a new look

i finally did it.

i got my hair cut. in korea.

i had been putting it off since before i came to korea. then when i got here i was worried that i'd end up with a mullet... since it is alive and thriving here. i was also worried about the cost. it's not something i like to spend money on - the salon. in montreal you can upwards of a couple of hundred dollars for a wash and style - not that i ever spent that much! but i have spent 60-70$ on my hair and just wasn't prepared to spend that kind of money to be disappointed.

well, neolive proved me wrong! when they told me pal chun won (8,000W) i thought they were mistaken... and the guy thought i was a moron for asking five times... i thought he was telling me 80,000W and that i wasn't understanding him... but nope, it was less than ten dollars!

"before" - in the bathroom at the salon.

"after" you can't see it that well... that's why i have the next one...

"after" - in the bathroom at home.

the back - taken by the hairdresser.

there you have it! oh, and did i mention they didn't wet my hair when they cut it. they just sat me in the chair and started chopping away. that was a little scary, but it all turned out! i love it. i doubt it'll look so good when i do it, since she used a ceramic straightener to make the waves, but i'm sure with the way she cut it i'll be able to figure something out.

let me know what you think!

miscellanea

i didn't think that i had anything to write about today, but there are a couple of things that i found out about my upcoming school year. at school #1 i will only be teaching first grade (the equivalent of grade 7 in canada)!!!! this is great. it will give me the chance to really get to know the kids and create some kind of rapport with them. it means a lot of extra lesson planning - something i thought i had finished yesterday - but that's ok.

at school #2 i will be teaching only second grade. this is all right - at least i can use the same lesson plans as i am in school #1.

school #2 is moving my desk so that i will no longer be sitting directly in front of the vice principal. though, on second thought, he won't be there for the next few months, so it doesn't really make much difference. i will be closer to the door though...faster, easier escape route!

i leave you now with some random photos from the last little while...

what is "job's tears tea"? is this some kind of weird biblical reference?
and what's with the "frim coffee"? there are some things i'll never understand...
our waiter at junco last weekend. these hats are best when seen on grown men in business suits... but this shot will have to do!
mark and ben 'chicken fighting' in the subway - they learned this in their martial arts class...
sorry it's blurry - i had to be fast (crappy camera doesn't help)

international banking crisis

if you've been following this blog over the last six months, you will have read all about the banking issues i had when i first arrived. things got much better after i found a great banker at the bank down the street. JJ spoke excellent (for a korean) english and kept all my information for me, making things so easy for me that i guess i got kind of 'soft'. i forgot to write about this last month - what with the million and one posts about seoul - but JJ was transferred. far away. today it hit me like a ton of bricks.

i transfer money home once a month. i go to my bank, withdraw cash, and bring it to JJ, who, exchanges it and transfers it for me. last month i walked into the bank popped my head around to where his desk is - all ready to tell him about my trip to seoul - but he wasn't there. i thought that since i was there earlier than usual that maybe he was on lunch. so i left, intended on returning in an hour or so, but i had nothing else to do, so i walked back in to pay my bills with the regular teller.

when it was finally my turn i paid my bills and tried to ask her about JJ. was he on lunch? or was it possible that the man sitting at his desk was just replacing him for the day? well, the 'new guy' (who was the guy who used to sit next to JJ) recognized me and brought me over to his (JJ's) desk and said, "mr. jin go".

"what?" i asked.
"mr. jin go," he repeated.
just as the tears were welling up in my eyes the 'new guy' passed me the phone, it was JJ.
"hello?" i heard him say.
"hi."
"oh, long time no see," he said.
"i know, but i only come once a month, you know that."
"i'm sorry," he said, "i had to leave that place."
"what do you mean? where are you?" i asked.
"i am in seomyeon now."
"oh, well, that's good for you. it is much closer to your home." i tried to sound happy.
"yes, it is good for me, but not for you."

today i really realized just how 'not good' it is. i had to go in to make my transfers again and the 'new guy' just doesn't know what he's doing. he had to call JJ again - at his new branch - to find out what i wanted/needed. then he spent the next hour doing what JJ always did in about twenty minutes. not to mention that he barely speaks english and isn't very nice. he was talking about me with the guy who sits next to him. i don't (obviously) know what they were saying, but there were a lot of funny looks, laughter, and "canada" being thrown around. it sucked.

