A Sunday to remember (Seoul part 3)

I’m not sure how, but we did finally roll out of bed and head to our favourite place in Seoul – “Holly’s Coffee”.
After filling up on our fuel of choice, we headed to the Ttukseom resort on the Han River (37°31'52.81"N 127° 3'59.01"E), the major river that cuts through Seoul. Steph and I took a leisurely walk through the water front park, watching a few Koreans sitting in shade, or biking down the riverside path. A group of 5 ladies were sitting, playing traditional drums, which added to the blissful summer feeling. Had it not been for the hangover I had from Mark and Mandy's sejo from the night before, it would have been even better. I'm pretty sure I scared off a couple of kids who were drawn to Steph's.

At 3 we met Mi Sung and Sung O and headed off again on Seoul's massive transit system. You really need a short course to ride this system. 3 transfers and 12 stops later, we found ourselves in the heart and soul (pardon my pun) of Seoul... Geongbokgung (37°34'41.88"N 126°58'37.18"E). Listed as "Historic site #117", this palace complex is central to Korea's culture and is situated right downtown.
Built in 1395, it was burned down in 1592 by the Japanese. Restored in 1868, it was again dismantled in 1910 by, you guessed it, the Japanese. Of the original 200 buildings that were restored in 1868, only about a dozen were left after 1910. We spent over 2 hours walking the grounds of the palace, and with an admission cost of $3, we will surely go back next time we are back in Seoul. What a place!!!
The trip home to Mokpo took 3 hours, but Steph and I were unconcious for most of it. Hopefully we will have recovered for Canada Day!!!

A nation in Mourning (Seoul day 2)

We had intended on getting up early in the morning and taking the subway to the main square in Seoul, to join the 170,000 screaming Koreans soccer fans. Intended. Of course we ended up watching a highly dissappointing game between Korea and Switzerland from the comfort of our rock hard bed. There were some highly questionable calls in the game – so much so that the boys in my Monday class were asking me how to say “bribe” – but, in the end, you can’t win if you don’t score, right?

We finally rose at 10am, grabbed some delicious coffee and headed off with MiSung and Sung O for lunch. The table we ate off of, was brought out, already fully dressed with egg, seafood dishes, chicken, salads and other classic Korean fare, after we sat down. Shortly after eating, a traditional Korean dance, concert and vocal set were performed… all as part of the lunch. It was really entertaining. Check the link to Flickr on the right.

From there, we took the subway and headed to the “Foreigners quadrant” – Itaewan (37°32'4.00"N 126°59'30.82"E) for some shopping, but after realizing that the prices were inflated to gouge foreigners, we quickly jumped back on the subway and headed to Dongdamun (37°34'6.45"N 127°0'30.44"E) – aka Stephanie’s heaven on earth. There were already piles of “Red devil” shirts on sale – 2 for $3, and only a fraction of the previous week’s visible fans were out and about. I bargained my way to two short sleeve dress shirts and a money clip using the golden phrase: “Gaka Jeusayo” or “I want a deal!”

14 hours of shopping later, Steph allowed us all to have some dinner before MiSung and Sung O headed home. It seems like we fought over who paid at each meal! Those sweet Koreans!

Later that night, we met up with our good friend Mark Freeman and his charming friend Mandy for a night of drinks and laughs. Mandy introduced us to this mean drink called Beck-sejo (translated to 100 seju?) which means that if you drink it for 100 years, you will have the health of a 50 year old... or something like that. To make the drink, you mix normal soju with a wine that is made with "medicinal herbs". I’m still not sure how we got home…

I've got Seoul, but I'm not a soldier (Seoul part 1)

Our weekend trip to Seoul actually started before school ended. Steph and I bolted out of school early to catch the 4:40 highspeed train from Mokpo to Seoul - of course I was a tad late, and made things are little close (exciting). The entire trip took just over 3.5 hours and the train reached speeds nearing 300 km/hr, costing $36 each way.

All roads leading into Rome were jammed as we entered the city at 8:30. Steph, Steph’s co-teacher; MiSung, who came with us, and I, hooked up with MiSung’s husband, Sung O, before we found ourselves the best hotel money could buy. Unfortunately, I only had $45 on me, so we checked into the “All in Motel” - $85 for 2 nights accomodation. Delightful! Check it out at 37°31'1.42"N 127° 2'33.66"E.

