Surreality, thy name is Korea - Part 1

Today was the Suncheon Jeil School Festival. Not knowing what to expect, but not expecting very much, I was completely bowled over by the whole day (hence, 2 posts). And yeah, it was pretty surreal (but hey, this is Korea.... we get used to it).

First off, there was the stuff at school: student art exhibits, a computer game competition, face painting, movies, games, food, the works... Melissa and I wandered around with our cameras, taking pictures of kids that we especially like...


And we got our tarot cards read too (the guy on the left of the pic is translating on the spot - amazing student!).



And saw a few Samurai (???).


And headed down to a Norae (Korean karaoke) thing too... By now, we've become completely used to watching our students sing ballads to each other.

The rest of the day was to be some sort of talent show/concert at the Suncheon University Hall. Melissa and I headed out, still not quite sure what to expect.

Surreality, thy name is Korea - Part 2

So, Melissa and I get to the University, where the big show will take place. We eat lunch, then wander around IN THE RAIN until giving up and sitting through the soundcheck of the performances.

Since I had to leave early, I'm kinda glad that we did, since we got to watch a few interesting things, like a hip hop dance routine, a booty-shaking dance, a fashion show and a beat-box sample (see video). That kid in the tie is amazing: Making all the sounds himself (the actual show went on for about 10 minutes - really cool).

The soundcheck did not prepare us for the surreality of the actual show. The MCs started by donning cat masks and doing a choreography (ooookkkkaaaayyyy), and they were followed by a very confusing musical play that went on for 30 mintues (too long!). Then, there were a bunch of ladies in hanbok (traditional Korean dresses) singing, then... the Miss Jeil competition.

So, a bunch of beautiful young women get on stage... but... wait... those aren't girls!

They had full-on wigs, boobs, make-up and everything. And, they also got (male) friends out of the audience to dance with them on stage! Can you imagine this happening in Canada?

There were so many different musical numbers: ballads sung by heart-broken guys in suits, traditional Korean drumming, a rock band, a break-dancing routine that knocked my socks off... too bad I had to leave before the end (even though I did stay for THREE HOURS, I didn't see everything!). All in all, it simply proved to me, once and for all, that Koreans excel at everything!

I just can't figure out - since they are in school from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm, when did they have the time to do all this?

They really look different when they aren't in uniform, eh?
Here are two of my Grade 2 students, all ready for the fashion show! And a line-up of my handsome boy students (fashion show).

Daewonsa... Again

Back in June, I went to Daewonsa (the little Tibet in Korea) with Jen. I was totally amazed by the beauty of this temple and museum, and wanted to return one day.

Today, I dragged Karen, Arsalan, Melissa, Chris and Jessica out to see it for themselves. It's quite a trek to get to Daewonsa, but it is worth it. There have been a lot of improvements to the museum since I was there last, and the fall colours make a nice backdrop to the temple buildings. We checked out the museum, the temple, took a walk down to a really excellent restaurant for some spicy duck soup, and then hung out in a pagoda before making the return trek home.

It was an awesomely wonderiffic day.... Since my camera allows me to take video, I'll just let the pictures and videos do their own talking. Video 1 = inside the shrine outside the museum. Video 2 = Melissa and Chris looking at the sand mandala. There is sound on both these videos, so turn on (or off) your speakers...

Seoul Weekend and Cat Adoptions

To celebrate Cassandra's birthday, a bunch of us (me, Cassie, Haydar, Michelle, James and Tony, representing Canada, USA, Iraq, South Africa and England, respectively) headed to Seoul this weekend. For me, it was a quick trip - up on Saturday morning and back on Sunday morning! We took the train up from Suncheon - Michelle and I liked the young Korean soldiers and sailors that we found there. It was great to wander around Itaewon, buying food, books and clothes that you can't seem to find elsewhere in Korea.

The high point for me was the Rocky Mountain pub. It's a Canadian pub, decorated with hockey jerseys, playing Tragically Hip and serving Moosehead beer!

When I got back from Seoul, I picked up Jakob from the vet's (he's fixed now! Yay! Of course, it hasn't slowed him down one bit!) and noticed that there were three gorgeous Persian cats there. Well, they were homeless kitties in search of good homes. Now, you all know about me and cats.... suffice to say that with Karen's help, these kitties are finding good homes amongst different foreigners! Yup - it's the Korean branch of the SPCA. Heather would be proud!

