the long awaited post on climbing a mountain

i'm not sure why i pumped up this post so much... i mean, i just hiked up a mountain... it's not like i was rock climbing or anything... but i guess it's because i haven't climbed a mountain in a long long time... i used to do it all the time when i was a teenager... it wasn't easy (read-out of shape) but well worth it. i don't know the name of the mountain - there are so many in korea that they don't put them all on the map... if they did, it would be the only things on there! but i'll find out from kat and edit this post later... to the right is the first view of it that i saw... unless you count looking out kat's bathroom window! but before we got to the mountain we had to go through these rice paddies, which were beautiful. it was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, with a nice breeze. the rice was almost glowing, and on our way back at the end of the day, it was.this is the path through the rice fields.
a shot of some plant... i just like it, so here it is.a korean scare crow.
the path through the woods up to the mountain.some tombs at the base of the mountain... rich koreans pay a lot of money to have their burial mounds up in the mountains, and they were all over the one we climbed... more pictures of them on the way...

the bottom of the mountain was easy...

me and chris on one of the "work out machines" that was at the first work out station that we found up the mountain... these things are all over the place in korea... i saw one in front of a KFC in Cheongju... apparently climbing the mountain isn't enough though, you ahve to use these funny machines to get a good workout! this one is for your hips (i guess)and you just hold on and swivel your hips back and forth... it's nice for stretching your midsection, but i don't see how it's really exercise.

the giant hoolahoop at the station...
...and chris trying to use it! this was hilarious, i kept thinking that he was going to take a dive, but he managed to stay on his two feet...
this little guy was on a pile of rocks at one of the workout stations... he had lots of little friends all around the rocks, but this is my favourite shot.

this is where it started getting really hard. well, okay maybe it was before this, but i was lagging... i figured it didn't matter if i went slowly, we'd all get to the same place eventually, and why kill myself over trying to keep up... besides, my legs are shorter!

almost there... this was actually harder to come down than it was to go up!

again, almost at the top, what a view. it was pretty hazy, we are still undecided on whether or not it's haze or pollution. Ulsan is the most polluted city in South Korea - Hyundai heavy industries is based there.

another nice view of Hogye-dong - the buildings in the middle of the shot in the back are the ones that we walked around the day before.
This port-o-potty look alike was sitting on the top of the mountain. no idea what it's there for, it's locked, so you can't get in, but there are magazines, and a spot to sit inside. very odd... i'm starting to think that there are a lot of really weird things in korea... well, if i had any doubt about it, i don't now.
a shot of the rice paddies we walked through to get to the mountain.
this is my favourite shot of the rice... see what i said about it glowing? it was gorgeous.

after climbing the mountain we went home and showered and changed and hit the town... next post - ilsan beach and the hunt for the westerner bar...

the WA Bar

The WA Bar is a "western ice bar"... you may recall it from the last time i visited Kat in Ulsan... it's where we met chris... anyway, we went out for a few pints and of course, every foreigner (okay there were only two) that passed by had to come talk to us... why is it always the sleazy ones? they kept grabbing at my camera so i took a picture of them and put it away... these russian guys were really slimy... one (blue jacket) had all gold teethe except the front four. not the kind of people that i want to associate with. they tried to sit with us, but i told them no... and then said "bye, bye" - they got the hint and left...

we finally got hungry (after that big lunch, it took a while...) and decided to get some "western food" - read fries and wings... way too expensive, but we were comfortable... these are the menu shots... i thought it would be neat to compare them with the real thing...

this is what came to our table. we even got mayonnaise for the fries!!! talk about a fatening day! good thing we climbed that mountain the next day! (promise it's coming up! next actually - or maybe you're reading these backwards and have already read that bit...)

me and kat at the WA Bar:chris had to work until around ten but came and met up with us after... no pics of him... sorry.... but we did meet Alex (Park Noh Sung)...
looks like he's trying to cop a feel, but his fiance was at the next table over. anyway, he was a riot, and we thought he worked for Hyundai, but now we're not sure... he said that he designed the Sorento but Hyundai doesn't make the Sorento... maybe he designed the engine? anyway, he was way too drunk, but very enthusiatic about speaking english with us. he's been to the States - San Fransisco - and so has Kat so they had a nice chat about it, until he started telling us about the seals... it was the funniest thing i've seen in ages! he was barking like a seal and bouncing up and down on his chair... and kept doing it for way longer than he should have!!! it was great! finally he just got up and walked away... he started walking down the street and his fiance had to go running after him... then he wandered into the street and almost got hit by car... she finally got him into a cab and they were gone... the really surprising part was that he was out with his boss! too much beer can sometimes be a very very bad thing... but we already knew that right?

i'm off now to see king suro again... gotta show kat the sights of gimhae... we're off to the beer and girls for a drink with chris and lois tonight... more to come soon! keep watching for the post on the mountain that nearly killed me....

an afternoon in kat's hood

After the wonderful bacon for lunch, kat and i explored her neighbourhood - hogye-dong - and the one where her school is - chongbuk-dong (not sure of that really... but she thinks so...) anyway, it was interesting to say the least... here are a few quirky things that i saw on the way to her house:

the "open" tree - it's full of open signs...

