Christmas in Seoul

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

The people in charge at LIKE know how to work the holidays. They pushed our 3-day holiday back a few weeks to coincide with Christmas to make sure we didn't get too many days off this month. Anyways, 4 of us, Shelly, Roy, Curtis and I headed to Seoul on the 23rd and we got back in Daegu around midnight on the 25th. It got off to a comical start while walking to the train station when Roy had severe back spasms, and Shelly accidentally booted Curtis in the ankle. We had to take a 10 minute breather on the side of the road. We took the KTX train, first class because the regular seats were sold out for hours. It took about 1 hour and 50 minutes and cost about 65$. The first night we stayed in an area of Seoul that was a University neighborhood. We found a hotel down some back alley that cost 70$ for two rooms. We then went our for bulgogi (barbecued beef), and we told the old lady serving us that she was beautiful in Korean. She gave us a free coke! It was a Sunday night so not too much was happening but we talked to a bunch of students that pointed us in the direction of some good places to hangout. Overall it was pretty much just a relaxing night.

The next day we struck out on a few things. First we went to an art gallery that Shelly wanted to check out (she is an art major). It is closed every Monday. Then we went downtown to city hall where there was ice skating, but it was sold out. Then we went to check out a palace, but the front gates were being restored. We did find a side entrance however, so not all was lost. When we went to go further into the palace it was too late for any more admissions so we could only look from a far. We had a late lunch at a Korean restaurant that was airing figure skating from some past Olympics. We had bibimbab. Its basically rice, veggies, meat if you want, and a sunny side egg thrown on top. Downtown there was a cool light display, a few performances and a lot of Korean people! It was insane, but also interesting because Roy and I could see for miles over top of all of them. Roy wore a donkey hat, and I wore a Santa hat the whole weekend to spread some Holiday cheer. People got a kick out of us, as if being tall and white wasn't enough already. It helped everyone keep track of everyone, so that was one practical aspect of it.

We then went to another part of Seoul known for shopping, restaurants, bars, and lots of foreigners. Its also close to a famous place called Hooker Hill. We didn't go near it, but we definitely saw many Hookers. If you saw some gorgeous Russian girl, you knew she wasn't a tourist. Also, there is a large population of Koreans in Seoul and surrounding area that speak Russia. After all, Russia isn't too far away. It was definitely strange seeing Koreans speaking Russian to each other. We had to find another hotel because our other hotel was doubling its rates for Christmas Eve - as were many that we looked into. We found a reasonable one and headed back out for dinner. Oh, we also bumped into some people twice in two days, in totally different parts of Seoul, odds are like 1 in 10 000 000 (population of Seoul). Also, we saw a lot of foreigners just walking the street, and it was a weird feeling not standing out as much as we usually do. We had a nice Thai dinner, and then Roy and Shelly called it a night. Of course Curtis and I had to check out a few other places. We went to a foreigner bar called Geckos, and it was just like a Irish pub from back home. We had no longer sat down when a foreigner came up to us, and asked us if we wanted to join him and three Korean girls. He asked him "is this a joke?". It wasn't a joke, and we spent the rest of the night talking to him and these three girls. He turned out to be kinda weird and annoying, and it came out the girls had given him an ultimatum to find two tall English teachers or get lost.

The next day we went back to the museum, it was open, and disappointing to even Shelly. After lunch we all went to Emart - a Kmart like store and did a secret Santa. We drew names and had 45minutes to spend 10$ on someone. Half the gifts given were useful, the rest maybe not so much. We tried to go skating again, but that was just as hopeless as before. We eventually made it to the bus depot to head home. We decided to take a bus because no one was any hurry to go home, and we could save some money since we spent a little extra getting to Seoul. The bus ride home cost 15$ and took almost 4 hours. Not the most comfortable thing, but we mostly slept anyway. We got back to Daegu close to midnight and went to bed after having a long long shower. I forgot to mention, the hotels didn't have hot water so we didn't shower the whole trip. No one smelled, but Roy did ask me once if my hair was wet. After that comment, my Santa hat never came off again.