Korean “love motels” are quaint family run motels that people can reserve a room for hours at a time without fear of persecution. Well they aren’t family run, but they are reasonably clean (we hope) and are perfect for travellers who are looking for a solid rate.

After dropping off our luggage, we headed out for some kimchi soup (delicious) and then walked through the upscale Gangnam-gu district.
The hundreds of Koreans in “Red devil” gear walking the streets, were already getting ready for the do-or-die soccer game later the next morning. We decided to head to bed so that we could wake up at 4 am to watch the game.

Projects

One thing that interests me is large scale urban development. Yeah, I hear the yawns... but I'm talking huge, monstrous projects with unfathomable budgets.

One of them is the four man made island "communities" off the coast of Dubai, UAE.
Take a look using Google Earth @ 25° 9'57.82"N 55°11'53.47"E. Pretty crazy!

Now, supposedly, the rings around these sets of islands are for security. People must be cleared to enter… talk about privacy! Some of the islands host resorts, others can be purchased or rented. I think the whole project cost somewhere in the area of 6 bajillion dollars! I could be wrong though.

Another similar project is being started in Saudi Arabia. It's called “King Abdullah city”.I think you can see the start of it @ 21°56'36.99"N 38°57'20.17"E. Either that or someone is building a golf course in the middle of nowhere.

The final project that we’ve all heard about, but probably haven’t been following lately is the Lower Manhatten Redevelopment project - The world trade center plot.

The final 5 concepts were pretty amazing, but they’ve made the final selection and constuction is underway. The original design looks great, but let's see if they cheap out during construction. Here is a webcam view of the site as well as the planned memorial site.

We'll see if it ever gets built, or if it stalls like the Toronto Waterfront redevelopment has, causing everyone to lose interest. So far though, Toronto's plans look pretty nice (Warning - this link is to a .PDF that is 77 Meg in size, so it will take a year or so to download).

How old are you?

If you are ever asked by a Korean how old you are, don't be so quick to respond.

Each Korean (at least according to the ones we talked to) increments their age every year, on New Year's day. So, if you were born in December, you would be one year old in less than one month. But if your birthday was in January, you would need 11 months before you reached "1 year old". When it comes down to it, Koreans have birthdays like the rest of us (duh) but they all go up in age at the exact same time - January 1st!

This took a lot longer to figure out than you might think. Mystery solved!

In other news, our weekend was pretty quiet as we prepare for our upcoming weekend in Seoul - population 21 million. Saturday night we went to watch some of our buddies play at the P-club. They sound a little better live...

Virginia heads to Naju!

Stuart has posted some new amazing pictures from his hike up Wolchusan with Max and Virginia. They are totally worth a look (link in sidebar on the right).

Dae Ha Min Guk!

The World Cup has started with a bang and despite the fact that Korea is ranked 29th of 32 in the tournament, only a fool would bet against them. The Koreans are a proud people, to say the least. This might be in part to a history of conflict with their neighbours that has forced them to make a concerted effort to maintain their culture and identity, and not have it erased by their warring advisaries. That being said, this passion comes out in every man woman and child when the Korean Soccer team takes the field. When they co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Japan, Koreans everywhere got the day off to watch the games. Unfortunately, this year we get the shaft, and have to watch the games at ungodly hours, and then limp in to work the next day. At least everyone else is in the same boat.

The Koreans have a Soccer chant – “Dae Ha Min Guk” to which I don’t know the meaning, but it probably borders on “Our team kicks ass”. They also have this catchy song that was written for the 2002 World Cup that I personally love: “Reds Go Together”. You would be hard pressed to go 5 minutes without seeing a red shirt with those words on it.

The Korean soccer mascot is this cute little devil. This devils image was built into the roofs of traditional Korean houses and was used to ward off evil. They now use it to ward off evil teams from foreign countries. Git evil countries!

