Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Videos!
When in Seoul in November, we came across a street festival a block from our hotel. Here's a small portion of what we saw:
Reunions and Rockin 80's Tunes Revisited
Tonight I sit in my apartment, letting Sarah Slean, candles and mini Christmas lights set the ambience. It has been a lovely, lazy weekend and so easy to enjoy because I still don't have to be back at work until Wednesday. Mokah was attacking my feet for a while, but the Ondol (floor heating) has lulled her into yet another nap. I submitted some photos of her to Cute With Chris (http://www.cutewithchris.com/) so who knows, maybe soon she'll be famous on YouTube. OW! Ok no, not napping as much as I thought, hold on....
Last night was another fun night of Noribang, the Korean Kareoke. You get a private room for you and your friends equipped with its own kareoke machine, two mics and some disco lights thrown in for good measure. Being a zero hero myself, and big car/shower rockstar, its my ideal night out because is actually a fun activity going on besides just the entertainment that occurs when you're wasted (fun for the drunksters but for us zero heroes, we just don't follow down the rabbit hole). Drinkers are welcome to bring their own booze and with a bottle of soju costing less than a bottle of cola, you can understand why Noribang 
is widely popular. It's also great because you are singing in front of your friends instead of strangers, and the scoring system on the machine is based on volume and not key/pitch of the singer! My friends in Suncheon have proven multiple times to be a great Noribang group, we often go until 4 AM and always have a great time. It must be that we share a love for cheesy ballads and rocking 80's (does Kenny Loggins count as rocking?). You can see some pics of Noribang and food fun herehttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2213823&l=7fe47&id=122614903.
is widely popular. It's also great because you are singing in front of your friends instead of strangers, and the scoring system on the machine is based on volume and not key/pitch of the singer! My friends in Suncheon have proven multiple times to be a great Noribang group, we often go until 4 AM and always have a great time. It must be that we share a love for cheesy ballads and rocking 80's (does Kenny Loggins count as rocking?). You can see some pics of Noribang and food fun herehttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2213823&l=7fe47&id=122614903.The weekend before my good friend Kristen and I got to hang ou
t for the second weekend in a row! Kristen was my roommate for two years in University and I guess you could say she is to blame for me being in Korea. She was the first person I knew to pursue it and she recommended Canadian Connections (http://www.canconx.com/) to me, which worked out really well! We had some great food (korean porridge and doc galbi!) and had a great time at Noribang with some friends. The highlight for me was going to the Sauna though. The Sauna always wins with me, hands down. And it was great to have a friend to go with. A lot of westerners here are shy about the sauna, especially about going with someone they know. 
It's one thing to go and let a bunch of strangers see you nekkid, but it takes a little more gumption to go with someone you know. I'm not sure why, I guess people don't like the idea of crossing that line. Afterall, the list of "people I've been to lunch with" is a considerably less exclusive list than the list of "people who've seen me naked". If you are one of the ones it freaks out, let me offer a few words in defense of the Korean public bath. The sauna beside my apartment building has 5 baths: hot, luke warm (with massaging jets), ice, green tea (very hot) and cedar (also very hot). It also has two sauna rooms: salt and crystal. Nothing is as relaxing as going from a sauna to a cold bath to a hot bath and back again, it chills me out like nothing else. And really, once you just get over the fact that "yep, these people are going to see me naked" it's a breeze. Afterall, they're all naked too and (surprise!) nobody looks like a supermodel, not even skinny korean women! Also, the showers have way better pressure than the one in my apartment!
t for the second weekend in a row! Kristen was my roommate for two years in University and I guess you could say she is to blame for me being in Korea. She was the first person I knew to pursue it and she recommended Canadian Connections (http://www.canconx.com/) to me, which worked out really well! We had some great food (korean porridge and doc galbi!) and had a great time at Noribang with some friends. The highlight for me was going to the Sauna though. The Sauna always wins with me, hands down. And it was great to have a friend to go with. A lot of westerners here are shy about the sauna, especially about going with someone they know. 
It's one thing to go and let a bunch of strangers see you nekkid, but it takes a little more gumption to go with someone you know. I'm not sure why, I guess people don't like the idea of crossing that line. Afterall, the list of "people I've been to lunch with" is a considerably less exclusive list than the list of "people who've seen me naked". If you are one of the ones it freaks out, let me offer a few words in defense of the Korean public bath. The sauna beside my apartment building has 5 baths: hot, luke warm (with massaging jets), ice, green tea (very hot) and cedar (also very hot). It also has two sauna rooms: salt and crystal. Nothing is as relaxing as going from a sauna to a cold bath to a hot bath and back again, it chills me out like nothing else. And really, once you just get over the fact that "yep, these people are going to see me naked" it's a breeze. Afterall, they're all naked too and (surprise!) nobody looks like a supermodel, not even skinny korean women! Also, the showers have way better pressure than the one in my apartment!The weekend before that was my first time seeing Kristen when we reunited in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea! It was a very quick visit, didn't do alot of sight seeing, but I got to eat a 
Subway Sandwich! And buy christmas presents for everyone! And get the dead skin on my feet eaten off by little fishes while drinking tea! AND saw Cirque du Soleil's Allegria! It was a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back and see some of the museum's and temples (and you know, write a proper description of what I saw/did...I'm sorry it's late!). Here's a couple of pics, you're the first to see em, I haven't put them on Facebook yet!
