Sunday, April 25, 2010
What I Taught Today
A particularly ridiculous video I had to show my students today, featuring and outstanding performance by "Kevin". Check it out!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Something Surprised Me!
I've been here for 8 months now, so very little about Korea surprises me anymore. I'm used to walking down the street and seeing giant fish tanks filled with slithery eels, and old ladies on blankets peddling squid, acorn jelly, and other various treats! However, I saw something last week that really surprised me, so i thought I'd share it with my faithful readers.
I was eating dinner at a restaurant in my neighborhood. I live in a bustling part of town, right off campus of a major university, with alot of restaurants, cafes and bars near my apartment. That night was like any other, with college kids out having dinner and drinking, and people shopping in little boutiques I could see from outside the large window of the restaurant. All of a sudden, I spied a Buddhist Monk walking down the street solemnly, complete with the shaved head, the robe, etc. He was thumping lightly on a drum and humming. Before I knew it, he was wakling into the restaurant where I was eating. He opened the door and just stood in the doorway thumping his drum for about a minute. No one paid him any mind so he turned around and left. Puzzled as to what he was doing, I watched him through the window, realizing that he was going door to door to all the restaurants in the neighborhood. Finally, he entered a fried chicken place, and the worker promptly handed him a box of chicken. Then he left the neighborhood. The guy was going door to door begging for food in typical monk fashion, and was given fried chicken?? Talk about East meets West.
I was eating dinner at a restaurant in my neighborhood. I live in a bustling part of town, right off campus of a major university, with alot of restaurants, cafes and bars near my apartment. That night was like any other, with college kids out having dinner and drinking, and people shopping in little boutiques I could see from outside the large window of the restaurant. All of a sudden, I spied a Buddhist Monk walking down the street solemnly, complete with the shaved head, the robe, etc. He was thumping lightly on a drum and humming. Before I knew it, he was wakling into the restaurant where I was eating. He opened the door and just stood in the doorway thumping his drum for about a minute. No one paid him any mind so he turned around and left. Puzzled as to what he was doing, I watched him through the window, realizing that he was going door to door to all the restaurants in the neighborhood. Finally, he entered a fried chicken place, and the worker promptly handed him a box of chicken. Then he left the neighborhood. The guy was going door to door begging for food in typical monk fashion, and was given fried chicken?? Talk about East meets West.
Yellow Dust
No, this picture is not something out of "The Day After Tomorrow," or "An Inconvenient Truth," though it has been considerably inconvenient. It is a springtime phenomenon in Korea known as "Yellow Dust," and it is vile.
Every spring, the dry sands of the Mongolian and Chinese deserts are blown across East Asia, where they end up in Korea, and consequently, my lungs. This is a huge environmental problem caused by deforestation, industrialization and unsustainable urbanization. According to "The Granite Tower," Korea University's English Magazine, this dust contains silicon, aluminum, copper, cadmium, and lead! Absolutely foul! Now I'm starting to understand why so many Koreans wear those protective masks...Luckily, Gwangju is far South so it been as "dusted" as badly as Seoul and other northern parts of the country, but it's still been noticeable, and I can't wait for "dust season" to be over! I guess it's true that April showers bring....YELLOW DUST!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
My Family's Visit
As some of you know, my family came out to Korea a few weeks ago to pay me a visit! They stayed in Korea for a week (the 3rd week of February) and visited three cities: Gwangju, Jeonju, and Seoul. We had a great time, and they handled that sometimes overwhelming feeling of jetlag surprisingly well! Some highlights of the trip:
1) Our Afternoon In Downtown Gwangju
My family was treated like a novelty item in downtown Gwangju. Because the country is so homogenous, it's not everyday the average Korean runs into a white person, not to mention and entire FAMILY of them (this is especially true in a smaller city like Gwangju). This being said, my family ate it up. Middle school girls came up to my 13 year old brother and said, "You are handsome!" Meanwhile, my father had a constant fan club of Korean children at his side, and he kept quizzing them on their English. Late in the afternoon, my dad was quizzing a group of them on colors. One kid got the color of his shirt wrong, and his friend said to my dad matter-of-factly, "He is stupid."
2) Hiking up Mudeung Mountain
The weather was pleasant the week they came up. A little chilly, but sunny enough for us to go hiking! So we decided to go up Mudeung Mountain, a small mountain near my apartment. There was a nice Buddhist Temple at the base, and we hiked for about a half hour, until we reached a modest summit with a very nice view of Gwangju!
