Construction Season

Spring is here and with that comes a lot of construction. In general, the weather is fairly mild here so they are always building something. Our neighborhood seems to be getting an overhaul though. They are tearing down stuff and building stuff every half a block or so. There is a large building in the middle of our block and they are tearing the entire thing down. It's quite a sight to see, actually. The first picture is from last Saturday and the second is from Wednesday, I think. Now it's pretty much a massive pile of rubble they are trying to remove with trucks and keep spraying down with hoses to control the dust in the air. Interesting to watch. I hope they build a massive Luxury norae bang there... Hehehe.

A post about last Sunday...

Okay, so I need to work on my titles. Sunday was another full day. We trooped back to Gangnam for a book club meeting (we were discussing Kafka on the Shore). It was a fun time and there was a good turn out. One of the members, Mitzi had just returned from a short trip to the USA and Canada and brought us back some presents. It was cute and really sweet of her since we don't know her super well. It also made me chuckle since we got "Canadian" souvenirs and we're from Canada but it's good because we didn't bring a lot of that stuff this time and the kids are into it. So now I have these adorable guys living on the top of my desk at work, supervising. Name suggestions are welcome!

We saw this guy on the way to the book club advertising for some store.

After the book club Matt and I split up. He went to meet with Dana, Curtis, Hokunani and her friend and I went to meet with a Korean girl named Rachel that I met online at an English speaking website (for people in Korea). I was a bit nervous but she was just lovely. Her English was so excellent and we hit it off and had great conversation. I really like her and hope to see her again soon. We watched a movie (Awake which I surprisingly didn't despise even though Hayden Christensen is in it... I guess it helped that he was unconscious for a large part of the movie) and then had sam gyup sal and chatted for hours.
When I got home Matt was jamming on the new guitar he spontaneously bought in Insadong. It's pretty, even if it's incredibly cheap, and it doesn't sound too bad. The guy even threw in a pick, case and tuner whistle thing all for about $80. Nice! It's wonderful having a guitar around again.

After the Wedding...

We returned back to Jamsil just before 5pm and decided to hang out and explore with Eddie and Garrett (the coworkers that also went to Charlie's wedding that day). So we went back to our apartments and changed (I nursed my poor feet with their destroyed heels from my new shoes) and met up a bit later. We went to a market not too far away that none of us had ever been to. As it turned out, it was extremely "Korean" and sold mostly food items. It was interesting though and if I ever need some chicken feet I know where to find them at a reasonable price.
We ended up walking to nearby Dongdaemun and on the walk over we saw these interesting stores. The first apparently sells every kind of plate in the universe and proudly displays them in the window. The next is where you can get a mannequin of any race or skin tone but they will moon you.

Since Garrett has never been, well, most places, we decided to show him around Dongdaemun a bit and ended up in a department store. Really I insisted a bit on going in there to prove that they do sell men's clothing in them. Walking around with Eddie was very interesting because he was wearing his custom made "Ah-ssa!" hat (Ah-ssa is written in Korean of course). You know how we pump our fists and exclaim "Yes!" when something awesome happens? Well here they say "Ah-ssa!". Also, Eddie speaks pretty decent Korean so he was actually able to reply and converse with people when they commented on his hat. He got a lot of high-fives and excited/puzzled reactions. We also saw a number of funny shirts.
After we were window shopped out we started looking for dinner. Since Dongdaemun has everything except food for sale we grabbed a taxi and headed over to Gangnam. We found a shabu shabu place which was pretty delicious but turned out to be insanely expensive (like $20/person!!!).
Here you can kind of see Eddie's hat and you can see the massive shabu shabu spread we enjoyed.

As a related aside, when asked his Korean name Eddie tells the kids "Kim Ah Ssa" (Kim is the most common last name in Korea) and it's so funny and clever I wish I'd thought of it first. One of my classes told me I should take the Korean name "Kim A Ra" because apparently Ah Ra is similar to Ah Ssa and then Eddie and I could be siblings. Hehehe.

After the meal we parted ways with the guys and did a bit of shopping in the Gangnam area (well I did... I bought more shoes!). Matt also decided to try his luck at a shooting game.
He did pretty good, actually, a lot better than I would have. Unfortunately to win a prize you needed 2600 points. Awww! Better luck next time.

Charlie's Wedding

On Saturday we went to our Vice President's wedding. His English name is Charlie because he said his friend told him that he looks like Charlie Sheen. You might recall that we went to a wedding last year, with our friend Kelly, but we didn't know the bride or groom (Kelly did, of course). This wedding was similar to the one we went to last year, but smaller and maybe a bit more serious and "Christian". Like it was held in a church and there were no fog machines or bubble blowers. But it was still interesting and nice to see Charlie so happy.
Mark (our supervisor who's the one in the sunglasses) arranged a bus to take the weygooks (foreigners) to the wedding. When we arrived we greeted Charlie, met up with some other teachers (you can see David, the homework teacher too) and then it was time to eat! Yummy buffet!