Each city is holding outdoor parties with giant screens for each game, and a pretty solid line-up of pre-game entertainment. The problem is that the games are at 10pm and 4 am during the group round… but we will still get up early enough to watch the games… just like everyone else in the country. For another Canadians objective view of the tournament, check Virginia’s entry… it’s enlightening!

I don’t think you would see this type of support in Canada.
Go Korea Go!

More cool things in Korea

Here are some things you probably wouldn’t see back home:

A tube slide at a childrens daycare that goes out the 2rd floor window onto a busy street. Have fun kids!!!

Today, in the morning, I took my first poo at school. This is notable because there is no soap at my school. No soap in any of the bathrooms at all. No soap. Think about it.

There are no stop signs in our city of 250,000. Stop lights at major intersections, yes. But for every other intersection in the city, cars either honk (“I’m coming through”) or creep up to the intersection before they go through. Even at lights, if there isn’t anyone coming through, cabs and police will slowly ease through the red… after a warning honk. The exception, of course, is the scooters and mopeds who don't abide by any rules.

Because of the above point, drivers are FAR more attentive and way more skilled in Korea than back home.

If you don’t have your stuff on the conveyor belt in the grocery store, you are not officially “in line”. Someone will slide in front of you. Cueing doesn’t exist – therefore British people go crazy in Korea.

When signing contracts (which we have to do a lot of here) you are supposed to use a stamp to endorse it, rather than using your signature, like we do back home. In most cases, our signatures were fine, but when I agreed to teach an extra class, I was required to leave my mark in another way. They asked me to leave my thumb print on each page of the contract. Kind of neat in theory, however, the colourful character than I am, I was a little paranoid of leaving my full thumb print on the pages... so I only pressed down with the tip! I even told my co-teacher that thumb prints are only for when you go to jail! I'm such a loser!

Now, don't get the wrong idea. Those who know me, understand that I'm pretty easy going, so I love seeing stuff like this. This is what learning a new culture is all about, and what makes even going to the bathroom an adventure.

Uncle Steve's Story Time - Episode 2

Uncle Steve is back with another wild adventure! What zany troubles will he get himself into this week? Read on to find out:

You don't really know your co-workers until they get you drunk an offer you a prostitute. This is my story.

It all started out so innocently, I went to work and played volleyball after school. I didn't realize that there was some sort of PTA meeting so there were a lot of people watching this game. For accuracy's sake, let's say there were 3000 people there, all cheering madly, waving pompoms, chanting etc etc....okay, forget that last part. There were about 150 people there, which is a lot considering what they were about to watch, but I can't really say how much attention they were paying. I won't go into details, but my team fought a good battle, showed a lot of heart yet somehow lost, our herculean effort notwithstanding. I was informed after the match that there would be a staff dinner that evening.

There I was, the only white person in a sum gip sa (forgive my Konglish) restaurant, sitting uncomfortably on the floor, trying to ignore the numbness that had taken over the lower half of my body. Bottles of beer and soju were placed on the table and my glass was quickly filled. Being thirsty and polite, I quickly downed the first glass. Then another, and another. It seemed that some of the parents who played and attended wanted to meet me and, in turn, offer me a soju or refill my beer. Again, being the polite type, I tried to oblige them all. Towards the end of the meal, I heard the following conversation "Bla bla bla bla bla bla Stephen bla bla bla noray bang". Noray bang is literaly translated as 'singing room'. A loose translation is 'drunk and bad singing room'. A teacher asked me if I wanted to noray bang, I think you know what my answer was.

I found myself in a car with my principal and 2 other teachers. One of the teachers really wants to talk to me but knows very little English. Most of his sentences start 'Ahhhh, Steeban....' and usually end there as well. We were outside the noray bang, but confusion still reigned. My teacher friend thought of a 2 prong method to solve the problem. "Ah, Steeban....you want girl?" There is a limit to my politeness, so I turned down his offer to visit a brothel. Unfazed, he then asked 'Ah, Steeban...you want coffee?' I didn't see the connection but accepted anyway. As we headed off, he grabbed my hand and held it, even interlocked the fingers. If I can handle old men coming up to me in the shower at the gym and gawk because I have not chosen the 'hair explosion' style for my pubic region, I can walk hand in hand with a man down the street in broad daylight. Dai Hamingook!!