Where I Live...

Scroll down and start with Part 1.... it reads better that way.

Where I Live - Part 3

At the entrance to the Shidae apartment/New Core shopping complex, there are always some very pretty, shaggy-haired Korean guys - probably University students - directing traffic. Standing at a junction of a four-lane street and a two-laner, with the exit of a parking garage on one side, and a six-lane road on the other, this guy certainly has his work cut out for him. Their outfits change with the seasons, or with "Event Sales" (they are actually employed by New Core). My favourite was the safari suit, complete with zebra accented fedoras. On Sundays, there can be up to 12 uys, strategically placed to guide the cars and pedestrians.

Don't be fooled, nobody pays the slightest attention to the traffic guys.


Looking up the hill (aka The Shidae Deathmarch - it's rather steep) towards Building 101, we can see Kim's Club (supermarket) and the New Core Outlet on the right, with Dong-Su fitness (a five-storey athletic/spa complex) behind. On the left is the swankier New Core department store. Need a Samsonite suitcase, some Body Shop soap or a leather couch? Here's where you want to go. There are three beautifully suited ladies at the door to greet you, and each counter has no less than two smiling (bored?) employees behind it.


Across from New Core, the effects of population density can be seen in the signs. All of these businesses exist in one four-storey building. If you read Hangeul, you can recognize "Paris Baguette", a pharmacy and a PC room. If you can't read Hangeul, you can just let yourself be dazzled by the neon when the signs are lit up at night.

This is only a taste of my home. And it's about time I showed it to you all.... it's been SEVEN MONTHS!

Where I live - Part 2

Coming home, we roll downhill. Past the same fields and houses, but with a different view.

Towering over the fields, there are mountains... and the ubiquitous Korean apartment blocks that can be found in ever-growing numbers throughout the country. Are they a blight upon the landscape? Or, are they the reason that there is so much greenery here? As ugly as they may be, I still find it preferable to the North American model: Let's squeeze 5,000 people into a small space, instead of each one having his own house, with an acre of land around it.

Still, the traditional peaked roofs have their place here. Ancestors' graves are simply a part of the scenery, with the road curving around it. There are graves on the hill behind Shidae too. From my window, I can see about 4 of them. Spooky? Traditional? I hardly even notice them anymore.

More modern houses can also be found here. The most important element of any parcel of land, however, seems to be the way it is used, almost exclusively, for gardening. And I'm talking vegetables, persimmon orchards. There are no lawns to mow in Korea. Only onions to harvest.
















Shidae looms ahead of us... let's go look inside.

Where I live - Part 1

It occurs to me, sometimes, that the point of having this blog is not to drone on about the mundane business of my life here, but to offer insight into what living in Korea is truly like. I'd like to take some inspiration from my friend Brent, who blogs about more cultural things like Korean TV, rather than what his hair looks like, or what he ate for breakfast, and show you around my neighbourhood.


This is the Shidae Apartment complex. From far away, it looks quite nice. My building is the tallest one on the right - building 101 (Baek-il dong). I'm on the 18th floor of this 19-storey building. Now, ponder that for a moment: 19 floors x 14 apartments on each floor x 9 buildings x average of 2 occupants per apartment = more than the population of La Pocatiere in one city block, not including about 15 restaurants, two 4 or 5 storey department stores, a daycare centre or two, a grocery store, two convenience stores, a couple of fruit stands and various other businesses. Note that there is another Apartment complex right next to Shidae, with about 5 buildings in it.

Across the six-lane road from Shidae, you suddenly enter a different world. Here is a... well, can't call it a village... let's say "hamlet" of small traditional Korean dwellings. Low houses with tiled roofs peeking over low stone or concrete walls. This is where I came with Nina to learn how to ride my scooter.

Continuing up the one-lane road, there are fields of rice and tea. Farmers in odd get-ups are wandering around, sitting on the side of the road, or working. Rotatillers and wheelbarrows litter the pavement. These fields are currently being torn up to make way for another apartment complex...but more on that later.

Further up the road - we are now only 5 minutes from Shidae and its high-end boutiques - autumn shows its colours over "Lake Nina", a dammed reservoir nestled at the base of a mountain, overseeing the patchwork of fields below.

Up now, Red Devil's engine whirs and protests, past a quarry, until we reach.... a White Castle? Yes, at the end of this road in the middle of nowhere, there is a fairy-tale palace sort of wedding hall. Next to it is a driving range.

