Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

As a valiant conspiracy theorist, I've been disturbed recently by the appearance of large numbers of jets and their smoke trails (Chemtrails: http://www.rense.com/politics6/chemdatapage.html) in the skies over Gangneung City. Do I really think something weird is going on here...no, but it's fun to pretend. So for the past week or so, I've been noticing these in ever increasing numbers coming from the north. The first thing that came to mind was that they were coming from North Korea, but no one else on the streets seemed to notice them or care enough to look, so I trashed that idea. They could be coming from Yang Yang Airport or some military base north of here. Either way, I see them every day now...

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Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

My dad's plane was delayed so I didn't end up meeting him until 7:30pm or so. Anyways, we met up and headed from Gimpo airport on the subway to Insa-dong in Seoul. The snow had stopped, but the temperature had dropped and the sidewalks were frosted with ice. I got him to the hotel and then we went out for Dakgalbi. He couldn't use chopsticks, so I had to get him a fork and he really didn't like the kimchi, either. But, he said he didn't mind the Dakgalbi. From there, we crossed over near Tapgol park and walked down Insadonggil for a few minutes and then headed back to the hotel. I showed him some photos I had brought with me and then wrote out a little itinerary for him of things to do and see the next day. Go see Gyeongbokgung Palace around the corner, then Insa-dong during the daytime. Then maybe go see Itaewon, Namsan Park and Seoul Tower and then the City Hall area in the early evening. I rushed onto the subway and caught the 11:20pm bus back to Gangneung on Sunday night arriving home around 3am...dreading having to get up in five hours to teach. I did it and it wasn't all that bad; he called me that evening and said everything was fine and that he had looked around Seoul. His flight left Tuesday morning from Incheon at 9am and as far as I know he made it okay.

It was really great to show him around, throw in a few Korean words to the waitresses here and there to show that I had actually learned some Korean and talk about the streets and the city as if it was my own. So that was that, I saw him for about four hours and now he's off in India, visiting family, I'll probably here more when he gets home to Canada next month.

Surprisingly Seoul, a city of 11 million people, can be smaller than you think. Attested to by the fact that I ran into a couple, Sarah and Jim, from Gangneung city, just walking around in Insadong late Sunday night, and my friend Jean-Paul Keenan from Newfoundland's brother at the theatre on our way to see "The Last Samurai." I was amazed to run into these people here, what are the chances?

So today is Friday. I've had the last two days off to relax here and it's been great. I drank on Wednesday night with Emily and Dave at WABar until 6am and wasted Thursday recovering from the hangover in my apartment. Other than that, I've been lazing around, sending emails and updating my site. It's been nice to not do anything, because even traveling can take a lot out of you, and this is my well-deserved R&R.

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Seoul-si, Gyeonngi-do, South Korea

Crap! It's snowing wet snow and it's cold and dirty here. I can't really do anything because of the snow, so I'm just trying to waste time here until my dad gets here tonight. Maybe I'll go see the Last Samurai??
I'm really disappointed with this weather, everything is so much more annoying, like wandering the streets near Insa-dong for two hours trying to find a place that serves Dakgalbi, which apparently is impossible. Just walking anywhere sucks in this weather, most of the sidewalks are paved with this smooth marble stone that becomes incredibly slippery when it's wet and there are puddles of muddy dirt water everywhere, which I have managed to fall into several times. Nobody likes being wet and cold and alone. I guess I'm just in a bad mood! Especially because I decided to go to bed last night at 9pm to get some sleep and then at about 10pm and for the next two hours, somebody's cellphone was making noise every minute. I didn't want to go rifling through bags to find and shut the damn thing off, so I just lay there, staring at the top bunk above me and slowly...went insane. The living room also happened to be just outside the door where a sniffling english-speaking child decided that it would be fun to feed the goldfish ice-cream and yell out the word "FISH!" every few seconds. Between the child and the cellphone I had more than enough noise to keep me awake into the wee hours of the night.