it was just one little thing that made life here a bit easier - JJ, my awesome banking guy. plus he made going to the bank kind of fun, since we'd chat and he'd get me coffee and snacks, and give me presents like calendars and clocks. it seems like i'll be talking to him on the phone once a month regardless, since the new guy doesn't know what he's doing and has to call JJ every time i'm there... like today. but it just isn't the same.

more importantly, i hope that he did everything correctly and that the money will be in my account in the next few days like it usually is... who knows what he did, since he didn't do the same thing that JJ always did... with my luck, my money will probably get stuck somewhere in cyberspace... (knock on wood).

:(

lazy days (?)

not much to report on this lazy sunday afternoon. the weekend has been spent celebrating my friends' impending departure to the UK. they've been here a long time now, and they're on their way home. so, friday, for the first time since gimhae has been 'home' we went out in my 'hood.

the bar is junco, they have great food, and a decent atmosphere, and a fun time was had by all. i made it an early night and left at around two... walking home for once was way cool, as i usually have a 15 minute cab ride at the end of the night...

then saturday night we headed into busan to the now famous fuzzy navel. a bar that is quickly becoming one of my favourites in busan. the only word kim could have said to get me into busan yesterday wsa kebapistan... so we went for dinner first with bill, ben, and mark in tow. it was yummy as usual... i promise a full review the next time i go, complete with pictures... i know i keep talking about the place, but i never get "into" it, so i will.

we got to fuzzy navel where i was going to stay for a drink or two and then head home, but it's just such a great place. free fooseball and pool... what more could we want?!?! we played a bunch of fooseball - all that practice with ranya paid off... i still haven't lost what little of the 'touch' i had for it. pool was terrible... i need to get playing again. anyway, after nearly seven hours of hanging out at the bar, i was finally in a cab on my way home to gimhae. thank the heavens' above!!! it was five am by the time i got in my door... and it was supposed to be a "light night" out... oh well, the best laid plans, eh?

i had a great time though, and staying late was definitely worth it, and i didn't even end up wasting my sunday as i got up at a decent hour. now i'm just kind of bored. watching some telly. eating some japchae. thinking how nice it would be if i lived closer to anyone that i know... happy lazy sunday everyone.

it's a beautiful/smelly day

today felt like april in montreal. like that first really nice day of spring, where you go find a terrace to sit and have a beer on. only, it's not april, it's february; and i'm not in montreal, i'm in gimhae; and there are no terraces here, or people to have beer with in the middle of the afternoon. oh well. i think that was more of a 'university days' thing too... ? maybe, or maybe it's a montreal thing... but i digress.

it was a beautiful day today. the sun was shining and you could smell spring in the air. in montreal that would mean the smell of a winters' worth of accumulated dog feces, but in korea, it just means the air was fresh... mostly. i decided it would be a terrible waste to spend the afternoon holed up in my little room, so i headed up to the roof for some sun. (yes, i have an easily accessible roof, which is at my disposal - yay!) so i got a book (two actually since i was about to finish one), a bottle of water, and a blanket to sit on, and walked up one flight of stairs.

since the last time i was up there someone has strung up a clothes line (probably the evil couple upstairs from me, who, by the way, seem to think the entire hallway above their apartment belongs to them for keeping their trash! hmph.) anyway, there were no clothes, so i had a nice big roof all to myself. i sat on the blanket with my back up against the wall, and started to read, when out of nowhere a whiff of the most rotten and foul odour hit my nose like i was in a waste treatment facility. then i remembered that the last time i was up there it was stinky too. so much for hanging out on the roof - but my big question is, why would anyone want to hang their clothes to dry anywhere near the stench?

i was up there long enough to take these pictures, enjoy!

the mountains in the distance - really not that far, they're the ones i hike...

keep going and you'll get to the south sea and then the pacific...

hopefully i can discover the source of the stench and quash it. (ooh, lots of big words today...)

korean cooking adventure

yesterday i was a good girl. i went to school, i went to the gym, and i went grocery shopping. but what made me a super star was looking up recipes to cook before shopping and buying the right ingredients. i wanted to try to make some of my favourite korean dishes (the ones i couldn't stop thinking about after my good/bad post) so i got a recipe for pajeon, japchae, and dokbokki.

