overnight in pohang

this weekend a gang of gimhaens descended upon the city of Pohang. i was among them. a couple of canucks from here were playing in a hockey game so we went to cheer them on. apparently it worked because they played much better than they did here in gimhae. (i wasn't there, so that's based purely on what i heard.)

a street in pohang

we caught the bus around noon and arrived about two hours later. we checked into a motel and headed for an orphanage where kim worked a few years ago. having grown up in the 80's i always get this picture of the poor little orphan annie in my head; children in rags, scrubbing the floors and being beaten when they are bad... but it wasn't anything like that at all.

the valentine motel... our little love nest!!!

the kids were fascinated with the waegooks - going so far as to measure nose and leg hair lengths of the boys -- which was hilarious! they were sweet and fun. the orphanage is set up with different "apartments" - each one has about ten kids and one "mother" who cares for them. i think we were all expecting rows of bunk beds covered in gray blankets, but they sleep on the floor on mats (many koreans do). it was really cool to hang out with them all for an hour or so.

the orphanage

what a big nose you have!

oh my! (what a cutie)

after the visit, we had dinner and headed to the game. 'les boys' played really well and were ahead for most of the game. unfortunately, the ref was actually a member of the other team and wasn't very good at reffing and didn't really know what he was doing. they actually extended the third period to 30 minutes just so they wouldn't lose! WTF? anyway, it was really awesome to watch!

yes... that's a Zamboni... in korea...

only in korea... would the entire team hop a squat on the ice.

blair (game face on) and jason.

then it was out for the night to the three "foreigner" bars in pohang. i liked mindy's the best, but they were all good. got in to the motel at about 4:30 am... and i left early! a good time was had by all (i think) - we should definitely go back again!

***
to my regular readers... sorry i haven't been posting as often as usual... hopefully i'll get back in the swing of things soon... in the meantime, thanks for keeping up! this weekend is the "sand festival" in busan, so there should be some good posting for that!

happy birthdays

first to Abbey. what a night! and second to Buddha, what a great day off!

dave made this adorable sign!

yesterday abbey hosted her birthday dinner where we indulged in all manner of tex-mex; nachos and salsa, quesedillas, and tacos! then of course, there was the ice cream birthday cake from baskin robbins! i think we all gained about ten pounds in a few hours!

mmm... tacos....

kim even made a pinata for the event! it was loads of fun to watch abbey trying to break it. finally it fell to the floor where she beat it open.

hit it!

finally we all headed to the noraebang (karaoke) where fun was had by all. we were joined by a mass of other people and sang late into the night (or early into the morning - i got home at 4am and i left before almost everyone else!)

and all that thanks to buddha having his birthday today - which meant no one had to work and we could all stay out! this weekend: pohang.

sometimes

i just don't have anything to say. can you believe it? well, it's true. soon, however, i will have many wonderful stories with which to regale you. for now, happy wednesday, TOMORROW IS A HOLIDAY!!!!

the funk that was

well, a few days have passed since my "inflammatory" post about korea and culture shock. i'm feeling much better now, thank you. like i said, culture shock comes in waves and it's different for everyone... i managed to surf through that one and only really fell off my board once.

i think one of the hardest parts of culture shock is seeing it for what it is, and that post helped me. so did a good friend of mine here in korea. she helped me put my feelings into perspective, helped me see the other side of the story... something which i was blind to precisely because of the way i was feeling. so a thanks to you (you know who you are) for a great evening of wine and cheese and intellectually stimulating conversation!

today is actually my nine month anniversary here. i know it isn't really that long, but it's still a milestone. a little more than three months to go and when i break it down, i can do it. so happy anniversary to me!

back to stage two

They say culture shock can last for years. I believe them. I was having a good run of things, despite all the 'crap'; I was feeling pretty good, in general, about being here. The last week has seen a resurgence of my culture shock. I’m not sure what triggered it, but everything i do makes it worse.

A friend of mine recently wrote a post on her blog about how when you’re far away from home emotions are heightened. When you’re up, you’re really UP, and when you’re down, you’re really DOWN. I’m in the latter at the moment.