Subway Sandwich! And buy christmas presents for everyone! And get the dead skin on my feet eaten off by little fishes while drinking tea! AND saw Cirque du Soleil's Allegria! It was a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back and see some of the museum's and temples (and you know, write a proper description of what I saw/did...I'm sorry it's late!). Here's a couple of pics, you're the first to see em, I haven't put them on Facebook yet!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Month 2 summed like a true Psych Major
Well. Here I sit at my desk at Suncheon Girls High School, rolling a werthers original around on my tongue (I found some at a Mini-stop, woo hoo!), killing time until 5:00 because it's final exam week so I don't have classes. I'm realizing it's been over two months now since I've arrived in Korea. It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly, that it continues to pass by so quickly. I still haven't put my christmas cards in the mail yet!
I'd like to compare my time in Korea to the stages of life:
Week 1 - New Born Baby - you can't speak, read, comprehend anything. You can barely feed yourself. You cling desperately to adults more competent than you are. The world is a frightening, unfamiliar place and you desire a hand to hold.
Week 2 - Toddler - you start taking a few steps on your own. You are overcome with a sense of accomplishment when completing menial tasks by yourself (like giving a cab driver correct directions or figuring out how to work the washing machine). You feel perplexed that people aren't as impressed with your new talents as you are. You know what you want, but not how to get it. Adult supervision is still required.
Week 3 & 4 - Early Childhood - Basic abilities develop and you gain confidence in your own ability to do things without supervision. You start speaking a few basic words or phrases and can begin to communicate with others through language (rather than wild hand gestures). Your comfort zone expands to the nearby stores you have been taken to by other more competent people. You are still illiterate and need others to make any big decisions.
Month 2 - Late Childhood - Language ability continues to develop (albeit, very slowly). You are slowly learning to read the gibberish of written language, but you are painfully slow at it. You meet others who are "younger" than you and actually look up to you because you "know so much". You can handle day to day activities on your own (like buying fruit from an agima in the market), but still need help with any complex task (like paying bills at kiosk at the bank). Your sense of self-efficacy increases!
I'm looking forward to "growing up", though I hope I can skip puberty this time, haha. Korea continues to be challenging and exciting while already becoming mundane, ordinary and routine. It would be easy enough to stop my development here. I could stay in my routine and not need to learn another word of Korean and could get by eating at the restaurants I know that I like, if I wanted to. From what I've heard from others, this does happen with some foreigners. In a city like Suncheon, where there is a large community of foreigners, it would be easy to stay out of the Korean culture altogether; to go from your office to your apartment, order some pizza and watch CNN at night. But I think that's a surefire recipe for disenchantment. And I hope to have many months like November. Months of travelling (To Gwangju for a teachers meeting, and Seoul to see an old roommate from University and Cirque du Soliel!), eating at new restaurants and meeting new people. I've been here long enough to hear from alot of people about their experiences in South Korea. Newbies like me, or veterans, it really seems that so much of the experience is your attitude going in, and then how you handle the times when things don't go smoothly. There are real cultural challenges for westerners here and coupled with the language barrier, its easy to understand how some people find themselves miserably counting down the days until they can go home. Who knows, you may find me blogging about feeling that way in a couple of months! But I hope not. No place on earth is perfect, and Korea offers alot of opportunities (and perks) that I just wouldn't get in Canada.
I'd like to compare my time in Korea to the stages of life:
Week 1 - New Born Baby - you can't speak, read, comprehend anything. You can barely feed yourself. You cling desperately to adults more competent than you are. The world is a frightening, unfamiliar place and you desire a hand to hold.
Week 2 - Toddler - you start taking a few steps on your own. You are overcome with a sense of accomplishment when completing menial tasks by yourself (like giving a cab driver correct directions or figuring out how to work the washing machine). You feel perplexed that people aren't as impressed with your new talents as you are. You know what you want, but not how to get it. Adult supervision is still required.
Week 3 & 4 - Early Childhood - Basic abilities develop and you gain confidence in your own ability to do things without supervision. You start speaking a few basic words or phrases and can begin to communicate with others through language (rather than wild hand gestures). Your comfort zone expands to the nearby stores you have been taken to by other more competent people. You are still illiterate and need others to make any big decisions.
Month 2 - Late Childhood - Language ability continues to develop (albeit, very slowly). You are slowly learning to read the gibberish of written language, but you are painfully slow at it. You meet others who are "younger" than you and actually look up to you because you "know so much". You can handle day to day activities on your own (like buying fruit from an agima in the market), but still need help with any complex task (like paying bills at kiosk at the bank). Your sense of self-efficacy increases!
I'm looking forward to "growing up", though I hope I can skip puberty this time, haha. Korea continues to be challenging and exciting while already becoming mundane, ordinary and routine. It would be easy enough to stop my development here. I could stay in my routine and not need to learn another word of Korean and could get by eating at the restaurants I know that I like, if I wanted to. From what I've heard from others, this does happen with some foreigners. In a city like Suncheon, where there is a large community of foreigners, it would be easy to stay out of the Korean culture altogether; to go from your office to your apartment, order some pizza and watch CNN at night. But I think that's a surefire recipe for disenchantment. And I hope to have many months like November. Months of travelling (To Gwangju for a teachers meeting, and Seoul to see an old roommate from University and Cirque du Soliel!), eating at new restaurants and meeting new people. I've been here long enough to hear from alot of people about their experiences in South Korea. Newbies like me, or veterans, it really seems that so much of the experience is your attitude going in, and then how you handle the times when things don't go smoothly. There are real cultural challenges for westerners here and coupled with the language barrier, its easy to understand how some people find themselves miserably counting down the days until they can go home. Who knows, you may find me blogging about feeling that way in a couple of months! But I hope not. No place on earth is perfect, and Korea offers alot of opportunities (and perks) that I just wouldn't get in Canada.
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