Summer Misc.

The Boryeong Mud Festival was one of the best weekends of the summer. Basically over the course of a couple weekends every foreigner in Korea and even a lot of Koreans converge on Boryeong, a little beach town on the west coast, where they get drunk and play in the mud. Supposedly the mud is good for your skin so the Koreans love it, the beer doesn't cost anymore that it does on a normal day and you can jump in a giant kiddie pool full of mud, so the foreigners love it more. Periodically they made us take a break from the mosh pit. This guy didn't get the message.

Mud everywhere.

On Labor Day I took another weekend excursion to Muido Island. Muido is very close to Seoul but feels a million miles away from the hectic city. Just a few villages catering to tourists dot the island.

Waiting for the ferry.

We headed to the nearest beach and rented a hut for the night. There were quite a few foreigners but we found lifelong friends in three Korean dudes who decided to adopt our group for the weekend. They fed us, they took us fishing, they rocked.

Nancy and Tim with our buddies. The huts are behind them, right on the beach.

Vacation.

Great meal.

The Ajuma showing me how to cook the scallops and clams.

When the sun went down I ate one of the best meals of my life. Fresh scallops and clams cooked over hot coals. WOW. Afterwards everyone who was staying on the beach chipped in and built a bonfire. There were some good musicians and the village store was happy to sell us beverages late into the night that none of us wanted to see end.

Woke up with a vicious headache. Wanted to fish.

Back in Seoul at one of our favorite hangouts. Family Mart! Nice to pull up a chair outside a convenience store and drink some brews, another cold one is always waiting inside.

ITAWON!

Caviberry,

A new semester is upon me and as students across America begin the school year I am entering into my second year of not being one of them. This makes me feel old. It is, however, a frequent topic of conversation amongst myself and me fellow teachers that our lives here are very similar to that which we lived in our college days. Aside from the distinct lack of responsibility and excess of free time there is the learning.

I began my third semester as a teacher last Monday. The beginnings of a new semester take me back in time to when I was a grade schooler and the first day of class was an experience of excitement and fear. Excitement for the prospect of new beginnings. Fear for the faces. The faces of unfamiliar students, the faces of familiar students and the faces of students that despise you. I life not everyone you meet will enjoy your company and in these cases the easiest solution is to avoid contact and interaction. When you meet 12o new students over the course of two days some of which love you, some of which don't care, and others who already despise you there is the problem that the most obvious solution is not an option. Like it or not I will be spending the next three months with these kids.

On Friday I walked into my PI Writing class which is the highest level of students that we teach. In the first row sat one of the mildest members of my PI Speaking class from last semester. He turned to his neighbor with a moan and told him in Korean "I don't like this teacher. His class was seriously boring."

This shows a few things about this kid and the class he was a member of last semester. First, he spent three months in my class and didn't figure out that I speak Korean. This is because he spent most of the previous semester sitting at the back of the class gambling, arguing, listening to music and generally going out of his way to be the worst student he could possibly be. Second, that he was't going to give me the second chance I will have no choice but to give him. And third, he was spreading the hate speak that is generally disruptive to my goal of actually having my students like me, which I somehow manage to pull off more often than not.

Thankfully I am learning. There are tricks, keys to these students minds, that open up a world of enjoyable classes. As I pulled the trick after trick from my relatively small at this early stage of my career bag of tricks I saw that it was working. I also saw that his friend and neighbor was my best ally. Caviberry is his name.

"Caviberry?" I asked

"Yes teacher"

"How did you get that name?"

"I made it. I looked in my book and I saw 'cavi' and I saw 'berry' so I named myself 'Caviberry'."

Caviberry sat attentively as I breathlessly detailed essay writing and its wonders. This must have inspired my nemesis because when I asked "What is the most important part of an essay?" I got an answer from a very unlikely source.

"Thesis" my nemesis replied.

I looked at him shocked.

Some battles you can win. Especially if you have a kid named "Caviberry" on your side.

South by Southwest, Seoul to Busan via Gyeongju

Myself, three co-Patriots and a bloody Canadian left Seoul at 7:40 Wednesday morning and set about an epic journey through southern South Korea. The plan was to first head to Gyeoungju, the historical center of the Korean peninsula, from there we would do some beaching in Busan, the second largest city and beach central.

We arrived and after finding a room we immediately set about getting ourselves some mopeds. This was the turning point where this trip began its skyward journey towards pure legend.

Nancy and I on Day 1 headed to our first tomb.

We hit the road and after situating ourselves we decided to try for our first historical sight in the area. Many Korean Kings, mostly from the Shilla Dynasty, are buried in the Gyeongju area. We sought out the most remote of the many Mound Tombs.
After a beautiful ride through the countryside where we regularly drew stares from the locals and navigated our way trough rice paddies we found the temple.

Tomb of King Gyeongdeok

Day 1 was great, we found the mopeds, found the temple, survived a rainstorm on the ride home, had a great Korean dinner, and were ready for some brews at the hotel.

I decided I wanted to be safe while drinking so, naturally, I wore my helmet the entire night.

How could Roman candles not be a good idea?
Our room had some gaudy furniture. I wore my helmet to protect myself from it.
And we drank in front of the lobby for a while.

We woke bright and early for the exciting day ahead of us. The plan was first to see Bulguksa Temple and then to make the 40+km. ride out to the coast.

The gardens leading up to the temple.
My Canadian friend, David, the villagers were terrified.
Bulguksa Temple.

We got some great hats at the temple.

The temple was beautiful. However, the road was calling and I was ready to answer. I wish I had pictures of the drive out to the coast but it was a windy mountain road and that would be unsafe.

These Pagodas caught our eye, so we stopped.
And saw this waterfall.
So I jumped in.

