Queen For A Year

The Reign Has Ended

2007-03-03T18:27:00.000+09:00

I am writing this to say goodbye. I like the title I picked for this post because I think it's catchy. To me it means two things: 1. I, aka, Queen For A Year, am retiring this blog and 2. Lately, I have had some hard times and in being proactive and making a change I hope that personally my life will improve and that the "rain" will end. I was thinking about the song from the musical Annie "The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow they'll be sunshine...."

I will be returning to Eastern Canada on Monday, March 19th, 2007 so I will no longer be living and teaching English in South Korea so it seems like the right time to say goodbye to you and this blog. Moreover, I have not posted since just prior to Christmas 2006 and some of you may be wondering why. I feel that I owe you an explaination. I could very easily just let you assume it was because I was busy planning my return to Canada but that is not the truth. I have always tried to be honest and maintain my intergrity in keeping this blog so to lie to you by omission now goes against the grain. I just can't do it. So, here's the truth.

I have not been doing my weekly post recently and the true and primary reason for this is that unforunately rather than promoting understanding and discussion I have received several "comments" [which although I chose not to publish - at the time] I feel hurt and personally attacked by. This has taken the fun out of blogging for me. It's one thing to write about your own personal experiences while in your own country and culture and surrounded by the people you love and who love and support you. However, it is quite another thing entirely to try and write a weekly blog when far from home. As some of you know, Korea is called "The Hermit Kingdom" [even my Lonely Planet Korea book calls Korea that] and it can be a very socially isolating place for a Westerner. To live here and has been a series of ups and downs but to live my life more publically became too much a strain for me.

After four years here, I will be leaving Korea permanently. I feel that I have given Korea more than a fair chance and I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to go home. I came here very idealistic and I leave some what dishearted. The truth is I no longer feel comfortable living and working in Korea nor do I feel that I can make a difference here. One of my critics who I had chosen not to publish [at the time] made a comment on my post about Korean Bakeries which I titled "Not Quite Right" and he told me and I quote him "Bob Barker has left a new comment on your post ""Not Quite Right"": Heard it all before.... not quite right? or night quite what you're used to?If you dont like it, go home. " And, I have chosen to go home.

I am aware of the fact that people who write blogs often receive a lot of judgements by people who don't know them and some of them are even harassed over cyberspace. I alluded to this a little bit in talking about Shawn Matthews committing suicide in Beijing and that some people said that one contributing factor was that we deleted his Korean Life Blog and had given up blogging - which he loved in response to hassassment.. I talked about this in my post titled "Goodbye Shawn" [here a link to that post

Goodbye Shawn

found in my June Archive]. Although, thankfully, I in no way have received the same amount of harrassment that Shawn did I feel as he did - compelled to stop blogging. It's no longer fun and enjoyable. It not longer makes me feel less isolated and more understood but rather the opposite.

I wrestled with how much I wanted to get into the negative comments and rather I wanted to put them here for everyone to see and read. But, in the end I decided to because I want people to know the truth and I, also, want to serve as warning to other bloggers - becareful what to write. If you are too candid you will be criticized and sometimes even personally attacked.

Sunday, February 25th, 2007 I received what I consider to be my worst "comment" so far. Of course, the harshes of of the negative comments were made either with someone using "Anonymous" as their ID or another obvious fake ID names. At the time this really annoyed me since prior to this very moment [when I just removed my e-mail address] I have always had my name, photo and even my e-mail address posted on this blog for the world to see. I would have like to personally answer these people. However, now I have decided that it is a good thing it was done this way as it allowed me time to calm down and thankfully now and I more collected. I have chosen not to respond to these critics because I have come to the conclusion that there are some people who read blogs with their own personal agenda of finding fault. I no longer am idealistic enough to think that I can change the minds of these "hard liners". It is the more moderate people who have always been the target audience of my blog - at least in my mind.

Thus without farther ado here is the latest "comment".
"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post ""Not Quite Right"": I work at an English Language Center in the U.S. We receive students from every part of the world, and found your blog through a friend. She emailed me the entry about the discrimination you face in Korean. After I read that post, I continued reading the rest of your blog. First of all let me state that the "discrimination" you mentioned you are experiencing in Korea is the same here. I mention this because I can add the voice of many people from many countries with many experiences, not just one person from one country relaying one experience.

I think the reason you are so outraged is because you somehow have taken the title "queen for a year" to heart. I hope that you understand that people are allowed to assign their own rules in their own country as they see fit. They do not have to give you special privileges because you are a white Canadian.

I kept reading your blog because I thought that you were just going through an adjustment period, I was wrong. I also cannot believe your attitude in your later post. You state that some things in Korean are "not quite right." I find it unimaginable that you have lived in Korea for 3 years and you are still fighting against the culture. Other countries are not a different version of the "first world" as many westerners would like to think. If it exist in Korea, then it is just right from bean curd popsicles to eating dogs. I am sure that if you had encountered the same puffed air dessert in France you would rave about it.

I am well versed in the ways of the ugly American, but the ugly Canadian, for some reason I didn't think it existed. I guess I was wrong. "

Another comment I received but did not publish at the time was this one. "chacha has left a new comment on your post "New Furniture": Nobody says white people get a lot of male attention. They just stare because they're wondering wtf you're doing there. Don't flatter yourself, babe."

I even received what I consider to be attacks on my ample figure. For example I got these two comments. "leone has left a new comment on your post ""Not Quite Right"": Perhaps it's a good thing that Korean cakes don't taste so good to you - think of your figure!!!! "

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Adventures in Cooking": why are your boobs next to your belly button"

Moreover, even my right to express my opinion and experience was questioned. I write as a white, Canadian woman because that is what I am. I never made a secret of that fact. I can only write about my experiences through my own eyes. However, again and again, I was told that because I was a "white Canadian" I could not write about discrimination or I think that only when a "white Canadian" experiences racism do I think that it is important Here is one such criticism I received on my post "Discrimination Against Foreigners in Korea".

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Discrimination of Foreigners in Korea": i am a korean canadian, living in US. although i feel sorry for your troubles, for most of us, it's pretty much the same. your post makes it sound as if korea is the only country that treats foreigners like this, but it simply isn't true. i work with a company here in US, in California, and whenever i have people come on an extended business trip from, say, Korea, they go through the same: need to deposit $500- $5,000 to get "secured" credit card (you can only use up to the amount you deposit). they have to deposit $500 (another $500 if they want to call overseas) to get a mobile phone service, if they can get it at all.

I'd love to join a local country club, but alas, my money is not good with them. apparently, i have to be white and old (they say, you must know a member and get recommended by one - sure if you are new, you'd know people like that)

You claim that you can navigate through most websites in Korea, apparently not so. I don't have Korean citizenship, so when I signed up for Cyworld, for example, I used my Canadian passport to sign up. And I do use it frequently. i.e. Cyworld does accept foreigners. and yes, i have nate/nateon messenger as well.

Foreigners in Korea feel they are discriminated against, sure, I think that is true to some extent, but I am not sure it's any worse than what people get when they come to either Canada or US. i certainly hope anyone is implying that only when a canadian/american gets discriminated it's worth blogging about while the other way, it's just way of life here. "

***

Not all comments were negative and some were very favorable and encouraging. To those of you who enjoyed my blog and wrote to thank me let me offer my thanks to you. I appreciate your support. I feel you understood the true spirit of my blog - which was not intended to be a social commentary or political lighting rod but rather a frank and sincere personal account of my sojourn in "the land of the morning calm".

It is with mixed feelings that I say goodbye to you and this blog. If you enjoy my writing and want to hear more from me don't fret. I am in the process of writing a book about my adventures living and teaching English in South Korea. Moreover, it will not just be a recap of my blog but a include fresh new ideas and material. I have always planned to write a book about my experiences and therefore although I used this blog to try and discipline myself to consistently write and to try and hone my writing skills nonetheless it was always with the knowledge that I needed to save some of my funniest and most dramatic experiences for my book.

I plan to keep this blog as it is and later offer an excerpt from my book as well as a link showing where you will be able to purchase my book - as soon as I complete it.

Rest assurred this will not be the last you hear of me or my writing. "Queen For A Year" was rather tame or so I thought - and yet it invited a level of viciousness that was - at least to me -shocking! However, through this experience I have become even more convinced that words are power - they can hurt or they can heal. They have the ability to convey emotion and allow others to learn and grow vicariously though another person's experience. It is with this hope that I embark on the next chapter of my life and journey.

Ann

Christmas in Korea

2006-12-24T21:27:00.000+09:00

It has taken a lot to get me into the spirit of Christmas this year. It just doesn't seem like Christmas to me without snow. This time of year seems to naturally lead to reflection and I amazed to realize that this will be my third Christmas in Korea. Wow! It seems like so long ago I first arrived here in South Korea and yet time has gone fast.

To get into the spirit of the season I have consciously made an effort to try to feel more seasonal. My journey went something like this:

I noticed a lady selling roasted sweet potatoes in the market area behind my apartment building and I could actually smell them [amazing with my bronchitis] and they smelled so good. I stopped and got some for my dinner. They were delicious! Since then every Friday night I stop and chat to the vendor and buy some more sweet potatoes for my dinner. The wood fire is so pretty sometimes I just stand and watch it for a few moments and think... it does seem a little more like Christmas.

Last week when I made my weekly visit to Dunkin' Donuts [its my mid week treat] I saw a poster and was able to read that they were offering a new "Holiday Coffee". It looked good so I ordered one and sat drinking it and looking at the decorations and started to get into the Christmas spirit.

Across from my apartment building is a Korean Beef Restaurant [a Galbi Restaurant as I would call it] and they have some nice lights out for Christmas. But, I have to admit is still looks strange to me to see outdoor tables and Christmas lights at the same time. It's too cold to even consider eating outside in my hometown in Canada anytime around Christmas.

Mega Mart the large supermarket [small department store] near my house has some lovely Christmas lights. I went for a walk last night to look at the Christmas lights around here and took this picture.

Another shot of the Christmas lights outside Mega Mart.

We put up a few decorations in the teachers' room at school. And, that made it feel a little cozier and a little more seasonal.

This Santa Claus is on display at one of my schools. I love that his banner is on him in Korean. I wish I could read it. Just when I think my Korean is improving I can't read a simple Christmas banner. Ba hum bug!

Even the subway stations are decorated for Christmas. This is the Nampo-dong Subway Station Christmas tree.

Last night in the Nampo-dong Subway station there was a band wearing Santa hats and preforming. They were pretty good and a number of people stopped to listen and enjoy the music.

This is "Julie Teacher". She is the Elementary School Korean-English teacher at one of my schools. She gave me a lovely red scarf for Christmas.

Yesterday, at my Yong-do school we had a Christmas party and of course there was pizza. Here's "Harry" enjoying some pizza and posing for a picture for me.

I snapped this picture of my students digging into the pizza. I guess pizza really is an international favorite food. Notice that it's still so hot that the cheese is stringy. YUMMY!

My Grade 6 student "Rocky" surprised me with a Christmas present of a set of 4 Cappuccino Mugs. They are so pretty and huge. Lately, I been making a mug of hot chocolate at night and curling up on my bed with it. There I've been watching Christmas shows which I download using bit torrents and watch on TV via my Xbox and the FTP program [that sends them to the Xbox without me evening having to burn them to a DVD]. Who knew I'd even become so technologically sauvy? Not me.

This week I had a class on how to make a Christmas card in English for my students. I expected them to take the cards for their families. However, some of my students surprised me and gave me the card they had made at the end of the class. They wrote really nice messages like "I love you" and "Ann Teacher, Pretty". I am so flattered.

Too Close To The Fire

2006-12-17T22:43:00.000+09:00

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because I am still sick. I thought it was just a very bad cold but come to find out I have bronchitis. I am managing to drag myself to work everyday but it's not easy and my free time tends to be spent coughing and sleeping. I try to watch tv or read a book only to find that I have fallen asleep. Of course, I realize this only later when I wake myself up coughing.

I have tons of medication from an Internal Medicine Specialist called a 내 과 [nae gwa]. In case you don't know, in Korea often you have know what's wrong with you and see a specialist. There are some general practice doctors or family doctors around [or so I have been told] but I can never seem to find one so I just figure out what kind of specialist I need and go directly to see them. Luckily, almost all doctors here can communicate quite well in English.

Here in South Korea, there are no fancy pill bottles with your name and the medication name and dosage printed on them. You get a paper bag with the name of the pharmacy on the outside of it and the telephone number of the pharmacy. Inside the paper bag are a strip of wax paper envelopes filled with pills that you tear apart at the perforations to made individual envelopes that are small and easy to take to work with you in a pocket or purse. It's really quite convenient.

Your pills come in a sealed wax paper envelope and you often get several different kinds of pills to take at one time and you don't even know which drug is which. Sometimes the envelope has the pharmacy's name printed on it but never the drug names or dosages. Moreover, these pills are taken 30 minutes after meals and sometimes they are different for each meal. The name of the meal is printed on the envelope in Korean. However, most pharmacists give me a permanent marker and tell me which meal and I write it in English on each envelope so as not to get confused later. However, this time all the envelopes are exactly the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner so I didn't need to do that.

I, also, got a bottle of cough syrup. It, as you can see, is also not labelled with a drug name only the date it was prepared and the dosage to take [in this case 20cc]. The Korean teachers laughed at me when they saw this bottle of cough syrup. Apparently, Korean adults never take this only children. So, they teased me that I must be just a "big kid". But one teacher speculated that maybe it is because Korean drugs are very strong and that maybe this was better for a foreigner like me.

***

I hate to admit it but I am sure that the reason I am so sick is that my school is not properly heated. In fact, until just last week there was no heat at all. Even now the heat is on only about 4 or 5 hours a day while the children are there and not the 8 hours we teachers are in the building. Once the kids leave for the day the heat gets turned off again and we are left to huddle around any portable heaters we have.

Some teachers buy electric heaters and hide them under their desks to use. I assume they think management wouldn't let them use them since if they are too frugal to pay for an couple extra hours of heat they wouldn't want to pay a larger electric power bill. Once I got sick, however, I went to see the owner of the school and told him I need a heater in the teacher's room or I would have to resign. I wasn't playing hard ball it's just that if I get sick any sicker than I won't be able to work. And if you can't work most schools fire you cutting off your health insurance. I wasn't willing to take that chance.

Moreover, since I work at three different locations of the same school I would have had to buy 3 heaters an expensive proposition. Not to mention the days I wasn't at the school the heater would likely get used and confiscated by management or broken. I have terrible trouble at one school even keeping a pencil in my desk drawer. The next time I look for it or anything else, I stupidly, left there it is gone - obviously someone else has walked away with it.

Lucky for me the owner of my school likes me and didn't want to see me resign. So after some negotiating he told me he'd provide a heater in the teacher's room of each school for me to use. Now, I am feeling warmer and hopefully can start to recover. The negative fallout from this is that some of the Korean teachers resent me and feel I am getting special treatment. But I try not to worry about that too much I had to fight my own battle and since they work at one location most of them had already bought a pillow for the cold seat of their chair and a blanket to bundle up in and a number of them had, also, smuggled in electric heaters. They did what they needed to do to make their work-place bearable for themselves I am I did what I needed to do to take care of myself. I wish they could understand we aren't so different. We're all just trying to get along the best way we know how.

