Kristmas in Korea

As calls of 메리 크리스마스 (merry christmas) ring out in the streets, I suddenly realize that its that time of year again. For the first time ever it kind of snuck up one me. Korean stores have the peculiar notion that October is not an appropriate time to put up the garlands and crank the carols. Here we were well into December and you'd have barely any idea what was coming. FInally though the Paris Baguette, Dong-A and others are getting into the mood. Unfortunately Korean Christmas decorations are generally inspired by the discount bin at the dollar store.

Visa Run

I went to Japan last week to pick up my visa. Japan was shockingly amazing, so I wish I could have stayed longer than 1 day. Fukuoka is about 3 hours by ferry from Busan. Its a great city, and different in many ways from Korea.

Coming from Korea I was struck by how modern and clean and cosmoplitan it was. Not that Korea is really backward or dirty or old fashioned, but it just isn't up to the same level as Japan as far as those things go. Japan has much more varied and interesting architecture, both modern and old. I was surprised by the "euro-style" building, I guess built in the early 20th century. Bicycles were very common compared to here, which added to the european, to my eyes, look. Canal city, a huge mall was quite a revalation, totally different from anything I've seen like that before. It was terraced, outside and in, in circular domes, overlooking an inner courtyard. Something you couldn't really have in Canada because its so exposed to the weather.

People in Japan also are much better at English, and appear less amazed by foreigners, either that, or they're just more reserved than Koreans, who not infrequently giggle and point to the funny looking foreigners as you go along, and the kids here often yell out "hello!" as you pass by, seemingly quite amused.

Japanese people smoke more, and in more public places. Everything is more expensive, though not outrageous, and food is cheap. Certainly not cataclysmic like people make it sound. Eight dollar orange juice? no. Maybe I was just in the wrong part of town. Perhaps in Tokyo it gets more so. Fukuoka had a busy airport constantly streaming traffic.

I met a couple of Canadians and an American there. The one guy seemed bitter about Korea, although he's lived there for 5 years. Seems to think they're quite incompetent, and full of themselves. If only they'd have the sense to follow the German way. The American was also kind of annoying, he was pretty full of himself, and crude. Not that I mind crudeness usually, but he really took it to another level. Also, he was a totally incompetent jackass, who said he knew where our hotel was, but he didn't actually. So we wound up walking in circles for two agonizing hours. Plus the first thing he wanted to do was eat at McDonald's, which seemed kind of lame. However, the remaining Canadian was nice, and not totally self absorbed. Thank goodness. I managed to ditch the ones I didn't like, and had a good time walking around Fukuoka on my own, which is one of the things I best like doing really.

Now I begin working, today was my first day. Went pretty well. I was able to muddle through despite being quite unprepared. My morning class seems to require more energy than the afternoon. Afternoon is split between good classes, and potentially annoying ones. Last week during my shadowing it was halloween, so i didn't really get to observe the classes as they are usually taught. Cathy helped out with some hints as to what I should do, so once I get the books straightened out, I should be good, as long as I can keep a lid on the discipline. I'll have to be vigilant not to let things get out of hand in any of my classes. Fortunately they're still young enough to be intimidated by Xs next to their name on the board.

Hillier than you

One of the best parts of living here are the hills, close by and good for hiking. This past weekend we went up the closest one and walked along the crest of the hill for quite a ways, looking over one side into the country, and the other into the city. Koreans are all enthusiastic hikers and really go in for the proper gear, sticks, clothes, and shoes.

Student

I met a Korean student yesterday on my trip downtown. He was a friendly guy and I think he wanted to learn English so he struck up a conversation. Fortunately he was much less bizarre than some of that kind I have met, who seem far too forward about it, which makes me very suspicious, like that Burger King guy that we met on our trip to EXCO. Anyway, it was intersting to actually talk to a Korean for a while. He told me about his time in the army, which all korean men go into for 13 months to two years. I wonder if having a draft changes the nature of society.

Other than that, the weather has been far far crummier lately, warm, but overcast. Today though the weather is nice, and I may go out to the country again. See how the colours have progressed.