Marilyn Monroe! she's alive and well in Korea! this statue is in front of a restaurant... very odd.

we headed over to the area where her school is taking the easiest route we could - under the bridge!

it's only 1.5 meters clearance... but everyone uses this path to cross the trani tracks... otherwise it's a good twenty-minute detour... speed vs. convenience?? definitely speed! but even I had to duck under it! for the first time in my life i'm TALL!!! (of course the koreans all have to duck under it too...)

on the other side is another complex of apartments... a huge, huge, complex... these are just a few of the buildings. there are at least 10,000 people living in this small area... you'll get a better idea of the size when i post about the mountain climb, i took pictures of it from the top.

in the other direction there is farmland and mountains... how beautiful. if korea has nothing else, it has incredible landscapes.


while walking around the hood, we came upon the fire station - where the mascot is a whale holding a baby and a fire hose... i took a picture of the fire trucks in the station, but the firemen came out and made me delete it... weird. we thought they were coming to ask if we wanted pictures of them, but they were freaking out that i snapped a shot... after we "walked" away, i took this one quickly... not very good, but if you enlarge it (click on it) you'll get an idea!

then we headed to the Homever... a big grocery store where they had all these chuseok gift packs on sale... and the sales ladies were all dressed in traditional clothing - i had to get a shot of it... she was freaking out a little that i wanted to take her picture, but she finally agreed.and of course, what would chuseok be without a SPAM gift pack... it's a little sick how much they like SPAM over here... still haven't eaten any myself, and will steer clear of it for as long as i can!

this last shot is a just a nice one that i took on our walk home... it's my desktop on my computer right now, i just think it's really nice, hope you do too! ...up next on documentarist - our night at the WA Bar... drunken koreans, chicken wings and too much beer! stay tuned.

Lunch in Hogye-Dong

So, i'm home from Kat's in Ulsan... this is going to be a long one... i think. first off, i saw my first Korean perm - what looked a lot like an afro... and then i saw them everywhere... but here's the first, notice the sly look on his face... i thought he didn't know i was taking the pic... until i had a good look at it:it was really weird... and one of those things that as soon as you notice it, you end up seeing it all over the place... guess they want to be north american rap stars or something... this was on the subway on my way to Ulsan... the rest of the trip was rather uneventful. Kat met me at the bus station and we decided to hunt down some lunch...

we started in downtown Ulsan, figuring we could find something cheap and good... we checked out the Marche Movenpick (so bizarre since we used to have one of these in Montreal - it just seemed so out of place here... especially with the pizza hut next to it. it seemed a little expensive (which it was in montreal too) so we passed on it. we found a Dunkin Donuts (no thanks) and the Laval Bar right next to it, and had to get a photo of that one... then we found the giant squid restaurant, but passed on that as well. it does make for an hilarious picture though!!! doesn't really look like a squid does it??? hahahaha!!!

anyway, after searching downtown and finding out that neither of our bank cards were working (still don't know why that happened) we decided to head back to Hogye-Dong - Katrina's neighbourhood - to check a different bank and suss out some food.

We finally ended up at one of Katrina's favourite restaurants in her neighbourhood, to eat a kind of food that she's been telling me about for weeks. i wasn't convinced at first, but after having had it, was amazed at how tasty it is... essentially, it's bacon, but with a twist.This is one of the tables... tons of restaurants in Korea have tables where you sit on the floor. i hate them cause they aggravate my back, but these ones have a place for your legs underneath, so they are much more comfortable.

