by a teacher, and the fun of telling a foreign teacher to fuck off in their native tongue – perhaps thinking that I wouldn’t understand, or more likely hoping that I would. As shown in the story above, this has led some teachers to pretty much wash their hands of the whole effort thing. People are giving-up, and as our school services an economically-disadvantaged area of Seoul, the situations within our particular walls are often challenged proportionately.

On the other end though is Ophelia, who is also the president of students’ council and, if she is able to make it out of her class 3-7 experience unscathed, could very well go on to be a successor to Ban Ki-Mun, current secretary general of the United Nations and role model to South Koreans everywhere. A month ago, when I was clearly exasperated at the behaviour of the students in her class, I found this note on my desk, accompanied by a small package of chocolates…

This is for you ~
I hope you like chocolates.
Teacher Dave
You’re the best foreign teacher I’ve ever met ☺
From, Ophelia

To Teacher Dave,
Hello, Dave. I’m Ophelia. How was your weekend? I was so busy because of preparing for the final test… Um… the reason that I’m writing this letter is because of our class. As you know, our class (3-7) is very, very noisy. I think my class is uncontrollable, too. I’m really sorry for that. I can understand why you get angry. I know you are slow to get angry… Also, I knew that I can’t use a cell-phone in class… I’m sorry. It was my fault. Would you forgive me, please? Also, my classmates…… I’ll tell them to concentrate for your class!! I’m sorry, teacher ㅠㅠ. This is my small present. I hope you regain your vigor with this. Bye Bye ~

Ophelia

It’s impossible for me to describe how this gesture made me feel. With one week of regular classes left in my semester, what motivates me are students like Ophelia who, despite her unfortunate class placement, can rise above it to remain a caring person and a diligent student who took the time to notice that teachers need caring for sometimes, too.

Losing my cool yesterday was something I regret, but mostly because it happened in front of Ophelia, and this was after the letter, and the chocolate, and her scoring a 10 out of 10 on her speaking test and being rightfully proud of herself. In the midst of all of the shabbiness from yesterday, I feel that I let a student down, and I guess that leaves me with just over a week to make things right with the diamonds in the rough of class 3-7.

Rainy Days and Mondays

2011-06-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

Back from a rainy weekend with 3 good friends. As previously mentioned, the plan was to head to Sokcho, a small city on the East Coast where the rabbit and I had previously ventured back in February. Lex is here for the summer holidays and rain or shine, we needed to take advantage of a weekend where the Tedward Park and I weren't working on a Saturday.

For all that we were able to see, we may as well have stayed in Seoul. The rain and mist kept visibility to a bare minimum and unfortunately, for the mountain-seeking folk among us, there was no way that Seoraksan, Korea's most beautiful mountain, would have been at all impressive seen through the soupy fog.

It's all good though. What mattered most was the company and we took advantage of a weekend away from the big city to relax, catch-up, cook, and play games. Special thanks to Andy and Lex who did well to make our eating experiences as authentically Korean as possible. I was impressed specifically with Andy's ability to whip-up a Korean-style breakfast with one visit to the resort convenience store. Nice work, friend.

Aside from lounging, games and eating, we did make it out to our second resort's "Aquaworld" - a much smaller Waterpia-type place complete with outdoor pools, sauna's and hot-tubs with water-massage dealios - all for 11,000 won each. Not bad at all, and it was about the only thing all of us were collectively willing to do out in the rain. Sometimes, a resort is the way to go - especially as rainy season hits.

It was a good weekend, but what will be remembered most is the odd lady sitting beside us on the way there. As we got onto the bus in Seoul, Ed and I saw a strange woman sitting directly to my right across the aisle with her face buried in a newspaper - it was like a children's detective novel - the one where the newspaper is in place so that the holder can spy through a hole cut into page 1 - I almost tried to sneak a photo. Ed and I took note of this character and carried on with our journey. Even when we took a short break at a rest stop, the woman had her newspaper covering her face as she seemingly slept on her reclined seat.

When we got off the train in Sokcho, we left the bus terminal in search of a taxi to take us to the resort, and a familiar voice called out to us. The rabbit had surprised us by coming on the trip after all. She hadn't planned to because of her need to be back playing the organ in church on Sundays, but we were glad to have her change her mind to join us on Friday night and the better part of Saturday. She'd been behind the newspaper all along, and I hadn't really thought twice about it. Her only complaint - the nappeun shinmun saemsae ("bad newspaper smell").

Surprises are good, and valuable, and they keep me smiling through dreary Monday mornings of speaking tests and gloomy skies and gloomier faces. Thank you, rabbit. And thank you, dear friends.

Off to Sokcho in the PM

2011-06-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

After school tomorrow, I'll be heading East with three friends for a weekend of what was intended to be beaching and hiking, but will more likely (due to the forecast rain) end-up being a weekend of relaxing, reading, swimming, and (of course) Catan. We are old - well, three of us are, anyway, so rainy day shenanigans will likely be kept to a minimum.

The best part is that we'll be set-up nicely for a rainy weekend thanks to Ed's Seoul sister's time-share and the rabbit's bargain-finding ways. She was somehow able (with all of her discount cards) to get a 220,000 won/night room for 38,000 won. We'll be spending Friday night there and then heading to the resort that was secured through Ed's time-share connection. It'll just be good to get away for a while.

I'll do my best to give a full report upon my return. I love the minbak experience, but this will be nice, too - and roughly at the same price.

Lyndsay's Birthday Suit

2011-06-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

...didn't fit very well, so the rabbit did some emergency sewing for the little girl's big day.

Well, in all of the busy school madness surrounding the last couple of weeks, I didn't get around to blogging about a few things as they happened. Little Lyndsay Whittle's first birthday party was one of them.

It's been great - comforting, reassuring, and fun to have good friend from back home living not too far away here in Korea. He was here before I got here and the lad's been busy. So, baby #2 is now a whole year old and a couple of Saturdays ago, the rabbit and I headed down to Sanbon to celebrate with the rest of the family and the in-laws.

One thing I really like about Korean birthdays is that the person whose birthday it is does the paying. It's like Bilbo celebrating in the Shire - you just show-up and get catered to. About all the rabbit and I had to do was ring the bell and avoid getting punched by Won.

Of course, as Westerners we tend to want to treat the birthday boy or girl to a dinner or something of the like. So, we never really know when to push or pull-back on the issue, though I'm pretty sure that I've somehow managed to make it through nearly 4 years of Korean living without once paying for anyone else' birthday dinner, or my own. It's a skill.

Anyway, the evening was lovely - a quick gathering at the Whittle homestead where fruit was cut and shared, Lyndsay did the ceremonial "choosing of the future career path" by selecting a telling item from a tray: stethoscope = doctor, money = CEO of Samsung Corp., microphone = singer, etc. Lyndsay chose the microphone much to Ian's delight.

Then, the whole famn damily piled into a van sent from the restaurant and we headed out to this very cool place on the outskirts of town - traditional building with traditional food, and a very non-traditional, at least by modern Korea standards, area for play in the woods near the restaurant.

All in all, a great evening, and if anyone ever doubts that letting a foreigner into the Korean family unit can lead to legitimate happiness, then I wish they could have seen the face of Lyndsay's grandpa as he sat on a lone lawn chair after dinner, surrounded by a group of completely unorthodox family and guests, including yours truly. I don't speak much Korean, and he speaks next to no English, but I was able to manage: "This is a good family. Are you happy?" At which he smiled and laughed and said "Yes."

Pretty simple, right?

Super 8 with 12

2011-06-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, a big ol' group of us headed to The Youngsan CGV to watch at 8PM showing of J.J. Abrams' summer action adventure movie, Super 8.

It was wonderful, and it was such a good feeling to be watching it in the theatre with 11 of my closest friends here in Seoul. I felt like a kid again and I haven't had that much fun at the movie for a long while.

If you haven't seen it yet, go. My only caution would be that kids under 10 might get scared, though I'm willing to bet that the ending is happy enough to nullify the possibility of nightmares.

Here's my review if you're curious...

Popping-su!

2011-06-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

With temperatures in the low 30s today, the rabbit took me out for an afternoon of tea, catching-up on work in coffee shops, dinner in Insadong, and a bowl of sweet and delicious 팥빙수 (Pahd-bing-su) to cool us off.