I think it may have something to do with the realization that I’ll be going home in about three months; then what? I’ve been thinking too much about the future and it’s freaking me out. It’s also making me feel like I'm wasting my time here... I just want to get on with it.

It may also have something to do with having gotten out of here and seen something different in Japan. It just brought home a lot of things about Korea that I don’t like.

It’s also partly realizing that Koreans don’t trust foreigners. Everywhere I go I get sidelong glances and dirty looks from the Koreans I see. They look at me like I’m about to steal the candy out of their babes’ mouths. Last night was the clincher, I won't go into details, but a bunch of us were out for the night, and the Koreans kept treating us all like criminals; searching purses, accusing us of not paying, and guarding us like inmates about to break out. Compounded with how I've been feeling all week, it made for a VERY bad night, and an increase in my hate-on for Korea.

All I wanted to do was come to Korea, teach their children some English and have an experience I would never forget. Well, I certainly won’t forget the past eight and half months, and the next three are bound to be just as memorable. Korea, as I’ve said many times before, is a homogeneous and xenophobic society, that is unwelcoming to anything from the outside. I just can’t deal with it anymore… I’m sick of pretending like everything in Korea is so fantastic and wonderful. Yes, there are good things about being here, but right now I'm having a hard time seeing that side of things.

I guess this week the bad stuff is just playing center stage in my head… I feel like I’m back in October again. Stuck in stage two culture shock with no way out but to sit and wait for time to pass. Hopefully the next few months will pass as quickly as the last eight have and I’ll get through it. I know I can, I just can’t see how right now.

just another...

i worked in a bank for almost five years. not in a branch, but in customer service answering the phones - on the front lines of complaints at that; for three of those years i was a supervisor. when i wasn't on a complaint call, there was other work to be done, but when that was done, all i could do was sit there and wait for the phone to ring. to alleviate the boredom i became addicted to cheesy online games like the ones at popcap. we weren't supposed to play games, but everyone just kind of looked the other way... when you're bored, you're bored... and you have to find anything to make work bearable.

this worked for a long time, but i was sick of my job long before i left it to come to korea. in fact the bank job was one of the reasons i came. i didn't want to just go out and find another mundane, run-of-the-mill kind of job, i was free from university and was looking for adventure... so i moved halfway around the world... and here we are.

the thing is, my job here, though at times crazy and full of excitement, has it's fair share of boredom as well. for instance, winter "vacation" - don't worry i won't get into it again!!! - spring "vacation", exam time, anytime that i don't have classes to teach really. i thought school #2 was different since they gave me time off last week and the week before when there were no classes, but today changed my mind about them.

i found out late in the morning that my afternoon classes were cancelled. i got excited; i imagined myself outside tanning in the glory of the days' sunshine, getting to the gym early, going home, taking a shower, making a nice dinner, relaxing in the evening... i should have left the dreaming for bed time. i was made to stay at school until 4:30 - FIVE HOURS.

five hours of doing nothing inside, at a desk, when i could have been outside fulfilling my day dreams. i just don't get it. i think it's one of those things that will confound me forever. all the other teachers were asking me why i was there, wondering the same thing as me. it's just crap. i can deal with it, but it threw off my whole day and just made me pissed off.

as i've said before, i could understand if i had some kind of work to do, or even a computer that worked properly, but i literally spent half the afternoon with my head on my desk trying to nap. what's the point? i might as well be a "bad" student who is being punished for screwing around in class.

if it was a reason to leave canada, it sure as heck is a reason to leave korea... so really this is just another bullet point on my list of reasons to leave...

happy teachers day!

what a fantastic holiday. teachers day is not what it used to be (or so i hear) but just getting an extra day off is a gift unto itself! i spent my teachers day at the beach, soaking up the rays, with a few friends. a couple of them got loads of presents and gift certificates, where i got a pink balloon and a note. oh well... like i said, a day off is a day off!!!

the koreans were out as well... we found these ones buried in the sand!

wes, dave and abbey chillin' in the sand...

down the beach.

the sun didn't seem very strong, but i've come away with my first (and hopefully only) burn of the year. i had sunblock on (only 15 spf, as that's usually enough) but i guess i should take a hint from the stores which sell almost exclusively 30 spf. point taken... it won't happen again. don't think this will peel... and will hopefully be a nice brown in a couple of days.