Anyway, here are some cute pictures I took of the children all bundled up against the cold.

***

This is "Sara" in her cute pink bear hat. She usually makes me try it one so she can laugh at how funny I look in it.

This is "Anny" wearing her winter jacket counting her BINGO chips to make sure she has 25.

"Vicky" is showing me her Sponge Bob fingerless gloves.

"Toby". How can such a devilish little boy look so cute in a picture? He is the bane of my Grade 3 Class.

***

All this got me thinking about one of the funniest things that ever happened to me my entire time teaching here in South Korea. About 3 years ago I was teaching at a school just outside of Busan and it had no central heat. So we used portable heaters in our classrooms. It was cold so usually I kept the gas heater very close to my desk at the front of the room.

This school [like some of the other private Language schools in South Korea] had a rule that you couldn't wear your outdoor footwear inside. So, there was a shelf just inside the doorway where you took off your shoes and put on slippers. When winter came I wanted to find a warm pair of slippers so I went shopping in Nampo-dong [the huge outdoor market area of Busan] and bought a very unique pair of slippers. They were bright pink and warm and fuzzy and they had a feather boa on the toe. They even had glitter writing on them that said "Good Girl Gone Bad". I loved them they were just so over the top!

However, I have a nasty habit. When I am wearing sandles or slippers that don't have a strap on the back and I am sitting down I wiggle my foot back and forth flipping my slipper on and off my heel. With a soft slipper and not a flip-flop this doesn't made much noise and althought somewhat of a distracting to the children it seems like an innocent enough habit - that is until you add the open flame of a gas heater.

One day in class I was cold and I guess I had snuggled up a little to close to the gas heater. Because one of my students raised his hand. "Yes, Turner?", I said. To which he replied, "Ann Teacher fire!". I had had a somewhat heated discussion with the manager of my school that morning so I replied jokingly, "Scott's firing me. Yipee! I can go home to Canada and visit my family."

My poor students didn't understand - the only reason I had darned say such a smart ass comment in the first place. But the little boy had a frantic look on his face. I thought maybe he had understood what I said after all. So I said, "Don't worry. I'm just kidding. Everything's okay." To which Turner burst out, "No, teacher. Fire!" I still misunderstood the situation. So I piped back, "No Turner. No one is being fired. I'm going to teach here a long time."

At this point poor Turner is jumping up and down in his seat. I looked at him with suprise. "What's wrong?", I demanded. To which he screamed, "You teacher, you fire!", and pointed to my burning slipper. At this point I followed his gaze to my flaming slipper. I smelled smoke and saw the flame shoot out in the air about 10 inches. I used my text book to smother the flame and ran to the bathroom with my still smoldering slipper and ran cold water on it.

No harm was done except to my slipper. Once I aired out the classroom and calmed down the children and put on a pair of plastic bathroom shoes - things returned to normal and I resumed teaching. Now it is just an amusing but true story I tell sometimes. Thank God my student so very persistent in trying to communicate the problem to me.

"Scott" the manager of the school. We had a love/hate relationship. There was a lot of chemistry between us and several times we went out partying together. We flirted shamelessly and drove everyone else nuts. Sometimes we argued. Like the morning of the day my slipper caught fire.

A portable gas heater. It is exactly the same color, make and model of the heater that lit my slipper on fire.

A pair of fuzzy hot pink slippers similar to the pair I loved so much an caught on fire. I bought these this week while looking for a pair of warm slippers to wear in my apartment. I saw these ones and the memories of my slipper fire came flooding back. Since I have no portable gas heater in my apartment hopefully I don't catch these ones on fire.

"Not Quite Right"

2006-11-26T22:20:00.000+09:00

I picked the title of this post from the quote some of us westerners sometimes use about South Korea that it is "the land of not quite right".

What do I mean by that? Well, mainly that things aren't done here like they are back home. For example, often you will order a ham and cheese sandwich in a restaurant and get served a ham, cheese and jam sandwich. One time at the restaurant chain "Bear Mountain" I ordered chicken quesadillas and they were served with sweetened whipped cream [like you might use as a dessert topping] of course I didn't expect this or realize it until I had spread it over my meal and thus ruined the entire thing. I have learned that even when things look right and are presented in the way you are used they still might not be correct.

I have been thinking about this in regards to food lately. Maybe because I have a terrible cold and have had for weeks now - nothing smells or tastes good to me. This got me thinking about the fact that in Korea nothing smells good. You can walk by a fried chicken shop or a bakery and smell nothing. I'm not sure if it is the pollution or what. But, it sure is different from back home. When I lived in Moncton, New Brunswick and attended Moncton High School there was a bakery about 6 blocks away and the smell used to waft in - especially in the fall and spring when the windows were open. The odour used to practically drive us to distraction. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was rendered like one of Pablov's dogs with my salvating. It was the most fragrant and delicious smell imaginable.

This got me thinking about the fact that Korean people say they don't like sweets. What I am wondering is if that is true. Is it that Korean people don't like sweets or that they don't like that they make here and call "sweets" cause quite frankly I don't like them either. They look like real cakes and are decorated beautifully but they are mostly puffed air and sometimes some sweetened cream. I have never had a cake here [not even for someone's birthday] that actually tasted like a cake. They don't use icing sugar or frostening on cakes or cinnamin buns. The cake is always a light sponge-like cake. I've never had a confetti cake or a cherry loaf or even a real chocolate cake. I'm not sure if it is because it is difficult to find the necessary ingredients [real cocoa powder is very hard to find] and from the taste of the "chocolate cakes" I've tried from bakeries they used cocoa mix [cocoa that has been cut with sugar and milk powder and is ready to make a cup of hot cocoa] or if they just don't know the difference.

A picture of a normal Korean bakery and the delicious "looking cakes". If only they tasted even 25% as good as they look....

Apparently, I am not the only one to dislike Korean bakeries. Last weekend I went to visit my friend "Ray" in Ulsan. And, I picked up a copy of the November issue of the "Ulsan Pear" an English magazine about living in Ulsan. In it there was an article about "Stohrer Bakery". The article by Jim Saunders starts like this, "Bakeries in Korea seem to be a rather hit-and-miss affair. A casual glance around your local Paris Baguette or equivalent reveals a lacklustre number of tasty looking goods on offer that also seem to contain a strange mix of fillings (sweet potato anyone?). And when an unsuspecting pastery that looks really good spills bean paste into your mouth it can rather darken the day."

The article goes on to take about a bakery in Ulsan called the "Stohrer Bakery" owned and operated by Mr. Son Su Dae who gained experience in Japan and France. It continues to say that although expensive the quality is great and it does seem to attract a upper class clientele. This piqued my interest. And, adds to my hypothesis that Koreans would actually like "Western food" if it were actually prepared and served correctly here.

I convinced "Ray" to join me on my quest to find this bakery. Truthfully, it didn't take much persuading. "Ray" and a few of his friends had tried to find the bakery a few weeks before without success and I think "Ray" was just curious to see how I would go about trying to find it since I have only been to Ulsan a handful of times and had always managed to get lost while there. But, knowing my persistence he knew it would be interesting to watch. The fact that the bakery was difficult to find just made me more determined than ever to find it. That's just the kind of girl I am. I guess you could say I like a challenge. Whenever, life gets hard and frustrating here in Korea I just pretend I am on "The Amazing Race" and that this is a "roadblock" [a task that only one player can perform before the team can move on].

A picture of the tarts in the Stohrer Bakery. They were delicious. I bought a plum one.

Needless, to say we found the bakery and as promised it was quite expensive and the quality was great! I couldn't be more pleased. I should confess that I used the phone number of the bakery and recruited a Korean University Student to call and get me directions. And, later I talked to a Korean guy and showed him the directions and got him to point me in the right direction.

It was an interesting quest and the bakery treats were a delicious reward.

The most delicious treat at the bakery were the chocolates. They were very expensive at 1,300 won [over $1.30 Canadian] a piece but they were exceptional! Yummm... My mouth waters just thinking about them.

**One note of interest: When the University Student called the bakery to get directions she told the person at the bakery that "Two foreigners were trying to find the bakery" and that she was calling for us to get directions. I've noticed that whenever I ask a Korean to help me they always say "wae-guk-in"["foreigner"] and somehow that is a pertinent part of the equation. I'm not sure why this is and why it matters.

A funny picture I took the other night of a lady taking her dog into the bakery with her. It's even funnier if you think about the fact that Korea is a country where men still eat dog meat especially in the summer to help improve their "stamina".

State of Affairs in South Korea

2006-11-12T01:52:00.000+09:00

I have been thinking a lot about the situation in South Korea lately. Being away from South Korea for my vacation in Taiwan let me read international newspapers and see the situation with North Korea and its testing of nuclear weapons in a different light. Living in South Korea with it's insolar state of affairs means that one often lives in a state of denial that North Korea is and can pose a threat to our safety here. I got away from that for a brief while and the blinders were removed from my eyes and there is no turning back.

Since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon the pollution in the air in Busan has been unbearable. For the last two weeks we haven't seen the sun and a neon yellow-green hazy hangs in the air. I don't like to think that I am being irraiated and yet and am starting to think that must be the case. Finally, in the last week the air has started to clear a little. Still I wonder and worry about the effects or maybe I should say fallout of the test. Am I over-reacting?

Maybe. Certainly, I shouldn't be downloading a watching CBS's new hit TV show "Jericho" about a small Kansas town that is left to survive after a nuclear bomb goes off in nearby Denver. Bad idea for me to be watching it at a time like this but it is a good TV show.

Moreover, I downloaded and read the Canadian Embassy's "Emergency Evacuation Plan" and I have to say it is not very reassuring. The fact that the Canadian Government has not updated their plan since I first arrived in Korea in January 2003 and subsequently registered with the Canadian Embassy in Seoul and they first e-mailed me the Evacuation Plan is not a good sign. In fact, even in light of the current heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula the plan says "The chance that an evacuation might be necessary is rather remote."

Moreover, they advise me that "In case of emergency, Canadians have to carefully listen to the public broadcasting such as TV and radio, but AFKN [American Forces Korea Network] should be their first source". They give the following frequencies for me to monitor "Pusan Radio FM 88.1 and AM 1260" both of which I tried just this minute [to double check] and surprise, surprise they don't work. In fact, I can get NO ENGLISH broadcasts on my CD Player/Radio. I didn't think the frequency would work now that Camp Hialeah is closed and therefore I assume not broadcasting or relaying transmittions in the Busan area.

I am left feeling so nervous and wanting to get out of here and thus the "preceived danger area" that I don't know what to do. I went to my doctor and got sleeping pills cause I can no longer sleep here anymore. I truth I would go home to Canada in a minute it I had the money to. But I am an economic slave so to speak. If I were to leave now I would have to pay back 1,000,000 won to repay the recruiter who brought me here. That's over a thousand dollars Canadian. I would have to repay my airfare to come to Korea [if I give notice or leave prior to teaching six months here]. Moreover, I might have to pay some penality money to my employeer and give one month's notice and I might even be expected to help find a replacement for myself. All, in all I am stuck. I will just have to try and keep my head down and keep my mouth shut and keep marking off days on the calandar until I can get out of here. I will continue to try and make the best of it but truthfully my nerves are shot.

I think that I probably never felt in danger before because in all my time in Korea I have always lived close to an operational and functional American Military Base and now that Camp Hialeah in Busan is closed I am not feeling so safe and secure. I used to spend the majority of my free time including all weekends and holidays on the base with my friends here in Busan and before that when I lived in Gumi at Cp Carroll in Waegwan or Cp Walker in Daegu. I felt like I always knew what was going in and that if anything happened that I'd be taken care of. Maybe I was wrong in assuming that [since I am a Canadian not an American citizen] nonetheless that's how I felt.

In reading the Emergeny Evacuation Plan more closely I note that it does say that "The Embassy must stress that although a 'global agreement' does exist between the Canadian and U.S. governments to assist one another in times of crisis, there is no specific agreement pertaining to Korea. The understanding is that USFK [United States Forces Korea] and the U.S. Embassy personnel will take care of U.S. nationals first, and nationals of other countries with which they have "global agreements", second, should their resources permit this. Should Canadian nationals proceed to an American military facility for assistance at the time of a crisis, they must exercise patience, and be prepared to wait until American citizens have been dealth with. It is this fact that should encourage all Canadians in Korea to react early to deteriorating political, military or other situations on the peninsula, and arrange for their own and their dependents early departure via commercial transport."

All this got me thinking about Camp Hialeah and my days there. I didn't take a lot of pictures there or at least not that many that feel free to use. I try always to protect people's privacy and don't post their pictures unless they give me permission. That said I found the following website that has lots of pictures of what CP Hialeah in Busan used to look like. Here's the link.

Pictures of what CP Hialeah used to look like

I took the following pictures during my Hialeah Days.

The main gate at Hialeah.

Picture taken outside Hialeah's front gate. This picture was taken on the duty bus back from CP Walker in Daegu.

Hialeah's Army Community Services Center.

A street on the base.

J. a friend of mine, and me taken on the base in front of the playground.

Business card showing the location of the Dallas club just outside gate 4 the main gate at Hialeah.

The enterance to the Dallas Club. The place everyone went dancing at 6 am on Saturday morning [the time curfew ended and everyone was allowed out again].

Dancing at the Dallas Club.

The Dallas Club.

Painting on the wall at the Dallas Club.

"Mama-san". A small shop owner just outside the back walk-in gate. She sold long distance telephone cards and cigerettes. I wonder if she went out of business now that the base and thus all her customers are gone?

***

To all my army buddy friends from Hialeah and elsewhere. I miss you. Take care.

Taiwan Vacation - Part 3 - Taipei

2006-11-05T22:24:00.000+09:00

On Friday, October 6th "Ray" and I flew from Taitung back to Taipei. We stayed at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. It was fablous! I highly recommend it.

There was even musicians playing in the lobby of the hotel. This hotel was build in 1952 and is located just across the Keelung river from the center of the city of Taipei. Madame Chiang Kai-Shek used to be in charge of the hotel and there are pictures of her hanging on the walls.

A picture of the Grand Hotel lit up at night.

Our room in the Grand Hotel. In Taiwan the hotels all have plain white blankets but then they have beautiful silk throws that go over the bed about 3/4 of the way from the top. I like this style a lot.

A look the the Grand Hotel in the daylight.

The hotel has a huge swimming pool that is Olympic size. It was warm enough to swim in even the first week of October.

Friday night we went to the night market just outside Longshan Temple. This night market is famous for having snake handlers and selling snake soup. We tried it. It was pretty good. The broth tasted like a cross between chicken and vegetable stock. The meat was boney and a little difficult to eat but not much different from chicken.

Most of the shops in the Night Market have signs telling you [in English, too] that you are not allowed to take pictures. However, the lady at the restaurant we ate our snake soup up let up snap all the pics we wanted.

The children seemed to be more facinated than scared of the snakes, whereas, the adults attitude seemed to be one more of fear and horror. Guess I'm still a kid cause I was intrigued and not at all scared.

They even sold turtle meat in the night market. "Ray" sneakly took this picture - I wasn't able to take a picture cause they saw my camera and told me "No pictures".