This is a close-up of the grill that sits on every table - we get to cook our own food! notice the grease tin at the bottom. i'd eaten at restaurants like this before, but never had the bacon... we weren't really sure how to order so we just pointed at the table next to ours... and got exactly what we wanted...

a plate full of bacon rolls.

which we then put on the grill and cooked up, but not before all the side dishes arrived:

this is one of my favourite things about eating out in Korea. if you order one dish, you get ten! notice the garlic, onions, and kimchi - those all go on the grill too. then you have your noodle soup (cold),

potato salad,

mini shrimps (much too salty),

sweet potatoes,

and tofu...

there was also pickled radish, a couple of sauces, and of course, the lettuce and other leaves... what would lunch be without the leaves? see, you have to take a little bit of everything, put it on the leaf and the stuff it into your mouth... that's how the koreans do it! it's absolutely delicious, grilled garlic, onion, pork, kimchi, and pickled radish, on a bed of lettuce, and then it doesn't matter how you get it in... you just stuff it in your mouth and enjoy! it's brilliant... the nasty part is at the end, when the grease is congealing in the pan at the bottom...

it's a bit nasty, but getting there is so good... of course, after eating BACON for lunch, there was only one way for us to justify it... by climbing a mountain the next day... stay tuned for that post...

let's climb a mountain!

just a quick note to let you know there will be a fresh post sometime tomorrow (thursday). i'm in ulsan with Kat and today we are climbing a mountain, so that should be pretty interesting... i'll tell you all about it... if i survive!!!

stay tuned...

more prezzies...

well, Jay surprised me and brought over this Chusoek gift pack - more dove products! this one is bigger than the other, and has hand and nail cream - exactly what i need - my cuticles have been fucked since i got here, i forgot to bring my cuticle repair stuf with me... so this is actually really great... i feel awful now for thinking that he just didn't think about it. anyway, he came over and we worked on the lesson and talked about communication - or the lack thereof, and i guess this is a good sign... now i won't need toothpaste forever either! yay!

prezzies, banks, shoes and more...

my first (and only) Chuseok present! one of the teachers at school gave me this gift pack of Dove products! sweet! i won't have to buy soap for the next year! haha... i really wasn't expecting anything from anyone so it was really nice to be remembered... not that my "co-teacher" did anything for me (other than make my day frustrating as hell). i figured that if anyone would do anything it would be him, but it was another teacher, whose name i don't even know! she doesn't even speak english! but she's been extremely kind to me since day one. she's given me a box of green tea, a pair of shoes to wear instead of the sandals that jay gave me on my first day - have i mentioned the shoe thing yet? see below. anyway, it was really nice to get a prezzie. i'll have to get her something now and give it to her after the holidays.

so we were still in mid-terms at school today, so i had no class, but i had to sit at my desk all morning trying to look busy - i.e. emailing, surfing the net. i actually worked on a lesson plan for a while, i had most of it done, but it needed some polishing according to Jay. could he tell me what he wanted? no. of course not. we had made plans on friday to work on our "demo class" today after school. the demo class is next thursday, basically it means that a bunch of big-wigs from the board of education and some other english teachers from the area are going to be watching our class... so it has to be good. we had agreed last week that the lesson will revolve around halloween and that was it. he told me to figure something out, even though it's supposed to be "team teaching". so i planned a whole lesson and gave him a copy on friday and we agreed to discuss it today. BUT, after waiting all morning, and then expecting to get to work, he comes to my desk and says "did you eat lunch?" well, obviously i hadn't... he saw me sitting there all morning, so what gives? anyway, then he's like, "ok, i'm off to lunch, go eat, and i'll meet you back here at 2." well, i may have over-reacted a little, but i was like "what do you mean? i thought we were working on the lesson. it'll only take about ten minutes to go over, so let's get it done with."
Jay: no, no, i'm hungry, we'll do it later.
Liz: i'd rather get it done with, i have to go to the bank, and leaving school to eat lunch will take me too long.
Jay: well, i think it will take longer than ten minutes... blah blah blah.
(it came out later that he also made plans to go play tennis with someone at 2...argh... i told him that he needs to communicate these things with me... if i didn't ask Jo (teacher next me) all kinds of things, i'd be in the dark 95% of the time.)

finally, he made me go for lunch with him and two other teachers, and then he dropped me off at the bank (more on that later) and now he's coming over to my apartment at 5 to work on it. which just pisses me off... he doesn't like my lesson plan because it isn't in the format that he wants, but he never told me what format to use, or gave me any kind of guidelines... he just told me to come up with something! ARGH! anyway, we'll see.

so i finally made it to the bank, and there is money on its way to my account in canada, but i still think it's going to be late for my auto payments. i'm kind of screwed, i think. i'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that the time difference will make it all work out... but this week is full of holidays, so they don't count as business days, so i could be screwed. we'll see. the guy at the bank J.J. was super nice and quite chatty, his english is probably the best i've heard from a korean (other than an english teacher). i don't know if he was asking me out on a date, or just to do something, but he did ask if he could call me. of course, i still don't have a phone, so i told him i'd call him when i got one. it'll be good practice for his english and maybe i can pick up a little korean from him...