Other things: Seoul is massive so we didn't see hardly any of it. More modern and interesting than Daegu for sure! No one we talked to knew where Daegu was and we are the 3rd largest city in Korea. People mostly know Daegu as a stop on the way from Seoul to Busan.
I bumped into a foreigner in Daegu that recognized me from the fund raiser we went to a while back. I got interviewed when I was there and apparently my interview got aired on Korean T.V., and whatever I said was dubbed over in Korean! I haven't seen it myself, but I'm sure it's hilarious.

Cool Building

Palace entrance, the whole complex is huge, but we couldn't see it all. It's 600 years old.
A taste of the donkey hat.

What a play on words.
A dance performance and Happy Birthday Jesus sign.
This insane subway scene is near where all the lights and attractions were. At one point walking down the street the river of people was about 20 people wide and taking up two lanes of traffic, and going for as far as I could see.

Main attraction.

I got this ginger ale in Geckos. Thats actually the same can but I took two pictures and stitched them together.

We were on the third floor, and this I guess was supposed to save us in an emergency.

Update

Its more than time for an update, it will mostly be about a lot of little things. My new school is working out great! I really like it a lot. For instance, one day I had to repeatedly tell my one class to be quiet, and the manager could hear that, and walked in and yelled at all the kids for me. I was so surprised and happy! At the other school, I would have to hunt for someone as a last resort, and usually they wouldn't do anything about it. These past two days we just played Christmas games and did other fun activities. This sounds less stressful, but not really. Especially when they double up my first class and I now have 20 students to try and control.

Last weekend we went to Ulsan, a city of about 1 000 000 on the East coast to visit a friend of Drews. It was mostly an uneventful night - highlights were that I won a toilet paper holder in a Christmas draw, and Curtis lost his 300$ jacket. However, we just received word yesterday that it has been recovered! Woohoo! Too bad we probably have to go back to Ulsan to get it :( We did also get to watch our first NHL hockey game while being here in Korea at Drews friends house - it was fed live over the internet.

I think three new teachers arrived this past week; Clifford (our new neighbor), Courtney (upstairs) , and Andy a guy who lives far from us near another school. Courtney is really nice, and I'm sure other people are too.

This week we had a session on how to teach English, with particular emphasis on a couple of different books we use. All the LIKE teachers had to attend. It was a bit funny because most of us had been teaching for several months, but none the less, there were some interesting ideas put forth. Ms. Kim had organized a huge Christmas feast for all of us too. It may have even been for Thanksgiving because she was too busy to do it then, and she said she usually does it. She has some connections with the army base in Daegu, and I think they were the cooks. There was Turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas, pie, and some other goodies. Also, we all got free bags of Tangerines from their farm on Jeju Island...most southerly point in Korea. A few coincidences from the get together as well. Andy went to the same University as Courtney, and he is also good friends with my cousin Drew apparently. Small world.

My blog got forwarded onto my friend Chris Earley who was my roomate in Bolivia. (Hi Chris!) Turns out his adopted daughter is from Korea, and born in Daegu! Don't have too much to say about that, just thought it was interesting!

The funniest moment, and perhaps scariest too, occurred when Drew was over at our place; I wasn't home and Curt was in the other room. Drew is a smoker and always opens the windows at our place to have a smoke. He was straddling my window (on the second floor), when somehow he fell out the window! A very confused Curtis answered his door a couple minutes later to see Drew laughing / crying on the floor, with no shoes or socks on. He literally didn't have a scratch on him, a true Christmas miracle.He fell out of the window above the fan, next to the corner, maybe 10-12 feet above the ground.