Ramblings

The weather is so beautiful these days that I have taken to walking in the countryside near here a lot. The small and windy road gradually becomes more and more isolated as it moves farther from the city. All along are the small farm plots of diverse farmers. Some appear more serious than others. I think that some of them are just hobbyists with high power jobs in the city who like the countryside.

Others, elderly and hunched must be doing what they do. Today I got to an isolated village where they were building a temple or something. The village was quite charming to my tourist eyes. They appeared to be bee keepers as a day job, and the bees were certainly busy. An old lady even said hello, or annyong haseyo, which was nice. In the city people usually don't say hello, except for little kids yelling "hello" to amuse their friends. It seems as though there was an air raid drill while I was in the country, as I could hear the whining siren echoing through the valleys. Then the airforce became very active and flew around busily for the rest of the evening, really the only disturbance out in the shielded countryside.

I have been working on my visa, Mr. Kim promises to send me to Japan either next week or the monday after. Yesterday I had lunch with Gene Kim, my recruiter and he told me that Wonderland changed names in order to attract more older kids. We had sushi, of all sorts of kinds. It was the first time I've really enjoyed sushi.

Spiders

Creepy looking spider eh?

Downtown

I finally got downtown to the main shopping district on Sunday. Corie bought some new pants, which she had worried would be difficult due to Korean women being usually on the slim side, but she found a really nice pair that she quite likes. The shopping is pretty high end compared to Ottawa or Halifax. The area around Migliore reminds me of Strøget. Sunday was beautiful, and its now noticably warmer than it would be in Canada at this time of year. Its about 20-25 degrees during the day and down to 12-15 at night. Tree colours are changing though, subtly.

I spoke to Mr. Kim today and he agreed to start processing my visa, and to pay me for my ticket from Canada, which is a huge bonus. Now I'm suddenly going to have tonnes of money.

Culture

We went to the Salvador Dali exhibit at Exco with Joy today. Its an impressive building on the northside of the city. The exhibit was surprisingly popular and interesting. Salvadore was an interesting guy. They put in all of his famous quotes, like "you cannot make anything without copying something" and other such profundities. The best one was,

"When he fell into the circle of mostly Marxist surrealists who denounced as enemies the monarchists on one hand and the anarchists on the other, Dalí explained to them that he personally was an anarcho-monarchist."

Last night we went out to see the last show of a rock group made up of foreigners here, some of whom are going home. The place pretty much only had foreigners, including a number of people from Ottawa, and many from Canada. I'm becoming more and more surprised by how many Canadians there are here. It seems basically 3 out of 4 are Canucks. Some Irish, soms scots, a few americans, a few kiwis, but all in all its us northmen dominating the scene. Later we went to dancing, which was thrilling as always. Everyone else seems to love it, so there yougo. Commune, the first bar, really is vastly over-rated...

Also we went to a western restaurant with Joy this evening. Chicken quesedillas all the way. Kind of feels like cheating, but sometimes you need a rest.

Apples and Oranges

We've been getting better at food collection. By now I know where the multitude of food stores are, and between them all are so many street vendors that you can barely keep track. We can find most things that we want, but not everything. Certain random vegetable are not available, replaced by strange creatures we don't know. Avocadoes, beans, peas, and anything frozen are unavailable.

Some things such as peppers are available, but are much much smaller than in Canada. Everything is very variable in price and you really have to shop around. Sometimes you can get unbelievable deals. We got about 4000 little cherry tomatoes, very tasty, the other day for a little more than a 1.50! They are so good that we eat them constantly now. Most veggies cost roughly the same as in Canada, except that you often have to buy them in much larger quantities. Chicken and pork are a bit cheaper, but beef is much more expensive. The main grocery stores have imported food sections with many western products, such as salsa, various spices, crackers, candy, etc... Also, the Daegu apples actually are quite good, they are now in season, and fairly tart. Different in texture from most I've seen in Canada, but quite good. The markets are also sufficiently exotic with all sorts of live fish floppign out of their pots whenever they can.

I'm still cruising around whenever possible, I went to the arboretum yesterday, agains confirming my need for reading korean. I took several very circuitous bus routes on my way home, and really would rather not have. I wish we lived nearer a subway stop. The subway is easy and cheap (c. 60 cents for a ride!)