Saturday we took a city bus tour of Taipei. The tour picked us up at the Grand Hotel and took us around a handful of the major sites in Taipei. We stopped at a couple of Temples. They were very beautiful.

The altar inside one of the temples.

Incense burning on the altar of a temple.

A woman burning fake paper money for her ancestors.

The tour stopped at the National Palace Museum. This houses one of the most impressive collections of Chinese Art I have ever seen. However, it was a mob scene. In fact, this was the only thing or place in Taiwan that reminded me of South Korea and that was only because it was so crowded.

Outside the National Palace Museum.

This is an exhibit inside the National Palace Museum. "Ray" took this picture on the sly. Photo taking is strictly prohibited in the Museum. This tray took 11 years to carve for the Chinese Emperor and the ivory was carved by hand. At least a couple of the craftsmen are said to have gone blind carving it. Looking at the detail I can believe it.

The Taiwanese Flag blows in the wind.

The ceiling at a temple. I loved the bright vibrant colors.

A close up look at the details of the ceiling and the paint work.

A door handle at the temple with it's dragon's head.

We went to Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial Hall on the Taipei City Bus Tour.

A statute of Chaing Kai-Shek.

As usual with every tour I have taken in Asia it ended at a souvenir shop where hopefully we bought something so that our tour guide would get some extra [kick-back] money. I know I sound cynicial but it's the truth. When you go into these shops you are given paper tickets with a number on them [the number corresponds to the tour group] and after the tour when everyone gets back on the bus the tour guide mysteriously disappears inside the shop again for several minutes.

This picture is of Oolong tea. Taiwan is famous for it's Oolong tea which I happen to love.

I happened to check out a computer room while I was in Taiwan. They were much more difficult to find than in Korea where there is one on every corner but when we did find one it was nice and actually even had a non-smoking section in a different room which I appreciated.

I took a picture of the Yahoo homepage in Chinese.

Saturday night "Ray" and I found a cafe called Grandma Nitti's. It was fablous! It had a section of used books [in English] we could buy quite cheaply. And, the food was amazing. The menu offered a huge selection and even included comfort food like meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. Yummy!

They even had pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Being that it was Thanksgiving back home in Canada in decided to indulge in some pumpkin pie. It was good. Not as good as my mom makes but good nonetheless.

Getting a foot massage is very common in Taipei and after wandering around the night market looking for Oolong Tea and gifts for my friends and family I decided it was time to take care of my feet. The man who worked on my feet had awesome English and he was able to tell me when a certain spot was tender when in the body it corresponded to. I learned that my neck and back are especially sensitive or a least the reflexology spots that pertain to them on my feet are.

Sunday morning found us off to the Taipei 101 building. It is the tallest office building in the world. I have to admit that after the CN Tower it didn't seem that tall to me but it is a famous landmark in Taipei and not to be missed.

Looking up the side of the Taipei 101 building.

The view from the top outside deck of the Taipei 101 building. I was suprised at the visability. This day you could see far into the distance without much smog. This is certainly different that South Korea especially of late.

On the same building as Taipei 101 we found lots of shops including a real honest to goodness pharmacy. I have never seen one in Asia and certainly not in South Korea where there are small drug stores on every corner but no big ones that carry everything from drugs, to food, to magazines, to hair color, etc. This one was called Watsons and it had everything. Including travel [motion sickness pills] which we loaded up on for the plane ride back to Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea.

Sorry No Post This Week - I'm Sick

2006-10-28T21:04:00.000+09:00

Hi Everybody:

Just a really quick note to let you know that I am sick and won't be posting this week. Hopefully, I will be back to my old self by next weekend and I will finish my last post on my vacation in Taiwan. Then I will be back to writing about South Korea again - as usually.

I think I have the flu. I missed all my Korean classes this week and even had to get a doctor's note and take one of my three yearly sick days from school. I am feeling a lot better already but I am still extra tired and weak. I'm just not up to sitting in front of the computer blogging right now.

I'm off to watch some tv until I fall asleep.

See you next week.
Ann

Taiwan Vacation - Part 2 - Green Island

2006-10-22T22:32:00.000+09:00

Thursday, October 5th, 2006 "Ray" and I caught the ferry at the port in Taitung to Green Island. Green Island is an island of approximately 3,000 people but has become extremely popular during the summer because of the natural beauty and the wonderful coral reef that makes scuba diving and snorkling so enjoyable here. The ferry and planes to the island get booked up quickly even in the early fall so we had to get up and make sure to catch the first ferry at 8:30 am as that was the only option including plane or ferry that had any tickets available for that day.

This innocent looking boat caused me the most distress of any vechicle in my entire life. It was only a 50 minute ferry ride from Taitung to Green Island but it felt like it lasted FOREVER! I have never been sea sick in my life and I grew up around the water and boats - so being sea sick was a entirely new experience for me.

My Lonely Planet book that warned that in the winter in bad weather the ride good be rough. It says and I quote "During winter, boats run infrequently, if at all, due to choppy water. If you dare to take a boat during winter, prepare your stomach in advance and brace yourself for a very rough ride". It was early fall so I never dreamed it would be a problem. But when we boarded the boat and sat down the boat was rocking even while docked at the pier and I knew then I wasn't going to enjoy the ride. I took some travel sick pills but at that point [3 to 4 minutes before departing] it was too late for them to work.

The whole ride over I prayed and cursed my own travel planning and itinery and hoped that Green Island would be worth the hell it was getting there. Well, I am happy to report it was. However, if I am ever given the opportunity to go back [and I hope I am] I intend to plan far ahead and book a flight there and avoid the ferry altogether.

The touist office at the Taitung airport had helped us the day before confirm which ferry had tickets and even called and made us a reservation at the Par Far Hotel on Green Island. When I managed to crawl off the ferry in a very shaken and dizzy way I was relieved to see a man holding a sign with my name on it. It was a man from my hotel who had come to drive "Ray" and I to the hotel.

This is a picture of the main street of Green Island just outside our hotel. And, my first real glimpse of Green Island.

I took this picture from the window of our hotel room. After 45 minutes of lying on the bed I was able to bounce back from my sea sickness. I got up and grabbed my bag and set off to explore the island with "Ray".

We were able to rent mopeds from the woman who owned our hotel. She didn't speak much English but she still managed to communicate quite well with us. Of course, "Ray" and I have pantomime down pretty well after over 3 years of living in Korea.

We had to put gas into our mopeds and we had no idea how much money to put in. Luckily, one of the girls at the gas station spoke English and told us that $ 100.00 [Taiwan New Dollars - about $ 3.33 Canadian] would fill the mopeds - so that's what we put in. As, it turned out they don't take much gas and when we left late the next afternoon my bike still had 3/4 of tank of gas left. Oh, well live and learn.

My Lonely Planet book said that it would take about 30 minutes to drive around the island but it took us about 1 and 1/2 hours cause we stopped to take tons of pictures talk and admire the scenery. I took this picture of "Ray" with his Roots Canada backpack on driving his moped. Truthfully, neither one of us had ever driven any motorized cycles before but it didn't stop us from trying and I've got to say I am hooked. If I wouldn't get killed I'd get a moped of my own for Korea but the drivers here are just to scarey for that.

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Green Island is that is was formed from a volcano and it has lots of igneous rocks. It looks a lot like I picture Hawaii but not so commerical [at least not yet].

The vegetation was so rich and lush. The green was so green that it almost didn't look real but like some Hollywood movie set or something.

There was a beautiful white sand beach [called Tapaisha or Dapaisha both spelling seemed to be used in English] and even better because it is the off-season and the number of people who can get to the island via the transportation available is limited it was deserted when we came across it. I think Green Island is one of the few unspoiled natural beauties left in Asia.

I took this picture of the coastline. When I looked at the water and the surf I understood why the ferry ride over had been so rough.

Another picture showing the vivid greens and blues of the scenery.

About half-way around the island we came upon this restaurant and store by the side of the road. We stopped to buy a cold drink and rest a few minutes. I took this picture because I was attracted to the blowing strings of the awning that to me look quite Polynesian. In fact, most of the people on the Island looked quite native. They had very dark skin and the men sported mulitiple tatoos. After living in South Korean which can be very conservative and conformist it was like a breath of fresh air to see people expressing diversity and looking like individuals again.

They were selling some kind of liquor with pieces of cut up antler honks in it. - I imagine it was for men to help increase their "stamina" or that's what it would be for in Korea - anyway.

I saw this fruit for sale everywhere in Taiwan and I wanted to try it but no one could tell me the English name for it or what it was exactly - so I didn't. I took a picture of it so I could look it up on the internet when I got back home. I found it out is called "Sweetsap". It is a custard apple. I wish now I had tried it. Ummm.... maybe I'll have to go back to Taiwan just to try it....

I saw some kind of fish drying on a line and I snapped a picture of it.

This is a picture of the Green Island airport. This will be the first sight a see next time I go to Green Island. Did I mention that I plan to fly there if I ever go back rather than take the ferry????

This is a picture of the Green Island Prison. It is now closed. It used to be a symbol of Taiwan's White Terror and used to house political prisoners who were thought to be too dangerous to house on the mainland of Taiwan.

This is the Green Island Lighthouse.

One of the reasons I wanted to come to Green Island was to go snorkling. I am not allowed to go scuba diving because of problems I have with my middle ears but I love to swim and I have always wanted to try snorkling. All these mopeds were parked outside the dive shop in town. They were for rent.

This shows all the people snorkling and scuba diving just outside Nanliao Harbour. This seemed to be the best place as there was a large coral reef and millions of beautiful fish.

I found a cheap underwater camera at the 7-11 store in town and I decided to try my hand at taking some underwater shots. I had to get my Recruiter at Kim and Joe Recruting in Busan to scan these pictures in for me so that I could up-load them to share. [Thank you Jessie and Amy.]

There were so many types of coral some I had never seen before. There was a vivid purple kind in small branches but it seemed to grow deeper and I wasn't able to get a good picture of it.

I saw this beautiful blue fish that reminded me of a book my Swiss penpal had sent me years ago. It was written in German and it was called "The Rainbow Fish".

Here is a picture of the surface on the water and some brain coral.

There were some dark colored fish, as well as, some fish that looked like gold fish except they had some black markings on them.

I took this picture of the surface of the water and I love the light and color. I love the light and texture so much and I had such a great time snorkling that I made it the screensaver on my computer. It calms me down and makes me smile when I look at it and remember my fablous vacation.

This shows staghorn coral. The color is not as brillant as it was taken quite deep in the water. The sunlight doesn't penetrate well that far down.

Here are some stipped fish. I love them.

The real attraction of Green Island is that it has one of only three natural hot salt water springs in the world. The other two are located in Hakkaido in Japan and on Mt. Vesuvius in Italy. This is the Chaojik Hot Springs on Green Island.

The beauty of the outdoor spa is that you can lazy around in the water and look at the volcanic rocks and the surf pounding below on the beach. Also, it was not crowded when we went since it was not the tourist season. It was so luxurious to have it almost completely to ourselves.

There was an indoor pool, too. It is lined with volcanic rocks so that even inside you can see and feel connected with nature.

Driving our mopeds back to the hotel we spotted a goat. He seemed as interested in peering at us as we were in tooking at him.

Another picture of the volcanic rocks that ring the island.

A smaller island just off the main island. Again, I am struck by the vivid colors.

Another picture of the coastline.

Some bamboo fences poles surround a beach on the island.

Friday, October 6th, 2006 "Ray" and I head back to the ferry to head back to Taitung. We went a little early so that I could sit and try and relax and calm down. This time I was prepared and took some Gravol [travel sick medicine from Canada - thanks mom - love the care packages :)] about a hour and a half before the ferry is scheduled to depart. And, I am happy to report I slept the entire way back to Taitung. Lots of other people got sick but I didn't. I am so glad my last ferry ride was okay so that it ended on a good note and hopefully won't leave me to scared to even take a ferry again.

There were some beautifully painted boats in the Naliao Harbour. They appear to be sight-seeing boats.

There is something about water and the coastline that is so peaceful and beautiful to me. I'm not sure if it's just that I grew up around the ocean or not but it just seems to restore me to sit near it and meditate on it's serenity. This Taiwanese man seemed to feel the same way and it make me see how some feelings transend language and culture and are universal in scope.

A picture taken from the stern of the boat watching the Taiwanese flag blow in the wind as Green Island disappears into the distance.***

Next week I will conclude my vacation in Taiwan. I intended to finish it this post but I just had too many pictures and memories of Green Island to share.

Next week it is Taitung and Taipei.

Taiwan - "Touch Your Heart"

2006-10-15T00:52:00.000+09:00

The tourism slogan for Taiwan is "Touch Your Heart". I adore Taiwan and so I love the slogan, too, for Taiwan did indeed touch my heart. I had the best time and made wonderful memories to last me a lifetime. It was a time of firsts for me: I went snorkling for the first time, rode a moped for the first time and tried some strange and exotic foods like frogs and snake soup.

I took a ton of pictures too many to post today so I decided to talk about my first three days in Taiwan this time and next week I will post more pictures and finish with the rest of my vacation in Taiwan.

Here is a sign outside a restaurant with the "Taiwan - Touch Your Heart" slogan on it. These signs are everywhere in the tourist areas.

We arrived at CKS: Chang Kai Shei Airport [the International Airport in Taipei] just before lunch on Tuesday, October 3rd. We headed for the information booth and got them to book a hotel for us. And found out that we could take the airport bus to the Main Train Station in Taipei and that our hotel was literally next door. We stayed at the Cosmos Hotel and it was so close to the train station. The MRT [the subway system in Taipei] is under the train station, too, so it proved to be a most convenient location. I took this picture of the train station from out hotel window.

We got off the airport bus to the side of the Main Train Station in Taipei. There were lines of these yellow taxi cabs watching us hoping for a fare but alas they were out of luck since our hotel was next door.

Walking through the Taipei Train Station at 1:03 pm and seeing only a handful of people was so shocking to me after the crowds of people in Korea that I stopped to take a picture and admire the peace and quiet. I'm glad I took this picture as I like the way the light falls in this image.

This is a picture of our hotel room at the Cosmos Hotel. It was clean and bright and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a convenient place to stay in Taipei.

I had been warned by one of my blog readers to take "moped repellent" to Taiwan. I thought he was exagerating but I found out that he wasn't. These mopeds are everywhere. I still didn't find them as reckless as the "autobi" drivers in Korea as for the most part in Taiwan or at least Taipei the mopeds seemed to drive on the roads and not on the sidewalks.

Our first night in Taipei we went to "Very Thai" a Thai restaurant I had read about in my Lonely Planet book. It was great. It was open until 2 am and in fact the later we stayed the busier it got.

"Ray" read the menu and decided we needed to try the frogs. We got the spicy ones knowing that after more than 3 years of eating Korean food we could handle spicy food and figuring that the fried frogs would be just too much like chicken. The spicy ones were good - a little boney but good.

The next afternoon we were off to the Sung Shan [the Domestic Airport in Taipei] to fly to Taitung.

Taintung is a smaller city to the South East of Taiwan. The reason we headed for it is that is is the gateway to Green Island. It is, also, the gateway for Orchid [Lanyu] Island - an area where most of the aborginals in Taiwan still live. Taitung celebrates is aborginal culture as you can see even in the telephone booth at the airport.