i had the dokbokki yesterday - they had a pre-packaged do-it-yourself kit at the store, so i got that... just to make sure i wouldn't be disappointed.

dok bokki

it's rice noodles in a spicy sauce with veggies. mine didn't look as good as the picture above, but i'm sure it tasted just as good. i was surprised that the packaged one turned out so well, and will certainly be buying it again.

pajeon is korean pancakes. 'pa' is green onion, and 'jeon' is pancake, so they're actually green onion pancakes. when i get this at restaurants i usually like it better with kimchi, but i'm actually fresh out and forgot to add it to my list... oops.

pajeon

after making it today, i realized even more why i like it with kimchi, otherwise it doesn't really have much flavour. you're supposed to eat it with a sauce made with soy sauce and vinegar, but that didn't turn out, so the whole thing was a bust. they weren't very good... they'll be better next time 'cause i'll add some kimchi to it.

finally (after the pajeon fiasco i was still hungry) i made the japchae. i love this stuff! in restaurants and now at home too! it totally worked out!

japchae

it's made of sweet potato noodles called dang myun, marinated beef, carrots, egg, and onion. the sauce is made with soy sauce, garlic, green onion, and sugar. mmmm... noodle stir-fry!

i was so proud when i bought the beef yesterday too, since i had to do it at the counter and everything... the woman seemed confused that i didn't want pork, but i managed to get some really nice beef, which they even sliced into perfect strips for me!

like i said, it's always trial and error with the cooking korean, and today was no exception, but it just feels great when you succeed. you're all invited to dinner at mine...eventually!

happy anniversary to me!

Today is my six-month anniversary. I arrived in Korea on August 21st 2006, so even though my contract anniversary isn’t for another week, it has been sixth months since I left the security and comfort of all I know/knew. I know I’ve already talked a lot on this blog about what it has been like for me to adjust to life here, but I feel like today is a special day (plus I’m bored at school with nothing to do). So I thought I’d list some of my favourite and some of my least favourite things about Korea.

Good thing #1 – there is no winter. That’s right. For the first time in my life it hasn’t gotten colder than about –2 degrees Celsius. There is no snow. No bitter wind cutting through your coat and then your skin. Plus winter is shorter here. They’re already saying if spring and February isn’t even over yet! It was so warm on my hike on Monday I had to remove layers and didn’t even need the earmuffs I brought along… I love it!

Bad thing #1 – cud-chewing cows are everywhere. No, not actual cows, but Koreans who chew like them. My biggest pet peeve in life, and it’s the national past time!

Good thing #2 – the food. I love Korean food. I was really worried about this when I arrived since my first taste was on the airplane (and we all know how bad airplane food is). Since then I have discovered a palette for kimchi, jigae, bosum, samgyupsal, bulgogi, dok boki, and numerous other dishes, which I still cannot name, but love. I especially love the Korean notion of side dishes. When you order a plate in a restaurant it automatically comes with three to ten other dishes – at no additional charge! And free refills if you want them! A meal that would cost 25$ in Canada ends up costing like 4$ here.

Bad thing #2 – it’s hard to cook at home. I do it, and I do it quite well, but it’s hard when the instructions are all in Korean and you have to guess what to do by simply looking at the pictures. It’s winds up being a lot of trial and error and more often than not, it’s error.

Good thing #3 – the cost of living is super low. It’s way cheaper to live well here. It helps that I don’t have to pay any rent and bills are relatively cheap as well. On the food front, it would probably be cheaper for me to just eat out all the time than to bother trying to cook.

Bad thing #3 – rudeness. I know you experience rudeness to some degree in every place in the world, but Koreans are particularly good at being rude. From spitting on the street (after hocking the loogie) to bumping into you when there is still five feet available, Koreans just don’t think they’re being rude when they are. Maybe it’s just my western way of thinking, but I just find it gross to listen to someone pull up a chunk from their lungs/throat and then see it hit the ground like a small bomb. Ick. And the bumping into others is a big problem…it’s called personal space, but in Korea it just doesn’t exist.