it was a great day for relaxing on the beach... thanks guys!

miscellaneous pictures

(or fukuoka, japan - the finale)

these are just random pictures that didn't really fit into the other posts... funny, different, strange... it's all here... enjoy!

on the street

no smoking on the streets of fukuoka!

even the manholes are interesting!

boys should not hit girls with their bikes!

fire hydrants are underground

except for the signs! which have advertising on them!

beware of the giant man-eating turtles! (i didn't even see any turtles!)

in the store

green tea kit-kat!
because women don't chew gum?!?

need an individual size glass of ice?

some people...

a burned out building with one room left is a perfectly suitable place to sell chestnuts!

yes, there are homeless people in japan. more than you would think. this was just outside the walls of the castle ruins...

in the train station at night after everything closes... people will sleep anywhere they can... so sad...

japan was a great experience, despite only being there for two days. it was truly a breath of fresh air for me. it helped me realize a lot of things about korea, most of which i will not subject you to. japan is just more open, in every way - the people, the buildings, the atmosphere, the variety of food, the different international stores...etc... the list goes on. i guess that japan is just more "modern" and "international" than korea. they aren't xenophobic or homogenous the way koreans are. they are more approachable. they are nicer (they smile and nod when you pass them in the street - in korea you don't exist). they understand what it means to queue for something and don't push to the front. like i said, the list goes on and i won't go into it any more...

hope you enjoyed following my little side trip... i guess the posts will resume to the regular "ranting about korea" that we've all grown accustomed to... hopefully not, things are looking up with less than four months to go... now i need to figure out what to do when i get home... any suggestions?

shrines and temples

(or fukuoka, japan part four)

there are tons of temples and shrines dotting the map of fukuoka. i made it to three. oh well, better luck next time, but with only two days, i had to choose wisely. it would be nice if there were some kind of ultimate guide to shrines and temples in fukuoka (or even japan for that matter) but if there is, i didn't have it. so i just had to go with my gut. the ones i visted were based on proximity to where i was and where i needed to be.

on friday, shortly after leaving the hostel (headed for the festival) i came upon ryuguji temple. it is tiny and hidden between two large office buildings, but being the first one i saw in japan, i had to stop in.

ryuguji temple

it's just a tiny little place and sorry the picture isn't that good... but (again) the weather was horrendous the whole time i was there. the story (according to the little plaque outside the temple) goes:

In 1222, a mermaid was cought, a sign which was taken to mean the eternity of our nation and thus was buried in the compound of ukinido temple. it was thought that the mermaid came from ryugu (sea god's palace) and hence the temple was renamed ryugu temple. in 1480, priest sogi who was a noted verse linking poet stayed here and held a hakata verse linking meeting where they linked verses composed of 100 phrases. he is also the author of the "chikushi travel sketch" describing his tour of kyushu.

sunday was my day of temple and shrine visiting, since i made it to two of the bigger ones in fukuoka. the first was kushida shrine.

kushida shrine (photo courtesy of may's there was all kinds of scaffolding up the right side when i was there...)

kushida was founded in 757 AD (now that's old!). it is in the heart of the old city of hakata and has many special items: the Eto arrow plate with carved chinese zodiac (see below), the brace of anchor stones recovered from the bay from mongolian invasions, the yamakasa portable shrine (see below), a ginko tree that is puportedly more than a thousand years old, and the grand deity Ohata Nushina-mikoto in enshrined there.

the Eto Arrow plate

the yamakasa portable shrine

a close(r) up shot of the yamakasa

in july the oiyama event of the Yamakasa-gion festival is held at kushida shrine. men wearing loincloths race carrying heavy wooden shrines (above) through the streets in a set route.

the front entrance to kushida

inside the main shrine

an artsy shot

another artsy shot

the old part of kushida shrine.

these are called torii gates. they mark the entrance to a shrine but since these were in the back of the main building i'm assuming they're the old ones. click for more detailed info on shinto shrines.