A picture outside the Taitung Airport. As you can see it is quite a small airport.

A fountain outside the airport.

The gift shop outside the Taitung airport.

The gift shop sells a lot of aborginal beadwork. It reminds me of the native Canadian beadwork.

The Tourist Information Center at the airport was able to not only book as a hotel in the nearby area of Chihpen [ a resort area famous for it's hot spring] but was able to arrange for our hotel to come and pick us up at the airport. We stayed at the Chihpen Hotel. This is a picture of the hot pools that I took from our hotel room window.

That night while "Ray" and I were taking a soak in the hot pools were looked up at the light fixture above us and saw a lizard. I guess he was drawn to the heat of the light.

I was amazed by the tall palm trees in the Chihpen area. It was so exotic looking.

We took a walk before dinner and found this waterfall. It was beautiful and so natural. Unfortunately, the light was fading and to get enough light I had to use a long exposure and I guess I jiggled a tiny bit and slightly blurred the picture. Darn it!

I enjoyed seeing some nature after the concrete jungles in Korea. I just couldn't get enough scenic beauty.

Walking around Chihpen after dinner we came across a temple by the side of the road. We stopped to take a closer look.

A closer look at the temple.

Even the foliage was so exotic looking.

***

Next week I'll post the rest of my Taiwan pictures and talk about my trip to Green Island and the night markets in Taipei.

Chulsok 추석

2006-10-01T01:04:00.000+09:00

The eve of Chulsok 추석 [the Korean Thanksgiving Holiday] is upon us. This time of year gets very hectic and busy for nearly everyone. I am amazed at the shopping and expense that go into the holiday preparations. For example, nearly every company gives each of their employees a gift set as a Chulsok present. In fact, I got a lovely, gift set that included Rice Day shampoo, hair conditioner, body wash, bars of soap and toothpaste.

Even after over three years in Korea I am still amazed by the cultural differences. For one thing gifts here are not individualized but sets that come already prepared and the same thing is given to everyone regardless of age or gender. I guess I'm still used to gifts being painstakingly chosen for each individual on my list according to hobby or personal interest. Moreover, if you were to give someone back home in North America bars of soap or toothpaste for a gift it would seem like you were telling them they were smelly or dirty and they'd better use this. I love my gift set, now that I am now used to the idea of getting personal care items, and it is a very practical gift.

Here is a picture I took at Mega Mart a large department store near my home of some of the gift sets. These ones include bars of soap and toothpaste.

Another cultural difference can be seen in the Korean love of SPAM. And, no I don't mean junk e-mail [ha, ha]. I mean the canned luncheon meat. The Koreans love it and give it to one another in gift sets. They even go so far as to consider it a "luxury" item. My friend "Ray" has told me that it is only in Asian countries where there is a history of US Military involvement or presence that Spam is considered a delicacy.

This is a picture of a gift set of Spam. Back in North America we consider Spam a food that you eat when you're poor or running low on cash just before payday but at over $ 32.00 for this gift set here Spam isn't exactly cheap.

"Ray" and I talked about the Korean love of Spam tonight and in taking about it he found this article about Spam being considered a desirable gift set item. Here's the link. (Thank you- "Ray".)

Watercooler Story on Spam

Also, Wipipedia has an article about Spam that tells about the link between its popularity and countries with a US Military history. Here's the link to that.

Wipipedia Article on Spam

In case, I forgot just what an important occasion Chulsok is I would soon be reminded when I saw the sales clerks in the supermarket in their beautiful Hanboks 한복 [traditional Korean clothing].

Here is another picture of a Hanbok. This is one as seen from the back with the intricate embroidery on it.

There are, also, tuna gift sets [which although cheaper by half than the Spam gift sets] we foreigners seem to enjoy and appreciate more.

This lovely sales clerk was kind enough to pose for a picture near the gift sets.

I noticed these Korean cookies and snack sets and wanted to take a picture of them especially when I saw a box just above them wrapped in the cloth that older Korean women routinely use to carry their packages. I guess it is much more durable than a plastic bag and much better for the environment in the long run and gosh darn it sure looks pretty, too.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the gift sets of Korean liquor. I believe this is a traditional rice wine since the label on the bottle says 법주 [bab ju] and "bab" is the Korean word for rice and "ju" is the word for any type of alcohol in Korean.

Last but not least the most expensive gift for Chulsok would be these boxes of Korean Ginseng. 인삼 [in sam]. Ginseng is considered a health food and is highly desired and the price is reflective of that. The most expensive box of ginseng I saw was priced at over $ 178.00 dollars. W0w!

***

Well that's my post for this week. On Tuesday I am off to Taiwan with my friend "Ray". I can't wait. Yipee! I will be away for more than 6 days so I will not be posting an article next weekend. However, I promise to take tons of pictures in Taiwan and I'll write about my trip and post tons of pictures sometime the following weekend [October 14th to 15th].

Thank you to everyone who gave me advice about places to go and things to see in Taiwan.

Gwangju

2006-09-24T11:51:00.000+09:00

I recently went to Gwangju 관주 in Jeollanam-do [a province to the South West of Korea]. It is a province known for its rich agricultural lands. In fact, it has a history of tensions between it and Gyeongsangnam-do the province I live in and where Busan is the major city. The tensions seem to as a result of Jeollanam-do being an argicutural province and so financially much poorer than Gyeongsangnam-do a more industrial province.

I left on a Friday night at midnight on my 277.6 km journey. I took a night bus called a 우 등 [uh dung] which means it is a luxury bus that has only 3 seats per aisle and they are like armchairs and they recline so you can really relax and even sleep if you want. It was very posh and very nice.

We started our trip in Nopo-dong in Busan at the express bus terminal.

Here is a photo of our luxury bus. It is definately the way to travel especially at night and for trips that last 3 and 1/2 hours like our trip was.

We had a rest top half way through our trip and I went to the restroom. On the way there I noticed this large display board showing grisly photos of traffic accidents. Not exactly reassuring. I guess they believe in the adage "Scared Sober" at least in regards to their Drunk Driving Campaigns.

The first place we were off to on Saturday was a green tea planation. It was in a place called Boseong 보성. It was called Boseong DaWon 보 성 다원 which means tea planation or garden. I was surprised to discover that green tea grows in waist high shrubs. I'm not sure how I thought it grew but I guess I thought it grew close to the ground. This is me and my three friends at the tea planation.

The tea planation was massive and it covered the side of the mountain in curving patterns. It must make it difficult to harvast with machinery.

There was a stream running through the tall trees leading to the gardens surrounding the tea planation.

There was a lake in the distance surrounded by fields of green tea. One thing I noticed was how green everything was and how clean the air was. It actually smelled clean and fresh. Since then I have noticed that one thing missing in the big cities of Korea is fresh clean air - being from small town Canada I miss that. This weekend and the scenery reminded a lot of home [except there are no mountains near my home].

We had lunch at a Korean restaurant and the food was great! It was seafood and there were posters on the wall saying that they used green tea in the preparation and cooking of some of their dishes.

After lunch we were off to Nagan and a Folk Village that included a walled fortress. It just outside of the city of Suncheon 순천. It is called 낙안민속마을 [nak an min sok ma ul]. It was amazing! At the gates of the fortress there were these Pages. I felt like I was living in The King and the Clown movie with Lee, Jun-Ki.

There were musicians playing instruments and dancing around. I've seen them before elsewhere in Korea but it seemed more athentic to see it here.

I love the totem poles that can be found at most tourist attractions in Korea.

Me and two of my friends posing for the camera.

A picture from the walls of the fortress looking off into the distance.

I am told that although this is a Folk Village people actually live here. They are subsided by the Korean government to live and work here. There is even a water wheel.

There are thatched huts and squash vines growing everywhere.

Later that night we went to a resort. It was amazing. It even had a fablous pool.

The next day were were off to the Gwangju Biennale. It is an art show that is held every two years [in case you did guess that by the name]. There I was interviewed by Arirang TV about my impressions of the art exhibit. The problem was they asked us on the way into the show and despite our protests they pressured us to comment. So, since I had read about the exhibit in my Lonely Planet Korea book I bluffed some sort of answer. Wonder if it will ever air on Arirang? I'm not sure I want it to.

One of my favorite displays was this massive outdoor display of flowers. They are made of some kind of fabric and air is blown into them to keep there puffed out.

A close up look at the same flowers.

This photo doesn't do the exhibit justice. It was my favorite piece. It was a room with a piano and chairs and artist had constructed a giant spider web out of black string. I keep looking at it wondering how long it took to construct and marvelling at the fact that it only seemed to be tacked to the walls in a dozen or so places and still hung in the air. It still boggles my mind how the artist was able to do that without more stabilizing from the ceiling and walls.

After three of four hours at the exhibit we were off to dinner. Duck soup 오리 탕 [ori tang] is famous in Gwangju so we decided to try it for our last meal in town. It is supposed to stain your clothes terribly if you get it on you so we were given these aprons to wear to protect our clothes.

At the end of our day we were off to the Gwangju Bus station in U-Square. Gwangju might be only the 6th largest city in Korea but its bus station puts some of the bigger city stations to shame. U-Square has make-up stores, convenience stores, a bookstore with 3 aisles of English novels [even Lonely Planet Guide Books in English], and restaurants. I wish Busan had such a nice bus station.

Updates

2006-09-17T22:11:00.000+09:00

At the risk of sounding like John Walsh and America's Most Wanted [who I admire a lot for the way he has taken a personal tragedy and used it as motivation to try and change society for the better] I have gotten a lot of comments from people as of late so I decided it is time to up-date people on a few things I have been blogging about.

In my post on "Red Devils - Korean Soccer Fans" Jonathan a teacher on Long Island said he was glad to know that the alternative spelling of Korea with a C was not just a spelling error. I had promised to check into the reason for the spelling of Corea. I learned that Korea used to be spelled with a C. However, when Japan invaded Korea in the early 1900s Japan changed the spelling of Korea to start with a K. This meant that when countries were listed alphabetically Japan was listed above Korea. Koreans now want to change the spelling back to the original way it was spelled. I have not been able to find this written about anywhere but this is what every Korean knows and will tell you when asked about the spelling of their country's name.

This is the picture I posted that inspired the comment by Jonathan.

***

When I wrote my post "Revisiting Gumi and Daegu" I posted a picture of the Gumi train station and mentioned my surprise that it STILL wasn't completed nearly 2 years later. Travis wrote to me and told me that the reason for the slow progess was contract disputes. Thanks for the info, Travis. Another mystery solved.

This is a picture I previously posted of the still unfinished Gumi Train Station.

***

In my post "Adventures in Cooking" I wrote about my struggle to learn to cook and my growing skills in the kitchen. I am pleased to report that I am continuing to improve my cooking despite not having an oven. I recently made my first banana bread EVER and it was fantasic - if I do say so myself.

My toaster oven. The only way I have of baking anything here in Korea. It's almost 3 years old but I love it cause it's so big I can cook most anything in it. It will even hold a full-sized loaf pan for making meat loaf or banana bread.

My first banana bread. It turned out so well I have made a couple more. I plan to try a cinnamin bread someday soon. Cinnamin is one of the few spices that is easy to find and buy in Korea and I love it so much - I even put it in my coffee sometimes for an extra zing.

Last but not least last week when I wrote about "Vacations" I meantioned how difficult [if not impossible] it is to get airline tickets to go anywhere for Chulsok - the Korean Thanksgiving - but that I was on a waiting list. Well, thanks to Mode Travel being next door and my persistence [I literally went there everyday to see if anyone had cancelled their airline tickets] I got tickets for myself and my friend "Ray" to go to Taipei, Taiwan. Yipee! We will leave on October 3rd and we can even fly out of Busan. We will have to transfer planes in Incheon [the International airport in Seoul] but that's a small thing and it means we don't have to take the train. We will be in Taipei by lunch time. We will stay until Sunday, October 8th when we will fly back to Incheon. Unfortunately, we will have to take the train [and the slow one at that] from Seoul back to Busan and it's a five hour trip but I don't even care about that. Mode Travel was even able to book our train tickets for us. Moreover, they even hooked us up with travel insurance throught AIG. I still have to pinch myself to make sure it is real and that I really got tickets out of Korea for Chulsok. Everyone I know is bummed out cause they can't get tickets anywhere for their vacation. I feel like a very lucky girl! Yipee!

I went to Kyobo Bookstore in Seomyeon last night and ordered a Lonely Planet book on Taiwan. They had lots of Lonely Planets books and a good selection of English books and novels but, alas, they didn't have the Taiwan one. They said it should arrive in about a week. I hope so cause we don't have any idea what to see in Taiwan and where to stay. I want to see Taipai but I'd love to go somewhere else with a beach and some natural beauty for a few days. If any of you readers has been to Taiwan and can recommend somewhere please let me know. You can comment on this post or shot me off an e-mail. I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give me.

Our airline tickets to Taipei, Taiwan.

Vacations

2006-09-12T12:40:00.000+09:00

When I thought about coming to teach in South Korea over three years ago I thought about how nice it would be to travel on my vacations. I had several friends who had taught here and they had all gone to Thailand for their Christmas vacation, etc. I thought I would be able to do the same. Well, the fact of the matter is that if you work at a "Hogwon" [private language school] often you don't get more than three consecutive days off for a holiday. It is true that some schools close down for a week in the summer and a week at Christmas time giving the teachers that work there time to travel but from my experience this seems to be the exception - not the norm.

I hope very much that if I come back for another year to teach in Korea that I can get a job in a university or a public school. That way I would get about five weeks of vacation time in the summer to travel.

So far, I have seen most of Korea even traveling to the DMZ [Demilitarized Zone] for the Lunar New Year in February 2004 and I've been to Fukuoka, Japan at least three times on over-night Visa runs. But as for traveling and getting to see a lot of Asia I have not really gotten to do so. With one exception. In February 2005 for the Lunar New Year's holiday I got to take a tour of Beijing, China. I went with Kangsan Travel [an English Travel Agency here in Busan - I have a link to them on the sidebar of this blog].

Right now I am trying desperately to get plane tickets for Chulsok 추석 [the Korean Thanksgiving holiday]. It is based on the Lunar Calendar so the date changes each year. This year it is from Thursday, October 5th to and including Sunday, October 8th. Moreover, Tuesday, October 3rd is a legal holiday 개천절 [Kae Chun Chul] what we call Foundation day in English and I managed with much begging to get my boss to give me Wednesday, October 4th off. What that means is I have from Monday night at 10 pm until the following Monday afternoon at 2:00 pm off on holiday - almost a whole week. It is almost unheard of to get that much time off in Korea and especially from a private language school. I am so excited I can't stand it!

However, despite what I thought - that it was a time when every Korean went home to see their families - it seems that in actuality every Korean has already booked airline tickets out of the country. I some how managed to get two tickets booked for October 3rd to Taipei, Taiwan but so far I can't get any tickets back to Korea. I am on the cancellation list and I pop by the travel agency everyday to see if seats have become available but so far there are still no tickets. I could come back on Tuesday, October 10th no problem but there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY EITHER MYSELF OF MY FRIEND CAN GET ANYMORE TIME OFF WORK!!!