Pahd-bing-su is a traditional hot-weather dessert popular in many Asian countries and it consists of a combination of shaved ice, diced and sweetened red beans, and milk. This place we went to today, however, spiced things up a bit by making their ice out of a sweetened tea, and by adding a little bit of honey-ginger tea and lemon rind to the topping. That makes for a sweet little bowl of 팥빙수!

Of course, the best part of pahd-bing-su is that when spoken fact by the rabbit, it sounds like "popping-su", which pleases me a great deal.

Much more to write about and catch-up on, but I'll aim to do just that over the next few days as I finally have an easier week ahead of me. In the meantime, let me send a shout-out to my dad for Daddies' day, and to my aunt for an early birthday wish. And it's now that I realize that I'm pretty sure that I forgot Mother's Day this year, which makes me more than a bit of an ass. Sorry, mom - If I could send an apologetic bowl of popping-su through the internet, you know I would.

"Vancouver is Fire!"

2011-06-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Stanley Cup Pizza Playoffs ended on Thursday shortly after lunch. Class 3-11 was devastated - back in April, they had drawn for the number 1 selection and swiftly snatched-up the Canucks while the second pick went to Washington and the rest was pretty much predictable.

Of course I was cheering against Vancouver all along, and I could go into the reasons why, but perhaps it can be summed-up into the fact that it's always nice to see a smarmy team and fan-base who thought so far ahead as to believe that a 16-win championship road was going to be easy, crash and burn after disrespecting other teams and players along the way. As a Detroit Red Wings fan, I know all about how this "everyone against the front-runner" stuff works. If you're a hockey fan, you get it, and if you're not, you don't.

I don't mean to drop the "burn" reference so casually, I am of course speaking about the hockey game - not the riot, lest you get the two events confused as so many did.

About the only thing that would have kept me from being completely dejected had Vancouver made good on the Sedin promise to win game 7 would have been giving pizza to Yeh-lin.

Yeh-lin is a grade 3 student from class 3-11 who was all about the Canucks the past two months. She attends a daily remedial English class with two other girls in my classroom before regular class begins, and every day when I came into the classroom in the morning, I would update the Playoff bracket on my board and Yeh-lin would get all giddy about Vancouver getting one win closer to the cup. It was kind of fun - I would come in and tell her that Chicago was going to win today, and she would say "No! Ban-kubuh is win!"

Soon, I was tormenting her with the Predators, then the Sharks, and finally the Bruins. Looking at the scores from TD Garden though, she was starting to get a little bit nervous.

I honestly felt kind of bad when I walked into the class yesterday and her eyes met mine and she realized that her team lost and that meant that her class wouldn't be getting any pizza - it would be going instead to class 3-8 (which I actually kind of resent, because they are just about the worst behaved class in the school). But, a promise is a promise. 36,000 won is a small price to pay for legitimizing two months of badly-needed entertainment.

Anyway, Yeh-lin was actually pretty sad. She was sadder still when we saw each other in class today and had a look at the highlights. When it was over, she told me that "Ban-kubuh is fire!" There were other stirs in the classroom and a few other students told me that they had seen footage of the riots on KBS and MBC - Vancouver making the Korean news cycle for the first time since Queen Yu-na captured gold at the old Pacific Coliseum.

I remember coming back to Seoul after a visit home to Calgary, where a great deal of time was spent watching Olympic action from Vancouver with my family. It was March when I got back to my school here, and when I introduced myself to the new middle school grade 1s, I discovered that a city I'm not from can be easily used as an complimentary adjective: "You are berry Ban-kubuh!" more than one student would shout amidst the assertions that I was also tall and "very handsome" which means nothing if you've ever been a white-ish guy living in Korea.

Back then, "Vancouver" meant "tall", "handsome", and "teacher with high nose and small face". But right now, "Vancouver is fire", and as much as we lament that it's going to destroy the "beautiful city's reputation" for years to come, let's not get silly. People outside of Vancouver aren't going to give a rat's ass about this in a week, and people in Vancouver are just going to go back to not feeling safe in large public gatherings, or anywhere near the Rogers Centre in opposing team colours.

That's a sad reality, and as much as I dig Vancouver as a visitor for all of the happy stuff that it has to offer, let me be the first to say that I don't find the riot footage at all reassuring when I think about the fact that I'll be living in that city for a year, beginning in just over two months. With all of it's blemishes, Calgary always felt safe to me - Seoul, even safer.

Vancouver never really struck me in the same way. Enough people who have lived there would speak of a violent undercurrent in the place that is tough to explain or rationalize in anyway. I can ride my bike in the dark of night across an entire cramped Asian metropolis of 14 million people and feel completely and legitimately safe. I won't be trying the same thing in Vancouver.

Go, Bruins!

2011-06-15T08:53:00.001-07:00

My Old Phone

2011-06-14T15:56:00.001-07:00

...is no longer operational as of July 1st. I was told this when I went in to recharge the thing with some cold, hard cash about a week ago.

For most Koreans, this would mean the ability to justify the purchase of a new and exciting 4G phone which can download a 50MB file in under 10 seconds or some such nonsense.

For me, it means a slight inconvenience as I will be leaving Korea for a year toward the end of August and only needed my old phone for another couple of months anyway.

But for me it also means saying good bye to an old and trusted friend that I never lost, that fit well into my pocket, and that I had become accustomed to and fond of over the past (nearly) 4 years since buying it in Youngsan Electronics Market with the aid of extensive body language.

I've got photos and messages on there that are nontransferable and hold a significant sentimental value for me, and how else am I going to wow people with a portable photo of my lifted toenail? More's the pity. The phone was so tiny in my big and clumsy hands, and I took a perverse pride in carrying it around. So long, ol' pal...

And a thank you to Miko, whose G2 phone (which she left here for me) is still compatible with the KT network and will still be operational at least until the end of this year. And a thank you to Oliver, whose G2 KTF phone, like mine, is destined for the scrap heap, a cell-phone museum, or a smallish glass display case in a memorial hall near Anseong. I would have preferred the old-school, but that's not what Korea's all about.

Postcards

2011-06-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is essay week for me - I collected a fresh batch from my students this past Saturday and would really like to have them all marked before the weekend so that I can be essay-free going into the two week break from Saturday class. This means precious little time to do some of the writing I'd like to do - namely an X-Men: First Class review and a shout-out to a fine gathering this past Saturday - that will simply have to wait until essay week has come and gone.

But, let me say that I got two fine postcards from two fine American friends last week. Who knew that one day I would have a friend living in Reno, and another living in South Dakota?

What I'd like to know though is why no South Dakota postcard? And I'd like to know why the Reno graphics are so redundant. So many questions.

Because of the fudge though, I will forgive you, and in many respects, already have. You guys are good. There are few greater joys when living abroad than having little treats from afar appear on one's desk.

Thank you.

Friday Night Putt-Putt

2011-06-12T02:34:00.000-07:00

My Friday sucked.

If your Friday sucks, too - then you could do worse than having a rabbit whose coupon-seeking abilities are not limited to eateries. Coupon night cheers me up a great deal.

This past Friday, we headed up to the rooftop of Youngsan Station to play both 18-hole courses of "Putt-Putt" - an aging, but charming miniature gold course.
The course, itself, is quite simple - most of the challenge coming from the varied concrete slants the runs are built upon. There aren't any windmills or pendulums to avoid, so the course will play pretty fast, and if it's just the two of you, you can easily whip through a course in about 20 minutes.

I'm not sure how long Putt-Putt has been around or is going to be around, but I'm glad we were there before it disappears. For the three hours we spent there, we saw only 3 other pairs playing the course, so we were essentially alone save for the weathered animal statues that may have been salvaged from Dreamland around the time of its closing.

Truth is, I love places like this. There is much new stuff in Seoul and I'm more than happy to patronize a place that is so clearly past its hay day. Best thing about Putt-Putt is its "Deokbokki Buffet" in the "club-house" - pay for your putters, and they hand over a greased pan for you to fill with various deok-bokki ingredients and heat-up on a table-top portable range. What's not to like?