the last temple i visited (briefly) was tochoji temple. it really started pouring when i got there and my second memory card was full so i only got a few shots. again, i wish i had known more about the place before i wandered in, because now, having looked it up on the web it's a lot cooler than i thought and would have warranted deleting other pictures. Tochoji was founded in 806 by saint kobo after his return from china. it is the oldest temple in fukuoka.

tochoji temple - really doesn't do it justice... it was pouring and if you enlarge the picture you can see the rain.

all the statues were wearing aprons... not sure why...

buddha - 11 meters high and weighing 30 tons (photo courtesy of yahoo)

wish i'd gotten a picture of it myself... but i didn't even know that it was there. there are a bunch of other objects at this shrine i would have liked to see: the tombstones of the lords of the Kuroda clan, examples of calligraphy by the artist-priest Sendai, a thousand-handed statue of the goddess of mercy (designated an important cultural asset), and the calligraphy of the temple's founder, Taishi Kobo. next time?

well, i hope that's enough to satisfy your curiosity about temples and shrines... probably not, but you'll have to deal! coming up random bits of fukuoka (or the last post on this subject!)... so stay tuned!

real japanese food...

(or fukuoka, japan part three)

Saturday after my day of walking around the sights, i headed back to the hostel... thinking only of resting my poor feet. i was actually planning on chilling for a while and then going out to do some night photography of the city, but as they say, the best laid plans...

i met a canuck named andrew almost as soon as i got back to the hostel. he's been travelling around asia for the last three months and had just arrived in fukuoka. he wasa going out with a friend that he'd met in cambodia last month and asked me if i'd like to come along.

we met up with his friend midori and her friend mihwa at tenjin subway station. this is one of the main areas for going out so we thought it would be a good place to meet. i'd been there the evening before (that's where the dance took place) and so kind of knew my way around... it was nice to be with some locals though. we decided to go eat some real japanese food. we ended up on the sixth floor of a random building at futoppara.

miwha and midori

they ordered and wouldn't tell us what they got, so it was all a big surprise. the dishes came one by one served by a guy with the biggest bouffant hair i've seen on a man in a long time... sorry no pic...

our first course, salad... such smart girls!

our second course - mentaiko - an egg omelet with fish roe and sauce that tasted oddly similar to ketchup, but not quite.

a close up of the mentaiko... appetizing?

the third course - yaki ramen

this was fried noodles with fish flakes and sauce that was kind of like gravy - it wasn't that good... think ramen noodles with gravy... and fish flakes... i'd rather eat sushi!!! (for those who don't know, i'm not a huge fan of the delicasy...)

the fourth course - kooki horeu.

the girls had to look this up in their electronic dictionary. it's pig intestines with garlic stalk and a sweetish sauce. i only had one bite since it took me five minutes to chew and then i just couldn't swallow. the girls said that about half of japanese people love this dish and hald despise it... at our table three out of four enjoyed it. i was not one of them! the meat was just really chewy and after chewing for so long the flavour changed and it was unbearable.

after eating we ordered a pitcher of sake...when in rome... or, rather, japan... i'd never had sake before and had to try it. it came in this cute little pot and it was hot - which i was not expecting. i loved it. it was definitely better than it's korean counterpart! it was kind of sweet but with a slight aftertaste of rice. it went straight to my head too! definitely something i would have again.

pouring the sake.

finally when it was all done, a crowd of japanese people sitting behind us started talking to us - can't quite remember how... they said something in english and i turned around, i think. anyway, they were really nice but could only say hello in english. nonetheless one of the guys insisted on getting a photo with me - more movie star syndrome - and then he reciprocated for me.

me, the random japanese guy and andrew.

it was a really great meal and it was made better by having it with some really cool women... and a canuck. we parted ways with the girls and headed back to the hostel, exhausted after a day of (for me) sightseeing and travel (for andrew).

coming up shrines and temples in fukuoka... so stay tuned!

sightseeing

(or fukuoka, japan part two)

i visited the canal city complex on friday early evening. it's basically a giant mall but is often referred to as a city within the city. it is apparently one of the "largest composite complexes in all of Asia". it boasts hundreds of stores (including the gap, which i was exstatic about), tons of restaurants, two hotels, a theater, entertainment complex and on and on... it is huge. i went there twice actually and didn't see the whole thing... definitely worth checking out. oh! and the best part was Wendy's!! that's right i had a REAL bacon cheeseburger - it was to die for!!!