Everyone keeps telling me I should have booked my tickets months ago. Maybe I'll find out when Lunar New Year is in 2007 and book my tickets now. At least that way I might finally make it to Thailand. I'm not kidding - I'm considering it - quite seriously. It seems that there are no extra flights put on for holidays - making travel at any holiday time a nightmare. Well, I've learned my lesson. As the Boy Scouts say "Be prepared". Come next holiday - I intend to be.

***

Here are some pictures from my first real vacation in Korea. I went to the DMZ and did the 3rd tunnel tour in February of 2004. It was amazing to see.

This is looking out the window and looking over North Korea. This was taken from the Dora-san Observatory.

This is the Dora-san Observatory where you can look over towards North Korea.

This was taken inside the 3rd tunnel. This was a tunnel that was discovered in 1978 and was only 44 kms and less than one hours drive from Seoul. It is said to have been capable of moving a full divison per hour and was designed by North Korea for the purpose of making a surprise attack on Seoul. Scary!

This fence marks the boundary of the DMZ or should I say No-Man's Land - between North and South Korea.

Every Lunar New Year South Koreans hold a rally where they show their support for the reunification of North and South Korea and their desire to see their relatives who live in North Korea.

Here is a watch tower that is located in the DMZ. It is so stark looking that I wanted to use Black and White Film [I didn't have a digital camera at this point so I had to scan this photos into my computer] to emphasis that aspect of the scene.

***

Stay tuned for up-dates on my potential trip to Taipei.

My Post this week will be a few days late

2006-09-08T12:16:00.000+09:00

Hey Everybody:

Just a very quick note to say that I am okay and will be doing my weekly post. However, it is going to be delayed a few days. It won't be available on Sunday this week as it usually is.

I am going away for the weekend in Gwangju and despite my best intentions to have my post ready it hasn't happened - life got in the way.

What do I mean by that? Well let's see:

My life has been good but very busy of late with dental appointments, Korean classes [yes, I am continuing to try and improve my Korean], meetings at work and just my normal [heavy] teaching schedule at three schools [and yes I have a legal visa to teach at all three since it's one owner and thus one pay check]. Huh... just thinking about my schedule makes me feel tired.

So check back on Tuesday or Wednesday for my weekly post [albeit a late one]. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Bye for now,
Ann

Adventures in Cooking

2006-09-03T10:55:00.000+09:00

I have a confession. I can't cook - or at least I couldn't when I moved to Korea over 3 years ago. As my friend and former roommate, "Ray", will tell you I even "burned water". My mother would say that, "I couldn't boil water".

The burning water joke is actually closer to truth than fiction. One day when I lived in Yangsan, a suburb of Busan I was boiling water for tea on our gas range. The stove was located directly in front of a window. As I stood there waiting for the water to boil I looked out the window and saw the most incredible sight. I saw these paragliders sailing over our apartment building and a 6 lane highway to land in an empty field across the street from our apartment. Without thinking I grabbed by camera and ran out to take some pictures. However, I left the kettle on the gas burner and didn't turn it off. OPPS! I was gone maybe half an hour. I returned to find the apartment smoky and the kettle boiled dry and scorched and the handle of the kettle completely melted. I tried to air out the apartment before my roommate returned but I couldn't find a replacement kettle on such short notice so he saw the evidence. I have never been able to live it down. In hindsight it is pretty funny and I am just lucky I didn't burn down the apartment or the entire building.

This is a kettle like the one I burned up.

This was the first glimpse I had of the paragliders when I ran out of the apartment with my camera. I wish I had had a telephoto lens. There are four of them and it looks like a couple of them are close to colliding.

Here's a picture I took of them landing across the road.

This is my favorite picture of the paragliders.

Another shot of them landing.

I went picture crazy taking photos of these paragliders.

The sky really was this blue that day. I wanted so much to be up in the air with them. It seemed so amazing. I imagine it would be quiet and peaceful sailing through the air like that.

Within minutes the clouds rolled in and it got cloudy looking.

***

Taking all those pictures took time and allowed the kettle to burn up. I always forget that gas is so much more powerful than electric stoves and I guess it's not a good thing to walk away from your apartment and leave something on the stove unattended. I am - or at least I was - like a walking ad for fire prevention.

Now, however, to the amazement of myself, my friends and my family I have become quite a good cook. I admit when I first started cooking it was out of frustration at not being able to find any of my favorite foods even at the western restaurants here in Korea. At first when I would cook I would call up my mom or my friend "Ray" and ask them "If you were making curry rice [or whatever] what would you do?" Then I started to experiment on my own and of course having an internet connection helps, too. If I get stuck I Google the name of whatever I am trying to make and voila up pops a recipe.

I still get frustrated with the lack of spices available in Korea. There are two aisles at the supermarket devoted to red pepper paste but I dare you to try and find cumin or cilantro or even garlic powder.

A picture I took of all the red pepper paste at the supermarket.

***
In desperation to find some ingredients to cook my favorite foods I turned to the black market and Texas Street. In Busan, Texas Street is located directly across from the Busan train station and it is infamous for being a bar area with lots of Russian and a number of Filipino juicy girls. But it also sells long distance telephone cards, stick deodorant, North American brands of toothpaste and some canned specialty foods.

This is a picture of Texas Street I took during the daytime.

I took this close-up picture of a lantern on Texas Street.

This is Texas Street at night.

As I mentioned there is a large Russian population that works and frequents the Texas Street area. A lot of the signs are in Russian.

Many of the bars and cafes are named for American places. This maybe because they want to appeal to the American soldiers [before Camp Hialeah the American Military Base in Busan was closed just this summer] and to American sailors when the Navy ships are in port. This restaurant is where I buy my long distance telephone cards and also they serve the best lumpia [Filipino egg rolls] ever.

I am able to buy canned corned beef on Texas Street.

I even find a full-size jar of North American Cheez Whiz [Australian Cheez Whiz is white in color as is their cheddar cheese]. With this I can made toasted cheese, bacon and tomato sandwiches and homemade macaroni and cheese, ummm!

Here's the corned beef hash I made with my can of corned beef. [I cut up sweet pickles - they come when you order pizza in Korea since Koreans eat pickles with their pizza - and added them to the potatoes and onions to give it a little more flavor. It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

I got the New Hawaii Restaurant to sell me some lumpia that has uncooked so I could cook it myself at home later. I even found a sweet spring roll sauce at Mega Mart to serve with it.
***

My success with these cooking ventures lead me to explore even more and expand my repertoire of dishes. My neighbour last year, Mrs. Lee, served me lotus root in a sweet light corn syrup sauce for dessert once and it was divine. I decided to try my luck at making something similar.

First I found and bought the lotus root and the light corn syrup.

Then I steamed the lotus root until it was tender. Then I put it in a plastic container and poured some of the syrup over it and let it set over night in the fridge. I was really exotic and quite refreshing. It certainly wasn't anything I would have even eaten if I'd stayed in Eastern Canada. I quite like it.

***

I visited Costco in Daegu a couple of months ago and when I was there I got some spices. But I found myself cooking more and thus in need of more spices. It is just too hard for me - as a new cook - to try and substitute spices [ones I can find for ones I can't]. In desperation I turned to an internet website. On pusanweb I had read about this website called Costcoplaza and although it is entirely in Korean it doesn't require a Korean ID number to join or a Korean credit card to purchase items. You use your e-mail [and yes they even accept hotmail] and set up an ID and an account and then you place your order. It gives you the total price and you go to the bank and deposit the money into the bank account number they give you on the site. It's actually pretty easy. I had a Korean friend help me set up the account and make the order but I think I could do it myself now if I had to. They have lots of spices including cumin, fajita seasoning, Cajun seasoning, dill weed and coriander leaf. To browse the items available if you don't read Korean just click on the first link on the left of the page. It says 식 품 [shik pum]. Here's the link to the website.

Costco Plaza

Three days after placing my order my spices had arrived. They are big bottles, too, 85 grams.

Also, I ordered Starbucks House Blend of coffee and Jelly Belly jelly beans. I am happy, happy, happy. :)

***

I found another internet website where I can order sour cream, icing sugar, canned pie fillings and all the other goodies I can't find anywhere else in the stores here. However, like most Korean websites, it requires a Korean ID number to join and since I don't have one and my Alien Card Registration [ARC] number doesn't work I am dependant on my Korean friends to order things I want from this site for me. Here's the link to the site. If you can't read Korean but are interested in the products they have click on the link [it opens a new window] and click on the icon that looks like a toaster located about 5-6 inches down on the left hand side of the screen. This shows all the products.

E Home Bakery

***

I am now even the proud owner of a Cuckoo rice cooker. I make a great curry rice and some wicked stir fries. Who would have thought even a few years ago that not only would I learn to cook but that I would actually be so proud of this skill that I'd be writing about it on my blog? Not me - that's for sure!

My Cuckoo rice cooker. I love it. I don't think I ever want to live without a rice cooker again - not even if I ever move back to North America someday.

One of the reasons I am not afraid to try cooking here and now is that I know that if all else fails I can order a mean pepperoni pizza.

Another Busan Beach

2006-08-27T21:10:00.000+09:00

Haeundae Beach is the most famous and therefore the most crowded in Busan. About a week or so ago I had a couple of days off so I grabbed my Busan Tourist Map and decided to go exploring. In my tourist map there is a great picture of Songjeong Beach and a write up on it. It says, "Citizens can take a rest at the white sandy beach formed with sands and shells carried from the Songjeong Stream and at the pine tree woods, where seawater and fresh water converge, thereby providing a good fishing place."

Also, I had read that Songjeong beach is not as crowded as Haeundae Beach and that appealed to me. So, I set off to discover Songjeong Beach, [송정] or as it is sometimes called in Korean Songjeong Hae-su Yok Jang [송정 해수욕장] which translates into Songjeong Swimming Beach, for myself.

The first thing I saw was a pagoda off to the left-hand side of the beach. There are a lot of rocks in this area but a few people seemed to prefer the rocks to the crowded sandy beach located on the right-hand side.

A picture of the more crowded sandy part of the beach.

This is a closer look at the pagoda located in back of the pine forest. It has a good view looking out to sea.

My friend snapped this picture of me despite my protests.

An interesting feature of this beach was that the lifeguard chair was set out in the water marking the area past which you are not allowed to swim. This is something I had never seen before either back home in Canada or here in Korea. Unfortunately, the limit was only waist-deep for me so that I couldn't really swim.

A took this picture from the beach looking over towards the left hand side of the beach and the pine woods. It shows the layout of the beach a little bit.

Here is something else I had never seen before a mobile bank. It was parked along the backside of the beach. I know I am a small town girl and all but who knew these things even existed? Not me. But, how convenient. Renting an umberella is 5,000 won and renting an inter-tube is at least the same or maybe even a little bit more. So, if you run short of cash you can just dash of the the insta-bank.

I saw this cute little Korean boy who was all alone on the beach beside this washed up fish trap. He had a bottle which he was filling with sea water and pouring it out on the beach. It was such a peaceful scene and one that I am sure is repeated by children all over the world.

Leaving the beach I walked left past the pine woods and found the harbour. It was so quiet and peaceful looking at the boats moared and just looking out to sea.

Discrimination of Foreigners in Korea

2006-08-20T16:03:00.000+09:00

Writing this post is not easy for me. I don't like to think about or admit that because I am a foreigner that I am discriminated against here in Korea. But, the fact of the matter is that I am. I had never experienced discrimination before. Of course, as a woman I had experienced sexism but never racism or discrimination. Now I know what it means to be set apart and sometimes unable to spend my hard earned money to purchase goods and services I desire. I have been turned away from nightclubs and told that they don't "admit foreigners". I have had to use a Korean friend's ID number to buy sour cream on-line because I couldn't find it in any store here and my own Alien Registration Card number was not recognized or accepted. It has often reduced me to the same status as that of a dependant child. At first, it was just my inability to read and speak the language that made me so dependent on the help of Koreans. Now, that a number of years have passed and I have worked hard to become - if not fluent at least - competent in Korean I no longer see things with the same naivety that most new-comers do. Nor, do I accept that it is some how my fault for not trying to learn the language and adapt because I have done both to a higher degree than any other foreigner I know here. They say "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" and in this cause I have to agree. Sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock and not know all that I do about the discrimination of foreigners in Korea. Sometimes the discrimination is subtle and sometimes it is more systemic and wide-spread.

It has taken me a long time and a lot of thought to write this post for my blog. Mainly, for the same reason that I don't post everyday [because of the way life is experienced living as a foreigner in a strange country if I were to post everyday I would seem like I am manic and in serious need of medication. What I mean by that is that when I had a good day I would write how much I love Korea and living here and when I had a bad day I would rant and say I hated Korea and all things Korean]. However, I have never wanted this blog to be a one-sided and negative rant on Korea and Korean society but I did promise myself that I would be honest and try and always present the truth if I could do so in a fair and balanced way. Attaining this balance requires a lot of time and thought and sometimes a cooling down period until I can look and write about an issue that is close to my heart in a more composed way.

Lately, I am bothered by the discrimination I face in Korea. It is not something that is often discussed in a calm clear-headed way at least not from what I have been reading on the internet. The new people who arrive here often don't know they are being discriminated against. Mostly, this is because they can't speak or read Korean and therefore have not tried to integrate themselves fully into Korean society.

I have lived in Korea for over 3 and 1/2 years and have spent a considerable amount of time and money [on books and cd's] to try and learn Korean and my Korean may not sound perfect or pretty but is actually quite functional. I can read Korean and enjoy watching Korean movies with English subtitles. I like to browse the internet and can read and navigate most websites in Korean quite well. As a result, I have tried to join some of the websites that are de rigueur for Koreans such as Cyworld, Nate, and Naver. But as unable to do so because I am a foreigner. How do computers know I am a foreigner? Simple. The system is set up to tell them this.

For almost everything you do in Korea from setting up a cell phone, establishing a bank account or signing up for a Korean e-mail account you need a number. Korean citizens have an ID cards and foreigners have Alien Registration Cards [ARC] both systems assign the numbers for life. Now comes the sticky part, there is a separate system of numbers for foreigners. For example all women in Korea born before 2000 have a number that starts with a 2 and all men born before 2000 have a number that starts with a 1. [After 2000 the male numbers begin with a 3 and female numbers begin with a 4]. The problem is ARC numbers don't begin with the same numbers, in fact, my ARC number begins with a 6 and therefore instantly identifies me as a foreigner and therefore not eligible for service. Computers don't recognize any numbers other than the ones that begin with a 1 or 2 [and I guess now 3 and 4]. When I use my number beginning with a 6 on-line all I get is an error message.

This requirement for numbers and the assigning to foreigners of numbers that are not recognized even by major corporations is a huge problem. It sets up a system by which foreigners can never really participate in all aspects of life in Korea. It sets us apart and segregates us.

I have been thinking about this situation and the frustrations and hard feelings it causes by making foreigners feel like second-class citizens in a country where they are legally living and working and paying taxes sometimes for multiple years. I've even talked to Korean friends and colleagues about this situation. None of the people I talked to were even aware of the situation and they were surprised to learn that a "white woman for {Canada} a first world country"[their description of me not my own] was not allowed to even internet shop in Korea. The only discrimination they were aware of was that directed toward women from third-world countries in Southeast Asia who marry rural Korean men. [Korean men living in rural areas cannot find Korean women willing to marry them and live away from the bright lights of the big cities but that is an issue for another post.]