All in all - a good night. We each hit a couple of hole-in-ones and I almost stayed under par on the back 18 until I ran into a stubborn hole on an incline. It was the rabbit's first time golfing in any form and she did pretty well. Best part was that she beat me in a riveting 10-9 game of foosball. As a handicap, I had my midfielders inactive, and she took full advantage. Atta girl.

Any place can be elevated when filled with the right company.

Say Hello to Yun-tae

2011-06-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is my friend, Yun-tae. Yun-tae is a grade 1 middle school student, and as the semester began in March, he hasn't really known me that long. He does frequent my classroom though.

During my recent attempts to cheer-up between bells and to welcome my students to class with something fun, I've been turning to old Disney cartoons (as mentioned previously) and introducing them to some vintage Donald and friends.

Last week, it was Bug's Bunny's stint with the zany opera singer. It has to be one of my favourite Merrie Melodies moments ever: Stokowski-costumed Bugs marching through the orchestra to whispers of recognition. Stuff makes me laugh.

This week, it's been our good friend, Marc Anthony in Feed the Kitty, which remains my favourite Warner Brothers short.

Anyway, whenever the bell rings, within minutes - whether he's in the classroom next door, up one floor, or wrapping-up PE class outside, Yun-tae makes a B-line for my classroom to pop his head in the window or sometimes to come right on in to catch some cartoon goodness.

It doesn't matter if he's seen the thing 10 times, he's right there smiling right along, and if I don't have the TV on fast enough or I'm coming back from a quick restroom break, I'm sure to hear "Teacher... Mickey, please..." upon entering the classroom. Yun-tae just needs a hit and who am I to deny the lad? I can't get enough of Marc Anthony either.

Korean Travel Fail

2011-06-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

Man - every intention to post more every day, but I'm simply running out of time and energy these past few days. I'm going to go ahead and admit that a big part of my woe is the fact that my Travel Korea lesson that I posted about a while back has come to a less than satisfying end for the majority of my grade 3 classes. It's sucked the life out of me.

As one might expect, the first time I actually asked my students to complete homework which would then be utilized in presentation the following class, approximately 50% of them actually finished the homework. This made for some mighty trying presentations.

So, the past two weeks with my grade 3s have been about me stubbornly trying to teach them a lesson by having those students with no completed paper go through the motions of coming to the front of the class with the rest of their responsible team mates and... well, nothing. You might figure that even a student who hasn't completed his homework would have something to say about one of the more famous Korean destinations (The DMZ, Lotte World, Busan, etc.), but you'd be wrong.

Turns out the bottom of the barrel can be just as stubborn as I - those group members who are able to relay their portion of the team's itinerary have their points canceled out by those who have all but given-up on English language learning in their middle school career and have done nothing with the lesson - even though I've given most of them personal assistance in and outside of class, and even though this activity will make-up most of the contents of their last speaking test before the summer break.

I feel stuck here - do I scrap the lesson (as it's clearly failed for most classes) and move on to something else? Or, do I follow-though with the intended presentation/quiz element and reward those who did the actual work? I suppose I choose the latter because I'm not ready to admit defeat - even though it's slapping me right in the face. I simply can't bear to have the laziest among my students dictate the flow of my lessons, or to take the rug out from under those students who actually did what was asked of them. So, we soldier on, the slackers are called-out and embarrassed, I get frustrated, and those who did the work get a reward. It's a sad thing, but reality reveals that the lowest common denominators in my classes are far more effective at pulling others down than they are at allowing themselves to be pulled up.

Sadly, of the 11 grade 3 classes I did this lesson with, only one class came through with flying colours. EVERY student in class 3-2 completed his or her homework and the presentation days for this class have been like episodes of a Michael Palin travelogue of the Korean peninsula. This is the level of comparative hyperbole I am happy to heap upon class 3-2 for just doing what was asked of them. But this is really all I wanted - teams using teamwork, students completing basic question/answer homework, and then presenting their findings with enthusiasm. This is a rare thing in my school.

I do this lesson 5 more times tomorrow and then I call it a week and emerge on the other side of the weekend with the expectation bar lowered one more rung.

Gotta get down on Friday.

Memorial Day

2011-06-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Had a really good day today. The rabbit's father went fishing, but the rabbit and I ventured South with her mom's side of the family to Anseong, about an hour south of Seoul to observe Korea's Memorial Day - a day to remember those lost in Korea's military conflicts.

It was also a day for the rabbit's mom's family to mark the loss of rabbit's grandmother - who passed away about a month before I first arrived in Korea, way back in the summer of 2007. It would have been Halmoni's 99th birthday just over a week ago.

15 of us drove out to a fairly new memorial hall, about 20 minutes East of Anseong - through some winding roads and up some green hills. The building is pretty big, and its halls house smallish rooms which in turn hold glass display cases for the personal affects of those lost.

I've never seen anything like this before. Though there are other more traditional means of burial for some Korean families (under a tree, in a rounded tomb on a hillside), many are turning to cremation and internment in one of these rooms.

Roughly $5,000 will buy you a square display case about 30 cm x 30 cm, while double that will buy you a rectangular space. Prices go up or down depending on where the box is in relation to common eye level.

This is a very public thing. Looking in these little dioramas of lost lives, you can see a lot of love. I couldn't help but be sad while I was there. The whole family wandered into the room where rabbit's grandmother's urn was now sitting beside that of her grandfather, who was lost in the Korean War. There was some rearranging to be done after grandmother passed-away, so that they could move grandfather's urn from his original square into a larger one to be shared. In contrast to most of the other boxes in the room, the rabbit's grandparents' case was sparsely decorated with only the two urns, a small photo of grandmother turned slightly to her husband (no photos exist of grandfather), three small dog figurines, and a tiny toy bottle of soju (grandmother reportedly loved both).

The family was upbeat as they said their hellos to grandmother, and then they moved outside for some food and conversation. The rabbit and I joined them later, but we spent some time in this place - wandering from room to room and looking at some other cases, before coming back to halmoni.

I wish I had met her. I wondered what she would have thought of me. I wondered if she were anything like my mom's mom - short, feisty, and accepting of hugs. At any rate, I said thanks and promised that I would take good care of her granddaughter.

I'll be posting more about the place when I get another chance - maybe tomorrow. But it was very unique, and very thought-provoking, and so full of longing. Powerful stuff.

In all, it was a good day with a really warm side of the family. I was grateful to be included, and they seemed genuinely honored to have me there. There was an immediate closeness that seemed to take them a bit by surprise. I am grateful for that, too.

Boys' Day Out

2011-06-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

Headed back the National Museum of Korea today with Ian and young Conor, but this time, we skipped the Princely Treasures exhibit for the Children's Museum - naturally.

Being the curious sort, I've always wanted to check-out the children's museum portion of the complex. I've been to the grown-up side a number of times, and I'm always curious as to what's available for the wee tots - perhaps wishful thinking about my nephews making it out to Korea one of these days.

The museum is organized well - only 100 people are allowed into the area at a time (90 minute duration followed by 30 minutes for cleaning and reorganizing after each group leaves) and each group books a free ticket, gets in line and enters en masse to check it out. With any more than 100 people in there, things would get to be less-then-pleasant, I'm pretty sure.

Inside the children's museum, there are a few hands-on exhibits for kids to check out that are pretty cool - how to put-together Korean roof tiles, making ink rubbings of ancient Korean art, and reconstructing broken Korean pottery replicas. Ok, that doesn't sound earth-shatteringly cool, but the museum does a good job of keeping the fun educational.

By far, Conor's favourite bit was the puzzle area - large magnet pieces that fit onto a outline in a stand-up case thingy. There were lots of puzzles around, and my favourite was a ceremonial horse that you had to decorate with magnet garb and baubles just like the illustration next to it.

Good to hang-out with the boys today, and I have to thank Conor as when else would I have the opportunity to book myself a time for a Children's Museum entry without looking like a complete tool? In truth, I'm often just a childish adult who needs a child to accompany him to fun places.

Best part of the museum is the fact that it's free. Here, Koreans, are your tax dollars at work.

