Top ten things I don’t like about Korea

10. Hot water is not “on-demand”. Can you imagine how many cold showers I have taken because I was a little groggy and forgot to turn on the switch?\

9. The price of beef. I am quite carnivorous so you can imagine how hard hamburger at $15/lb must be on a bank account.

8. Koreans are not very big fans of NASCAR and there is no Korean equivalent. Unfortunately this has led to all of the people who would have been professional race car drivers, having to drive the country’s buses and taxicabs. I do not often fear for my life when they are driving but on many occasions I have started to feel a little sick to my stomach from all the speedy turns and gas-brake driving.

7. The fact that the highest denomination of money is the equivalent of a $10 bill. My wallet was fat enough from all my cards without needing a huge wad of cash, thank you very much. (Surprisingly, this country runs on cash. Barely use interact or credit cards over here).

6. Everything in Korea is just for show: -Parents put their kids in schools with foreign teachers so that they can brag to their friends about it. –Parents feel that if their kids do not have a tremendous amount of homework, they are not learning. –Report card marks are ridiculously high because parents believe it is a bad school unless their kids get at least 80.

5. The pollution. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I left Seoul and got a taste of what air is actually like.

4. People spitting all the time, no matter where they are. I actually don’t mind the spitting but the deep-lung horking that goes along with it is just too much.

3. How much pressure Korean parents put on their children. Sadly, I have had several young children in my classes who do not come for a month because they are too stressed (and I don’t blame them). The Koreans even refer to it is as “stress leave.” Don’t they see something wrong with this picture?

2. How retarded these people are when it comes to people of other races. Part of it is that they have not been exposed to other races like we have and part of it is that many Koreans are brought up to believe that their people are the smartest, richest and best-looking in the world. It really makes me appreciate the multiculturalism we have back home. On a side note: I get asked at least 3 times a day “Teacher, why is your hair golden?” or a favorite of mine is “If Greg Teacher and you are both from Canada, why is his hair brown and yours is gold?” Rest assured, I have started to come up with some good answers…. ;)

1. The smell. I thought I would get used to it but at this point I don’t think that is possible. It is always a lurking menace that sometimes goes almost unnoticed but the next thing you know the smell jumps out at you and you think that you must be walking in the world’s biggest landfill.

Top ten things I like about Korea

I can't believe I have been here for 3 1/2 months!!! Over the last week I have started to compile my thoughts into a top ten list. People always ask what is the same, what is different and what I like and dislike. This is the first installment in my Letterman inspired series, so you will have to stay tuned to find out the "Top ten things I dislike" and the "Top ten things that are the same". Here goes:

10. Hot water is not “on-demand”. You must hit a switch to turn your hot water on. This is very energy efficient because there is not a huge tank of water constantly being heated in your empty house.

9. Many bars and nightclubs are open 24 hours a day. I have taken advantage of this on too many occasions. Please note: this is a little dangerous :) Plus you can drink booze on the streets, which is fun.

8. Major recycling. They have collections in front of every apartment for cardboard/paper, plastics, bottles, and compost. One of my coworkers got in trouble because he put some cardboard in with his trash, which his landlord found and traced back to his apartment through the address on an envelope that was also in the garbage bag. She proceeded to scold him for his negligence, to the point that he was scared to ever do it again.

7. Almost everything you need is at your fingertips. Most stores are mom and pop operations so you get excellent service and they remember your face (even if it is only because you are a foreigner). Plus I have about four 7-11s within a 10 minute walk which is quite convenient. 7-11s have everything, including groceries, Korean style fast food and beer.

6. I often see teenaged Koreans holding their grandparents or parents hand in public. At first, it looked sort of strange but when I thought about it I realized that it is nice that this is not something that would hurt your “image” in Korea or even if it was, the Koreans do not seem to care. They seem to have a great respect for their elders, which I think is enviable.

5. The ease of living without a car. I have no wheels in Korea but I do not miss having a car at all. They have an awesome public transportation system, with subway and bus stops all over the city (and country, for that matter).

4. This country is trying very hard to promote English as a second language. As a result, things such as street signs, subway signs and maps, and many store signs are printed in both English and Korean. This has definitely been a pleasant surprise for me.

3. I feel safe wherever I am, no matter what time of day it is. There is not a big problem with crime in Korea and it is amazing to see shopkeepers leave stuff outside overnight and not having to worry about it being stolen

2. The weather. I am not going to lie to you, I am enjoying the fact that as of today(November 14), the coldest it has gotten in Seoul is -1 but it is still usually getting to a high of 15 during the day.

And the number one thing I like about Korea....

1. The majority of the food is fantastic…kimchi, galbi, and bulgogi are right up there with steak, spaghetti and tacos in my yummy books. Sundae is not.

Hiking

I went hiking with the people from work this weekend. We went to Gwanak mountain which is just on the outskirts of Seoul by Seoul National University. Hiking is popular in Korea and the mountain was full of Koreans of every age, shape and size making the trek to the top. It was the weekend so sometimes the paths were fairly crowded. There is nothing like climbing a mountain with 3000 of your closest friends. Not the peaceful and serene picture we usually associate with mountains but there were still some fairly beautiful views to be had.

We made it to the top of the mountain in about 2 hours. The path was fairly easy with not too many steep parts. It got a little sketchy at the top but all of us (except one Korean) ventured to the peak and touched the Korean flag at the top. As you can see from the picture below, there was a lot of people just hanging out at the top of the mountain. Most of them bring food and if they were old enough they would do a shot of soju (Korean rice vodka) at the top.

We took a different path to the bottom, which was not nearly as crowded so that was good. Afterwards we went out for a late lunch and since we did not have any soju on the mountain, we made up for it in the restaurant. Notice all the plates on the table in the picture below? That is typical for a Korean meal. Each plate has a different side dish in it. In the centre is the main course of the meal - galbi (Korean BBQ'd pork). (Cathy-my boss, me, Eric, Jeremy and Andy.)

Halloween!!!

Have you ever wondered why Halloween is celebrated?


I have never figured out what the actual event is celebrating, but for me it is a time to haul out a black marker and give myself a really wicked 'stache. I can't actually remember the last time I didn't have a moustache for Halloween but my memory is limited to this year and last :)

We had our Halloween party at school on Monday and Tuesday which was fun. They don't really celebrate Halloween in Korea so unfortunately not many of the kids dressed up. The school, however, rented costumes for all of the teachers and bought some decorations and candy. The kids were not really big on saying "Trick or Treat" and instead "Give me candy" was much more popular. I was worried they were going to get a bit sugar wired but they were not too hyper.

Some of my coworkers (Eric, You Hee, Andy, Minny, Me and Jasmine)

As for teachers costumes, I was a pirate, Andy was Elvis and Eric was a jailbird. The costume selection we had was a little scant so we did the best we could (and I of course needed to select something that would allow me to take a little jiffy to my lip). The costumes were actually really good and I think the school forked out a fair hunk of change for them. The kids loved that we were dressed up but I think the whole concept was a little lost on them because about 10 students told me that we must all be crazy. It was sort of weird being in the classroom and being the only one dressed up so two days of that was more than enough.

Daniel wearing a vampire cape but looking more like a hutterite