My circle of Korean friends and acquaintances would be even more surprised to learn that "Korea earned a reputation as one of the more hostile countries toward foreigners". I read this in an article in the Korean Herald just this week.

Here's the link to the article to which I am referring.

Korean Herald Article

However, the Korean Herald has a nasty habit of after a couple of weeks making their webpages accessible to only "Premium Service Members" and this requires paying a fee {probably with a Korean Credit card for which I as a foreigner am not eligible} [if you don't believe me check and see the link I added to their article on "Heavy Rains" in my post entitled "Typhpoon Ewinar and Rain, rain and more rain". This was the first time I linked directly to their site and it worked well for several weeks, now however, it isn't accessible even to me. Since I am sure this isn't an isolated incident I have taken the precaution of cutting and pasting the entire article into this blog. Despite, that I am leaving the link so that if anyone wants they can check my sources and the link should work for the next couple of weeks anyway.

***
Seoul sketches fuller life for foreigners
-->
Foreign community says much more must be done to help them feel at home
This article is the last of a 10-part series dealing with multiculturalism in Korea. - Ed.
In an eagerly awaited move, the Korean government recently announced sweeping changes to its policies toward foreigners in an apparent effort to tackle the rampant discrimination against noncitizens.

In May this year during the first policymaking meeting on the treatment of foreigners, officials from 17 government organs gathered alongside the prime minister to discuss feasible measures for upgrading the lifestyles and overall environment of the foreign community.
The focus of the conference was mostly on ethnic Koreans holding foreign citizenship and women who crossed borders to marry Korean men.
Outlining six key policy goals, the government stated that it would build on these initiatives to continue molding policy safety nets for people of foreign nationalities.
The six goals, although only an initial step, are compelling, observers say, since so far, Korea has been classified as not quite up to par when it comes to governing foreigners.
In fact, contrary to its vision of blossoming into Northeast Asia's throbbing financial and logistics hub catering to global businesses and residents, Korea earned a reputation as one of the more hostile countries toward foreigners.[This is the part I quoted earlier].

Further fueling the bad press, the Roh Moo-hyun administration cracked down on multinational firms by ratcheting up tax guidelines. Fears arose in the foreign business community here that the red tape would soon catch up with them.
"Many foreign firms complained that there are no clear guidelines on how to interpret regulations of the Korean government," said Chung Tong-soo, the head of Invest Korea, an organization committed to foreign investment under the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

In May this year, the government raised eyebrows in the foreign business community by ruling that Lone Star Funds, a U.S.-based equity fund, owes Seoul City billions of won in taxes. Lone Star is currently trying to sell Korea Exchange Bank, [the only bank that offers a credit card marketed towards foreigners living and working in Korea - my comment] which was bought in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but complications arose after the Finance Ministry was found to have played a hand in selling the bank at a discounted price.
"The time is ripe for Korea to step up an exchange with foreign cultures. That is the trend of the future and the world, and one that is aligned with our national vision," said President Roh Moo-hyun during the May foreign policy meeting.

The significance of the role that foreigners play in local society can no longer be ignored, he stressed, since Korea would inevitably have more multinational companies.
As of 2005, the official number of foreigners residing here hit 747,467. That is approximately 1.55 percent of the entire South Korean population, according to figures from the Justice Ministry, the main government organization in charge of migration and foreigner-related affairs. Given the steady rate of increase, the figure is expected to reach 2.54 percent by 2010.

Another staggering reflection of the growing foreign community is the number of foreigners who entered and left the country; that more than doubled between 1995 and 2005, the ministry data showed.

So even from a nationally strategic standpoint, it has become impossible for Korea to put foreigner-related issues on the back burner, experts say.
Key policy goals
Under the broader aim of enhancing personal security for foreigners in order to improve social integration, the government laid out six policy goals: ease discrimination against ethnic Koreans holding foreign passports; beef up protection for foreign women married to Koreans and their offspring; increase support and protection for refugees; streamline legal guidelines for foreign workers; step up protection of human rights for illegal foreigners; and overall, create a healthy environment in which foreigners and Koreans can cohabit.
In efforts to distance itself from its previously domineering image, the administration said these goals would be rooted in the basic ideas of "mutual respect and understanding."
The detailed measures in the policy goals include the deployment of visitor working visas for ethnic Koreans, who account for a significant number of the foreigners streaming in.
Last year, China, where large numbers of ethic Koreans reside, was the main source of foreigners coming to Korea.

The government is planning to allow the parents of Chinese students with Korean roots who attended university here for over six months to work for Korean companies.
Despite the quota the government will impose to control the volume of students, this means easier access to Korean schools for these children and could possibly help the current shortfall in university students.
"I am most confident that the introduction of this system would significantly change the dynamics of the Chinese-Korean society by urging students to study more and in particular, learn the Korean language," said Seo Kyung-suk, a pastor at a Seoul-based church for Chinese immigrants.

Seo added that the plans should be applied to all foreigners. "Parents must be allowed to join these students," he said.
Foreigners - mostly women - who crossed borders to marry Koreans will receive a boost in their status.
They will be provided with minimum living expenses and medical care, while more education opportunities are to be offered to their children.
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Korean men choosing foreigners as spouses
These women are often maltreated by their Korean families, a practice the government has vowed to crack down on.
Exclusive ethnic networks will also be created to enhance friendships between the women to help them feel more at home, officials say.
Illegal residents will receive more lenient penalties so that despite their status, their children may become eligible for proper education here.
The need to create a better environment for foreign workers was also addressed. A key clause the government suggested was to allow skilled technicians to stay for up to five years at a time, up from the current three years.
Looking forward

In this year's local elections, foreigners with Korean residency were allowed for the first time to cast ballots.
Although the votes were limited to those who met strict residence conditions, the move marked a compelling change in Korea's foreigner-related policies.
"For me, it was a watershed moment. I have waited so long for this day. I have endlessly petitioned on this issue because I felt it's unfair that I am regarded as a foreigner even though I pay my taxes and look and sound like everyone else," said Yang Jong-seung, a 56-year-old Taiwanese businessman who was born and raised here.
Yang was joined by over 6,000 other voters who were ecstatic over their recognition as full-fledged citizens.

Looking into the near future, Koreans will have to embrace an even larger foreign community as the country opens up to more investment from abroad and most importantly, foreigners who look forward to a savvy lifestyle in Asia's third-largest economy. Competition with other Asian neighbors is likely as more countries eye finance and service industries to bolster their growth.
The volume of immigrants, regardless of whether they are wanted or not, will also inevitably climb higher if the figures so far are anything to go by.

The time appears to be more than ripe for Korea to shape new policies to help form a society where both Koreans and their foreign counterparts live and work as compatible partners.
(jemmie@heraldm.com)

By Kim Ji-hyun
2006.08.15
***
Even after 3 and 1/2 years here I have not been able to get a cell phone account and have to use PPS [pre-paid service] or as Canadians call it "pay as you go". This is very expensive over 50 cents a minute Canadian [double the rate in Canada]. I have a Canadian credit card, a Korean bank account, a job, an Alien Registration Card and even a working Visa issued by the government of Korea and I still can't get a cell phone account. In fact, I know only two foreigners who have their own cell phone accounts. One is a friend who I will call S. who has a management position at a large multinational company here in Korea and the other is a Cat, a fellow blogger, in Seoul. Cat wrote about her struggles to get a cell phone account in Korea.

Here's the link to that.

Cat's Struggle to get a cell phone account

The Galbijim has a great article on getting a cell phone in Korea. Even they say that it is hard for foreigners to establish an account in their own names. This is a quote from their site. "Sign up for a plan under your own name. This is the most difficult option. You must have your Alien Registration Card (ARC), so you will be unable to sign up for at least a couple weeks after your arrival in Korea. [I had to have my ARC card to re-establish service on my own Pre-paid cell phone so had my Recruiter do this for me until I got my ARC card. I laughed and told friends a Russian Mobster could get a throw-away phone easier in New York City than I could get a cell phone in Korea.]

Even once you have the ARC, not all companies make it easy for foreigners. SK requires an extra 200,000 won deposit and KTF requires a Korean credit card for the monthly balance to be automatically deducted. If you want to get a monthly phone plan from SK or KTF, then you need your ARC, passport and a deposit of 200-300,000won, in addition to the cost of the phone. If you are lucky enough to have an employer or Korean friend willing to do this for you, they can sign the plan contract in their name to avoid the deposit. There's usually a hookup fee of around 50,000won. There are many usage plans to choose from, so choose wisely.

LG does not require the extra deposit, just a 30,000원 setup fee that can be spread out over a few months' payments. Your monthly bill can be deducted from your bank account, rather than a Korean credit card, so make sure to bring your bank book with you.

Note: if you have a credit card, you can usually have the deposit waived."

Galbijim Info on Getting a cell phone in Korea

I have been reading a lot on the internet about this issue and I have found some interesting discussions on Pusanweb and Dave's ESL Cafe. The Pusanweb link is from an open forum on Korean Related Issues. The people there discuss the same things I have mentioned that even the internet sites that let you join won't accept a foreign credit card so we can't even buy the services they offer. One member mentions the fact that a few years ago the discrimination against foreigners on the internet was a huge issue and made the press and that the government then told Korean corporations that foreigners ARC "... numbers CAN be accepted. They did not say MUST be accepted. So, it is up to each individual company to decide if they will accept the numbers or not. And for most of them, we are not worth the trouble of hiring a couple of temp coders to write the variables into their databases that would accept numbers in the 'wegugin' ranges."

The posts go on and on with people making fun of Korean's marketing slogan "The Hub of Asia". As per most of the forums related to Korea posted by foreigners things get pretty heated and sometimes down right hostile. I don't often read and post on these sites because of the negativity and hostility that can result but in this case I do understand. It is frustrating when [often well-intentioned] Koreans post on these sites and try to either offer excuses for our exclusion or try to tell us we can use the services when we have tried multiple times and have failed. Anyway, you can read all about it for yourself at this link.

pusanweb forum on Korean Internet Sites

Dave's ESL Cafe the mecca of ESL teachers has multiple discussions about Foreigner Discrimination and links to more sites than I can count. Here's the link.

Dave's ESL Cafe Discussion on Koreans Attitudes Towards Foreigners

Dave's ESL Discussion about Foreigners Exclusion from Korean Websites

When I used to teach adult students sometimes they used to send me e-mails to my hotmail account from hanmail [the Korean equivalent to hotmail] and when I would reply to them hanmail would not let my message through. It said that my message was "spam". However, I am unable to set up a Korean e-mail account. My students used to get angry at me for not replying to them. The really found it hard to believe that their e-mail systems would not recognize my e-mail address since they had sent me a message first and that I absolutely unable to find any international e-mail system [yahoo, gmail, hotmail] that Korean internet serves would let be delivered. Now I know that if a Korean friend or student asks for my e-mail address I must tell them to add me to their hanmail address book or e-mail me from yahoo or some other more international e-mail site or they will NEVER receive my reply. What a pain and not exactly user friendly. Other foreigners agree here's yet another link to information on that.

Problems between English and Korean E-mail

There is now a petition to on-line at Dave's ESL Cafe to let foreigners numbers be accepted on the internet in Korea. Here's the link to that.

Petition to let foreigners join Korean websites

Well that's my rant on Korean and some of the discrimination I face on a daily basis here. I hope it didn't turn out to be as nasty as some of the threads on the discussion boards I have just been reading and to which I have been linking. This sometimes systemic discrimination is an untenable aspect of life here in Korea and it makes foreigners feel even more isolated and alienated than we already feel living in a foreign country far away from our loved ones. I guess maybe when you discuss such emotionally charged issues it does bring out the negative side of people. I can only hope that with petitions and the education of average Koreans to the plight of foreigners here in Korea that change can begin.

Haeundae Beach, Busan

2006-08-06T21:20:00.000+09:00

I am lucky to live in Busan, South Korea. I love it in the summer. The beaches are fablous and so easy to get to using public transportation. Back home in Canada the beach was great but so hard to get to if you didn't own a car.

Well, with the convenience comes crowding especially right now. The first week of August is the time when everyone in Korea takes their yearly vacation. Last weekend [July 29th - 30th] marked the end of the rainy season in Korea. Every year the newspapers in Korea run a photo of Haeundae beach here in Busan, South Korea and tell how many people visit the beach each day. I have heard estimates say that from 200,000 to 700,000 people will visit this beach on any given day in August. I found that hard to believe coming from a city of only 250,000 people back home in Canada. However, after visiting Haeundae beach myself each year for the past four years I have actually come to believe that number. They don't call this area the "Korean Riveria" for nothing.

As far as the eye can see there are people and beach umbrellas. The only clear space is at the beginning of the beach walkway.

I enter the beach area and am amazed at the sea of umbrellas and people. I notice many other people taking pictures of the scene.

The only way you can find someone on the beach is to arrange to meet by a lifeguard chair and tell the person the number of the lifeguard chair. Also, as you go along the beach the color of the umbrellas change from red to blue and white. It depends which hotel you are in front of what color the umbrellas are - although the umbrellas are rented for about 5,000 won each and advertise different things like cellphone companies.

There are vendors set up along the beach where you can rent inner-tubes. I highly recommend doing so. It might seem a little cornball but is sure is fun. Just watch out for rogue waves. I got caught in one two years ago and got flung up onto the sand like a beached whale. I landed 30 metres into the crowded beach still in the innertube legs sticking up in the air and my butt buried in the sand. Not a pretty sight and apparently [to hear my friends tell the story] I knocked about 50 Korean people over like bowling pins on my way.

When I first came to Korea I used to see people in the bathhouses with these bruise like circles on their backs. I couldn't imagine what caused them. I had many theories like maybe they were marks left from some kind of gang initiation to maybe they are from some kind of innoculaton to thyphoid fever or some such thing. Finally, I found out. I had some back problems from writing on the blackboard all day with my arm extended in the air and a teacher at school brought her "Traditional Chinese Treatment". It is a series of cup like things that are attached to the back by suction and although they hurt a little when they are first attached they are quite effective. The only down-side is the buises they leave.

As I mentioned before Koreans [especially the women] really try and protect their skin from the sun. Here are some older ladies enjoying a picnic lunch at the beach.

***

After a day at the beach I make my way to the Busan Aquarium. There is a Mermaid Show going on until August 27th and I really want to see it. In Korea a mermaid is called 인어공주 [in ah kong ju] which roughly translates to princess fish. Having taught swimming and lifeguarding in Canada I am so interested in anything to do with the water. I watched a documentry on the training that women who swim in mermaid shows have to do especially in regards to breath control and after that I always wanted it for myself in real life.

To my surprise there is so much more to see at the Aquarium that I didn't allow myself enough time to see it all and still make it to the Mermaid show. I promise myself I will go back someday when I have more time.

I am so attracted to the color of this beautiful blue sea plant.

I love the way the light hits the water. I tried to be artistic and take a picture in a glass tunnel of the surface of the water and the fish swimming above me.

There is even a glass bottomed boat you can go out in and look down at the fish in the water. I like this shot cause with the blue screen in the background it makes me think of a movie set from the "Truman Show".

I saw a cute little boy posing with this stuffed penguin by the penguin exhibit and while his mom was taking his picture I snapped this one, too.