Also this week, I got an aquarium up and running.. we found the tank in the garbage but its perfectly good. We find a lot of artwork in the garbage too. Apparently I have some Korean script that says "Do what you study" and then the name of some elementary school that a Korean friend of ours went to. Back to the aquarium- I stocked it with an albino Oscar, a type of predatory fish that we hoped to feed the cockroaches too. Currently he is looking very sad and wont eat anything, not even fish food. Hopefully he perks up or is going to be my food.Christmas is coming, and we are probably headed to Seoul for a few days. It should be pretty cool, we haven't been yet, and it will make this Christmas more special than it otherwise would be. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone, wish I could be back home with all of you (well kind of).

More hiking / School

This past week started with me teaching at another school as I mentioned in my last post. The first three days it was like a dream...anyone who teaches at a school like that has it easy! Thursday it was back to reality and I has back at Samduk teaching at "the circus" as a few of us call it. My first day back I made a kid cry, not the first time its happened, I think it might be number three. One highlight was that Roy, another teacher Sandy, and I got to record the audio for a new book they published. They make all their own books that we teach, they have like 30 now I would say roughly. Anyways, this one was called My English C (A and B preceding this one). I starred as Tom, grandfather, Insu, and some other Korean name that I can't remember. We basically read dialog, some short stories, and I did the word review. It took about two hours and afterwards we got treated to pizza, sushi, and some other snacks. Dr. Kim ran the recording device and at times and was quick to quell any fun we had during the session. For instance, we thought it was pretty funny how he kept calling me Sam, but we couldn't laugh for too long because he would start delegating roles right away. By the way, I don't know if I have explained how famous he is in Korea. He use to have a T.V. show where he played his guitar, sang songs, and taught a whole generation of Koreans English, or at least those that followed his program. Thursday of this week I think I leave Samduk more or less for good to teach at Chimsan, I have heard good things about that school so it should be fun.

Also this week, we celebrated the first day of Hanukkah with our Jewish friend Shelly. She cooked up some traditional food, which is basically anything fried. Potato pancakes and fried chicken were the highlights. We then watched the movie "Batteries not Included"..and older Spielberg movie that maybe some of you have seen.

Today Curtis and I, our Korean friend Claire, and her boyfriend Max went hiking. Actually first they took us to a museum basically dedicated to metal cookware. It was somewhat interesting learning how they use to make it by hand, and how the technology has changed over time.. but its about as interesting as cookware can be. After that we checked out a few temples, actually a complex of temples with the main one being called Donghwasa Temple. In one of the temples we went in and bowed and made our wishes and listened to a Monk sing/hum a kind of traditional monk song/prayer if you can imagine it in your mind. At most temples there is usually just a recording. Claire said we were extremely lucky to experience that because she knows people that have tried and can never find the real thing. Also near the temple is the world's largest standing Buddha. It is 33 metres tall and 16.5 metres in circumference - it was pretty impressive. After all this spiritual and intellectual exercise it was time for the real hiking. We went to Gatbawi, that other Buddha where I have already been, so I didn't post more pictures of that. She took us up a route that was a lot shorter than the one I took before, but it was still exhausting. On the way down, we took a different route, quite by accident and ended up on a road that was not the road where we parked. While walking, a car pulled up in front of us, and after a short Korean conversation we all got into this very plush luxury car. The guy figured we came down the wrong path, and we reminded him of his son in the army, and daughter in Spain, so he offered us a ride! It was soo nice of him, and totally unexpected and not asked for. But, its a good thing he stopped because we would have had to walk miles!

17 metre high stone pagoda, and a 33 meter tall Buddha.

Very ornate decoration on all the temples, as usual. These guys were guarding the entrance to one temple area. They are about 4 metres tall.