But, let's turn around and go back home now...

The Saga Continues...

Right... before I delve into the stolen wallet crisis again, here's something good: There was a marathon in Suncheon on Sunday. Out of town friends Sloane (who loves Jakob), Monique (who reminds me way too much of my friend Barb from WLU) and Jessica (a part of the Halloween crew) arrived on Saturday evening. It felt like a total pyjama party, with gossip, face masks and banana bread (mmmm, yes. Monique has an oven). There were many foreigners at the race (no, I did not race), and they were given a 5-minute head-start with the mobility and intellectually challenged participants. Yes, I was a bit baffled as well to see my friends starting off the race ahead of everyone, running next to kids in wheelchairs. We're thinking "photo-op"...

Props to Arsalan who ran the 10 km with my Canadian flag draped over his shoulders. Here's a pic of "Team Canada" (okay, Ryan, Erica, Jamie and Jessica are American, but they are cool enough to be honorary Canadians...).


On Monday, I woke up with what felt like a major flu, so I didn't go to school. My co-teacher finally responded to the e-mails I'd been sending her all weekend to tell me to "go to the police station and fill out a report". (Which police station? Where? To fill out a form in Korean?) Her next paragraph essentially told me not to bug her anymore.

I e-mailed my supervisor in Gwangju, who replied to both of us, basically telling her that, duh, it's her job to help me, especially in a case like this. So, this morning, my locks are getting changed, Haydar (TKD instructor, speaks Korean) is taking me to the police station, and my co-teacher is (begrudgingly) taking me to Yeosu to get my new Alien card, without which I have no rights in this country. Then we get to go to the bank to close my account and open a new one.

Just to give you an idea of how easy this would have been with a more cooperative co-teacher, Jessica also lost her wallet. Read about how quickly and easily it all worked out for her here.

Whew. And... I still feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Oh, and here's a pic of me and Red Devil.

The Hug Campaign

As if Korea isn't surreal enough, we sometimes feel the need to inject extra surreality into the mix.
Carol got a bunch of us together to go to downtown Suncheon to hug people.

Yes.

It's an international campaign of sorts. You can find the video on Carol's blog that explains it all. Basically, you stand on a corner with a sign that says "Free Hugs" and give people hugs.

Now, Korea is not a "huggy" society. We met with a lot of confused stares, giggling, and swerving away. We also had people throwing themselves into our arms, doing full-on running hugs and some who came back a few times. I saw quite a few of my students too, and they thought it was rather cool.

It was a very strange, very cold and rather uplifting experience. I had started the afternoon asking if I could have a sign that said "You Suck!" (because of missing wallet crisis) and ended the afternoon quite happy and smiley.

Update to stolen wallet: Will get apartment lock changed next week, and get a new Alien Registration card too. I used my other bank card to empty my bank account and will cancel the card that was in my wallet when it walked away. As for the keychain and purse... well, there's really nothing I can do.

To The Jerk Who Stole My Wallet:

You probably don't care that the purse was a gift from Karen. She brought it back from Canada. I liked that purse. Too bad that you don't care that the wallet was from a street vendor in Melaka, or that the keychain was from Kuala Lumpur. I didn't get myself too many things in Malaysia, and losing that keychain has me bummed out. You probably don't care that I'm going to have a week of inconvenience because now I have to get a new bank card. You also don't care that I'll have to wait to get a new Alien card, which makes me have to wait before getting my visa for India etc etc etc.

I hope you enjoy the $20 that was in the wallet. Maybe you can use it to buy yourself something useful, you know, like a soul.

You suck.

p.s. And to the jerk who is siphoning the gas out of my scooter: You suck too!


p.s. Happy Birthday Mom!

It's the Little Things

It's...

- a student coming to my office to give me a tangerine
- another student telling me that tomorrow's lunch "is chicken. You eat lots!" (Everyone seems to know what I do and don't eat - except my co-teacher, of course.) because she heard my stomach growling during class
- my worst group of kids being totally awesome
- one of my "cleaning girls" (the students clean the school - oh yes, just imagine how clean a 15 year old is going to make a bathroom...) telling me about her new job at a cinema, giving me coupons for free drinks and making me promise to go see The Devil Wears Prada on Sunday
- my best group of kids all showing up 5 minutes early for class
- a student that I don't even teach stopping to chat with me in the hallway...