Worst part of the museum: parents who say nothing when their 8 or 9 year old Korean prince of a child Bogarts the magnet puzzle - staring Conor down and roughly grabbing puzzle pieces out of the hands of a 3 year old who has actually made great strides in learning how to share. I wonder what goes through the minds of some parents who watch their child bully a toddler for the sake of completing an effing tiger puzzle.

Sometimes I'm glad I'm not a parent, because I'm pretty sure I'd lack the patience required to spend time in public with other parents who feel that their precious turd of a child is owed the world.

Kudos though to young Yoon-ho, another much happier and caring young lad of about 8 or 9 who was intent on helping Conor through the whole museum - showing him where the best puzzles were, helping him check out the castle, and passing the veggies at the "Ancient Kitchen VS Modern Kitchen" exhibit. What a sweet kid. He seemed so glad to be of help, and so reluctant to say goodbye.

Thanks, Yoon-ho, for restoring my faith in only-children of the Korean male variety.

This Essay Made Me Sad

2011-06-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

I've probably touched on Korean obsession with the aesthetic more than any other topical issue in this here blog, but I'm going to do so again. Here are the first two paragraphs of one student's Free Topic essay from my Saturday class - I've actually been completely buried in essay-marking over the last week as I'm spending about an hour on each and some require a great deal of attention. Anyway, this one caught my eye...

I have lived with dissatisfaction about my small eyes. Some friends around me solved their dissatisfaction early. There are some friends who had plastic surgery when they started the high school as a present from their parents. There are other friends who had plastic surgery in order to come closer to their dream. When I say that I will have plastic surgery in the future, my friends each react differently. There are some friends who criticize my opinion, but also those who agree with my opinion saying that they will also have plastic surgery someday. I agree with someone who has plastic surgery in order to become more beautiful.

Lookism is rampant in our society where we live now. Of course, many people think Lookism is a big problem and it should be solved. A lot of people have said we shouldn't judge people by the way they look, but most people do. So, I think it's better to change our appearance than to expect the change of our appearance-oriented society. One of the ways of change many people choose is to have plastic surgery. Plastic surgery can help not only to boost one's confidence, but also provide many chances to lots of people. Also, it can help to enjoy a happy life by growing love for yourself.

I'm not sure when I decided to have plastic surgery, but I have pledged to have it. When I was young, I wondered why so many people were trying to become prettier, but now I know why many people try to become prettier. There was an opportunity to change my thinking. I have a friend who didn't have good looks but was kind-hearted. She never talked to her favourite boy once because she was not confident about her looks. However, she had plastic surgery when she entered the high school. Finally, she was confident about her looks, so she told me she was confident enough to confess to her favourite boy. According to my friend's story, plastic surgery can help people to be confident about his or her looks and be brave.

She goes on to offer this suggestion:

It's wise to change appearance to fit the social trend rather than criticize inequality unconditionally, which is difficult to solve.

Anyway, there is one series of plastic surgery advertisements I've seen a number of times in subway stations around Seoul that catch my eye in an early ipod advertisement kind of way. They seem to suggest, in turn, that:

1) Going to Grand Plastic Surgery will allow you to get into a bikini this summer, rather than a one-piece.

2) Going to Grand Plastic Surgery will make your face look like a Korean Traditional Drama mask with a V-line as opposed to a "lantern jaw".

3) Going to Grand Plastic Surgery will give you courage to raise your hair-up and expose your newly reconstructed face.

4) Going to Grand Plastic Surgery will attract men who can afford a Tiffany engagement ring.

I do understand that these young almost-women need to operate to some extent within the confines of this society, but I'm dismayed at how many of them seem uninspired to make change. Of the 22 essays I received last week, 7 were about cosmetic surgery, and 5 were in defense of it. Only one was even able to recognize the larger issue at work here - that every young girl (or parents of a young girl) who gives-in to the pressure, simply increases the perceived "need" for the surgery in the first place. The fact that this student takes ownership of her "dissatisfaction about (her) small eyes" without once acknowledging the external forces that presented the idea in the first place, simply makes me sad.

I wish I could post a photo here to show you what a lovely person this young writer actually is - small eyes and all - but that would be an invasion of her privacy, and it wouldn't really mean much, because to really know who she is, you'd have to meet her in person and see what's on the inside.

Those Polar Bears

2011-06-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

I would have to agree with Lex and say that this is perhaps one of the best essay introductions I have read - not in an academic sense, but strictly for entertainment value, and it's not without its merit in other respects.

I've been focusing on the "hook" lately - the first, attention-getting sentence of the essay. Here, sans corrections, is the result from one girl who wanted to write about the environment...

Do you know that you kill dozens of polar bears everyday? you would be annoyed because you haven't been to the Arctic. but it is ttrue that you have killed polar bears. But how? shampooing, throwing rubbishes, and driving a car... everything you have done causes environmental problems and this has ended-up killing the polar bears and the other species. Every single day, plants, animals and marine life are dying because their habitat is changing due to environmental problems. I belive that we have to protect environment because people can't live without the natural object, the environmental problems can destroy the eco-system and we can't see the beauties of nature.

She certainly got her reader's attention.

An Emptier Nest

2011-06-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

In addition to Lex who is vacationing in Korea until the middle of August, Leo (a public school teacher I trained with back in February of 2009) and his friend, Jacob, have been staying mostly with me during their short stint in Seoul after a 3 month journey through China and Southeast Asia, and before they had back to Toronto early next week. There, to face whatever life brings next.

It was good to reconnect with Leo before he left on this long-planned China adventure, and it's been great having him back. As one person I greatly admire once said, "sometimes we step sideways, and it takes us a while to find the center again." Such was the case with Leo and I, but I am glad we had the chance to hang-out again before he joins the legions of those who have come into my life in Korea, and gone.

It's also been nice filling the house with friends - something that inevitably happens less and less the longer one stays here, though that admittedly depends on one's ability to shift one's outlook as a social animal in this weird and wonderful world of expat life.

Thanks for the Asahi, and enjoy the rest of your journey, lads. I'll hope to reconnect in Toronto someday, and you can bet you'll be accompanying me to the Hockey Hall of Fame in your own hometown, 'cause I know you've never been there.

Fake Plastic Trees

2011-05-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

Finishing the weekend round-up (for about 3 days, I wasn't able to access my blog at home), I'll make a brief mention of a certain street near Apgujeong.

Garosugil street (the "tree-lined street") in Sinsa-dong is a four or five block stretch of higher end shops and cafes. As Sinsa-song is one of the richer south of the river areas of Seoul, it's the kind of place frequented by the rich and cosmetically appealing - defined as being rich enough to afford multiple plastic surgeries, slowly drive their Porsches or Jaguars through a crowded pedestrian mall, and/or display their infant children who are dressed in tiny clothes expensive enough to make you or I forgo food for the month - and cosmetically appealing enough to attract husbands who can afford Porsches or Jaguars and Ralph Lauren for the kids. There seemed to be not one lady on that street who hadn't paid a great deal of money, time, effort, and probably pain to make their outward appearance as impressive (and unwittingly artificial) as humanly and scientifically possible.

Bless the rabbit for having coupons and taking me to a place she remembered as being a bit different in her university years. But, there we were on a Sunday afternoon - the rabbit in her comfortable running shoes and I in my shorts and with backpack, and we couldn't have felt more out of place or uncomfortable.

I'll just leave it at this: Apgujeong/Sinsa area isn't for me. It's not for the rabbit either. We enjoyed our coffee, egg-rolls, and waffles at a couple of places before making our way toward Jongno and Cheonggyecheon for a nice evening stroll down the stream - ending up at a free outdoor concert. Lots of families, and lots of people being themselves.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to return to the tree-lined street of Sinsa-dong anytime soon. For my time and money, Samcheong-dong is the dong of choice when one seeks unique cafes with earned character.

Should you consider visiting Sinsa-dong next weekend, first consider visiting id Hospital. This girl did, and she couldn't be happier...

Yoon-nyeong... Welcome Aboard!

2011-05-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Yoon-Nyeong is one of the more thoughtful students in our Saturday class. Through her seeming fascination with all things British, she has developed a fascinating mix of a Manchester/Seoul accent whenever she speaks English. It's quite wonderful. But, I am more impressed with her confidence and willingness to express her opinion. Her essays impress, and she's not afraid to speak her mind in class.