Interestingly Claire's brother runs a English speaking school and hes looking for some part time help. Its illegal for us to work for anyone else, so I'm cautious to post anything on a public site such as this...but if I were to get deported you could guess why. We did have a chat with him, to just to see whats what... and he said if we ever wanted to transfer schools, he could arrange it, and we would just have to spend a few days in Japan. We don't want to transfer at all, but it was nice talking to him. He gave us a good insight into what is possible for us to achieve in Korea. For instance, other than just SAT prep courses he could offer an economics class to Curt, and Biology, Chemisty, Physics, and Calculus to me. He also said that even with just a 4-year degree, because we are white skinned we have better opportunities. The hierarchy of discrimination works sort of like- I'm better than Koreans, and they are in turn better than dark skinned people. Its sad, but true. A previous biology teacher of his, with no masters or anything special, is now a professor at a small college in Daegu, making twice as much money and doing less work. Basically he impressed upon us that yeah we can make money and travel while we are here, but we can achieve more if we wanted to. A side note to making a lot of money for a university or college is that now you jump up a tax bracket and so you don't actually make that much money compared to people with "normal teaching positions" that make a little extra money on the side. Also, he said if we were to take a job with him, and someone asked him about us -"He doesn't know us." And that works the other way too of course. A kind of way of protecting each other I guess.

P.S. On the drive up the mountain I saw the most massive bird I have ever seen in the air, actually I was quite shocked. It was bigger than any Eagle I have ever seen, and I had no idea what it was until I looked in my book. I didn't get a great look at it, but I can only assume it was a Cinereous Vulture with a wingspan between 2.5 and 3 metres, and I would lean towards 3 metres for this one.

Another Update

Nothing that exciting to report I'm afraid, working as usual - and no new pictures. My teaching schedule is changing quite a bit over the next few months. This week I teach at a school called Seobu for Mon - Wed, Samduk (my normal school) for thursday and Friday, and then Manchon on Sunday. Seobu is just to cover while a teacher goes home and another replaces him. The guy going home is without a doubt the most annoying person I have met in Daegu, and ranks highly on my all time list. Anyways, in a week or two I think I'm going to yet another school, the school that is supposed to be my permanent school for the rest of the year. Except, in January I think I'm teaching at Manchon school with Curtis. Confused yet? The interesting thing about the January teaching is that Curtis, Shelly, and I were offered to teach from 8:30 in the morning until around 2:30. That would be monday to friday, mostly doing book studies with older students, and we would get two days off each weekend. Its a special thing they do because January is a winter break for some students... I think... I'm sure I will correct myself when January roles around.

This week started out quite strangely. A friend was visiting from out of town and when she went to leave, it was discovered that the train she was planning on taking home did not exist, and she was stranded in Daegu. This subsequently led to her staying in my bed, and me and Curtis sharing his bed. It was pretty much the worst sleep ever. Between two full grown men trying to sleep in a Korean sized bed, the noisy dump trucks, alarms going off at various times so that she could catch an early train, and my snoring, it was not a good morning. Then we went and bought groceries , and my cell phone fell out in the cab. This led to a game of phone tag whereby the cabby miraculously called a Korean friend of ours who was able to get Curtis's number off my phone, and call Curtis, to tell me, that I lost my phone. I then met the cabby and had to pay a 10$ ransom to get my phone back. It was more than worth it, and obviously a pain in the ass to the cab driver. Also adding to the confusion was that this week we were supposed to have our Korean lesson today, but we both totally forgot, and our teacher called my phone looking for me, and ended up talking to the cab driver. I was pretty exhausted by the time I went to work today.

I made it work after about a 6$ cab ride, quite far away actually, and walked into the school, talked to a secretary and started teaching before talking to any sort of manager or other teacher... thats just the way things seem to run at LIKE schools. But, it is a bran new school, awesome facilities, and the kids were angels. Its like night and day compared to Samduk, and even better than Manchon. I taught 8 straight classes, and it wasn't that bad. I never had to yell at anyone. After work, the head guy Heeman Kim took me out for noodles and bulgogi (barbecued beef) at a famous outdoor eating place. I had actually already been there before, but its really good, really cheap, and we scarfed it down before heading back here. His family lives above the two floors of foreign dorms, although I think I have only seen him and his wife coming and going once since I've been here.