3) My Dad and Brother at the Restaurant After the Hike
My dad wasn't a fan of sitting on the floor, and he wasn't big into chopsticks. Also, my brother wasn't crazy about the food...but the waitress loved them anyway! She came over to our table hospitably, and prepared everyone an exotic meal. It was great because she would literally stuff the food down my brother's throat, unaware that he detested it. He didn't want to be rude, so he'd wait for her to turn around before spitting it out and hiding it under his plate! This must have happened about 4 times! Meanwhile, my dad kept trying to make smalltalk with her, which I don't think she understood too well, if at all...
4) Our Day Trip to Jeonju
I took my family on a day trip about an hour outside of Gwangju to a city called Jeonju. To the avid followers of my blog, you'll remember that this is where I spent my week of training when I first arrived in Korea! Anyway, we explored a "folk village" and a hisoric (albeit small) palace. My dad was right when he said the village could be summed up as the "Olde Mystic Village" of Korea.
5) Seoul
We spent two nights in Korea's capital, Seoul. Here we went to the historic Gyungbogeoung Palace as well as a posh, artsy district called Insadong. However, I think everyone's favorite part of Seoul was the legendary Floor 19 of our luxurious hotel, which offered snacks all day, as well as a 3 hour open bar every night...
Anyway, we had a great time for the week. If any of my other friends/relatives want to come visit, let me know!
1) Our Afternoon In Downtown Gwangju
My family was treated like a novelty item in downtown Gwangju. Because the country is so homogenous, it's not everyday the average Korean runs into a white person, not to mention and entire FAMILY of them (this is especially true in a smaller city like Gwangju). This being said, my family ate it up. Middle school girls came up to my 13 year old brother and said, "You are handsome!" Meanwhile, my father had a constant fan club of Korean children at his side, and he kept quizzing them on their English. Late in the afternoon, my dad was quizzing a group of them on colors. One kid got the color of his shirt wrong, and his friend said to my dad matter-of-factly, "He is stupid."
2) Hiking up Mudeung Mountain
The weather was pleasant the week they came up. A little chilly, but sunny enough for us to go hiking! So we decided to go up Mudeung Mountain, a small mountain near my apartment. There was a nice Buddhist Temple at the base, and we hiked for about a half hour, until we reached a modest summit with a very nice view of Gwangju!
3) My Dad and Brother at the Restaurant After the Hike
My dad wasn't a fan of sitting on the floor, and he wasn't big into chopsticks. Also, my brother wasn't crazy about the food...but the waitress loved them anyway! She came over to our table hospitably, and prepared everyone an exotic meal. It was great because she would literally stuff the food down my brother's throat, unaware that he detested it. He didn't want to be rude, so he'd wait for her to turn around before spitting it out and hiding it under his plate! This must have happened about 4 times! Meanwhile, my dad kept trying to make smalltalk with her, which I don't think she understood too well, if at all...
4) Our Day Trip to Jeonju
I took my family on a day trip about an hour outside of Gwangju to a city called Jeonju. To the avid followers of my blog, you'll remember that this is where I spent my week of training when I first arrived in Korea! Anyway, we explored a "folk village" and a hisoric (albeit small) palace. My dad was right when he said the village could be summed up as the "Olde Mystic Village" of Korea.
5) Seoul
We spent two nights in Korea's capital, Seoul. Here we went to the historic Gyungbogeoung Palace as well as a posh, artsy district called Insadong. However, I think everyone's favorite part of Seoul was the legendary Floor 19 of our luxurious hotel, which offered snacks all day, as well as a 3 hour open bar every night...
Anyway, we had a great time for the week. If any of my other friends/relatives want to come visit, let me know!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A Dirty Carnival
Over the past month, I've been watching a lot of Korean cinema. The movies have been really entertaining, and have also helped me learn the language (maybe). There's a great website called www.mysoju.com that has streaming Korean films with English subtitles. It's definitely worth checking out. Anyway, I just finished watching one called "A Dirty Carnival." It was so good that I decided to officially endorse it on my blog. It's a gritty Korean gangster/film-noir flick with a great plot and awesome action sequences. Many of you know that I'm a sucker for mob movies, but this one was especially cool because there were no guns! Most of the "hits" and fighting were done with Sashimi knives, baseball bats and spiked clubs! I'm used to mob movies where someone gets whacked with a revolver or gunned down by machine guns, but this was more like "Braveheart", with rival gangs engaging in hand to hand combat on the streets of some shabby Korean city.I don't want to give away the plot, so head to www.mysoju.com and watch it yourself. You might even be able to rent it at the TLA.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
It's Good to be the King
One of the most interesting things about Thailand was "the King." His pictures were displayed all over the country! From giant billboards on the street to small framed pictures in every shop and restaurant, these pictures displayed the King in all kinds of poses, from a stoic stare to a shot of him and his wife on vacation!
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