Anyway, though I may have mentioned a while back that I was leading a class about vegetarianism as a "hot topic" about a month ago, I don't believe I ever followed-up with reporting the results.

The two will come together in a second.

I began class that day by serving each student a helping of French Bread and my vegetarian chili which I had shopped for, prepared, and carted-down to Sindorim an hour away that morning. I had kind of expected students to be a bit hesitant, but I was disappointed in the fact that most of them were really turned-off with the dish.

I'm not going to waste a great deal of time defending my vegetarian chili, but I will say with confidence that them's some good eats! Not for my students, though. Many just picked at their bowls, nobody asked for a second helping, and I ended-up throwing-out a LOT of food at the end of the day, though I did of course keep what was in my pot. "Take what you need, but eat what you take..."

Turns out that most Koreans just don't dig on beans, which make up the vast majority of my chili's contents. But still, man - you ate steamed silkworm larvae as a child - you can surely stomach some beans. Oh well, to each, his/her own.

We looked at a lot of stuff that day - alternative proteins, Moby essays, statements on the subject from notable scientists, entertainers, and "moral leaders" of the world, and we did our best to get an actual discussion going as well. In the end, most people were pretty much sticking to the tried and true Korean stance of simply being a carnivore for life. Fair enough, I guess, but it was then time to bring out the big guns.

I prefaced the short documentary with the admission that I never like to traumatize my students, but that this was perhaps the best way to show why many people have made the choice to become vegetarian. As Sir Paul McCartney once said, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian."

That's large-scale wishful thinking, but since I lacked the time in this class to explore a significant slaughterhouse exposé in John Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, we made due with a tremendously harrowing and graphic 12 minute short about animal abuse on farms and slaughterhouses. The film is called "Meet your Meat" , it's been around for a while, and it's probably still one of the best tools PETA has at its disposal for convincing meat eaters to make a different choice.

This is, of course, hard stuff to watch, but as PETA would argue (and it's pretty hard to disagree) if you can watch this and still eat meat, that's certainly your choice, but if you get half-way through and turn it off because you can't deal with it, and then you head out for a dinner of baby back ribs that same night, then you're not being entirely honest with yourself.

Anyway, I thought I'd let the video speak for itself, and I gave more than fair warning. Some students stopped watching, but others braved the experience. I would encourage anyone reading this to do the same (and then to read Schlosser's book :).

Some of the students were upset, some were angry, and a couple of them felt like they had been... well, tortured. Mission accomplished - welcome to advanced critical reading and writing class, kids!

Anyway, back to Yoon-Nyeong...

This past Saturday, after the field trip, we were all (students and teachers) treated to lunch at Outback Steakhouse (not my choice). However, it was very kind of the supervising teachers to ensure that something with veggieness was ordered for me. I took my place at the end of one of the tables and then Yoon-nyeong was asked to sit across from me so that we could share the vegetarian food.

Whaaaaaat?!!!

Turns out she is now a vegetarian. I asked her why and she told me that since our class, she hasn't been able to eat meat. We actually spook about it through most of the meal, and she admitted that the video affected her more than she thought it would. She really couldn't stand the idea of eating animals at all any more. Yoon-nyeong also told me that she's having a hard time with her family as they are not at all accepting of this choice (and by extension, are probably pissed off at me).

She seems bound and determined though, and I applaud her efforts - not because it's in-line with my thoughts on the subject, and not because I feel that one girl is going to make a massive difference, but because it's a bold and important choice for a person to make - especially a young person in Korea where meat-eating is so socially ingrained in the culture and where group-think is a tough thing to get-away from.

I'm really proud of this girl. She wants to learn more about a vegetarian lifestyle, so I'll be giving her my copy of PETA's vegetarian starter kit that I brought with me from Canada. The information is delivered in bite-sized pieces, and it has some really great recipes to try.

We spoke a bit more about it before the food arrived, and then switched the topic to include the others, who couldn't hold back as soon as the plate of ribs arrived. Yoon-nyeong and I shared a knowing glance as we dug into our salad, veggie pasta, and gorgonzola flat bread - which we shared in bits with the others at our table.

I know that Yoon-nyeong will struggle at times with this choice - with friends and family and going forward, but all the power to her for making it despite all of that.

MAUS

2011-05-29T22:14:00.001-07:00

Lately, I've been letting some classic Mickey cartoons play in the classroom as students enter before the bell rings. "Clock Cleaners" & "Mickey's Trailer" were first-up, and today we are showing "Boat Builders".

These be OLD Mickey shorts - the ones when Mickey had just the black eyes sans pupils. I suppose that should be more anatomically correct.

Anyway, today while we were waiting for more of a grade 3 class to arrive, the opening titles began for the latest cartoon when Sam, one of my more talkative grade 3 students piped-up and in an excited voice said "Oh! Teacher - Hitler music?"

Seriously?

I corrected him, but soon realized that he was pretty on-point. "Boat Builders" came out in 1938 and that was roughly the time when Adolf was doing his best to cozy up to Georg von Trapp and his brood. Orchestral fanfare from both sides of the pond had enough in common, I suppose.

Anyway, why is my student getting all excited for recignizing "Hitler music"? Such things disturb me for a time.

A good Saturday to work

2011-05-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

The days are fewer and further between than I would like them to be, but there are some days when I love my job.

This past Saturday, I woke-up at 7, had a quick breakfast, was on the bike by 7:45 and I rode the cheon behind my apartment down and across the Han River, and East to Olympic Park - just under a two hour journey - where I met my Saturday students and teachers for a sculpture art critiquing field trip.

I've blogged extensively about this before, and the day went pretty much as expected. I honestly can't get enough of Olympic Park - still one of my favourite places in Seoul.

With all of the frustrations that come with my regualr job at times, giving-up my Saturdays more often than not makes up for the collective majority of shabbiness from my Mon-Fri class experiences. It may seem odd to solve the problems of too much teaching with more teaching, but it's working for me for now, so I stick with it.

Honestly, when these are the things I get to see on a morning commute and a day with students who are motivated, creative, and who want to be there, I'm a pretty happy camper. I also had a chance to put just over 96 kilometers on my bike through the day.

So, thanks to the kids and the teachers for making it a worthwhile trip, and thanks to a special lady for meeting me for an evening picnic afterward. Thumbs-up to you all.

"Teacher - slipper... GOOD!"

2011-05-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

With the warmer weather, I've been doing my best to keep things a bit more casual at school. I'm pretty much done with wearing pants. Honestly, as the humidity climbs along with the temperature - eff that. I'm sweating for nobody in this place unless I absolutely have to. So, shorts it is. I'll iron my shirts to compensate.

I've also finally gotten around to buying a pair of those rubberized slip-on sandals - the ones without the toe hold thingy - so that I can be just like all of the kids in my school who slip into them immediately upon entering the premesis since outdoor shoes are for the outdoors only.

The teachers wear these things too, and since I couldn't be bothered to invest in a pair of Birkenstocks (and who knows the probability that I will once again come upon a river of poo in the bathroom one of these days?), I wanted to get something sturdy, yet easily cleanable.

Adidas to the rescue. These babies are rubber, plastic, water-proof, and come with little massaging nibs on the soul. My feet are happy campers, and I am no longer trapping untold amount of Seoul heat and humidity within the sealed canvas of my other shoes. You and I know that such actions were a recipe for one thing: a bouquet of terror. With this new situation, however, I am airy and free, and my students are happy that I have joined their ranks.

So, thanks to the rabbit for her patience while we searched the many shoe shops of Myeong-dong for a pair in my size, only to be denied at each one. And thanks to my neighbourhood Home Plus for actually having a pair in my size in-stock. They had probably been holding it for months - just hoping I would one day make the purchase.

Fine Tea & Fine Art

2011-05-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Golly, Bob Howdy! The rabbit and I marked a special day last week by heading to Insadong for a coupon dinner and tea at one of our favourite cafes, The Kyung-in Museum of Fine Arts.

The cafe portion of the museum is quite secluded as compared to most of the other people-watching venues on Insadong's main street, and it's probably your best bet for a calm and quiet tea on a busy weekend or week night. The courtyard is quite spacious and you have your choice of sitting at a patio table, or inside a number of traditional Hanok-style seating areas that have been restored to a create a very appealing atmosphere.

