Farewell Party

We had my farewell party at work last Friday. You know what that means...only 9 more days of teaching and I am finished! Wow sometimes I can't believe the year is already up!

We went out to a Korean restaurant and had Shabba Shabba. This was also the first meal I had with my staff soon after I arrived so I guess it was fitting :) Basically it is just thin strips of meat boiled in some water with vegetables in it. Its pretty apetizing despite the description but man it gets hot when you are sitting in a closed room with 3 pots of boiling water in front of you. The soju makes things even worse!

back: Jeremy, Andy, Eric, Sinatra
mid: Ben, Sue
front: Elly, Shani and Paul


Afterwards we headed off to a noraebang to sing some karaoke. I always forget how great a singer I am until I go there and recieve applause after everyone of my songs (what? they are clapping that it is over? oh I see.) Well after a year in Korea I was able to sing 3 Korean songs - not well mind you. I can read their characters fast enough now that I can handle it for the most part and a lot of old style Korean songs sound the same so its easy to pick up on how it should sound. Its really fun to do that ~ sing in another language and have no idea what the words mean~ I could have been singing "I love to eat dog and kill white people" for all I know ;0

Mt. Dobongsan

We had Tuesday off so Martha, Laila, Alex, Gu won and I decided to climb Mount Dobongsan which is in a National Park just north of Seoul. I think it is the most visited park in Korea and I can attest to that. All the way up the trail are hundreds and hundreds of people. However we actually were able to take a little side path and escape them. Overall it was the most enjoyable hike Ive done in Korea. It was not really steep at any point and we took a leisurely pace and it was nice to take our way to the top rather than rushing there like on tours.

A cool place for a picnic!


The views from the top were pretty nice too. It wasn't too smoggy so you could see Seoul in the front of the mountain and wilderness in the back. It was neat to see all of the apartment buildings in Seoul that were exactly the same height and color. Not much variety. I think they look like dominoes and if you knocked one over, they all might go.

A rare sight in Korea - no buildings in sight!


Dominoes


On the way back down, Tess and I stopped for a dip in the stream that went along the side of the hiking path. The water was cool but it was definately very refreshing after the long hike up the mountain in the heat and humidity. As we were swimming we noticed a sign beside the pool. Some rudimentary Korean translation told us that it meant swimming was prohibited and could result in a $200 fine. Ah well!





Afterwards we went to a restaurant nearby. This place was really cool. It was on the side of the mountain and everything was outside. It was sort of like a BBQ back home, with campires burning everywhere and there was even a band playing music. The food was good but the atmosphere was amazing. It was hard to believe we were only 10 minutes from the big city.

BBQ Zone

Canada Day

A few of got up on Sunday, put on our red and white and went to a Canada Day party they had in Seoul. It was held in a riverbank park and they had a BBQ, games and some Canadian bands playing. The weather sort of sucked with it sprinkling rain for most of the day but we still managed to have a good time. We got our faces painted (I got a beaver) and drank a lot of Mooshead beer. There was also a big mud pit in front of the stage and a lot of people were sliding in the mud but I managed to keep fairly clean.

Tess and I


In front of the stage


What are the chances they had a tipi at the entrance to the campground?


Afterwards, we headed to Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon (the foreigner district). The place was packed to the rafters and their air conditioner wasn't able to keep up but this is where the real fun started.

Going to the Grey Cup!

Boat Cruise

June21 016, originally uploaded by clark.barr.

I went on a boat cruise down the Han River with a few friends last Sunday. It was about an hour trip start to finish and just cruised along from one point in Seoul to another. Not too exciting and not too much to see. I think it is definately better at night because all the buildings are lit up but we went at dusk when all you can see is just a bunch of apartment buildings lining the riverbank. Its still nice to be out on the water though.

What else have I been up to? Not much! I have been trying to go rollerblading or jogging most mornings. Ive been doing fairly well at going out everyday but now the rainy season has started and I am definately not that committed!

Konglish!

Well for those of you who don't know, there is a special variety of English that is alive and well in Korea....KONGLISH. It is the Korean take on English words. It is quite helpful to know these. For instance when you are shopping and you want two similiar items you should say "same-same." If you settled on just using one "same" there would be no way that would be understood. Also you must add an 'uh' or an 'ee' sound to the end of most words. For instance if you want to trade seats with somebody on the bus you would just look at them and say "changee' while making the appropriate hand gestures. Furthmore, despite the fact that they know we have a little bigger bodies it is still important to specify "largee sizuh" when buying t-shirts and the like. It is all quite simple once you get the hang of it.