It's really the small things that make or break your day as a teacher. Even if it seems that all I do is fling around on my scooter and kick around at TaeKwonDo and go out and travel and have fun, the majority of my time is really taken up with being at school. It is, after all, the reason that I am here.

This week, for some reason, I felt like I was a "real" teacher again. The students were good, or bad, as per usual. My classes went well, and I found myself excited about planning new learning situations, my agenda open in front of me, as I figured out which activities to do for Christmas. Yes, I am a teacher-nerd....

I've been thinking a lot about my time in La Pocatiere these days. I never really realized just how good I had it there. It wasn't always a walk in the park, hell no, but I don't think I'll ever find that perfect mix of students, colleagues, experimental teaching etc again.

I should be writing more about the school, about my students, about the funny things that happen, about passing candy surreptitiously to kids who are kneeling in the hallway, waiting to be hit with a stick, about the girl who picked one of my hairs off my shirt and studied it, quizzing me on if I have a perm or not, about the boy (Melissa calls him my boyfriend) who must say Hi to me every time I see him, whether or not he's in class....

This has been on my mind all day... the little things that students do to trick us into thinking that they may actually be human beings, hiding out under all that adolescence... and I had to write it down before it disappeared. These moments come all too seldom, but when they come, it makes it all worth while.

The Surreal Life

For those of you who find my blog too long to read and want a shorter entry:

Yesterday, I started off my day by judging a Karaoke competition, and ended it by losing a dance contest in a hip-hop club. In between these two events, I broke at least 3 Korean laws.




For those of you who really love me and want to read about my life here:
Let's face it: Korea is Bizarro World. There are things here that just leave you scratching your head, wondering how it all happened. After a while, though, you just get used to it, accepting the surreal life here, and simply living in a constant state of about 40% bafflement. You see one country bus stop with an old couch at it and think "That's kind of strange. Hey look everybody! There's a couch at that bus stop! Neat!", then you see a row of people waiting for the bus in reproduction Chippendales, and don't even bat an eyelash. Odd things are always happening to the other foreigners (Matt and Helen play a concert to 4000 people at a Korean beef festival; Steve becomes a poster-boy for the local golfing range....) You just come to expect this surreality and accept it, and just get on with your life.

Yesterday was just another ordinary day here...

... Well, except that I had to go to school, for which I was rather displeased. Going to school for some sort of "Poreign Languagee Pestibal" (Foreign Language Festival) on a Saturday morning was not my idea of "pun".

It all started about 6 weeks ago, when my head teacher approached Melissa and I at school and asked us to come to school for two hours on a Saturday, for which we would be paid. It sounded like we would just have to show up, so we shrugged, and said that we would be there. What seemed so simple turned into one of the more stressful times that I've had here (What? What stress? Sorry.... that should read "The only stressful time I've had here"). To say that the organization was completely, 100% ass-backwards would be putting it mildly. I won't go into the details, but this damn "Festival" dominated my life and my classes for the past month, and cemented my decision not to re-sign my contract with the same school again (Am I staying in Korea? Hell yeah! Am I staying at Suncheon Jeil Keudong Hakkyo? Probably not!).

And so, yesterday morning, Melissa and I stumbled into school, waiting for what we were sure was going to be a train-wreck of a day, a culmination of the past month. And yet, we were surprised: The front hallway was decorated, there were so many kids jammed into the auditorium that it was standing room only, inside and outside (with kids watching through the windows as well). What a relief, the Festival was a success (the fact that nobody seemed to have a schedule or know what was going on is beside the point, okay?)....

The first thing that we had to judge was a "popsong competition", featuring kids singing English songs with a karaoke machine (!!). Now, as a high school teacher for many years, I've sat through many a "talent competition", and it's usually quite painful. The popsong competition was no exception, and made me feel a bit like I was on Korean Idol or something. And yet.... I loved it! Korean culture is more about singing than dancing. And if there's one song style that they excel at, it's the "Ballad". The airwaves are jammed with shaggy-haired Korean boy bands with voices like melting chocolate, whimpering into their microphones over "sarang"(love) in music videos where everybody dies at the end or everybody is a kitten or something. It should not have been surprising, then, when a few of my male students got on stage, tugged at their shaggy sideburns to make them longer, and wailed out a few heartwrenching hit songs. I was floored by their voices, and began to relax into the surreality of it all as it occurred to me that it wasn't even 10:00 on a Saturday morning and I was judging a damn Karaoke competition. (Melissa and I rocked the house with a beautiful rendition of "Let it Be", briefly forgetting that every Korean student comes equipped with a cell phone that also takes pictures and records videos, leaving us open to blackmail for many years to come.)