At a craft shop nearby, I was also able to find a zany print for the rabbit's music room. Giraffes and pianos, they mean something to us.

If you've never been, believe me when I say that it's a great get-away from the usually crowded cafes along the main street in Insadong. And bring Rummikub - the tiles sound wonderful on the antique wooden tables.

The Dragon's Revenge

2011-05-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

Mr. Choi, one of our most beloved teachers at our school, left this past winter vacation for a new school closer to his home. He is dearly missed and I hope to be getting together with him and his family soon.

I did have a chance however to meet-up with him briefly as he new school's soccer team played against ours at a nearby sports center.

As was the case at our school, Mr. Choi is a soccer coach extraordinaire. His team was able to squeak-by one more goal than ours as they won the game 3-2, but not without a valiant effort from one of my favourite students, who was promptly rewarded with a lolipop in class the next day for coming out of the corner against three defenders and bending a beautiful cross into the high far corner of the net.

It was great to catch-up with Mr. Choi, and a little bit emotional as he brought his old team together for one more cheer after the game.

I also met Doraemon on the way to the game. He was whoring himself out for a local SK Telecom Cell Phone store. I took the photo, he wanted me to come into the store. I showed him that I already had a phone. He seemed dismayed at the fact that my phone was a lowly 2nd generation Samsung from 5 years ago. He wanted me to buy a new smart phone. I declined. He was sad.

The Salvage Arm!

2011-05-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

Last night, my Springtime allergies caught-up with me and I couldn't sleep. This happens with me about once a year - in Canada and in Korea. If I lie down, my chest fills with all sorts of bubbly goodness and I can't bloody-well breathe. So, I end-up sitting-up in bed with pillows propped-up against the wall and do my best not to tip-over and smash my face on the window sill or bookshelf.

Anyway, last night, my allergies woke me up at about 3:30 after having gotten to bed at 1:30 and I was up until breakfast time. Sleep just wasn't going to happen, so I picked-up my Nintendo DS and decided to make some progress on a game I bought in Korea 3 and a half years ago.

I never really made it that far the The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass in the first go-round, and then I kind of gave-up. Quest games are like that, if you go away from them for any length of time, you pretty much have to start all-over again so that all of the maps and (in this case) sea charts make some measure of sense.

The portable Zelda is great for the subway life as it's episodic in nature and a lot of the journey can be solved in chapter stages - something easily achievable on the average subway ride. All that, and I've always had a soft spot for Zelda games. The DS versions are especially creative and fun. Who doesn't want to amass collections of various forms of who-ha and take the sword to baddies as one traverses the lands and seas of Hyrule? Great game mechanics and charming animation. Good times for nerds like me.

Well, at about 4:30 AM, I was all jazzed from getting through the third level of the Temple of the Ocean King, when I was told to head back to an island and talk to some clown named "Eddo" who could upgrade my vessel with a "salvage arm" which I could then use to scour the ocean floor for valuable treasures and tools. Problem was, Eddo got all Rod Tidwell and wanted me to tell him with audible gusto just how much I wanted that salvage arm affixed to my watery steed.

The DS makes use of the microphone a lot in this game - requiring some verbal commands, and other times asking the player to blow lightly into the microphone to blow-out a candle, or huff, puff, and then blow in order to get windmills turning, etc. But here I was, with two sleepy and travel-weary lads sleeping in the loft. I had to put it away until the morning. But let me tell you, that salvage arm haunted some Davey dreams.

I spent the next few minutes searching online for suggestions of how to bring the price of the salvage arm down a bit, as one site suggested that the volume would determine the price - the average amount seeming to come to 300 rupees or thereabouts. I guess Nintendo really wanted its customers to act like tools on the subway - screaming for the salvage arm in the middle of a quiet morning commute. One of my house guests, Jacob, who admittedly has a very loud voice even when a conversation's tone calls for the opposite, was just the thing I needed.

So, when we all awoke for a brief breakfast send-off this morning, I handed the DS to Jacob and told him what to do...

"GIVE ME THE f#@%ING SALVAGE ARM!!!" was Jacob's sudden and alarming request - directly into the mic, given at a decible count just below that which would achieve accute hearing damage.

Eddo was less than impressed, and asked for 1000 rupees.

Taken-aback, Jacob tried a more subdued approach - casually low-balling his excitement and almost whispering into the mic.

"200 rupees" was Eddo's offer.

Moral of the story: no matter what Eddo asks of you, speak softly, and walk off with a great deal on a salvage arm. I'm off to buy some antihistamines.

One thing that sucks...

2011-05-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

...about what seems to be most Korean marriages is that once a woman is married, it's pretty much the end of the road for her male friendships.

Even with colleagues at work, gone are the days of after-school coffee, bowling, and drinks (even in groups), and weekend excursions with co-ed friends become a high level of taboo.

Such is the case with my school nurse, and it bums me out. She was one of the more friendly people when I first came to the school in the spring of 2009, and we have had some fun together - two student trips filled with hiking, mekju-baji ("beer pants"), and melon bar shananigans with teacher friends, and then a really nice weekend excursion last Spring where she joined myself and a male PE teacher on a trip to Chuncheon for the mime festival. This was pretty rare - a Korean woman venturing out of town and overnight (the scandal!) to share a room with two male colleagues - of course, she got the King-sized bed and the two lads were relegated to the floor.

Clearly, we had been establishing a more and more clearly platonic friendship as the second year came and went, and we had a lot of fun together.

About a week after our trip, I set her up on a blind date with a friend - there wasn't a second date. Two months after that, I heard a rumour at school that she was engaged. A month after that, an invitation appeared in our office inviting all school staff to attend the wedding. I couldn't go, however, as I had a Saturday class that day. I gave her an Outback Steakhouse gift certificate at school after the honeymoon.

Since getting engaged, and even more so since getting married, this young lady has made herself as scarce as humanly possible at work. She used to join the PE teacher and I (along with her female friend at lunch) and now she sits either on her own or surrounded by as many women as she can manage.

When I asked if she would be joining the PE teacher and I on the grade 1 field trip next week, which would have been our third consecutive student trip together, she said that she wouldn't be going. When I countered with the suggestion that she might join us and some friends for a weekend get-away this Spring or summer. She issued the blanket statement of "I can't". Passing conversations in the hallway which last year would have included some laughs and catching-up are also dismissed or excused as quickly.

Honestly, we weren't that close, but it was nice to have her as a friend at work. Notice how I'm using the past tense. That makes me kind of sad.

From the Land of Chocolate!

2011-05-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

I had meant to post about this right after I received it, but something fishy was going on with blogger the past two days and I wasn't able to sign-in. Yeesh!

Anyway, a delicious surprise arrived on my desk on Tuesday afternoon - a sweet little package of German goodness from my displaced officetel pal, Douglas. I could smell the treatishness eminating from the box - with good reason: the lid of the chocolate spread was a wee bit smashed, but thankfully only a tiny bit of cocolatey goodness escaped in the transit - thank you, wax paper seal!

There was all sorts of goodness in there, including two boxes of tea (one being an energy tea which I can surely get some use out of over the next few months), the aforementioned chocolate spread, a very liquidy peanut butter that I'm curious to try out, some vitamin C soothers that appear to contain "forest honey" and sage, and a bag of delicious strawberry gummy candy that makes all other non-German gummy candies melt into a pool of their own inferiority.

And all topped-off with a classically irreverent postcard featuring Jesus and floating winged baby heads.

Thanks for the treats, my friend. They will be enjoyed in small, but savoured doses.

Those Princely Treasures!

2011-05-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not writing the last couple of days... life was catching-up with me and stuff.

Mostly, it's been good, as one of my favourite people has once again returned to Korea for an extended visit. Lex, who had previously lived and worked in Korea for about 6 years, went-off to Australia to pursue her Master's in teaching English as a second language in the late winter. With the semester over, she's back here in Seoul until roughly the middle of August which is a good thing.

As the rabbit described it in a message the other day, Lex is kind of like a "happy virus". Most of the compliments I could give about the lady would result in mass hyperbole, so let me just add that she's a good girl to have around.