Unfortunately, the only decent picture I got of the penguins was of the stuffed ones looking in the window at the real ones. The window was so dirty and it was too dark without a flash and with a flash all I got was glare. But, in person you can see them just fine.

I am most impressed by a huge fish tank that runs the entire height of the room I am standing in.

As I stand watching a diver enters the tank and begins to feed the fish.

I even find a tank with crocodiles. They are quite impressive to see. They are so quite and move so slinky that I feel they could sneak up on you and you'd never notice until it was too late. I never want to see one in the wild - thank you very much!

Last but certainly not least was this picture I took at the Mermaid Show. It was quite impressive. Unfortunately, the musical show was all in Korean and there was no program written in English to give me any summary of the storyline. Also, if you go to the show I suggest you go early as it was so packed that to see it I had to stand way off to the side which mean it was difficult to get any decent pictures. Nonetheless, I am so glad I went.

Memorable Students

2006-07-30T22:10:00.000+09:00

I started taking my digital camera to school to try and help capture my memories of some of the children I teach. All of my students have unique personalities. Some students are so wonderful, kind and funny and some are completely spoiled and selfish but all are very interesting and memorable.

I know I shouldn't but I have my "favorites". I am carefully to try and treat them all the same but I admit it is very hard when some of them are so special to me and others are just a nightmare to teach. [I will use their English nicknames when I refer to them as this is how I address them in the classroom and in many cases I don't even know their Korean names.] Here they are:

This is one of my grade 3 classes. The kids are Sam, Star and Bobo. Star is hands-down my favorite student this year. She is kind, and sweet and so very smart. Her older brother is in my grade 6 "Genius" class and I think they must practice English at home together because they both learn by leaps and bounds.

One grade four class I have is comprised of only four girls. They are a joy to teach. I call them my "Giggle Girls". They are always laughing and joking around. I always smile when I think about them.

Here are two of my grade 3 boys named Harry and Thomas. They are always in motion as you can see in this picture. They are cute but very difficult to teach as they never sit down or stay in one place.

Here are Tommy and Toby. Toby is carrying Tommy around piggy-back. They are grade 3 students. One day they are the best of friends and the next day they are punching and hitting one another. When I walk into the classroom I am never sure if it's a day they are friends or enemies [of course within 2 seconds it is apparent which kind of day it is].

One unfortunate part of Korean culture is that Koreans are very prejudice based on the color of one's skin. I've mentioned before in my blog how Koreans use parasols and special "whitening" creams to try and have whiter skin. The boy on the left I named Brian however, everyone else [including the Korean teachers] call him Togo. Togo was the African team South Korean played their first World Cup game against this year. I kept hearing the students calling someone "Togo" so finally one day I asked my grade 6 class, "Who is Togo?". Brian said, "Ann teacher, I am Togo" and walked up to me and put his arm beside my pale white, freckled arm and said, "See, I am Togo." After class he waited to talk to me and told me, "Ann teacher, I am my father's black son". To which I had no reply. He is very dark but I just think it's tragic that skin color is so important here and that being "Togo" has become his identity.

Here are two of my grade six girls. They are both in the "Genius" class. On the left is Laura and on the right in Carrie. Laura is one of my favorite students. She is so smart and she often finds me between classes to talk to me and practice her English.

Carrie seems smart enough but she is incredibly shy. One day the lesson in the book I was teaching was about hobbies. I had to ask my students, "What is your hobby?" I got the usual answers, "My hobby is sleeping." or "My hobby is playing computer games". However, when I asked Carrie she didn't answer [as usual - she doesn't talk. She does all the written work but she won't speak in class] so one of the boys piped up with "Teacher, her hobby is not talking". The entire class broke up laughing - myself included. I then had to try and stop laughing and move on with the lesson so as not to make Carrie feel picked on or embarrassed and I know I should have punished the boy who said that but I didn't cause it was just too true.

Here are some of my grade 6 boys playing the game "Guess Who?" where they have to ask questions about what someone looks like and try and figure out who the other team is pretending to be. They love this game and it actually teaches them to describe physical appearance. What I like is they just think it's a game - they don't even realize they are learning.

Here are some of my grade 6 girls playing the "Guess Who?" game.

This is one of my grade 5 classes. As a rule I love my grade 4 and grade 5 students the most. They are old enough I don't have to baby them but they are still eager to learn and not trying to look cool by not answering in class. The boy in the T Shirt with the Union Jack on it is named Tom and he is the most amazing student at translation. If I tell my students something and they don't understand he just translates it into Korean. I think he has a real gift for languages and interpretion. I won't be surprised if he ends up working someday as a translator or UN Intrepretor.

Here are some of my grade 4 students. I am not sure why they all look so sad in this picture. They were all writing work down off the board so I took the chance to snap this picture while they were actually still. This is one of my better classes. The girl on the far left is Sara. I do telephone teaching where I have to call my students at home and the first time I called her house and asked for her in Korean her grandfather hung up the phone on me. I guess he couldn't understand my Korean. Sara was so mortified. I thought it was funny - after I got over being annoyed. Now when ever I have to call the students for telephone teaching I tell them ahead of time in class and most of them will answer the telephone themselves. I love it when this happens. It makes my job that much easier.

Here's another picture of the same grade 4 class. This is how they normally looked animated and always talking and laughing.

Re-visiting Gumi and Daegu

2006-07-23T23:18:00.000+09:00

My friend "Ray" and I used to live in Gumi and we decided to head back there and see for ourselves if it was the same as we remembered. We, also, decided to go to Daegu since it is the largest big city near Gumi. Daegu is the third largest city in Korea so it was where we headed to go shopping and go to some of the better Western style restaurants. It was nice to go back and visit the places which formed our first memories of Korea.

Our trip started in Busan at the Busan Train Station. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. However, by the time we got to Gumi it was raining and it would continue to rain much of the weekend. [If you read last week's post you can see my pictures of the rain storms we survived.] Nonetheless, although we got damp our spirits didn't and we had a great time exploring and re-living some of our funny and more memorable experiences from 2003.

It took about one hour and forty-five minutes to reach Gumi.
We got off at the Gumi train station. It had been almost two years ago since I had last been here and yet the NEW Gumi Train Station is still not completed. Not only that, but I was shocked to see that basically NO PROGRESS had been made. In Korea buildings normally go up very quickly. You can walk by a construction site everyday and still see the progress. So, I can't imagine what is taking so long here at the Gumi train station.

From a distance you can see the basic structure of the new train station and it looks like it will be amazing IF and WHEN they ever complete it.

Directly outside the Gumi train station is Dunkin' Donuts. It was one of my favorite hangouts when I lived here and it has one of the nicest restrooms in Gumi. It has a bidet toilet with a heated seat. I went back to see if everything was still the same and sure enough it was exactly as I remembered it.

Gumi is said to be the "Silicon Valley" of South Korea since it is where Samsung and LG Companies are located and where many young executives start their business careers. There are so many factories in Gumi and as a result there are a lot of English Teachers here since for young executives to be promotable they must made a certain mark on their TOEIC [English Language Tests]. I guess they changed the Gumi slogan slightly and now it is called "Electron Valley". I saw this painted on a light post and couldn't resist snapping the picture.

After leaving the center of downtown my friend "Ray" and I were hungry so we set off to see if my favorite Chinese restaurant was still is Gumi. As you can see from my photo it was. It is located toward the painted bridge of Dong-A Department Store. It's on the 4th floor of a large building with a bowling pin outside [to show that there is a bowling alley in the top of the building]. I discovered the restaurant by accident one time after spending a rainy Saturday at the bowling alley. It's a place not many foreigners seem to know in Gumi. What a shame, as, it's beautifully decorated, the food is fabulous and the service is quite lovely. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the name since it was written in Chinese characters and not either English or Korean. However, the menu is printed in both Korean and English so if you ever find yourself if Gumi don't be afraid to check it out.

We decided to get some exercise and try and walk off our lunch while doing some more site seeing. We walked by the Gumi Bus Terminal and it hasn't changed a bit.

Then it was off to E-Mart. When I lived in Gumi there was only E-Mart. Since then Home Plus and Lotte Mart have been built and now there is a choice of supermarkets/department stores that carry some of the "Western" products we ESL teachers crave.

E-Mart has these neat buggies for the kids to ride in with a basket above to hold their parents' products. It's a brilliant idea and seems to help keep the kids happy and let their parents shop in relative peace.

At the risk of seeming obsessed with bathrooms I have to add this picture. E-Mart has always had wonderfully clean bathrooms with "Western" style toilets, toilet tissue, and sinks with liquid soap and paper towels. I know it might not sound like a big deal to other people but after using stinky public squat toilets, carrying my own tissue, and drying [my rinsed in cold water without the benefit of soap] hands on my jeans I don't take nice restrooms for granted. Moreover, the E-Mart toilet seats have pressed flowers incased in the clear molded plastic seats making them easily the prettiest toilets I have even seen in Korea.

Maybe now that there are two other department stores in Gumi E-Mart is feeling the competition. I say that because while we were there we saw them doing this promotion giving away free gold fish to the children. I hope it works for them since I think it's a neat idea and I really like E-Mart.

We walked by Pizza Mall a really nice pizza and spaghetti restaurant in downtown Gumi. I always loved this place. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to eat there but it looks the same as ever and it used to be awesome.

Then we went off to Wa-Bar. I used to hang out at Wa-Bar a lot when I lived in Gumi. However, I have to say this visit didn't impress me at all! Firstly, the menu was printed only in Korean. This kind of shocked me [I hadn't remembered that] and Wa-Bar sort of markets itself as a "foreigner" bar carrying beer and liquor from all over the world. I got a Molson Canadian beer and sat back to relax and enjoy. Soon we were served free corn chips and "salsa". I took a big bite only to discover it wasn't salsa at all but sweet spring roll sauce. I thought it was funny so took a picture of it. As "Ray" would say, "Welcome to the land of not quite right".

Next in our Wa-Bar adventure "Ray" decided to order a rum and coke. However, our waitress couldn't see to understand despite our even trying to order {or maybe I should say clarify his order} in Korean. What is even more puzzling is that rum is "rum" in Korean just said in a slightly different accent. After the manager was called over "Ray" finally got a drink that looked like rum and coke but alas it was pure rum. This is him after tasting the drink and discovering it only had enough coke in it to color it. Oh, well, I guess you can't say they are stingy with their booze.

Wa-Bar has a long, long way to go if it wants to compete with the other "foreigner" bars in Gumi. Not somewhere I will ever feel the need to re-visit at least not unless I feel the need for a really, really stiff drink. LOL!

After Wa-Bar it was off to S-Bar one of my favorite places to dance in Gumi. I found it no problem but it was closed.

I thought it was odd that is was closed on a Saturday night and then I saw this sign that says 임대 [Im dae] which means "for rent" in Korean. I guess S-Bar has gone out of business. That's too bad it used to be a great bar.

Next stop was Club Psycho or as we call it "Psycho". This is the sign.

Walking up the stairs to the 3rd floor is the sign painted on Psycho's signature black walls.

Inside is the bar with all the different kinds of liquor and the small poster of the "hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil" aliens.

Even the menu is the same. I love it. It's done on an old vinyl record. I thought it was a neat idea when I first saw it and I still like it today.

One thing has changed. The two Daves [the former owners] are both gone. I miss those guys. At least one of the Dave's had a real gift for remembering people's names. He'd meet you once and after that he'd always greet you by name. It was a nice touch and it always made me feel my business was appreciated.

At least the bar is exactly the same, the service was good and the drinks were spot on.

Even the inflatable doll is still there hanging over the bar.

***

The next day after coffee and lunch we made our way to Daegu. We took the train to the Daegu train station and then caught a cab to the final destination of our weekend COSTCO.

This is the only photo I took inside Costco. Costco was over-whelming for me. I even found Jelly Bellies and Rice Krispies Treats, yum, yum. Don't even let me start telling you about the cheese .... Despite my best intentions, I got so excited by all the foreign goodies I was too busy shopping to document that part of my trip.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make other trip back there so that I can document the wonders of Costco for you - my loyal blog readers. [Okay, I know you're not buying it ... but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.]

Typhoon Ewiniar and Rain, Rain and More Rain

2006-07-17T22:32:00.000+09:00

Last Monday Typoon Ewiniar hit and I was a little shocked that not only was my school not cancelled but EVERY SINGLE ONE of my students showed up. I still can't believe their mothers' sent them out in the middle of a natural disaster to attend an Academy. I really tried to teach cause I felt they risked their lives to come to class the least I can do is educate them but, alas, it was impossible. They were so hyper-active from either excitement or fear or both that by the time they got to my class it was all I could do to keep them down to a dull roar and inside the classroom. Forget about keeping them in their seats or teaching. I couldn't even get them to concentrate long enough to play a game.

Coming from Canada where we get storm days off from school I still surprised that nothing stops schools in South Korea not even dangerous natural disasters. The attitude seems to be one of complete nonchalance and/or denial. And, I guess it has even sort of rubbed off on me...

For example, I was out running around this weekend and traveling in the midst of the heavy rains. It didn't even occur to me that maybe it was a dangerous situation until tonight when I got a phone call from a Canadian Telephone Operator [my Mom was trying to call me and make sure I was okay and the lines were down here in South Korea. Actually, since I use a cell phone I guess it was the transmition towers that weren't working]. Some how this operator was able to get through to me and then I used a calling card and was able to call my mom and tell her I was okay.

Prior to this I had found the situation annoying and inconvenient but had failed to recognize the potential danger. So after hanging up from my mom I went on the net to read about the situation. I found this article in the Korean Herald which says that 12 people are dead and 25 are missing and thousands are homeless.

Korean Herald Article about Heavy Rains

I spent the weekend traveling to Gumi and Daegu where I used to live and taking a lot of pictures. I'll post about that later but for now I want to post my pictures of the rain storms I was caught in.

I took this picture outside the Daegu train station on Sunday, July, 16, 2006 in the afternoon. If you look closely at the cement you can see that the rain is hitting so hard that it is actually bouncing off and up into the air.

I this is a photo I took in Gumi on Sunday afternoon.

I took this picture while huddled in a doorway in Gumi waiting for the worst of the storm to end. Other people saw us there and decided it was a good place to wait out the storm so we soon had company.

This was taken Saturday, July 15, 2006 in Gumi. It shows the rain and the water pouring down a drain spout on the side of a wall. The white dots in the photo are actually huge rain drops.

This is a street scene or Gumi Saturday, July 15, 2006. I have to admit I have NEVER been in a rain storm like this before. We were laughing and saying we were in a monsoon. Little did we know just how close to the truth our kidding really was!

Red Devils [Korean Soccer Fans]

2006-07-09T22:01:00.000+09:00

My last blog was about Korean Popular Culture. When I finished it I realized that I had only begun to touch the surface of what I wanted to say about soccer and the soccer fever that has gripped Korea as the World Cup [월드컵] has been played.

Someone who was seen on Korean TV and in newspapers a lot lately was 딕 아드보카트 [Dick Advocate]. He was South Korea's Soccer coach since September and he coached the team through their games at the World Cup. He was quite popular and he had several commericals on TV advertising "Papa Joe's" a pizza restaurant and the "LG Card" a credit card.