I got a Christmas package from my family this week. I promised not to open anything until Christmas but I did open my gift that I new was Coffee. I'm going to share some Tim Hortons with the Korean teachers and secretaries at Samduk. I know the weather back home is getting pretty cold and snowy. I cant complain here, Sunday it rained for only the second time since I've been here.

Update

Nothing too exciting this week, and no pictures, sorry. A rather immature highlight of this week is that Curtis and I bought 10$ air guns that shoot little plastic pellets that don't exactly tickle. But - it is all in self defense! Our buddy Roy (the one with the dog) has a gun and is always shooting us... never again will we tell people to come into our room before finding out who it is, especially if we are shirtless. Now we always make sure the guns are nearby and loaded. I even put it beside my bed before I go to sleep..I feel like an American! But in all honesty they are a lot of fun, and they don't take people's eyes out. We actually know someone that got one in the eye, and he's fine. And of course Curtis and I have our own house rules since it's too easy for us to get each other. No shooting in the morning, and pellets must bounce of the wall or ceiling before hitting the other person.

On Saturday night, Curtis, Drew, Roy, Shelly, and I went to a fundraiser for sick kids in Korea and kids in Africa. It was called Dating for dollars, Wooing for Won. There was speed dating, a charity casino, belly dancing, fire dancing, swing dancing, singing, magic show, Korean music performance, a buffet, and more! The fire dancing almost got a little out of control when fire spread to the floor, and someone almost threw a bunch of water on it- which would have splashed the accelerant (sp?) everywhere. The guy working the door convinced us to the speed dating, although we were not keen on it at all. The guy assured us it would be worth our while because he had inside information that a few beauties were going to do it..and plus..its for charity. However, Drew and I noticed his eyes were kind of funny, and he never looked at us when he talked, and we speculated that he might have been blind. I think our suspicions were confirmed when we did the speed dating, and we all looked at each other like "What have we gotten ourselves into!" We talked to some interesting people for sure..but no one I would classify as "beauties". After that disappointment we thought the night had to improve for sure... but it didn't. It was one of those nights where many small disappointments added up. For instance, it was like annoying people were following us everywhere, and Curtis and I missed our free sandwiches by 3 minutes.... that was the straw that broke the foreigners back for sure. Truthfully though, we were glad we went to the fundraiser...it was a good way to spend money and we did have some fun.

Sunday we celebrated American Thanksgiving with some American teachers..actually our second Thanksgiving dinner of the week. We had chicken, potatoes, a few veggies, it was a nice sort of American home cooked meal. It was a relaxing way to end the weekend.

Other info: Visa rules are changing here due to that pedophile caught in Thailand that worked in South Korea. We know someone that worked with him actually. To renew a Visa you have to return to your country, you cant go to Japan like people could before, and like Drew did when coming here. Kind of stupid because who wants to fly home to apply for a Visa just to come back..definitely a disincentive. Also, more hoops to jump through like background check etc etc. Some people think that people will instead choose to teach in China or Taiwan instead of dealing with the extra paperwork Korea with require. Also, our friend pointed out that Curtis's and my visas are single entry and exit visas meaning if we leave the country for a trip, we cant get back into the country! We can change it for like 50$, and we are definitely going to try and do that...especially before they start changing the laws.

Mt Apsan

New this week..we are approaching the two month mark being here in Korea. It has absolutely flown by, and I expect that to continue. We finally got cell phones this week, an absolute necessity..we had phone numbers written on all kinds of scraps of papers, some missing names, and it was impossible to find us once we left the house. If we got separated, that was it, you were on your own. The phones cost about 15$ and our monthly plan is about the same. Apparently the phones here are far superior to the phones back home, and I'll be able to bring this phone home with me and use it no problem. It has a built in camera, MP3 player, dictionary, alarm, all the bells and whistles. It has made a huge difference in meeting friends, and making plans etc. Although, now other people can get a hold of us easily as well, and sometimes it seems like we are supposed to be in 5 places at once. Not a bad problem..but it is an annoyance sometimes.