The National Museum of Korea is also one of Lex's favourite places in Seoul - it may top her list, actually. So, Ed, the rabbit, and myself met Lex there for an afternoon of roaming about - from the Neolithic action, through the Joseon shenanigans, to the big ol' Buddha's on the 3rd floor.

This is the most impressive museum I've ever been in, though I admit that my world travel has been limited so far. Still, this is the 6th largest museum in the world and it is a must-see for any visitor to Seoul.

The traveling exhibit this time around was entitled “Princely Treasures: European Masterpieces 1600-1800 from the Victoria and Albert Museum”. And it was just about exactly as it sounds.

For a dude who's never been to Europe, I was pretty impressed - at least as impressed as I'm liable to get over a gem-encrusted snuff box used by Friedrich II. There be a great deal of pomp on display in this place - huge marble busts, lots of lace, and tapestries galore. But perhaps the most telling artifact among them is a huge silver "perfume burner" used to cover-up the smell that comes from lace, silk, and jewel encrusted Europeans in heavy wigs who hadn't yet met any Asians from whom to gain some hints about personal hygiene.

If you go, English language MP3 players are available to help bring some of these artifacts to life. Also, if you go - go with Lex, as she will infuse you, too, with happiness and her seemingly unending knowledge about all things museum. She might even entertain you as she takes photos of the wood inlay floor. Unfortunately, not even flash-less photography is allowed inside the special exhibit, which is why these photos are from the museum's main exhibition hall. "Princely Treasures" is on display until the 28th of August, and I'm guessing that with Seoul's summer humidity, they're going to get plenty of use out of that perfume burner.

Inside Alice

2011-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

The rabbit finds coupons to the best places. Tonight, we met-up in Hyehwa after a particularly long work week and checked out a couple of new spots: an Indian restaurant which I've promptly forgotten the name of (oops), and a place called "Alice", which I'm going to refer to as a "room cafe" because I may have forgotten the actual term for this kind of place.

Seoul has a lot of intriguing venues for people looking for private small group entertainment. The place is famous for "bangs" (rooms) that provide for all manner of interests - singing and PC gaming being the most popular.

Alice is a different thing. Not just PC games, but console systems such as X-Box and PS3 are wildly popular here in Korea as well. As a result, gaming halls where you can pay by the hour to have access to a home gaming system and games without having to shell-out hundreds of dollars for ownership of the thing.

I've never been to a gaming hall, but I'm imagining that it would be full-to-overflowing with a potent combination of smokers and/or delinquent middle/high school students. Both, things I try my best to avoid on weekends.

Enter, Alice - an aforementioned "room cafe", where you can pay 7,000 won per person for a two hour stint in a cozy room with access to a flat screen TV, a computer with internet, a DVD player, and a Nintendo Wii.

There is also a kitchen area with free popcorn, coffee, and juice. This is clearly for the squares among us, but who am I to complain? I'm traveling with the rabbit for the love of Pete! What's more wholesome than grabbing two cups of juice, a plate of cookies and sitting down to play some wii tennis before trying to work-off the cookies effects through use of the wii Fit?

I'm utterly charmed by this place. In fact, I found myself thinking that mom and dad would have gotten a kick out of it as well had we happened upon Alice during their visit to Seoul. How cool it is that in Hyehwa, one of the more young-adult oriented areas of Seoul, you can find enough cardigan sweater wearing couples and groups of friends who skip the neon and cheap soju and instead opt for the cozy confines of Alice? And who doesn't want a private room in which to simulate jogging, boxing, or tennis on a Friday night?

If you are intrigued, Alice is located not far from exit 4 of Hywhwa Station. Just head toward the CGV and look on the third floor above the Artbox. It's a blue sign. And don't worry about your safety because should things get out of control with all of the juice and cookie consumption, there is this handy and accurately drawn escape route map for each individually curtained-off room. Alice doesn't want any unnecessary tragedy on her watch.

Morricone: Take 2

2011-05-19T16:11:00.001-07:00

Post Karsh exhibit, the rabbit and I made it to the 2nd night of Ennion Morricone's 3 night run at Seoul's Sejeong Centre for the Performing Arts. This is the same venue where I sat front row for Harry Connick Jr., and while I was happy to pay the 120,000 won for those seats, I wasn't about to do 200,000 for the same seats for a full orchestra.

The rabbit wanted to sit as far away as possible anyway and let the music wash up and over her. As I've mentioned countless times before, Koreans love them some Morricone. That is perhaps why he has been able to sell-out the Olympic Gymnasium in 2007, again in 2009, and now the Sejeong Centre for three sold-out nights. This was essentially the same concert as when I first saw him in October of 2007 - highlights of his cinematic scoring career. It's all amazing music, and it's very cool to be able to hear it live. Highlights for me (and likely most others) are his selections from The Mission and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

It is perhaps a strange thought that people would pay hundreds of dollars to see live orchestral and choral movie music, but for most everyone who was there, it's a chance to see a beloved genius cleberating his career. Our seats were only 40,000 won, but even at a great distance, it's clear that he loves his work, he's appreciative of his musicians, and he's grateful to the point of tears for his audience. For evidence of this, check out his reception of his honorary Oscar from a few years back.

One addition to the repertoire on this night, however, was a solo by Korean pop-turned stage musical superstar Ok Ju-hyeon - a singer who famously transformed herself through excercise and plastic surgery during her stint as a member of the K-Pop group FIN.K.L. ("Fine Korean Ladies?") alongside Lee Hyori. She was by far the most vocally competent of the group but apparently the least attractive. Think Effie White of Dreamgirls. And Ju-hyeon is telling Hyori now! Ok Ju-hyeon has gone-on to have a successful solo career and has been cast as high profile leads in a number of recent broadway musicals here in Korea. One minute you're being mocked as the "fat one" and the next you're standing alongside an Oscar Winning Italian composer. All it takes is a little "hot yoga" and a willingness to go under the knife. Young and impressionable Korean school girls, take note.

Karsh in Seoul

2011-05-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

I first saw Yousef Karsh's work at the Calgary Stampede of all places - in a special exhibit in the round-up centre. I was about 17 or so. Impressive stuff - even at that age, and I remember being somewhat proud that a Canadian photographer was not able to take such memorable photographs of so many famous people, but that he had been sought-out by them in an attempt to be further immortalized.

The rabbit and I stopped-by the Sejoeng Centre for the Performing Arts on our way to the Ennio Morricone Concert on Tuesday to check out the current Karsh photo exhibit.

If you've never seen his photos in person, it's highly advisable that you do. The exhibition only runs until the 22nd of this month and tickets are only 8,000 won. Even if you've never heard of Karsh, you have surely seen at least a handful of his photos - images of Hemmingly, Churchhill, and Audrey Hepburn being among the most famous and iconic. In fact, I can't remember an image of Hemmingly that isn't at least somewhat coloured by Karsh's famous portrait.

The Churchill portrait is fanstastic, but my favourites on display would be those of Peter Lorre and Princess Grace Kelly. I can just imagine her about to slip into something more comfortable as James Stewart dims the lights and reaches for those binoculars one more time.

A forest, which was once a land

2011-05-18T03:12:00.000-07:00

So, I made it out to "North Seoul Dream Forest" yesterday to scout it out for a potential field trip location.

What can I say about "Dream Forest"? Well, interestingly, it used to be "Dreamland" - a poor man's Seoul Land seemingly built to satisfy those Northern-dwelling Seoul folk who can't be bothered to take the kiddies south of the Han River on weekends.

The former theme park looked like a bit of a nightmare - as you can see from this flickr set from what seems like not that long ago (August, 2007 to be precise). I'm sure in its hay-day it was a veritable Calaway Park of family fun.

It its last years though, it was an all-but abandoned shell of a place - occupied only by lonely monkeys, caged ducks that presumably were left to rot in their own fetid waste, and the odd child splashing in a wading pool, supervised by parents who don't think that waterborne pathogens are anything to worry about.

Gladly, these fading nightmares are now behind us and the land has now become the forest - which is basically a minor, manicured and landscaped valley running through two of North Seoul's smaller mountains - both of which are not a challenge to hike in about 10 minutes.