Today, I went to the National Museum of Korea and looked at pottery and glass beads and iron, the only worthwhile part for me were the Buddhist statues, which for some reason I've always really liked. Enormous stone carvings, the vacant looks of enlightenment, upward facing palms, outstretched fingers and the peaceful gaze, they are always a joy to look at. And the admission was only 40 cents! I decided to leave the palaces and Seoul Tower, etc., for the spring time when the weather is a bit more becoming to tourist adventures in this city. I'll stress, though, it's not the cold here that's driving me insane, it's just annoyingly wet and dreary!

And just to bookend this entry on a good note, I did manage to find Dakgalbi here a few blocks from Insa-dong, somewhere to go with my dad for dinner tonight.

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Seoul-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

An english teacher friend of mine here in Korea writes:

You have some strange classes, probably because you teach such younger children. None of those things have ever happened to me, except #3. It's called dong-shim, which means "poop needle", or "shit needle". It happened to me the first year, when I didn't know what the hell was going on in this country. Now, my students would never do that to me, nor would I tolerate it. But, my students are older too.

Well I guess I've been poop-needled then...god it's awful.

I'm now in Seoul. I spent this morning at "English Teacher Training" at Gangneung City Hall. All the foreign teachers are supposed to get together, pay 10,000won, and talk about teaching english. It wasn't as bad as I imagined, half the foreign teachers I know here did not show up though....probably because there was and All You Can Drink night at Bumpin the night before. I didn't go...instead I drank at WABar in Kyo-dong with Emily and Dave. Mainly because I didn't want to get myself in any trouble by drinking all I could and feeling a need to get my money's worth, or be hungover for the bus ride to Seoul. It's a shame, yes, but I will be at the next one!!!

I've got to get out of Itaewon! I'll probably stay near Insa-dong, and am meeting my dad at Gimpo airport tomorrow afternoon...

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Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Another long hard day done! Can't wait for the Lunar New Year five-day weekend! I'm just going to hang around and relax. Also, if anyone is up for hiking Seoraksan, let me know!

I've noticed that my younger students have some strange behavior I'd like to share with everyone.

1. When they are going nuts, I count down from five to get them to sit on the carpet. After I'm finished, in unison, they all say "Go Show!!!!!" What it means, I have no idea.

2. During show and tell, they like to bang themselves on the head with whatever is being shown. Each student gets their turn and then bangs themselves on the head with the toy or statue or book and then passes it on.

3. They like to shove their hands up people's butt cracks when their back is turned (including mine). This causes great laughter from the class.

4. They all seem to be very sweaty. A five second run around the class will leave many students dripping with sweat, they then think it's funny to wipe the sweat on me.

5. During "carpet time" some students sitting cross-legged will lean forward until their head is on the ground. They then clasp their hands behind their backs and just sit there until I tell them to stop.

6. It seems to be great fun to have the entire class try and hide behind the coat rack when I leave the classroom for a few seconds.

7. I have one student who has decided to name himself Chicago. Another, in the same class, is now called Loopy and a third (again, in the same class) wants to change her name to Ajummah (in Korean it means old lady). A teacher at another school has a student named Captain...

8. Many children still have not gained full control over their body movements and I can watch them walk across the carpet and fall down once or twice...tripping on their own feet. It's quite a sight.

9. They somehow manage to lose erasers and pencils off their desks very easily. Immediately, without spending anytime looking themselves, they say "Teacher, I have no pencil!"
I respond with, " I just gave you one ten seconds ago, where is it?"
"Teacher, I have no PENCIL!!!!"
So I look on the floor beside their chair and lo-and-behold, there it is. This happens with erasers and pencils and worksheets....all the FRIGGIN time! It may sound harmless, but it can drive you insane to spend half the class looking for pencils on the floor!