canal city (or a part of it anyway)

it's called canal city because of the canal that runs through it... here children are playing in the water - totally permitted and even encouraged!

a nicer shot of the canal with the fountain that was exploding to songs by ABBA... promo for "mamma mia" which was playing at the theater.

wendy's in japan - looks like every other wendy's i've ever been to!

on saturday i got up and out of the hostel by 9 AM. i had a lot to see and do and couldn't waste any time lying about! i headed for the "downtown" area to the ruins of fukuoka castle. it was built by Lord Nagamasa Kuroda in the early 17th century. it's more or less a giant park now... with tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and a lot of trees. it was really nice to walk around... sadly my camera batteries died as i got to the castle, so i don't have many (good) pictures. (i had just bought the batteries too... argh!!!)

a walkway up into the castle.

one of the walls... just gives you an idea of how massive it was! it took me about an hour to walk around the whole thing.

next to the castle ruins is ohori park. a huge man made lake (which was origianlly part of the castles' moat) sits in the middle with lots of trees and generally pretty views. of course, having finally gotten some batteries, mother nature decided it was time to let go and it started pouring rain on me right when i entered the park. i had my umbrella so i managed to walk through the center of the lake using a series of bridges and islands.

a map of the park - the path around the lake is two km's. i just walked around the right side and through the middle.

a view across the lake

gazebo (are they called that if they're japanese?) in the middle of the lake.

one of the bridges across.

when i emerged from the park i found a coffee shop to relax in for a bit - mr. donut - and wait for the rain to die down. at this time, my camera informed me that my memory card was full so i had to find somewhere to buy another one... argh!!! stupid camera! (the annoyance was only heightened by the fact that i had thought that i'd have a new camera by that time... i was going to buy one in japan, but as it turns out they're cheaper in korea... so it'll have to wait until i get to seoul again.) after the rain slowed a bit i made my way on the subway toward fukuoka tower. i was going to walk, but didn't because of the rain.

i found the fukuoka city museum before the tower so i stopped in to get out of the rain again. what better place to spend a rainy afternoon than in a museum? as you can tell by the name the museum is all about the history of fukuoka... it was an interesting if not short exhibit with lots of pottery, knives, clothes... etc... from the area. the oldest bits being from around the stone age... it was a nice way to get out of the rain.

fukuoka city museum - yes that's the tower in the background...

i finally got to the tower at around 2:30 PM (remember i've been walking almost non-stop since 9 in the morning) - i was exhausted... but the sightseeing must go on.

fukuoka tower

the tower was built in 1989. it is 234 meters high but the observation deck is at 123 meters. it is covered with 8000 half mirrors giving it the nickname of "the mirror sail". it is designed to withstand magnitude seven earthquakes and winds of up to 63 miles per second. it weighs over 28,000 tons, with 25,000 of that underground. it cost six billion ¥ (in 1989) to build and is the highest seaside tower in all of japan!

towards korea.

towards canada.

up the coast (nice looking beach)

into the city...

after taking in the view - albeit not a very good one with the rain... i had a too-expensive glass of beer at the top and left it behind to walk to hawk's town. i also passed by the fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome - home to the fukuoka Seahawks baseball team. it was the first dome in japan to havea retractable roof. there was a game going on, but i didn't know until it was over, or maybe i could have gone... oh well, next time.

the dome.

hawks town mall.

after wandering around the mall for ages - bought a hoodie, and a couple of other small things i went to the hard rock cafe. there is a first for everything! i don't think i've ever been to one before... and they had club sandwiches on the menu and i just couldn't resist! it was good, but nothing like a club back home... at least the bacon was real!!! it was tasty.

i finally headed back to the hostel at around 6:30 exhausted from my day... thinking about how nice it would be to curl up on the couch and rest my poor feet... but alas... that is never what happens when you really want it...(and a good thing too!) so stay tuned for my adventures in japanese food with real japanese people and a canuck i met along the way...