Following the Karaoke competition was a "speech contest" where every competitor read the exact same paragraph and, the highlight of the day: The English Skit Competition.

Melissa and I have been preparing the students for this Skit competition since September. It was a long, extremely frustrating month, but let's not get into that now. The kids did an awesome job but still, the mere mention of Aesop's Fables is enough to make me curl into a fetal position and start banging my head on the floor.

Here's the law-breaking part:

I headed off to pick up my scooter from my hot mechanic, Do Hyun. I walked into the bike shop and was greeted by one of my students (!) who was showing all the mechanic guys a video on his cell phone of me massacring "Let it Be" on a stage in front of 300 kids. Great.

I had decided that I wanted to ride my scooter out to the Suncheon Bay reed fields so Do Hyun looked it up on his GPS, drew me a map and sent me on my way.... ON THE HIGHWAY. Although not really that dangerous, it was a tad on the illegal side. Coupled with the fact that I don't have a license (Korean or otherwise), insurance or registration, I was kind of flouting a few laws. I made it there and back in one piece, finding a different way home that didn't involve the prospect of deportation.

And the hip-hop club?

Later that evening, I met up with Melissa and her boyfriend Chris. They were planning to head out to a Korean hip-hop bar known as Black (Yes... yes... you read that correctly). Melissa and I got there first, getting in for half price by pretending that we didn't speak Korean and didn't understand the concept of a cover charge.

And then we hit the dance floor.

And we were ushered back to our seats by a guy in a white suit.

And we realized that we had just crashed a dance competition.

(we won third place)

Certain things in Korea are imitations of things we have back home, but they are just a little bit off. It's as if Korea sometimes wants to emulate certain American things, but without fully understanding them.... as if they read an article about it, and decided to go ahead and do it. Pizza has corn on it. Cole slaw comes topped with a cup of ketchup and mayonnaise. Three year olds have perms.

Reflect on this for a moment, then try to imagine what kind of learned-from-imported-music-videos moves one might find at a hip-hop club. It was absolutely insane. Melissa, Paula and I danced all night, going from one guy who could have made a worst-dressed list (were they not already winning for world's most spastic dancing) to another until the wee hours of the morning.

Today, my plans include eating a sandwich and doing the dishes. However, I'm pretty sure that something weird will happen anyway and leave me shaking my head, thinking "Only in Korea".

Japan again? Ho hum *shrug* I guess so...

So, this week has been full of Halloweeny fun. I wore my sari to school on Tuesday, with gold makeup and lots of eyeliner and a red bindi, and I suspect that my students thought that I was just really really formally dressed, since their limited knowledge of Halloween is mostly about ghosts, goblins, monsters, and not glamourous sari-wearing English teachers. With my extra class, we made Jack-O'lanterns, which was also a lot of fun. It was the girls' first time doing it, so I know it was memorable for them. (By the way, the pic of Stu carving his Jack-O'lantern is also his first time ever.)

TaeKwonDo is going super-wicked-awesome. I am surprised at how high I can kick (without falling over!). There's something to be said about flexibility. Next test will be in two weeks...going for Blue, I think.

Karen and I have been negotiating flights and stuff for India. Choosing a moment when my head teacher was pre-occupied, I asked her about my vacation time and wrote down the dates (this is akin to asking your Mom if you can have a cookie while she's talking on the phone... it's easier to say yes than to engage you in any sort of conversation.....). So on January 13, we'll be flying out of Seoul, to Narita (aka New Tokyo Airport), where we will stay overnight in a free hotel (!) until we fly out to Delhi the next day. Our tour takes up the first two weeks, full of some pretty cool adventures. Then we have 10 days to do what we want in India (Ahhhhhhhhh - I don't know what I want to do in India!!!!!!!! Too much choice! Not enough time! No guidebook! Need help! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!), until we head back to Korea, once again via Narita (an hour from Tokyo), but with a one-day layover this time, returning to Korea on February 10.

If I keep on visiting Asia by flying Japan Air Lines, I will eventually see the entire country of Japan, albeit on one-day layovers.