Now moving on....

There is an abundance of signs and especially clothing in Korea that really shows Konglish at its best. One of my favourite shirts that I bought near my house is as follows, front: "I LOVE ROCK AND ROLE", back: "i like you. when the world is mine, you death shall be quick and painless." This isn't exactly the best example but it still demonstrates the total obscurity of some of them. Most people don't know what the thing says so you can see some real doozies being worn. Do you actually think the girl wearing the t-shirt that said "My step-parents are dearer to me than my real mother and father" had any idea what it meant? My friend Tess saw that gem when she was on the subway coming to my house... Or what about the 50 year old woman by my house who was wearing a t-shirt that said "I see you've me the twins" emblazoned across her chest. That made me chuckle a little, especially considering Korean endowments... ;)

Last but not least, I will leave you with a few pictures of some funny things I have seen and taken photos of with my cell phone...

"100% Happy Virus"...wow, I must buy this notepad. It really sounds nice and it will definately go with my Beautiful Infection totebag.

Hmmm....one has to wonder what sort of things take place in the MATE Testing room....

Why thank you. You enjoy your "Rice Day" too.

I should also mention that there are many other things which I have come across which are much less family friendly....

Lantern Festival

I went to a Lantern Festival a few weekends ago. It was held in honour of Buddha's Birthday, a national holiday in Korea. This year marked the 2545th year since the Buddha's birth. I'm not sure how long he actually lived for but I doubt it was too long considering how heavy that little guy was. He definitely died of heart trouble or possibly it was complications arising from diabetes



The highlight of the festival was a street parade in downtown Seoul. Pretty well everyone in the parade displayed some sort of lantern. I was wondering why the parade started at 7pm but once I got there it all made sense. The lanterns in the night made a pretty nice display and they also had some typical parade floats that were lit up like lanterns.

The procession of lantern holders like this went on forever:

My friends and I had the best seats in the house for the parade....on the side of the street there was a 6 foot high electrical transformer that we were able to climb onto (don't worry grandmas it was 100% safe). We managed to get 5 of us up there including lanterns and beer so it made for a fun time!

This was the area around the temple...sure was purrty:

A weird thing happened too because out of the thousands of Koreans streaming past as part of the parade, I met eyes with one of them who just happened to be the secretary of our school. She is one of my favorite Koreans. A definate sweetheart. I talked to her afterwards and she told me how her family was Buddhist and how she always participates in the parade. Considering how big Seoul is and how many people live here, I am always amazed when I have these weird encounters....

Who likes lanterns??? Me.

Til next time,

Clark

PS: Happy Birthday Mama!

A video of the parade as it passed. The quality's poor because it was dark out...

Korean Robots

I read an article the other day in the paper about Korea's plans to be the leader in the field of robotics. They are investing a lot of money to increase their technology so that one day they can be the world's premiere supplier of robots. What the Koreans don't realize is that they are already churning out robots at an alarming rate....the robots being their children.

Man do the majority of these people ever lack a personality!!! There are about 5 new teachers at work. Of those, 3 of them are definitely socially retarded. The others aren't exactly fireballs either. A lot of the children are the same. I have a girl in one of my classes who I have to check for a pulse every few minutes because I fear she may have died in class.

Look at all that black hair. The subway:

I think another big problem with the children and why they are so dead so much of the time is the serious lack of sleep that they are getting. I wonder just how much it impairs their development to get so little sleep. Today one of my students told me that she wanted to sleep in class and I asked why she was so tired. Her response was that she had went to bed at 2:30 and was just a little tired. So I did a poll of the class and out of 9 students, only one had got 8 hours of sleep. The rest of them were average about 5 hours each and this was just a typical day for them. These are 10 and 11 year old kids. I guess I can appreciate my mom making me go to bed so early now that I see these kids. One kid, Ralph, told me that one time during summer vacation he slept for 15 hours. I couldn't help but say "Good for you." Its so sad too when I am out on weekends and see parents out with their toddlers at 1 or 2 in the morning. I can't help but think that they are just training them for their days to come.