10. When the supply of pencils is reduced to only three or four small ones, I replenish it with enough big ones for each member in the class. Everybody then decides they want their pencils really, really small and will spend twenty minutes at the pencil sharpener, wittling their pencil away. This makes me angry! But when this happens to one person through normal use, I'll give them a new big pencil. Everybody then decides that they want big pencils, and whine all day until they get one too. Then it starts all over agaiin with wanting the small pencils and sharpening them down...can you understand how frustrating this is?

So there you have it. I'm sure more will come to mind over the next year...

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Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Everytime I have a chance, I've been changing this website. It's hard because I'm working in PC rooms in Korea. So I'm disappointed with the results so far...everything is well...temporary, when I'm back home in a couple of years and have Flash and Photoshop again, I'll be able to do much more. For now, I'll make do with what I have. Specifically the "world map" on my travels page is way too pixelated and crappy looking for my liking...but c'mon I'm working with bitmaps and Windows Paint...so have faith in my creative abilities with the tools I've been given... :o

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Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

ahhh...home after such a long exhausting trip. Jeju island was good, I saw everything I was planning on seeing and met a few locals over beers at The Playhouse.

New Years in Seoul was crazy. Met up with Soutthida in Itaewon in the early afternoon and then made my way to the motel for a much-needed nap. Later in the evening we all met up at Gecko's in Itaewon for drinks and planning of the nights festivities. I was still suffering from SARS (as were a few other people at the table, because it was mentioned quite a few times). Kate; Sive, a girl from Ireland; Nadine; Soutthida and Glynn, a guy from Ottawa and myself all drank away late into the evening. Then it was off to Outbacks for Soutthida's birthday dinner (Happy Birthday Soutthida!), but it was too long a wait and we ended up at a Korean restaurant around the corner from Gecko's for grilled pork instead...

At about 10, we headed to Jonggak station, near Insa-dong, for some partying and to see some big bell gonged 24 times by a bunch of monks. I was weary that it might be boring, but we headed out of the subway and up the stairs on to the streets to meet hundred's of thousands (maybe millions?) of people on the streets shooting roman candles in the air. This went on for hours...there was a huge TV screen broadcasting some concert live, and vendors selling food and fireworks everywhere. It was like standing at the base of an erupting volcano, constantly speweing out ash in the form of burnt sulphur. The stuff was everywhere, little black specks of spent gunpowder singing my eyes and lungs, and landing in my hair and all over my clothes...not to mention the people losing control of their roman candles and accidentally shooting them at us...several times. We tried to get to a Minimart for some beverages but it was too packed outside and they were'nt letting anyone in. There was a man constructing a steel baricade of bars in front of the shop window, I guess so the crowd wouldn't be pushed through them. Needless to say, we were all almost seperated and trampled in the thronging masses outside this little Minimart. It was a hellish ten minutes.

Thanks to Kate for forcing a way for us through the crowd and we broke free onto the street just in time for midnight when everyone and every vendor lit off every single firework they could find at once. Glynn managed to find a crowd of drunken Korea's sharing rice wine in the middle of it all....ahhh booze!

We grabbed a cab, stuffed our way in and headed back to Itaewon for a quick stop at Polly's Kettle, to drink some kettle's of Soju and party with the soldiers and ex-pats before heading to Hong-dae and Stompers nightclub, where we forked over 15000won and were led into the incredibly crowded and hot bar downstairs where we drank the night away...4am, exhausted, I grabbed a cab and went home.

New pics for you all from Jeju island, Seoul, Donghae, Gangneung and Christmas at Futurephoto.ca...there are still lots more and I'm working on getting them up in a better format on a different server...for now, here you go:
http://pix.futureshop.ca/en/jg.php?id=27504_46722d73

You'll have to wait for my photos from New Years, as I left the pictures in a Nadine's bag, and won't be back to Seoul to get it from her until two weeks from now. My dad will be stopping in Seoul then on his way to India...

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