After we ate we went and met the bride, who was sitting in the little viewing room where they keep brides. Matt, Seon, Yuni and I had a picture taken (by the professional photographer) with Charlie and his bride in the tiny room. A little bizarre.
Then it was time for the ceremony to start. It began with the mothers of Charlie and his bride walking down the aisle, hand in hand, followed by Charlie and then by his bride and her father.



















This little girl was so adorable through the ceremony. She was totally rocking out- dancing and clapping her hands. It was really sweet!



After the ceremony we waited around so we could take a big group picture with Charlie and his wife- with all their coworkers. It was a little strange. Then they staged a picture of his wife tossing the bouquet to some woman and then the photographer asked for a picture of them kissing. Well, you would have thought they were 13 or something! He ended up pecking her on the cheek (there is no kissing in Korean ceremonies). Interesting times! Here's the rest of the pictures I took. Including of my new shoes that gave me killer blisters.

The Most Messed Up Shirt I've Ever Found

I have seen a lot of crazy things printed on t-shirts out here but this has to be the weirdest yet. I bought it because it was $5 and because it was so crazy I couldn't just leave it there for some unsuspecting Korean. It's like someone wrote a fan-fiction novella but English isn't their first language. Hahaha! Here, I typed it out in case you can't read it yourself (when you click on the picture). It's all about different hip-hop artists.

Trouble Everyday

Kelis is not in a good mental place today. "I'm frustrated. I'm tired. I am fucking irritated."

Not a good time to talk, then?
"Listen, baby. I am exactly where I ant to be Shoot."
She speaks as she finds, this one. Over a late-night dinner at her favourite London restaurant- she orders, naturally- Kelis will run replete through a dizzying gamut of emotional extremity. When she cracks a jibe, she appears to be infected by the playful venom of Joan Rivers. When she camps it up, she has the ferocity of a drag act. When she gossips, she shames the National Enquirer. When she's digging on her fiance- rap supremo Nas- she has the intensity of a hip hop Lady Macbeth. And when she is angry? She is very fucking angry indeed.

Welcome to Kelis. A joint where the milkshakes are rarely dished up in half-measures. We ought to establish that Kelis has been burnt by the music industry since her 1999 entree into it. If she has bite- and baby, she has it by rewind.

The close of the last century was a fruitful place for a certain son of man-bating musical demographic. TLC had scooped the rocord of the year with No Scrubs. Beyonce and sidekicks had begun their astronomical ascendancy to genre-busting worold domination with Bills, Bills, Bills. Lil' Kim- and her genius call-to-arms for all chunkily penised boys to do her right and do her good- still mattered. Slut literacy was at its most defiant. Sorority school feminism ruled.

White- label 12 dropped at the end of the year. White- label 12 dropped at the end of the year.

Just explain to me, what's up with the fork and spoon??

Another Funny Shirt

I found this today while I was shopping in Gangnam. There was a crazier, funnier shirt but I will have to take a picture and type out that one. It's like a short story novella of wacky. So that's something for everyone to look forward to. I will post a small spoiler though, the shirt contains the phrase "chunkily penised boys" within the novella printed on it. I bought the shirt, actually. It was $5 and there was no way I could leave it there. I also bought new shoes and regular shirts. It was a good day. It started off terrible though when my straightener broke. I'm not sure what I am going to do about this. Blarg. Anyway, enjoy the shirt, we have another busy weekend planned so I probably won't be updating until next week sometime.

Sunday visit with Joi Teacher

On Sunday we made the long pilgrimage to see Joi Teacher. This was no small feat as she lives right beside Incheon airport, which is practically light years away from anywhere. We got to see Teek and meet her kindergarten class pet, an adorable bunny (that Teek kept trying to kill, although the bunny did taunt him by drinking all Teek's water). We had a really great galbi supper (complete with my generation's favorite rice wine- sansachun!) and had Baskin Robbins for dessert. Ah-ssa!
Even our travel time was productive since I had a chance to read my book (which I really need to finish, it's for the book club and Matt needs to start it soon... Gah! At least we're both done the one for this Sunday's meeting).

Oh and check out the flashy gold coat this guy is wearing! We saw him in the subway station on the way home. Hahah! It's a bad picture because I was trying to be covert.

Literally the Sweetest Eraser Ever!

Feeling hungry? Want a delicious ice cream bar? Sorry, that's my awesome new eraser. Actually it was my student Julie's eraser and I had been coveting it for about a month now. She offered to swap with me for one of my [boring] erasers. I hesitated because hers is so cool but then I had to have it. And now I do! The price is printed on the cardboard part- 300 won (about 30 cents). Isn't that insanely cheap for such a fancy eraser? I love Korean stationary!

Election Time

Recently South Korea elected a new president, Lee Myeong-bak and on the 9th there is a parliament election (there are posters everywhere like the one pictured). Lee Myeong-bak is in the conservative party, where as the former president Roh Moo-hyun was in the liberal party. What does this mean? Well, during Roh's presidency he created the Sunshine Policy, which basically meant he focussed on repairing the relationship between North and South Korea. South Korea sent a lot of aid to North Korea, without a lot of strings attached. Lee is a businessman and he was actually being investigated for embezzlement when he was elected. His focus is all about improving South Korea's economy and its relationship with the USA and that means that tensions are rising with North Korea as a result.