so the shoe thing. people don't wear shoes in the house here, at all. and they have a pair of slippers for the bathroom and when you go to school you have to wear your "school shoes". the kids all have these weird slipper things, and lots of the teachers wear beach sandals.. i have a pair of loafers that i got at payless right before leaving canada, and they are what i wear every day. but on my first day, i didn't have them, cause i didn't know, so jay gave me these men's beach sandals... and the nice teacher who gave me the present today, lent me a pair of shoes on the first day so i wouldn't have to wear men's shoes. it was funny. but that's just how nice she's been... she also gave me a mug to have my tea in. very sweet, especially since she can't even talk to me!

so another day, another dollar - and lots of money on its way home - a potential date with a cute korean (never thought i'd say that, but some of them are really good looking) and then six days off to do as i please... things are definitely looking up. :)

sunday in the park

today i decided to explore a little more of gimhae. i wanted to go to Yeonji Park. (see left) so i got on the number 2 bus, but it turned out something like lucky bus number 7... so i got off and waited for another. i ended up on the 8-1 which took me relatively close to the park. it's a huge park surrounding a natural lake. it was designed "for the residents' relaxation and leisure" and it was lovely. here are some photos that i took:

the "magic mirror" at the park entrance. there were a few of them, but i like this one best... don't i look like a milan supermodel??? (heehee)

a walkway into the park.

there is a huge fountain in the middle of the lake which sprays water in all kinds of formations. this was my favourite. notice the apartments in the background? that's just one of the many many many complexes that you see everywhere. korea is quite small (can actually fit over 100 south koreas inside of canada) and so they build up instead of out.

another shot of the apartments - for every set of buildings there has to be an elementary and middle school in walking distance (it's the law) that's why there are so many schools in korea. a lot of these buildings are built by large corporations like hyundai or lotte (japanese food producer/importer) and many of their workers live in them. my neighbour hood - sambang-dong - has about 3 or 4 of these complexes. anyway, back to the park....

i didn't actually get to see very much of it, i'll have to go back (perfect for when kat visits this week). i didn't get to see it because almost as soon as i got there, a foreigner came up to talk to me! YAY! the second foreigner i saw in gimhae actually came up to me! i'm so excited. anyway, his name is chris, and he was at the park with his wife lois. they're australian but have lived in zimbabwe, mozambique, tasmania, and new zealand, to name a few. they're both teachers in their 60's and came to korea to be closer to their son, who is married to a korean woman. so after the initial chit-chat, we figured out (on my map) where each other lives and i got their phone number and they're going to put me in touch with other foreigners! they know where the gimhae foreigners all hang out - a bar called B and Girls. i'm going to go this week and check it out. the best part is that this means i have finally discovered where all the foreigners have been hiding - the other side of town!

after chatting it up in the park for a long time, we decided to rustle up some grub and headed to the Home Plus (giant store that sells everything and has tons of foreign stuff too). i have a home plus in my 'hood, but nothing like this one. mine is tiny in comparison... this place is the closest thing to a mall that i've seen anywhere in korea. we didn't really shop - the crowds were insane, imagine the eaton center two days before christmas, and you'll have an idea. again, this is because of chuseok... everyone was last minute shopping. anyway, inside the "mall" they have a KFC. yes, that's right, i caved... i haven't eaten at Kentucky Fried Chicken in about ten years, but they assured me it was pretty tasty and so i went with the flow. it was either that or McD's and we all know how i feel about that place! it actually was pretty good. i had a "zinger burger" which is a spicy chicken burger, and it was actually delicious... tasted and looked like real chicken... maybe they have laws against genetically modified meat here or something, but i really think it was the real thing. with yummy tomato and lettuce... it was a nice lunch, and chris paid! (thanks) after lunch, lois invited me back to their apartment for coffee, and also so i could see where the B&Girls is... now i know!!! it was a lovely afternoon and i'm so happy to have made some new friends, even if they are the same age as my parents! they were really nice and have amazing stories to tell of their travels. before i took my leave to come home and call ranya, i took their pic and told them to expect it to be on my blog, so here it is, my new friends, chris and lois:

their son is in his 30's and has lived here for a while, he has a 2 month old baby girl and knows all the other foreigners in gimhae... most of them are in their mid 20's to mid 30's ... perfect for me! i'm really excited about meeting them, and finally having something resembling a social life in gimhae... hope i like them!

so that was my incredibly productive day... i knew that just wandering around would eventually pay off! stay tuned for the chuseok holiday adventures!