Late night buddy??? This was at about 6pm on a Thursday evening on the subway:

A lot of people have made predictions about robots taking over the world one day. Well just the same, Koreans and Asians with their incessant studying and 14 hour workdays may one day control the economic world. I say let them have it. They may make more money than us one day but you have to remember quality of life. I know I never want to be a robot. At what point does it cease to be life anymore?

Eberland!!!

I went to a Korean theme park, Everland, this past weekend. I was a little bit disappointed because although it may live up to its name as the best theme park in Korea, there were not too many rides. On their website they claim that they ranked in the top 5 theme parks in the world. I'm not sure who that ranking was from....maybe a Korean guy who had never been to another theme park....or maybe that was the ranking for Best Fishheads in a Theme Park...who knows?!? Unfortunately it rained so they had to shut a lot of the park down but we had been on almost all the rides anyways....after about 2 hours. There were a couple of roller coasters and then some thrill rides like you would see at exhibitions and fairs back home. Apart from the rain, we all had a pretty fun day anyways. By the way, they don't have the 'V' sound in Korean language so they have to use a B ~ Eberland!

Who can resist that perennial favourite...BUMPER CARS!!!

It isn't often that I get the urge to take photos in the washroom but I thought Everland's father/son toilet combo was the perfect opportunity! Really, do you have to be doing that at the same time?:

"Please waste here." Don't mind if I do, thank you very much!:

Now some stories about the kids:

I have some new kids and they are all pretty good. One of my classes is full of big story tellers...it gets quite funny sometimes and I egg them on to see just how massive the stories can become....

For instance, we were talking about animals the other day and one of the little girls, Jane, said that she knew about monkeys because her grandfather had a pet monkey. I thought this was a little bit odd but I guess it was pretty believable. Then we moved on to eagles, which her grandpa had one of two. Okay? This is getting more odd. Then it was bears...guess what, her Grandpa has a pet bear too? I said.."Oh your grandpa must live in the country" but she said, "No, he live in Seoul." I can just imagine the tiny little Korean apartment of this old Korean man filled with a monkey, eagle and a bear!

While talking about eagles, Jack also chimed in with his own little story....it seems one day Jack found himself in the forest. Don't ask me how but little Jack had a tomato in his hand. He continued to say "I threw the tomato up in the air as high as I could. I went to go see where the tomato had landed and I found it on the ground with a dead eagle." "Oh you killed an eagle?" "Yes teacher, but it was an accident." Jack had also seen many bears while walking in the forest with his grandfather. This is significant because of the fact that Korea has basically no wildlife. They ate basically anything with four legs, and during the time of the Korean war they were so desperate for food that they finished everything off that was still left at that time.

I love these stories. It's great to see the kids have imaginations. For a society that tries its best to stifle creativity and imagination, it is good to see that some kids can still just be kids.

Clark

Birthday Weekend

Friday marked the 24th anniversary of my glorious entry into this world. It was also the first birthday I spent in a foreign country. I had a few friends over to my house and then we hit up the Korean bar scene to celebrate. I didn't get home until 5am the next morning so it all must have been fun :)

Sunday was one of the best days I think Ive had in Korea. Tess and I decided to meet up and go to a historical Korean palace area in downtown Seoul. We took the subway there and on the walk from the subway station we stumbled upon a park with tons of people in it. There was people playing games (Asian variants of chess and checkers), singing karaoke and dancing. As we got looking around we started to mention how they all looked older - we later found out that seniors came to this park every Sunday. The old people were so nice though and they wanted us to dance with them and were so happy that we were there. I would never have expected to have so much fun there but it was really a good time.

Korean seniors playing Badu


Tess dancing with hooker grandma


We did manage to make it to the palace area which was also pretty nice. Not for the palace itself because it was a little bit lacking but for the surroundings. You never really see any foliage in Korea but on the walk to the palace we had nice trees all around us. There was also a little pond with ducks swimming in it that was sort of nice too. During this walk we stumbled upon a man selling traditional Korean hats. The Koreans weren't buying them but I did and I wore it around all day. The Koreans loved it...."Ohhhhhhhhh berry gooda!"

I have no use for baseball caps anymore....


Tess and I in the park



The whole experience felt quite foreign which was nice because I usually find Korea not to be foreign enough for me. Sure there are lots of Koreans everywhere and the language is different but for the most part I never feel like anything is too bizarre.

