I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In

Pirate ships that is...

Friday night we went to I Porky's for dinner. (Yes, that is actually the name of the restaurant.) All of the adult English students and the teaching staff. Dinner lead to drinks and drinks lead to nore bong. All of the songs were a little too high for me but I sang my lungs out and completely lost my voice.

One of my co-workers brothers is in town visiting so we took him to the Insa-dong market to go shopping for souvenirs. It was a nice day for a walk and Insa-dong was hopping. Every 100 meters through the market there was somebody standing with a sign offering free hugs. It read in Korean and English "Free Hugs - put a smile on your face." Things like that are why I love the Christmas season.

After Insa-dong we took a cab to the Yongsan Electronics Market. Anything you want from DVD players to TVs to DVDs is available here. Average price of a DVD is 3-4,000 Won so be prepared to haggle. Also, don't be in too big of a hurry. Once you make your DVD selections, the proprietor of the tent stand will have to go into the back and burn your DVDs. Yes, this is totally breaking international copyright laws. But as I mentioned before, Koreans are willing to break some laws but others are sacred. What?! Pirating DVDs is illegal?! I had no idea!

The night ended with 007. The new James Bond film Casino Royale finally made it to Korea. The opening chase sequence was amazing. My palms were sweating it was so intense. The movie stayed true to Bond traditions and the highly controversial 'blond Bond' did a good job.

Guess Who Came To Town!!

Oh, you'd better watch out,

you'd better not cry,

you'd better not pout,

I'm telling you why....

Can you guess who the man in the Santa costume is?

It was a very impromptu impersonation. We knew we were supposed to have a Christmas party with the kids. We knew that Santa would be coming to deliver presents. However, ten minutes before Santa was supposed to arrive, my supervisor calls me out into the hall to talk. Five minutes later I was a cotton stuffed, belly jiggling, ho ho hoing, red suit wearing, rendition of a beloved childhood idol.

Some of the students were on to the gig. My students asked why I had the same shirt as Santa (when my suit popped open because of the cotton). They also thought I had the same voice as Santa. I played it off cooly leaving at least a shadow of a doubt in their minds.

"Santa gave me this shirt last Christmas and he must have liked it so much he had the elves make one for him too."

The best part of the whole experience was that the head boss of the office, didn't recognize me. He came up to me and introduced himself. It thought he was joking or just playing along. So I said,

"Hi, Chris. My name is Santa Clause. Have you been a good little boy this year?"

If the disguise will fool a man of 29, it should be good enough to fool a kindergartner. Those darn kindergartners are smart though. After I had left, they whispered to their teachers....

"I don't think he's the real Santa. He has brown hair under his hat."

I handed out the presents, wished them a Merry Christmas and then headed for the roof to catch my sleigh and reindeer.

Attempts at Slacking

Thursday was the last day before Christmas that I was going to see my afternoon kindergarten class. I decided I would be a 'fun' teacher and we would do an arts and crafts project after learning some 'L' word vocabulary. We were going to make some Christmas character finger puppets.

I can't even be a slacker teacher when I try.

My plans of fun were trumped by two of the student's parents who decided it was necessary to have a birthday party for them that day. So, let them have cake (and eat it too).
We all enjoyed a class period of partying.

Winter Solstice

December 21 marks the winter solstice. Shortest day of the year. First day of winter. Keystone of astronomy and ancient religion.

In Korea, the beginning of winter ushers in the white tiger.

I don't know the history or symbology of this and I can't seem to find anything online (Wikpedia and Google failed me). But it was a pretty good sales pitch from a shop owner who got me to buy to bookmarks, posters and cards with 'seasonal' symbols on them. I was dooped!

A Beautiful Thing

When we had previously been talking about pay checks, my co-workers had called their checks 'beautiful'. I was confused. How could a pay check be beautiful?

Now I understand. For the past week, I've been running on fumes. I didn't want to change anymore of my travelers checks and I was completely out of Won. Today...Payday! 2,014,800 Won! And the exchange rate is excellent right now and getting better each day. 931 Won per US dollar.