This nice Korean man invited us over to his family's campground and let us sit in his waterfall. he then tried to get us drunk, but we had to drive, so we continued. We made it to the sea and found a nice seafood restaurant where we indulged in some crab and sashimi. It was time to go back and see a few more sights.

Royal Inapchi Pond.

We returned our bikes that night. Then we partied. There are no cool pictures because I had to return my helmet with my bike. So I will move on to Busan and the beach.

Haeundae Beach, Busan, South Korea

There were seriously about 100,000 people at the beach. I fell in love about 493 times. I drank a couple twelve beers. We then proceeded to find our hotel and rest up for an eventful night.

No doubt one of the top ten meals I have ever eaten.

After an epic dinner we headed out to paint the town. The club we went to was called Soul Trane, but all the played was house music, if you were notice the theme of the day you will understand why I felt compelled to dance my ass off for about 4 hours. A few hours, a few drinks, and a few bars later we felt compelled to finally give it a rest. The next day I felt like death, which was great because we rode the KTX which goes 300 km an hour.

It was such the epic journey and so little time has passed since it ended that I cannot stop thinking about it. My travel companions were so legit I can't even explain it. I am really thankful that we all took so many pictures because this trip will be the model for my future endeavors that I am sure some of you readers will someday join me on.

Long Time No See.

I have heard that some of you would like me to update my blog. Have no fear for this week it will be done. I have been waiting on some pictures from my friends in order to provide you all with a bit of visual stimulation to go along with the nonsense that you are forced to read.

I went on two "adventures" this month that will soon be privy to. The first was a minor adventure to Boryeong where I attended Mudfest. It was a great time and the pictures are hilarious.

The second was undertaken just this last week. We began in Gyungju, the historical center of South Korea, where we rented mopeds for three days and made many an epic cruise through the countryside in search of temples and tombs. This made for a shit-eating grin on my face and some hilarious photos. We then moved on to Busan and the beach. I ate one of the best meals of my life and danced my ass off.

More details to come.

Do Work.

The kids here in Korea are put through some SHIT. Now usually I refrain from using curse words because I would like my father to think that his outrageously expensive investment in my education resulted in a greater understanding of the English lexicon but these kids are put through some shit. To put it as simply as possible they are subjected to a six day workweek of education from birth. A few to six times a year they are also subjected to tests. I mean strenuous tests like finals or midterms except a week of them minus the shortened days or lack of days resulting in a week of binge-drinking followed by twelve hour study marathons. So while these kids are put through this gauntlet of memorization at their normal schools us English teachers at their English academies are left with very little to do. Last week I taught five classes to a total of seven students and this week more of the same. While I was scheduled to teach two classes today I ended up teaching zero because four students showed up to school the entire day.

Korean parents NEVER let their kids stay home from school, NEVER let their kids stay home from science academy, NEVER let their kids stay home from math academy, and NEVER let their kids stay home from English Academy. So for these kids to be staying home, undoubtedly deprived of any entertainment, studying for these exams is proof enough that they are being put through some SHIT.

Korea v. Korea

On Sunday I attended the World Cup qualifying match between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). Both teams had already qualified for the next match so the outcome of the game was insignificant. What was significant was the relationship between the two countries. Being that the two countries were placed in the same qualifying group each team was to have a home match. Now, I can personally attest to the fact that South Korea's home match went off without a hitch, while the same can not be said for the scheduled match in North Korea. The North Korean government refused to raise the South Korean flag and play the South's national anthem. FIFA, which runs the World Cup and it's qualifiers, has taken a harsh stance against politics affecting the game so it was moved to Shanghai. South Korea annually sends millions of dollars in aid to the North. Without aid from South Korea and China(ask me how I feel about China) North Korea would starve(see North Korean famine).

Anyway, to move past the politics. Seoul World Cup Stadium is amazing. Home to the 2002 World Cup's opening ceremony and opening match the stadium is massive and visually inspiring.

The Stadium

The game ended in a 0-0 draw and wasn't overly exciting but it had its moments. Afterward I went to Itawon and ate the best cheeseburger to date in Korea at a neat place called Gecko's. It is THE bar for ex-pats in Korea.

A View From the Stadium

Pita.

So my 6'7 Canadian friend David and I decided to head out to Itawon Saturday. Now Itawon is known for many things from having the largest concentration of foreigners in Korea, to great shopping (more fake designer digs than you even knew existed), to being a great place to party, and even a great place to get arrested. Now we didn't go there to party and we weren't sporting high and tights so we probably weren't going to get arrested so we basically walked around looking at the goods with the rest of the foreigners David standing out from the crowd due to his vertical prowess.

We were perfectly happy haggling the street vendors to cut an extra 5 bucks from the price of a fake Polo and being hassled by tailors to get fitted for a suit but then we saw the Pita. Well David saw the Pita and we decided as a team that our day would not be complete without having one for ourselves. So we continued on our way down the crowded streets, still haggling and being haggled, but with a greater purpose, the Pita.

It was sometime after in the eighty-eight degree heat I encountered a mountain of scarves and suggested to David that he should buy one. Whereupon a little Korean woman's face popped through the mountain of scarves screaming "Yea! You take a look!"

Whereupon I jumped skyward.

And before a vendor tried to convince me to follow him into a basement to look at fake Rolex watches (a fake Rolex made in China is 30 bucks and a fake Rolex made in Korea is 120, plus shipping, handling, and the cost of me partying in Itawoning if you're interested). That we found the Pita.

The Pita was on the second floor and as we climbed up the stairs we still weren't sure. The price was steep, six bucks, but we decided to splurge. The best six bucks I have ever spent. The Pita was huge, the Pita was stuffed with stuffings, the PITA!

I also bought four bootleg DVDs for ten bucks.