Good thing #4 – I have made some really great friends that make up for all the rudeness that I deal with on a daily basis.

Bad thing #4 – not understanding/speaking enough of the language. I can get by in daily transactions, and most Koreans are very understanding when I tell them “hangukmal chogum” (Korean little), but I do get the occasional ‘tsking’ and dirty looks because I don’t understand or can’t answer. A couple of the teachers at my school (not English teachers) have actually said to me that if I want to talk to them that maybe I should learn Korean. My reply? Maybe you should learn English! They have, after all, been learning it since childhood! I’ve only been here six months. Still, if I were to stay longer than one year (which I’m not) I would make more of an effort, like I did upon arrival.

I can’t really think of any more at the moment. But if you’ve been reading the blog regularly then you’re probably aware of the other good/bad things that I encounter. I think I’ll go out tonight and hang with the gang and celebrate my anniversary! I can’t believe it’s already half over! So little time and so much left to do. I’ll get on that list ASAP!

the (new) seven wonders of the world

the original seven wonders of the world were chosen by the greeks over two thousand years ago. in 1999, Swiss adventurer (i like the sound of that... now how do you become an "adventurer"???) Bernard Weber decided that it was time to update the list, so he started a campaign to name the new 7 wonders of the world. last year a vote was held over the internet which got the list down to 77 world sites, from the 200 original nominations (over the internet); quite a few less than that of unesco which is up to 830 world heritage sites, and counting.

after narrowing the list to 77, Weber recruited a panel of architectural experts, chaired by former UNESCO chief Federico Mayor, who whittled down the list to the current 21. they have been visiting the sites and interest in the project has gained momentum - over 20 million people have already voted for the new list, including me. here's the list:

Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Angkor Cambodia got my vote.
Pyramid at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Roman Colosseum, Rome, Italy
Statues of Easter Island, Easter Island, Chile got my vote.
The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
The Great Wall of China got my vote.
The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey got my vote.
Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
The Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Machu Picchu, Peru got my vote.
Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau, Germany
Petra, Jordan
The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt got my vote.
The Statue of Liberty, New York, USA
Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom got my vote.
Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
The Taj Mahal , Agra, India
Timbuktu, Mali

the winners will be announced on 07.07.07 (which also happens to be my mom's birthday). that being said, visit the7wonders site to cast your vote and be a part of history!

moutaineering 101

well, the first meeting of the gimhae foreigner mountain hiking club was today! the name is just a joke, but i finally managed to get some buddies to come up for the view and some 'fresh' air. it was nice going up with other people... and they considered me the leader since i'd already done it. joe took the picture, so he's missing in it, but here we are "at the top"!

kim, emma, me

andy

kim's new hiking boots didn't, however, make it to the top! thank goodness she made it back down! we stopped and had a little picnic while enjoying the view and laughing about the boots. it was nice. we walked past my inukshuk, and it's a good thing i took a photo of it last week, because it's been knocked over now... :( guess i'll just have to make sure to build a bigger and better one sometime... maybe i'll bury some treasure under it!

everyone came round to mine after for a chat, and that was really nice too! makes me feel good to have people over. (it's a good thing i cleaned this weekend!) anyway, if you're reading, thanks again for a great day! let's do it again asap!

ugh.

making this fast. just wanted to post something, since i promised that i would every day... i went out to busan last night with kim. we had a good time eating at kebapistan and then checking out various foreigner bars. i stayed out WAY too late... and mostly because of a stupid scot (yes, a guy from scotland) that i met... something about the scottish accent just makes me crazy. i ended up dreaming about his voice all night, but he was singing the lyrics to that looper song. so weird. didn't get out of bed 'til almost four this afternoon and spent the rest of the evening watching telly as i have no energy and my stomach is still being loopy. i really have to stop ordering gin and tonic when i go out... think i made a complete ass of myself last night as well, but everything is a little hazy... i know that i saw chris at like four in the morning on the street in haeundae - totally random. he kept trying to get me to go to the beach with him, but i couldn't abandon kim and didn't really feel like sitting in the sand anyway. so i played pool with the cute scot instead - he kicked my ass. hard. i need to start practicing and playing more - i miss being good at it. anyway, just some random thoughts to get you through the day.