We are supposed to have eight teachers on staff and we are currently running on only seven. We are getting a lot of overtime hours. January will mark the beginning of winter school which will be even more overtime. I expect my paychecks to get prettier and prettier.

Ladder Luck

I am constantly amazed by some of the most seemingly mundane things. If you think walking under a ladder is bad luck, then you definitely wouldn't want to walk under one of these.

These trucks are employed to move people in and out of their apartments that might be located on any one of the 20 floors of an apartment building. The very small truck runs out a ladder and then a platform is moved up and down carrying items up to the apartment balcony.

From a distance these are kind of interesting, but up close they are down right scary. There is so little supporting either the truck, the platform or the extension that the whole thing looks like it might topple over. I take a wide berth as I walk around...Just to be on the safe side.

Not That I'm Worried...

I have a huge amount of faith in the peace talk process. That said, does it bode well that N. Korea has 'defiantly declared' itself a nuclear power on day one of the full international arms talks?

North Korea or the 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea', wants the U.N. sanctions lifted before it considers disarmorment. The United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan have been meeting in Bejing this week in hopes of a resolution to nuclear tests in N. Korea on Oct. 9. N. Korea is demanding the lift of financial restrictions and the allowance of a nuclear reactor that would alliviate energy demands in the country.

All of this would put the communist country on 'equal footing' with other nuclear powers. The talks were suspended 13 months ago when no progress had been made. The tests in October put a fresh and disturbing spin on the already tense situation.

Until South Koreans become worried about the situation, I have every confidence in proceeding with life day by day with only the cares of the job weighing me down. But, let's all pray for a peaceful resolution. Pray for all those involved in the talks.

Ain't Going Down Til the Sun Comes Up

Motivated by the stressful week, we decided to brave the weather and venture to Hongdae for some dancing. The subway was packed because of the snow and amazingly a lot of people were out and about.

We ended up at the Tin Pan which was packed with Americans and other internationals. It offered loud, good clubbing music. Bars in Korea don't close and so we ended up staying out until 4:30am!

Because of the weather, none of the cabbies wanted to take us all the way back to Gimpo. We were finally able to bribe one in to taking us home to the tune of 50,000 Won. Ouch!! Why, oh, why don't the subways run all night!!!

First Snow

Gimpo is apparently having an unusually wet winter so far. We were blessed with a beautiful snow fall last night. It was so much fun to take a walk in it today.

It is a nice wet, slushy snow that is just perfect for building a snowman.

We came upon a street where Korean children and adults were taking advantage of this rarity and enjoying some sledding.

Curbside Cabbage

We met one of the Korean teachers behind the school this morning for some refreshing curbside cabbage washing. The plan...make a year's supply of kimchi for her family and for us. Her husband's uncle raises cabbage and so he supplied over 50 heads of cabbage that he quartered and soaked in brine.

Our job started by repeatedly rinsing the cabbages out on the streets of Gimpo. The most amazing part was that for all the people who stopped, no one seemed the least bit surprised that a bunch of Americans would be washing cabbages on the side of the street. We then crammed into a Korean friend's car and took all of the cabbages and onions to the Korean teacher's house.
The living room became our base of operation as we chopped radishes, onions, scallions, and some sort of leafy vegetable that is as of now still unidentified.

The ingredients were combined in a bathtub sized tupperware bin along with several pounds of dried, crushed red peppers, salt and pepper paste.

It had to be mixed, massaged, mixed, massaged, and mixed again. (It was very happy cabbage after the vigorous massages.) Then garlic, rice puree, and shrimp.

This concoction, we then rubbed on all of the cabbages, individually. We then placed the cabbages in clay pots and tupperware containers to marinate. Who knows how it turned out. But, come January we'll be able to taste the fruits of our labors.

Stress Relief

This week has been incredibly stressful for some reason. That said I don't think I've ever laughed so much (except during Turtle ceremonies). We always have a couple of minutes between classes and there was a birthday cake in the teacher's room from one of the student's birthday parties. In that short interlude, I bet a co-worker 5,000 Won that she couldn't eat an entire piece of cake in one mouthful! She took me up on it and this was the result.