Once we got into the noray bang and toasted each other with shots of scotch, the singing took over. I sang English songs to people who couldn't understand English, and listened to Korean songs sung by drunk Koreans. The more I drank, the more I understood. I got the feeling that one of the songs was about a guy and his donkey and how they set out to find a lost love, but I can't be sure.

At the end of the night, they stuffed me in a cab and sent me home, leaving me to think, this is a Wednesday?

Steve tells joke, bombs miserably!

We were lucky little campers to have the pleasure of having April come and visit us from Suncheon on Saturday... The problem is that she brought Steve along with her! Damn!

As everyone who reads the blog regularly knows, Steve is the author of the wildly popular series - "Uncle Steve's Story Time". Have no worries, fans... Steve has a new piece coming soon!

After shooting the breeze, we took April and Steve to our default visitor destination - Yudal Mountain. It really is an amazing sight, and gives a great view of the entire city. Korean hikers were out in droves, and were snoffling back silk worm grubs and miniature sea creatures on their way up. Stephanie, was accompanied by her new purse (an odd sight for a hike) and was seen gazing lovingly at it for long periods of time. Get a room Steph!

Leaving the mountain, we quickly made our way to the old downtown to pick up a few of the outrageous t-shirts you definitely can't find in Canada! Most either are splattered with lobotomized sentences which make no sense or they have rude/inappropriate sayings on them (which the Koreans don't understand). I purchased one for my sister to be sent in the mail. We made it home just as the afternoon storm hit. One of the taxi drivers called it either a Hurricane or a "Burger King" according to April.


Our night started at 8:30 with the addition of Max and Warren and saw us watch the England soccer game on a 13 inch TV at a great pub; the Wa-bar. The Wa-bar has foreign beers for a small fortune (Hoegaarten was $5.50 for a bottle) or draft ($3.50 for a 640CC tall glass). The night continued at the P-club, the local foreigner bar, and before we knew it, it was 5am. Ouch.

We were surprisingly limber the next morning... make that afternoon, when we headed down to the Raw seafood market. It was clear that a couple of the vendors knew that we were a little hungover, as they repeatedly offered us live octopus. One lady even ripped a leg off one of her "little ones" and offered it to us, before she downed the leg herself and dumped the disabled "nokchi" back into its tank. The next vendor took 3 live prize fish out of a tank and expertly gutted them while they struggled.

Probably not the best place to ride out a hangover...but all in all, another great weekend. Thanks for coming down, April... you too Steve!

New pictures in the pictures dumping hole to the right.

It's the small things that amuse me

Of course few people would notice this, but I'm a little odd to say the least!All I can think of whenever I pass by this chain of gas stations is hearing the attendant ask a driver:

Would you like a full service SOIL?

Or can you SOIL yourself?


...Discuss

Just added: New pictures on Flickr and link to Stuart's amazing photos.

Hyuil! (Holiday!)

Tuesday was another surprise holiday in Korea for us. Where do they all come from? So sweet.

Memorial Day is celebrated on June 6th and is intended to pay respect to the millions of Koreans who have died fighting to preserve Korean sovereignty; specifically during the Korean war and the Japanese occupation of WWII. Learning about Korean history, its no wonder their relationship with Japan is still strained.

We were rudely awakened at the crack of noon by our local gang of kids. This pack of 3 kids come visit us every 3-4 days to ask us to come and play with them. The nerve!!! We decided to take our entourage up to the hill across from our apartment.
We spent the afternoon reading and waiting for our little friends to melt and run back home. (Actually they are great kids, unlike the little crapface that tried to run Steph down with his push scooter - When he ran into her it was the closest I've come to killing a Korean kid)

After walking around a deserted city (where are all the people?), we were picked up by Mr. Choi for a picnic with his family. Mr. Choi lived in San Diego for 15 years where he started his own business. Since then, he has come back with his family, and his youngest daughter is now one of Steph's students. We hit the "Excercise park" near our apartment where Mr. Choi cooked up feast of kalbi (beef ribs) fit for an army. I luckily was that army and had the pleasure of eating enough for 4 people... My poor belly...the victim of Korean hospitality!

