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?

Kumdo

The most exciting thing I have been doing as of late is that I started taking Kumdo lessons. Some of you may have heard of the Japanese equivalent which is called Kendo (of course the Korean version is far superior). Kumdo is a traditional Korean sword fighting that I classify as a cross between fencing and Tae Kwon Do.

There’s no use in doing anything half-a$$ed so I have signed up for 1-2 hour lessons every Monday to Friday. I have been taking lessons for about a month and I have my own bamboo sword now. We are still just learning the steps involved and hitting dummies but I hope to be cracking people over the head sometime soon.

Also I am learning Korean when I take lessons because my instructor barely knows English. About the worst thing of it is that everyday we do a ceremony at the end where we have to kneel and sit on our feet in the traditional Korean way. My body is not made to do this and its kind of sad that the most pain I get from my swordfighting lessons is from sitting on my feet.

Same, Same but Different, Different

It is only a few months back when I first got to this Land of the Morning Calm. I was in a new country with a new language and everything was so exciting and well, New. I remember being so excited about doing the simplest things, like "oh wow, I just bought something from a Korean store" or " I just ordered at a restaurant". A lot of those novelties have worn off and just as we get into our daily routines in Canada, I feel I've sort of got into a routine here. I feel like I haven't been doing anything too exciting as of late.





I made a trek down to Ulsan where one of my buddies from the U of A is teaching. I got to ride on the KTX, which is Korea's high speed train. I never did find out how fast it actually went because when I asked my students they simply told me that it 'goes just as fast as any train in Japan' (everything here is compared to Japan.) Anyways, it did not really seem to be going very fast so I hope that Japanese trains are indeed faster or the state of the world's rail technology really sucks :)





Ulsan and the country on the way there were typically Korea. Just small mountains and cities full of apartments wherever you looked. To be honest, I've seen this scene enough that I slept for the majority of the train ride. Anyways we had a good trip and it is always nice to see a familiar face.

Nick, Me (obviously the most excited to be in Ulsan), Laura and Tara

Speaking of familiar faces, I have not become one in Korea yet. Im still just as much a novelty as when I first got here. For example, I got on the subway at the same time as a gorgeous Korean girl today but the whole car seated across from us were not looking at her, they were looking at me!

A cute letter

They had to write letters in one of my coworkers class this week and one of my students gave this to me afterwards. It is more authentic in person but I thought it was quite cute:

"Deer Clark

Hello
My name is Clark (J.r) too.
We are have a same name!
But you are men! Im boy. It is
diffrent.

I'm sorry, because I don't
have many speak. I don't have
what I want to say. I don't have
a idea Sorry
bye

from Clark j.r"

I feel special because this little boy(about 9 or 10 years old) who used to be named Eddy changed his name to Clark Jr. Upon hearing this, one of my students told me that he was changing his name to Junior Clark. I told him that this was too confusing and he should just stick with David.

Why do I feel extra special? Well I have only been teaching for 4 months and I have already had two kids try to change their name to my name. On the other hand, my mom and my auntie have been teaching for around 20 years and I have never once heard of any students trying to change their names to Penny or Pat. :) Too bad.

This letter is now posted on my fridge next to Kevin's writing assignment. Here is my favourite excerpt from that paper:

"I'm very very fat and go to W Academy. I like ham, computer game and soccer."

Without even knowing Kevin, I guess it is obvious that Kevin likes ham a little more than soccer. Truth be told he is a little big but not too fat!