Pumba Pumba

Last weekend, I went on another organized trip with some of the same folks I went to Namhae Island with. This time the destination was the Pumba festival in Chungcheon province of Korea. We hopped on the bus early in the morning on Saturday and drove for about 2 hours. When we arrived we were quickly whisked away to the festival where they immidiately made us don our costumes and get our faces painted. You see, Pumba is the Korean equivalent of beggar. In olden days, Korea had many Pumbas who put on street shows and recieved money or food in return. This festival recreated some of those ideas and we were expected to dress just like the olden days Pumbas (of note, the Koreans were not given the same expectations - they were all plain-clothed).

Alexis, myself and Tess with our makeup on!
As it turned out, us waygookin (foreigners) were the star attractions of the festival. We were surrounded by "paparazzi" all day. We did a few fun things like making a giant batch of bibimbap (rice mixed with vegetables) and participating in a concert. It was hot out so Tess, Martha and I went to find some shade to eat our bibimbap. Apparently the Koreans thought this was a good photo op as there were about 10 photographers taking pictures of us the whole time we ate. We kind of felt like monkeys at a zoo.....

Making the bibimbap (random, James and Tim)

It was like this all day...

When we were at the concert, several people were drummers but they also needed other people to carry pails around. A Korean gave me a rusty old metal can and gave me and another girl instructions (through sign language) to go around to the spectators and beg for money during the song. I must have been a real good beggar because at the end of it all I had about $15 in my can, while she had only $3. Next, the 3 of us sat in a circle and put all of the money in the centre. We played rock, paper, scissors, with the winner getting to pick a bill each time. As it turns out, this game must be my calling in life and I won every game except one. I was amazed that I was able to keep all the money ($17) but in true beggar fashion I quickly spent all of it on beer for me and my friends :)

Who could say "no" to a face like this?

After the festival was over, we drove to Worak National Park. We had a BBQ supper and then headed to the noraebang (singing room) to belt out some tunes. The next day, we went climbing up one of the highest mountains in Korea - Mount Woraksan. It was grueling, but we all managed to make it to the top. The views were OK but it was also sort of foggy which was unfortunate. We hiked back down (the round trip was 5 hours), had more bibimbap for lunch, and then headed back to Seoul.

At the bottom of the mountain:

At the top:

VIDEOS:

Pumba Dance

Noraebange singing (warning, we are terrible)

Snowboarding

I went snowboarding with a friend two weekends ago and enjoyed it so much that we went back for round two this past weekend. Both times, we met at the bus station at 6:00 on Saturday to catch a bus to a little town called Jangpyeong. From there we caught a shuttle bus to arrive at the Phoenix Park ski hill at around 8:30. Many of the Koreans at work were shocked to hear that I would be going snowboarding so late in the year and doubted that the hill would be open. Thankfully I guess this is general Korean sentiment and as a result there was barely anybody there and there were no lines to get on the chair lifts. The hill/mountain is nothing too spectacular but it is the second best ski hill in Korea so it was not all that horrendous either. I would say it is somewhere between Table Mountain (Sasky ski hill) and Lake Louise but a lot closer to Table Mountain. It may even be a part of the 2014 Winter Olympics, if Korea's bid is successful.

Me in front of a Korean igloo - you bet its 110% fiberglass

The snow was also pretty decent and the first time we went there was a big snowfall in the afternoon. Visibility was about 2 feet in front of your face which made the trip to the bottom a bit of a crapshoot. The friend I was with had only gone snowboarding twice before so every run was a bit of a crapshoot for him :) The blowing snow reminded me of blizzards at home so it was kind of nice in a way.

Blowing snow at the top of the hill

The first time we went we caught a different direct/"Express" bus back to Seoul. Turned out the express bus wasnt so express, and it ended up taking us over 3 hours to get back. The second time around we were smarted and opted to use the regular bus/shuttle combination. As we were heading back to Jangpyeong bus terminal on the shuttle bus, both Daniel and I fell asleep on the bus. I woke up when we stopped and looked out the window and saw a familiar sign so I woke him up and we hurried off the bus. We soon realized that this did not look familiar at all. We asked the way to Jangpyeong from some local kids and we started walking, figuring that it couldnt be far. After walking for 15 minutes we started discussing how we were in trouble because the bus to Seoul would be leaving soon. Just then, we saw a police station with about 6 officers outside. We went over and asked the way to Jangpyeong and they said "Taxi". One of them spoke English so Daniel said "Well you have all these cars here couldnt you just take us there? Our bus leaves in 5 minutes." So the Korean police officers cleaned out their car and 3 of them escorted us to the Jangpyeong Bus Terminal in style. It was lucky too because it was a full 5 minutes away and we just barely made it on to our bus.