The best part was that she had to go to class thirty seconds later, her hand sticky from frosting and her teeth and lips stained blue.

After work we indulged in a Korean beef dinner and a couple (okay several) bottles of Hite.

The evening proceeded with a movie night. The selections...Elf and then National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Inebriated, I couldn't stop myself from the 'pre-laugh'. The pre-laughed is that unfortunate social movie viewing problem that happens when you know what is coming in the movie and laugh hysterically even though the current scene does not inspire that level of laughter.

More than anything though, I was happy to introduce my co-workers (some of which had never seen these classics) to the quotable quotes like:

"I like smiling. Smiling is my favorite." and

"Grace? Grace has been dead for thirty years......The BLESSING!"

A Korean Sat Next to Me

We went to see 'The Holiday' last night. We didn't get off work until 7:30pm so had to go to the 10pm showing. We bought our tickets early and then went to Red Mango for the "yummiest frozen yogurt in the world." It doesn't roll of the tongue as well as "the country's best yogurt", but it is still pretty tasty.

The theaters are housed in seven story buildings just like every other business in the downtown area. This one theater has seven different screens in two buildings that are across the street from each other. We neglected to ask which building we were in but fortunately, the ticket lady recognized us from a half block away and waved us to the opposite building.

Korean movie theaters have assigned seating. This is an interesting concept that I don't think would work in the states. Being a Wednesday night, the place was practically empty. We decided to forgo the assigned seating because there were only six other people in the theater (and because we couldn't read the tickets - they were in Korean). We sat down and waited for the previews. A Korean couple came in the theater and sat right next to us. There were a hundred other seats available! Apparently, their assigned seats were right next to the spot we had randomly chosen to sit. We tactfully moved down a couple of seats to enjoy the movie.

It was a good movie. It showed England during the Christmas season. England at Christmas would be my ideal. I don't know why it is so appealing to me but I've always wanted to live in England just so I could spend Christmas there one year. Maybe someday in the future.

I also really liked the idea of a house exchange for a holiday. Anybody interested in one of the bedrooms in a Korean apartment located just outside of Seoul? I'd be happy to swap for a week. Let me know.

Christmas Threw Up

Christmas has thrown up in my classroom. I had my classroom nicely decorated for the holidays. But my boss wants to see every inch of wall space completely covered with paraphernalia. Personally, I think it looks atrocious now, and Martha would never approve. But if that's what he wants, that's what he's going to get.

I feel like I'm a character on Office Space where I am supposed to wear 14 pieces of flair. So, I wear 14 pieces of flair. My boss pulls me aside to explain that I should want to wear more than the minimum 14 pieces of flair. If he wants me to wear more pieces of flair why doesn't he just make the minimum number of flair 32?!?

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

I went running again this morning and was mobbed by an army of uniformed school children on their way to class. Students start school by 8:30 every morning and are often in class until 10pm. Education is really taken seriously here despite the attitudes of students while they are in class.

There is a school crossing guard just outside my building who dutifully waves her flag to stop traffic to allow students to cross. It works out well for me because I can time my strides and allow her to stop traffic for me too and keep pace in my jogging.

I follow the path outside our apartment that is used quite heavily though that is not evidenced in the top picture. The path follows a canal which the locals fish out of. Though from the looks of it, I think that even my brother (fisherman extrodinare) would have problems pulling a fish out of it. I'm not sure I'd eat anything that was caught in it.

Sasquatch Teaches

My kindergartners are fascinated by the bracelets I wear.
LiveStrong, WWJD, FFA-Forever Blue.
They'll take hold of my hand and then they'll start examining my bracelet(s).
I'll get distracted and turn my attentions elsewhere. Pretty soon though I'll feel them start petting my hands.
Now, I never thought that my hands were overly hairy and I am definitely no Sasquatch. But Koreans are naturally hairless or at very least have minimal hair. The amount of hair I have on my hands and arms is of great amusement to them.
Then to make matters worse, one of my older students became fascinated by the peach fuzz on my ears and the growth of my facial hair. Amazing the distractions that can ruin an otherwise productive class period!