Even though this was a one day weekend for me, it felt like it was 3 days long. We packed it full of things..everything except sleep. Friday night we had a great night out with friends, saturday after work we had a dinner party where we cooked Dukbokki for a bunch of Korean friends of ours. It passed their quality inspections. After they left, we went downtown and had another good night out. The next day we got up early to go climb Mt. Apsan, a mountain outside of Daegu. Actually san means mountain, so you could translate it to be Mount Ap mountain. We went with our good Korean buddies Keun (Can) and Dr. Kim. He is actually a doctor, and hilarious...he is obsessed with meeting foreign girls. He wants to be a "pick up artist" hahaha..whatever that means. He reads books about meeting girls like he was studying for a class or something.

We had lunch at a family restaurant , the family lives in the next room , and cooks and serves in the other room essentially. This entire meal + rice cost 15$. Curtis horsing around with Dr. Kim.

We walked up this rocky path..if you can call it that. There was a paved path to the left, but that wouldn't be mountain climbing.

The top!

Daegu, home sweet home.We took the path down.

In this panoramic view you can see Daegu wrap around that mountain on both sides.

After exhausting ourselves on the mountain, Curt and I came back here where we wanted to just sleep, but of course we had already made plans to cook Dukbokki for another group of Koreans that we know. So we had to clean the room again (twice in two days is ridiculous), and get to cooking. Again it got heaps of praise, and then it was off to Drews place (Curts roommate from university) because he misses us and we had previously promised to visit his place. Seeing us twice a week is apparently not enough for him. All these plans is partly the cell phones fault. Finally, at like 3:00 A.M we were able to come home and get some much needed rest since we had to teach today. You can imagine that my Korean lesson tomorrow is going to go about as smooth as it did last week. BTW - all this standing at school, walking around, and climbing mountains is absolutely killing our legs. My ankles, feet, and knees are taking a beating.

Pay day and trip to Busan

This weekend was my first 3-day weekend..and it was much needed! Friday was the much awaited pay day, the first money we have seen in a month, and our first full pay check. After deductions for health care, pension, taxes, (some of which we get back later) it came to about 2,000,000 Won, paid in 10,000 bills. That works out to 200 bills, which is a thick stack of cash. Curt and I played with it like we were in a rap video or something. Half of it had a paper band around it..we felt like big shots. Obviously we went out and celebrated, but we have some connections and get a lot of free drinks and food, so we didn't really spend much money.
Speaking of the free food, the one place is a tiny take-out type place with maybe 6 seats, run by a slightly crazy Korean. His main food is a toasted sandwich with omelet and jam inside. Also dukbokki which is basically a rice based pasta in a spicy sauce. We are addicted to both and have only ever paid once. He always says: "Hello, you are very handsome, How many testicle do you have? Do you have girlfriend?.. and the conversation goes anywhere from there as you can imagine. He really cracks us up sometimes, and usually refuses our money.

On sunday night we took the KTX (bullet train) to Busan, a city on the southern coast with a gorgeous beach, and was the original place we wanted to live. We rode 1st class for only 15$, and the extra leg room and comfort is worth it. The train can go 300 km/h, although I don't know if we got going that fast. The first night we just looked for a hotel and dinner basically. There were a lot of sketchy hotels that we tried to avoid, but we also wanted cheap. We got talking to some guy and he told us that some family member of his ran a hotel and he would take us there. It was sketchy, but also cheap. Like all the other places we turned down, there were cards with ladies phone numbers and nude pictures taped to the front steps. Also, each room came with two complimentary toothbrushes (maybe you can guess why there are two), big bottles of various lotions, and a huge spray can of insecticide. I'm still not sure whether the insecticide was for the room or the companions, but it's there if needed. On the bright side, the rooms were spacious, had large comfy bed, and only 20$ for each room.