Funny shirt of the day: Mr Choi's 14 year old daughter was wearing a shirt that read "I wish my boyfriend was as dirty as my dirtbike". She didn't know what it meant, but she liked the shirt. Priceless.

Lots of Bangs and 'Splosions!

We saw Poseidon on Sunday, with the help of Handsome Steve from Muan. Pretty entertaining movie, but definitely one in which you should leave your brain under your seat. At the end of it, you really weren't too concerned about the safety of the main characters... Some live, some die. In the end, the real winner was .... the 'Splosions!!!

Kaboom!!!

The rest of the weekend saw us find a phenominal Sushi place (which we went to twice!), bought some Learning English books, hang out with the Mokpo gang all day Saturday, with a big lakeside potluck and finished Sunday with a good amount of shopping. Hard to believe its the end of the weekend, but in classic Korean form, for some reason we have Tuesday off as well.

I love these people...

Uncle Steve's Story Time - Episode 1

Today at the dumping hole, we start a new series of "Korean stories" from our good friend, Steve Oprendek. Steve is a handsome chap from Niagara Falls who enjoys sitting by the fire and long walks on the beach. He currently resides in Suncheon, South Korea.

Steve has given us the opportunity to post some of his Korean tales on the site. We hope he will continue to feed us many of his Tales, because they are so DAMN FUNNY.
Here is his first:

Hey guys,Remember in training when we were told to expect the unexpected with some aspects of living in Korea? I have a story.... Monday afternoon was a typical day, I was coming home from my country school and heading toward my building. As I approached the front foyer, I heard a female voice shouting in an angry tone. Curious, I looked across the parking lot and saw and older woman (let's call her Agima) getting in the face of a younger woman who was holding a small child. The agima started pushing the lady and tried to take the child from her. The younger woman gave the child to her friend who was sitting nearby. Apparently, this only enraged the Agima further. She proceeded to give the woman a couple shots to the face and some solid shoves.

Sensing injustice, I headed over for a closer look (actually, I was hoping to see a Korean catfight). Another bystander, grabbed my arm and suggested that I help. The Agima saw us heading over and approached us. I can't be sure what she yelled at us, but she yelled it about 100 times before pulling her pants off and exposing, quite simply, the largest pair of leopard print underwear I've ever seen. If this was an intimidation tactic, it certainly worked.

I retreated a step or two. Agima then decided my retreat wasn't fast enough or that it was too hot. She took her top off. Without getting too graphic, I will say that I would rather not have seen this particular Agima in her underwear. She made it quite clear that my presence in the busy parking lot was not required nor appreciated. I was happy to comply with her wishes.

Satisfied that I was not going to interfere any further, she ran back to the source of her anger and started to throw some more shots. Oh yeah, by this point, the other woman was naked from the waist up. The child was gone, I was confused.

Hope everyone else is having an interesting time.

Steve

Erection results!

May 31st was election day in Korea. Korea has a fixed election day every 4 years for locale electorate and presidential elections every 5 years. The system, as far as I can see, is pretty close to the American system, with a president and a house of representatives, both elected in separate elections. Things were pretty quiet across town as most businesses were close, observing this pseudo-national holiday.
I played basketball on a 9 1/2 foot net, and blocked some Korean kid with my armpit. I showed him!!!

Final voter turnout was at 51.3% of eligible voters. Early last week, a mad man slashed a female opposition electoral candidate of the Grand National Party (GNP) in the face (11 stitches). A tight race was quickly swung to the opposition, as the Korean people were clearly spooked. The ruling Uri party was a little shocked.

In other news, the government continues to crack down on the big Korean Chaebols for bribery of politicians and accounting iregularities. Ever since the collapse and barkrupcy of Daewoo in 1999 with $80 Billion US in outstanding debts (Largest in business history, who knew?), the crackdown has intensified to make these Korean giants sound business entities. Since the big four chaebols do pretty much everything in Korea, from manufacture cars to build apartment complexes, the economy can ill afford another giant to falter.

Footnote - I know this post was boring for most, so I released it with one about the puppy. Learning is cool too!??