Trip to Namhae Island

I went on a tour with a couple of friends to the very south part of Korea this past weekend. It was a tour organized for foreigners so their was about 45 others on the trip - Canada, USA, Brits and South Africans. We left at 8am on Saturday and it is about a 5 hour bus ride down to Namhae Island.

The bridge leading to the island

The scenery in the southern part of the country is much nicer than up here. There is some bigger mountains and once you get to the island, the views of the ocean are beautiful. The destination of the trip was Darangee Village. A village with about 150 people living in it (mostly elderly). All the young people in the town have moved to the city for better opportunities. It sort of reminds me of what is going on in small town Saskatchewan these days.

Darangee Village

We stayed in homestays, with an elderly Korean couple. The ajumma cooked our meals, which were very traditional Korean. Everything was pretty nice but lets just say I didn't eat a whole lot. Our woman was so cute. Even though she didn't speak a word of English we managed to get most things across. You could tell she did not have the easiest life but she was so happy and always smiling.

Shortly after getting to the island, we hiked up to the top of one of the two mountains that the village is sandwiched between. At the top of the mountain they have a stone platform which was used to light to a fire in and served as a signal that an enemy (likely Japan) was approaching. It looked just like a similiar mechanism in Lord of the Rings for those who have seen it.

The fire alert at the top

View from the top

At night we had a relay race, tug or war and Korean wrestling competition. There was also a big bonfire fuelled partly by wood and mostly by gasoline.


After breakfast the next morning, we left the village for another village nearby. We were the first foreign tourists to ever go this place so they were all excited to have us there. We were split into groups and took off from the island in small fishing boats. Not too far from shore there were a whole bunch of buoys. We pulled up the buoys to which a rope was attached. Further down were a whole bunch of small canisters which were open on end. As the adjushi reeled in the rope and the canisters, the adjumma would check each one to see if there was anything inside. After many canisters she placed one in front of me and told me to pound it with a rubber hammer. I did so so several times and eventually a squirmy little octopus popped out of the other end. It was sort of a surprise because we didn't even know what we were supposed to be catching.

The boats

After catching the octopus, we threw most of them into a live well in the bottom of the boat. One or two however were kept up top so that we could sample eating them alive. I bit off an arm which was very weird since even after you bite off an arm, the tentacles keep sucking on to any surface they touch and the whole thing keeps moving. Even on the way down my throat, I could tell the tentacles had attached to my esophagus and the thing took a while to go all the way down. It tasted just like seawater so wasn't too bad.

Yum!!!

We went back to the village, had lunch and returned to Seoul. Unfortunately it was raining so we missed out on the traditional ox farming demonstration that was supposed to be a part of the trip. All in all it was a great trip!

Solnal

A few friends and I went to Namsan Hanok Village (a park with a set of traditional Korean buildings in central Seoul) for a Solnal Festival. We listened to some traditional Korean drummers that were actually pretty good. Afterwards, Tess and I took part in making a kite out of glue, rice paper, strips of wood and string. Mostly we just watched as an old adjoshi (old man) took care of everything for us.

We also made a New Year's wish by writing a wish on a piece of coloured paper and attaching it to a string. I'm not sure if you are supposed ot tell others your wish but mine already failed to come true so I guess I might as tell you that I wished "to have the best kite in Seoul." How did I know it didn't come true? Tess' kite flew quite well but mine did not enjoy going airborne. Instead it liked spinning and crashing into the ground.

Later on, I forgot my kite at a restaurant so I have abandoned my dream and will have to wait for next year's Solnal to make a new kite. How sad!



A few pictures for you (sorry, didnt have my camera during the festival):

The entry to my apartment building during one of our 4 winter snowfalls

Just one of the infinite trashpiles that litter the Korean streets, this one is just down from my apartment

My favorite class, hard at work

Solnal

Well I have discovered how hard it is to keep a blog updated....

I used to usually do my updates at work but now there is another teacher but we don't have room for her so she just uses the computer desk.

Monday is a holiday here because it is Solnol ~ Chinese New Years. It is the kids favorite holiday because one of the big events is that they have to do a bow in front of their elders and for doing so the elder will give them money. Sometimes they get quite a lot of money. I think it usually goes straight to the bank (college fund?) but the kids still really like getting money. Who doesn't I guess? I have informed them that I will bow to anyone for a hundred bucks.