The next day (after spending the night alone) we did some birdwatching at an important bird reserve (or previously important since there is development in the area, among other issues affecting the Nakdong estuary). Curt was a trooper, and although I didn't see the target species, it gave me a much needed "fix" and I did see a lot of new and interesting birds. Next we headed across the city to Haeundae beach. It was gorgeous and reminded us of home. We played in the sand and water edge for a bit, and really really wished we had ended up in Busan. We would of been at the beach everyday for sure...sob..sob...

The timer on my camera is becoming very useful.This says my name in Korean. The O is silent, followed by an"a" sound. Top two symbols make "da", followed by m on the bottom. You read across, but also down.

This is us saying hello. In the sand is written hello, but in Korean. It is pronounced "ann-yeong-has- say-yo"

After that we walked around a cool little path through a coastal forested park, where we saw the rock after which the city is named. Haeundae is actually three separate words which mean: sea, clouds -and I think maybe rock. These 3 words were carved into the rock around 1300 AD.

Park on the left, Haeundae beach in the background. It is 1 of 4 built up areas. Its like Busan has four core areas.

Next we checked out the Busan Aquarium. There were tonnes of fish, sharks, everything you would expect to see at an Aquarium. It was really cool, and like many other places, it was located underground. After this busy day, we decided to head back to Daegu. Neither one of us had studied or previous Korean lesson that well, and my performance this morning was not that good. Actually, Curt got the new teacher, who is way more lenient than our original teacher - who I got. I was getting grilled while Curt was having what sounded like a pleasant chat a few seats over. Anyways, back to the grind now. Our next 3 day break is at Christmas..so I think this might be a long haul until then.

The seal on the left is just resting..its not dead.

Update

We didn't do anything that exciting this week, after our 13 days of work we used today as a rest day and thus didn't climb any mountains or go anywhere. Friday night we got together with a couple of Korean guys we met a few weeks and they showed us a great time. The one guy is an actual doctor who is hoping to go to the U.S. to specialize in some field. Saturday night we got together with a couple of Korean nurses we know, and they took us to this underground mall basically. We headed down what looked like a subway entrance, and then it was a whole underground world. Lots of people, escalators, stores. It went for as far as I could see, and is probably a good way to get around since you don't have to wait for cars etc like you would on the surface. The one girl is headed to Vancouver in a month or so to study English there, and I don't think they are impressed with the rising Canadian dollar. Today, we were going to go to a theme park in Daegu called Woobang tower land, but the plans fell through, and that was fine with us. We instead played some 3 on 3 basketball at the park with some Korean guys, which was awesome, although Curt did jam his knuckle and now has a split. Speaking of injuries / illnesses. A couple of us are battling colds or other ailments. The kids at school are always coughing and never cover their mouths, plus all the railings that we touch in the school, subways, and mountain trails doesn't help either. I'm sure I'll survive.

Another teacher here, Jerry (about 50), went in for surgery last week to get a vein removed from his leg. He woke up halfway through the surgery when they were in the process of yanking the sucker from his inner thigh area. He wasn't in any pain or anything, but was a bit aware of what was going on, and he heard the doctor say something along the lines of "That's never happened before, I don't know what to do". I guess they got the anesthesiologist back in there to give him some more drugs and the rest of the surgery went fine. Today we bumped into Graham (the guy who just gave his notice), and he mentioned that Jerry has some sort of infection where the surgery was done, and it's not clear to me how serious it might be...sounds a bit serious. Ill expect some extra hours this week if he's down and out.