In short, it's a pleasant spot - highlights include:

a) An art gallery, where weird and wonderful metallic creations are taking-up residence this month.

b) Frequent "Parades of Cute" - otherwise known as pre-schoolers in matching jogging suits and backpacks - being led around as they hold onto strings in pairs.

c) A good number of cafes and restaurants scattered throughout the park.

d) A Performing Arts Centre

e) Perhaps Seoul's oddest "observatory", where forest visitors can ride up a slanted elevator to see views of Northeastern Seoul, and learn all about the episode of the Korean drama, Iris, which was shot there in 2009 (The place is rotten with pictures of Lee Byeong-hun).

North Seoul Dream Forest is also full of little spots that make weekend picnicking complete - water fountains for the kids, and plenty of shady spots for mom and dad. There's also a very cool library / cafe for parents and kids. All admissions are free except that to the "Blown Glass Museum" which I didn't pony-up the 5,000 won for.

Dream Forest is no Olympic Park, but any time Seoul wants to reclaim a valuable green space and make it usable and inviting, I'm all for it. The best part is that it's a 20 minute bike ride from my house. They have a deer garden similar to that in "Seoul Forest", so it's nice to know that the opportunity to massage deer through a wire fence now is an option much closer to home.

A quick note about "louts" on a train...

2011-05-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

I will really try to make this quick, though really - I could go on. Let me preface this by saying that I am usually the first person to be embarrassed by the behaviour of fellow foreigners here in Seoul. I am one of the ones who likes to try to blend in, as much as a freckled and skinny white guy might in this here metropolis.

This blog post was brought to my attention the other day and I was asked what I thought about it. (You'll need to read the linked blog post first) Here goes...

1) From what I can tell, this group of foreigners wasn't hurting anyone. They were taking up too much space and being unnecessarily conspicuous (as most foreigners are at the best of times anyway), but they were playing a card game, and drinking. I'm guessing they were having fun. You can buy beer on subway platforms.

2) I understand that some might see the behaviour as rude or unacceptable for patrons of public transit. I honestly mostly see it as "different behaviour." Sometimes, different here is bad, and honestly, many old-school Koreans look for any excuse to label foreigners as "louts". You can buy beer on subway platforms.

3) The foreigners who decided to sit on the floor of the subway are brave souls indeed, as chances are that same floor, within the previous 24 hours, had likely been pissed-on, vomited-on, or been the unwitting recipient of a fair number of farmer's blows coming straight from the nostrils of any drunken Korean male over the age of 55. You can buy beer on subway platforms.

4) On the way to a movie theatre last year for my birthday, I boarded the train with a group of my (mostly foreign) friends and we continued a game of Taboo for the 40 minute journey including transfer. We must have appeared a bit odd to the Koreans on the train - holding cards, and saying strange words while someone stood next to us with the buzzer. It was a busy train, people talking to each other or talking on the phone, and others not. I remember many people looking at us with curiosity and some of them smiling as it did seem that we were indeed playing a game. We weren't that loud.

5) My friends and I also sang Christmas carols on a busy subway car on Christmas Day afternoon while wearing Santa hats.

6) I'm admit it's possible that #s 4 & 5 may have pissed-off one or more Koreans. I maintain that we weren't harming anyone.

7) I wasn't there, so I can't say what these card-playing foreigners were really acting like or not, but I'm going to throw out a guess: that they were simply playing a card game, having a few drinks, and having fun - though I admit they shouldn't have taken-up the space or the extra seats. I'm guessing that they thought they might raise a few eyebrows, or even get a few amused laughs from some.

8) 5 undesireable behaviours I've seen foreigners exhibiting on the subway: a) swearing, b) wearing culturally unacceptable attire in summer, c) speaking far too loudly about personal things assuming nobody can understand them, d) complaining about Korea e) not giving-up a seat to an elderly person. Likely responses to this behaviour? - an article in the next day's newspaper. I also once saw 3 black American teenagers sitting on a subway floor late at night - probably because they were tired and had no qualms about it. Imagine the Korean witness tongue-wagging that went on that night. I know that foreigners have done worse, I'm just commenting on the things I've seen with my own eyes.

9) 5 undesireable behaviours I've seen Koreans exhibiting on the subway (in addition to all of the above): a) being drunk and sleeping across 5 bench seats, b) being drunk and vomiting on a fellow passenger's shoes, or releasing a Turner & Hooch style farmer's blow onto the floor in front of the bench they are sitting on, c) being drunk and loud as f#$@ as they hold a high decible conversation with the person sitting right next to them, d) cursing-up a storm (mostly middle school students), e) roaming the subway with a bible and casting scorn upon anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus - an act which one Korean grandmother didn't take kindly to, so she promptly started beating the man with his own bible. Likely responses to this behaviour? - Nothing, aside from athiest granny gone wild. I guarantee that "Han" would not have considered calling transit security about any of these behaviours from his fellow Koreans. He'd probably just go back to his iphone game.
I know that Koreans have done worse, I'm just comenting on the things I've seen with my own eyes. You can buy beer on subway platforms.

10) I've been told that it is unacceptable to eat on the subway, though, when one considers #9, it's easy to see why nobody would even want to. It is a dream of mine, however, to one day bring a wicker picnic basket onto the subway. I will then take from it a red & white checkered table cloth and fold it over my lap. Then, a white china plate, upon which I will put a hot serving of whole wheat spaghetti, topped with a steaming helping of four mushroom tomato sauce from a different thermos. Ideally, a friend would come along to offer me a glass of Pinot Noir poured from their white-gloved hands, and another friend will come along and accompany the scene on accordian. I would like to do this because it's unexpected, it should offend no one, and it might make people laugh. You can't buy Pinot Noir on subway platforms.

11) I also like to be the last one into an elevator so that I can stand with my back to the closed door, facing everyone. That's fun, too.

12) Beer, soju, and Maekeoli is readily available in Korea - everywhere... at all times of the night (and on subway platforms). It is beyond socially acceptable to be as drunk as Falstaff and beligerent as hell in public. All the better if you are wearing a 3-piece suit at the time and kudos to those able to hold onto their briefcase and stumble home.

Anyway, what's the big deal? We all know foreigners are capable of worse, as are Koreans, and for those that commented on the original blog that drunken Koreans wouldn't be allowed to play Go-stop on the floor of a subway in New York - yeah, you're probably right, but then the only pattern I see here is that it's apparently okay to poo-poo the breaking of public transportation taboos if they are broken by "foreigners" - wherever you might find yourself being considered one. For all of the shit I've seen Koreans pull on the buses and trains, I've seen nobody tell them off - except for that grandmother who went all revenge fantasy. Had a foreigner done that, it would be in every newspaper and all of us foreign teachers would be asked the next day by our co-teachers what we thought about foreigners who beat elderly mean with bibles. My answer at this point would likely be, "quite highly".

The best Tuesday I'm likely to have for a long time

2011-05-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning, the entire school populations is heading out to various parks around the city to participate in a yearly "writing exercise". I can't really tell you what's involved from the student's perspective, other than to say that by the end of the day, they have probably spent 45 minutes on writing and about 5 hours on having fun in the park - as it should be, I say. Such opportunities are rare.

For my part, I was able to convince The Authority that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the "free" day by heading to nearby "Seoul Dream Forest" and scouting the area as a potential summer camp field trip destination. This means I get to jump on my bike in the AM, report to school at 8:30, and then I'm free to explore the park (only 3 subway stops away), take photos, and get one of my 5 day camp plans mostly taken care of. Best of all, I'll get to spend a work day on my bike.

This will be valuable as previous field trip destinations (Olympic Park, COEX Mall) have been simply too damn far away.

Tomorrow night, the rabbit and I are heading to the Sejeong Arts Center to see Ennio Morricone conduct the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. This will be my second time seeing the Italian master at work, and rabbit's first. I feel like I've been wanting to take her to this concert for years. Anytime you get to hear Morricone's music live AND conducted my Morricone, himself, take it.

I'm also looking forward to having tomorrow night's concert erase the memory of seeing "The Mission Musical" in the same venue a couple of months before. The rabbit shares this sentiment.