Now for some random stories...

Now that the computer is taken, I often read the newspaper when I have a break. Seoul has an English daily, which our school subscribes to. The kids are amazed to see me doing this. They all come and sit around me and watch me read it. Then it is only a matter of time before they ask, "You can read all of this?" I have to laugh. I guess it is so much English on a page that they just find it overwhelming to think that anyone could read it all.

I travel by subway a lot and and there is quite often somebody hawking some product. When the train starts moving they go to the middle aisle of a car and start making their presentation to the commuters. I've seen a pen/flashlight/magnet/laser pointer combos and gloves that make you hand look like it was in an x-ray. How cool, right??? The other day, though, a man was selling pocket sized day planners/calendars. He made his pitch and held up the product for display. Now for some reason, the man thought he might save a few bucks to hold up a dayplanner that looked like it had fallen off the top of a really tall building, been ran over by 3,000 cars and then went through the City of Seoul's sewer system. This thing was completely falling apart. The colors had faded and it was held together by Korean duct tape. I said to myself, "Wow. Those are nice. This is an actual day planner, since it will only last you a day." The train reached my stop so I had to get off but I was curious to know whether he made any sales. I wouldn't doubt it. Something told me that he didn't take Marketing at University though.

I am at home for lunch today and realized it is high time I confirm that I am indeed alive. I finished preparing and then giving my final exams last week but then had to do report cards by Wednesday of this week. It kept me busy for a while there but I am glad that is all over with. Only four more days of the intensive schedule and then I am back to being able to sleep in!!!

Maybe I will have a light lunch today. One of my younger students, Joseph, asked me yesterday, "Teacher, could you please go on a diet?" It was cute. I suppose if I was a girl, I wouldnt have maybe thought that but kids are so innocent it does not bother me at all. Besides, I think I've actually probably lost a few pounds since I got to Korea. I don't think I'm in need of a diet just yet! Most Koreans my age are even skinnier than I am so that must be where the question came from.

In other news, I lost my cell phone 2 weekends ago. This was a major pain because not only did I have to get a new one but now I also have to make new friends :). What do I mean? The only contact info I had for most people I know in Korea was stored on my phone. People have been calling me and I have been able to get them back in my new phone but I am sure there are several people I will never see again. A city of 20 million doesnt always lend itself to running into friends. People seem to come and go like the wind here anyways so it is not a big deal. I have already been to several going away parties and I am sure there are many more of those to come as well.

I was planning on going skiing this weekend but I got invited to this wedding. I am debating which to do at the moment but I also have next Tuesday and Wednesday off of work so I might opt for going to Saturday's wedding and then going skiing later.

Holidays

Well after a good break, Im ready to get back at it...blogging that is!

Both Christmas and New Years are celebrated in Korea, however a little less so that in Canada. I only got Christmas day and two days at New Years as vacation. I considered going somewhere outside Korea for a few of those days but just didnt work out. It was definately different to be away from my family for Christmas for the first time but I managed to talk to them on the phone and even had a webcam setup so that we could see each other. Went bowling on Christmas day and for New Years just did the regular, go to a bar thing. New Years was a little anti-climactic because the idiots didnt even bother having a countdown. They just all of a sudden announced "Happy New Years!" Come on people, we need to build this thing up...I'm not asking that we do a 60 second countdown....10 or even 5 would have been enough!

My Christmas Tree - isn't she a beaut?

New Years in Korea is also a little depressing because when the clock strikes 12, not only is it a new year but guess what...you are also a year older. While I guess the real depressing part of this is that I was already 24 by Korean age so now I am 25. A full 2 years have been added on to my life since my foot first touched ground in Korea despite the fact that I have not had a birthday since I left home. I see no better reason to return to Canada at the end of my contract than to regain my youth :)

Back on my original schedule now so I am teaching from 9:30am to 6:30pm and then have my 2 hours of kumdo at night so it does not leave a lot of time for doing much else besides eating.

Clark

PS: If you are wondering how the ageing system works: when Korean babies are born, they are 1 year old instead of 0 like in the rest of the world. Then they turn 2 on the next January 1. Hypothetically, if a baby was born on December 31, it would be 2 years old the next day! Weird eh?