Also this week, a teacher named Margaret at my school, and our neighbor in residence, gave her 6 week notice. She had had enough of Mrs. Kim and the way she runs things, and the way she treats her. So, since we have been here (6 weeks), 3 of 10 teachers have quit. I figure by January Curtis and I will have seniority! We got a new teacher (Gail) a week or two ago to replace the first guy that quit..and she has had an absolute nightmare so far! First, they forget to pick her up at the airport. Second, they cant find her room key, so she cant go into her room for an hour. Third, she loses her voice after one day of teaching..easy to do. Fourth, they replaced the door to her apartment without her knowledge and left the door wide open all day, and her cat that she brought from home ran away. It hasn't been eaten yet, as there have been several sightings in the area.

Market, Dog, Gatbawi, Halloween

Its time for another update..its about a bunch of random stuff. Firstly, Curtis and I went to one of the markets and put our Korean lessons to good use. Asking how much things cost, and saying numbers all in Korean..it was pretty fun. We definitely got great deals, and it sure beat the grocery store. We will buy as much as we can there from now on. However, we did finally find the live foods section..that is, everything is in cages waiting to be bought and butchered. Chickens, a few goats, fish, bags of frogs hopping around, turtles, eels, other interesting aquatic animals, and some dogs and kittens. The cats and dogs are for eating. The cats were kittens, and the dogs ranged from adult to puppy. We also some that already been barbecued. Don't worry, no pictures.. but the dogs were pretty sad looking. And also, apparently before they kill them, they get them all riled up and angry / scared to make them release adrenalin, thus dog meat is an aphrodisiac for men. On a positive note, our good friend Roy bought a puppy from this place a month ago and we have a pet dog (Bart) in the building that we play with all the time. Bart cost him like 10$, but it was really sick and it had a lot of problems so its a 4-500$ dog if you count the vet bills.

Bart's tongue couldn't quite reach the juice.

On Sunday, our supposed day off, Curtis and I went into work at Manchon as a favor to his boss, he said he was kinda in a jam, and we didn't really have anything planned. We only had to work for two hours, and he paid us in cash at the end of the day 60$ each..so 30$ an hour...a pretty sweet deal. But, it does mean that by this Saturday we will have worked 13 days in a row.

Yesterday, I was trying to check out a park in Daegu, so I boarded a bus and began the journey, not exactly knowing what stop to get off at... Eventually it was clear I missed it, so I decided to see where the bus went. Eventually I got to a point where everyone got off, so I thought this must be a cool place, I better get off too. It was at the base of the Mt. Palgongsan ridge. So I started to climb..and climb I did. I don't know if it was because I wasn't mentally prepared for the climb, but my lungs were on fire halfway up. It wasn't as long a hike as at Seoraksan (only 45 minutes) but it was fairly steep (see picture). At the top is a 4 metre tall Buddha that many people were praying to. It hears one sincere prayer from each person that visits the mountain, and thus is apparently popular around exam times! I understand that it hears the prayers, but nobody said anything about the Buddha being able to do anything about them, so I'm a bit skeptical about its powers.


Also this week, he had Halloween, twice actually, because not all the kids come on the 31st. We whipped threw the lessons at light speed so that we could play games and use face paint to decorate each other. Halloween is not celebrated here, at least not in a big way, but since it's an English school, we do. For the most part I just drew on the kids whatever they wanted; bats, pumpkins etc etc. But the kids sure went to town on me, I was covered in the stuff by the end of the day. Right now its actually Halloween night, and Curtis and I are being big nerds and staying in. I think I had had enough of it at school for the past two days.

FYI - Another awesome Korean lesson. She didn't want us to tell people because she stopped teaching another coworker of ours, and she just didn't want anyone to have issues with anybody else - if that makes sense. Also, another teacher we live with gave his 6 weeks notice. Thats like two people quitting within a week or two...and I have a feeling another one is going soon as well. Other than being disgruntled, he also has a girlfriend in Thailand, and I think that was a big factor. Too bad, he was a funny old man. And I'm staying put, I'm not remotely close to thinking about quiting, even if other people have sweeter deals. Its not as bad as other jobs most of us had had, and no boss is perfect, so we just keep rolling with the punches.