Here's a recent article (from Sunday's newspaper, yes, just the day after we visited the DMZ) about North Korea flying jet fighters close to South Korea's airspace. The Koreans I talked to didn't seem very worried about all of these things but it's early in Lee's five year term (in Korea the president is elected for a single five year term). Maybe we'll get lucky and Kim Jong Il will kick the bucket.

A Brush with North Korea

Saturday we finally went on a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). We'd originally booked a bizarre tour that included strawberry picking which I thought was absurdly hysterical. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people for that tour so it was canceled but luckily there are plenty of DMZ tours and we managed to book with another company. The day wasn't ideal but we did have an amazing time.

It was raining, which sucked for a number of reasons. First, it's really hard to take pictures when you're holding an umbrella. Also, my hair goes "Diana Ross" which is fun for no one. The rain also reduced the visibility so we couldn't see much of North Korea or of their propaganda village. And on top of that, our group of friends was half as large as planned since Dana, Curtis and a friend of Gisela's decided not to come. Gisela almost didn't make it herself since she was waiting for her friend (he doesn't have a cell phone so she didn't know if he was coming or not) and traffic was bad so she was late. We worked it out though and ended up having an awesome day despite the snags.

We started off at Imjingak Park, home of the Bridge of Freedom. This is the bridge which crossed a stream adjacent to the Imjin River and was used by refugees from North Korea. Imjingak Park was created for the family members who have relatives in North Korea who they are not allowed to see or have any contact with. All forms of communication between North and South Korea are completely forbidden. North Korea is incredibly cut off from the world. No internet, no cell phones, barely any TV and the only channels are North Korean run.

What would Imjingak Park be without at least one Super Viking? Got to keep the kids entertained while you're mourning the loss of communication with your loved ones in North Korea... Hehe.



Next we headed to Communism Hall and the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. The museum was interesting but the tunnel was definitely the highlight of the tour. I'm kicking myself for not slipping my camera in my coat pocket. Pictures are technically not allowed in the tunnel, which really sucks because it's incredibly fascinating. I did take one of the entrance of the tunnel. The tunnel is incredibly deep and long (and we only were allowed to tour through about a third of it). It was discovered in 1978 and it's name is because it's the third tunnel South Korea discovered. They have found four in total, the last being found in 1990, although it's alleged that there are more than 20 created by North Korea. Inside you can see that North Korea painted the walls with charcoal so when South Korea discovered the tunnel N. Korea claimed it was an abandoned coal mine (despite that geologically speaking it would be impossible to have a coal mine in that area). The charcoal is slowly washing away and you can see the granite walls beneath it. The walk into the tunnel was fun and easy since it was all downhill but let me tell you, walking out of it was a workout! Holy crap!

Next stop was the Dora Observatory. It was interesting to go there even if we really couldn't see much and you weren't allowed to take many pictures. Really, with the poor visibility from the rain, pictures would have been pretty boring. I did manage to sneak one picture of North Korea on the horizon. Yes, I crossed the line, literally. Look! There be dragons!









Another cool stop on the tour was Dorasan Station.
Should unification happen there is already a fully functioning train station connecting the two countries. Which is pretty touching and amazing. Look at the massive list of private citizens that donated to help build Dorasan Station.











I posed with some of the soldiers guarding the entrance to the train station. Don't I look tall? Apparently there are three trains that run to North Korea daily. They don't contain passengers, however, just supplies and building materials for various projects.

The last few stops were a bit boring. A supermarket where you could buy North Korean wine, soju and ginseng, along with other souvenirs. Then they took us to an amethyst store. I was totally having flashbacks to the Dominican Republic and its shopping tours. I had no idea that amethyst was S. Korea's national gemstone. It was pretty but expensive so we opted out of purchasing anything.

On the bus ride back to Seoul Matt made a new friend named Sarah. She was visiting Seoul until Monday when she was going to fly back to California. Apparently she was in Japan last week for spring break. So when we were dropped off in Itaewon we invited her to have dinner with us. Dinner was DIVINE. We had Indian food at this place near the Foreign Food Market (where we bought some more real cheese afterwards) and it was so delicious and such a great price: only $15/person for the buffet (for Itaewon this is incredibly cheap). OMG, it rivaled the New Asian Village in Edmonton for the yummiest Indian food ever. If only they had rice pudding for dessert.

After dinner Matt decided to go home and call it a night. He was sick with another cold. Not sure what's up with that. He was barely sick last year and I was sick all the time and it seems this year we've switched. The rest of us decided to have a few drinks and headed over to Gecko's Terrace. The gods were smiling upon us since we managed to get a table. I've tried to get a drink there a number of times but there is never anywhere to sit so I always end up going somewhere else. We had lots of tasty beverages and good conversation (it was nice to get to know Garrett, our newest coworker). It was such an amazing day! If you want to see all the DMZ related pictures you should go here.