Since Korea didn't get beyond the opening round of play at the World Cup his contract was not extented and he was been replaced by another Netherlands Coach, Pim Verbeek. Korea is excited to have him as a coach since he was an assistant to Hiddink who coached the team during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea when the Korean team made it to the final four.

This is a promotional picture I found of 딕 아드보카트 [Dick Advocate].

***

붉은악마 [Bak un ack ma] means "Red Devil" [or Devils - there is no plural form in Korean]. This is the term used to refer to the South Korea's Soccer fans. They are said to be an intregal part of the team. I have to say that I never saw a country get so behind their soccer team. Having dated several Americans I thought Americans were patriotic and sports-minded, however, the Koreans take it to a whole new level. Supporting the Korean soccer team is almost a religion here!

For example, I went to a large supermarket near my house [during the first World Cup game South Korea played against Togo] only to find 99% of the entire store staff in the Electronics Department watching the game on a TV on display there. Moreover, on the night of the game South Korea played against Switzerland I saw a number of people on the subway on the way to a large stadium [to watch the game] and they had actually drapped themselves in the Taeguki [the South Korean flag].

You are never too young or old to show support for the team.

Even the children are dressed in red T- shirts to show their support [or maybe I should say their parents support] of the South Korean soccer team.

Here's a photo of some of the South Korean soccer fans.

This is another pictures of the fans. Notice the girl in the center is wearing the Taeguki [the South Korean flag as a skirt] this is the same kind of thing I saw on the subway. The guys wore the Taeguki like a cape and the girls wore it as a skirt.

Stores everywhere sold temporary tatoos so that fans could decorate their faces with symbols of their loyalty and devotion. [I hate to admit it but I actually got in on this trend and wore a tatoo of the Taeguki [South Korean flag] on my right cheek during the game against Switzerland.]

There is a trend lately to spell Korea with a "C" so that it reads "Corea". It is especially common on Red T-shirts and banners that are made for soccer fans. I'm not sure what the spelling change is about but I plan to try and find out.

My friend "Ray" took this picture of the fans in the Ulsan, South Korea sports stadium. Notice how many people are there and how they are all wearing red T-shirts?

"Ray", also, took this picture. It is showing the fans at night in the Ulsan Sports Stadium.

***

I wish I had had my own camera to take pictures of my own. I saw so many great scenes of fans and their patriotic garb and I kept thinking to myself, "I wish I had my camera". Memo to self, "Always take your digital camera with you."

Korean Popular Culture

2006-07-02T20:51:00.000+09:00

Since I have been living in South Korea for more than 3 years now I have become somewhat familiar with a handful of celebrities in Korean popular culture. Some of these stars I like and admire and some of them just sort of annoy me.

On Korean TV there are a number of American Prime-time TV shows that are screened in English with Korean subtitles. This makes it easy to watch my favorite shows from back home in Canada. Usually the shows are a season or two behind but now that I've been in Korea for so long it doesn't matter cause I am as behind in watching the shows as the Korean TV stations are in airing them [and if you think about it - it makes sense that their is a lag time because it would take time to translate and subtitle each and every episode of a TV show - I can imagine it's a pretty labor intensive activity].

If you watch TV in Korea at all you will find yourself seeing the actor 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki]. He is popular for having played in a popular and famous Korean movie called 와의남자 [Hwa oi nam ja which translated means "The King's Man"]. Now he is on TV hawking pomegranate juice for the Lotte Company.

He is such a girly looking man. He is what they call in Korea "a flower boy". But his styles goes way beyond metro sexual. The first time I saw him I thought I was looking at a Korean style Michael Jackson only prettier. In one of the commercials playing on TV right now he kisses a glass or mirror and leaves behind his lipstick prints.

There is even a song that goes with the juice. It says basically "This juice makes you beautiful and then when I look in the mirror I am happy." The fact, that I know the song and can sing it amazes my students. The song is so catchy but now because of over-use it is so annoying that I cringe whenever I hear it.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

미히녀는 석류를 좋아해~ [mi hi nun sak ryu jo ah hae ]["I like beauty pomegranate Juice".]

자꾸자꾸 예뻐지면 나는 어떡해! [ja kku ja kku ya bba ji myeon nan un oh ddoe kay]
["Over and over, I get prettier. What can I do?"

거울 속의 나를 보면 정말 행복해~ '[ka ul sok oi nan un bo myeon jang mal haeng bok hae]["When I look in the mirror I am very happy."]

At this point the song just starts all over again. The kids sing it all the time and it has become "The Never-ending Song".

Below are pictures of 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki]. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I think these photos will illustrate better than I can say just how feminine looking he is. However, all the young school girls and even twenty-some women are just crazy over him.

This picture shows him holding a bottle of the pomegranate juice he is advertising on TV.

This is him sitting at a piano surrounded by pretty girls- one is left to assume that they drink the juice and that it is the juice that makes them pretty. Quite a brilliant advertising strategy when your target audience is young girls.

This is a close-up picture of 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki] showing his face. See how much make-up he is wearing and how "girly" he looks. I dare you to look closely and his lips and tell me that he isn't wearing lipstick.

***

I just don't get the fascination with this man. I don't feel he is attractive at all - at least not for a man! I could never date a man who is prettier than I am [or wears more make-up than I do]. Also, since I have been in Korea the majority of my boyfriends have been American military guys and I find that I like my guys clean cut and rugged.

There is a web blog that spoofs Korean culture in the same way "The Onion" mocks Westerner culture. It is called "The Yangpa" which means onion in Korean. It's June issue spoofs 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki] saying he is the perfect spokesman for feminine hygiene products.

Here's the link to the site.

The Yangpa

***

Also, on TV is a South Korean actress I do like. Her name is 문근영 [Mun, Kun-Young] and Koreans call her 국민여동생 [kuk min ya dong sang] Korean people's little sister. This seems to be the Korean way of saying she is "the girl next door". Everyone seems to like and admire her and in this case I whole-heartedly concur.

She is in a lot of advertisements from KTF [a cell phone company] to make-up commercials, however, my favorite ad is the one in which she promotes "Eye Pender" mascara. It shows her at a movie theatre surrounded by other Korean girls and they are all watching a sad movie and crying. However, since she is wearing water-proof mascara she alone doesn't have circles under her eyes. She looks around and sees the other girls who have turned into panda bears [cause their mascara ran]. It's a really cute and catchy advertisement.

***

I wouldn't dare finish my post about Korean popular culture without talking about the soccer fever that has swept over Korea of late. I never watched soccer before but I found myself getting caught up in the fervor this year. I even have a favorite soccer player. He is 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung]. He is a Korean Soccer player who now plays for the England team Manchester United. In the recent [2006] World Cup he played for South Korea wearing # 7.

Why do I like him so much?

Well not only is he an awesome soccer player but he seems to be very kind and polite.

I appreciate this quality in 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] so much more now that I have lived in his country! A country where a lot of the time manners are not displayed or appreciated at least not in public.

What do I mean by this?

Well, it seems that in Korea strangers don't exist. Unless you know someone they don't exist for the Korean population. Thus, it is normal to be bumped into with enough force on the street to almost get knocked down and never receive an apology. Don't expect to hear a "sorry" or an "excuse me". I have been told it is because Korea is a Confucian society where one's role is society is strictly defined by age, and gender. Even the Lonely Planet guidebook on Korea says that "This structuring of relationships is very important in Korean society. All relationships require a placement in some sort of hierarchy for one party to determine how to behave with respect towards the other. The middle-aged male office worker thrusting ahead of you to pay for a Coke at the 7-Eleven does not even register your presence. You have not been introduced and he has nowhere to place you on the scale of relationships. An introduction and an exchange of business cards would immediately place you into a category that would demand certain behavior from him."

Well, I still like and admire the courteous treatment of strangers in public and 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] seems to feel likewise. Maybe it is because he lives in England now that he plays for the Manchester United soccer team and therefore he has become more "westernized". I noticed his manners right away. After Korea lost to Switzerland [2-0] he exchanged his soccer jersey with a Swiss player [something I saw no other Korean player do]. Moreover, whenever he collided with other player on the field I saw him extend his hand to help the other player up. I think 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] and his behavior gives Koreans a good reputation with people around the globe. Kudos!

Here is a picture of 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung].

Goodbye Shawn

2006-06-25T08:19:00.000+09:00

About a month ago Shawn Matthews the author of "Korean Life Blog" [and subsequently when he left Korea for China he wrote the "China Life Blog"] died. He committed suicide in Beijing, China by jumping off the roof of his 15 story building. I am so shocked and saddened! If you look at the "Links" section of my blog you will notice that "Korean Life Blog" is my first link. I have been thinking about the situation and it has taken me a while to decide if I wanted to blog about it and if so - just exactly what I wanted to say.

I didn't know Shawn personally but still I felt such a connection to him. I had bought both his "Korean Life Blog" book and his book "Island of Fantasy" from Lulu. His book "Island of Fantasy" was wonderful! It was about his experiences being an American English Teacher on Koje-do, or Geoje-do [depending on how you want to spell it] a small island just off the coast of Busan, South Korea. It was warm and rich and funny and so very honest. He seemed to be fearless in both his ability to capture and replicate authentic sounding dialogue and his ability to tell the truth of even his intimate experiences even when they were not so flattering to himself. I admired him greatly for being so brave and when I finished the book I felt that I had both had an adventure and made a new friend.

He was actually my inspiration to begin my own blog. He was a teacher in South Korea like me and he had written about his experiences and even published [via Lulu - a self-publishing company] two books about his experiences. So, basically, he had done [at a much younger age] exactly what I wanted to do. I dream of writing a book about my adventures here in Korea and I am trying to use this blog to not only record my experiences but to try and hone my writing skills.

Here are some links to some of the information I mentioned above about Shawn and his books.

Korean Life Blog The best blog I ever read about living as an Ex-pat in Korea. I suggest you check it out since now that Shawn is dead it might someday be taken down for lack of current postings or at least I worry that it might. Since I'm still pretty new to blogging myself I don't pretend to understand how these things work when you stop publishing, etc.

China Life Shop where you can buy Shawn's two books This site used to be where Shawn's "China Life Blog" was located but several weeks before he committed suicide Shawn deleted all the content of his blog - maybe because his sometimes brutal honesty caused him to be harassed [in cyberspace] by Ex-pats in Korea.

Lulu Self-publishing Company This is an awesome company where you can publish your own books. I ordered Shawn's books from here. They are still showing up here just search under "Island of Fantasy". I highly recommend this book.

Blog Posting on Shawn's Suicide This posting talks about the fact that other Ex-pats from Korea were harassing Shawn and his ex-girl friend.

Best Post about Shawn's Suicide by his friend Jake I had a problem making this link work but thanks to "Old Army's" comment I was able to cut and paste the link and now it seems to work. THANK YOU! I am still somewhat new to blogging so all help is greatly appreciated.

I am left feeling sad and depressed that someone I admired and wanted to emulate is dead by his own hand. I am not condemning his actions, though, the older I get the more I realize that I can never really judge someone else and their actions. Each person's pain and despair is their own. Suicide is a very complex problem and not something I am qualified to pass judgment on.

***

This situation has left me with a need to reflect on the life of an Ex-pat in Asia and the impact that can have on a person's well-being and emotionaly health. Don't get me wrong I love my life here and the amazing opportunities I have had. However, living in a country where you don't speak the language [or at least not fluently] and where you get stared at daily for looking different than everyone else can be an alienating experience - to say the least.

The support of other "Westerners" could really help with those feelings of alienation and culture shock. However, to be completely honest a lot of the other "Westerners" here are not only not supportive but sometimes your encounters with them can leave you feeling even more alone.

What do I mean by that?

Well, because Korea is a homogeneous society everyone looks alike [they all tend to be thin, of short to medium height and have black hair and black eyes] so when you see another "Westerner" they stand out and you notice them. I always smile and at least nod to them but the majority of the time my greeting is met with either a blank stare or a haughty look. This is so surprising to me! We are both strangers in a strange land you would think that we could at least acknowledge one another's existence. Canadian and American friends of mine who teach here have remarked on this, too. I am not sure why this is but it is an unpleasant reality of life here.

Nothing will change the fact that a very talented writer and fellow blogger is dead. But at the very least I hope that Shawn's untimely death will wake up some of the other Ex-pats who can be so bitter and hostile to one another. I just wish that people could realize that we are all in the same boat [so to speak] we are strangers in a foreign land who are just trying to find some kindness and human connection. At the risk of sounding like Mr. Rogers or Oprah Winfrey - I do want to urge everyone to try and be a little kinder to one another. It's a small thing but it can made a big different to someone who is already feeling at the end of their rope.

Geumgang Park, Busan

2006-06-18T00:24:00.000+09:00

I recently went to Geumgang Park in Busan, South Korea. To get there my friend "Ray" and I took the subway to Oncheon-jang [subway stop # 127]. Then we walked for about 10 minutes to find the entrance to the park. There didn't seem to be any signs that I could see but luckily "Ray" had been their before and remembered the way so I just followed him.

On the way to the park there are dozens of booths set up where you can try your luck at games of chance and try and win a prize. This is a picture of "Ray" at one of the booths where he won a shell keychain which he gave to me.

Here is the shell keychain that I have as a remembrance of our day at the park.

At the entrance of the park is a display. This is a picture of part of the display.

This is a close-up picture of a thatched roof house.

Part of the display is a wooden water wheel.

Also, in this display part of the park there are some Korean men working there who are dressed in traditional Korean clothes. Unfortunately, I can't understand the signs [just when I think my Korean is improving, boo, hoo.] So, I am left to guess that the display is but it seems to show the way Koreans lived in the past. Sort of a "historic village display" or at least it seems that way to me.

Walking into the park we see a large sign advertising a "Rope-way" which means a cable car that will take us to the top of the mountain.

This sign shows the way to the "Rope-way" but in Korean it says "Ka-oi-bul-ca" or the way we would pronounce it "Cable Car". We decided it looked like fun and a great picture taking opportunity and, also, we [me especially] were feeling lazy. Let me tell you a cable car is the easy and fast way to get to the top of the mountain.

For about 5,000 won [a little over $ 5.00 Canadian Dollars] we got a ticket to take the cable car up the mountain [and back down again]. The view was breathtaking! However, I have to admit that I was a little surprised [and not pleasantly] by the smog. The haze you see in the background hanging over the picture is not heat waves it is smog. In fact, it was cold enough up the mountain that I wore a jacket and was glad for its warmth.

Here is a picture of a cable car coming up the mountain and the city of Busan spread out in the distance.

Going down the mountain I was by the window and was able to take this shot of the side of the mountain and the city of Busan. I like the contrast between the nature and the cityscape.

Here is another picture I took from the cable car. I tried a dramatic shot looking straight down the mountain. Not such a great idea since I am afraid of heights. Yipees!

On the way down the mountain after we get off the cable car there are some games. This game was a "pound a monster" kind of game. I wish I had one at home. It is fun and a good way to get rid of frustrations at the end of a hard day teaching school.

There are, also, rides for the kids. Here are some Korean kids enjoying a Merry-Go-Round. I guess some games and rides are universal in appeal.

***

It was such a nice day and it is amazing that it takes only about 20 to 30 minutes to get to this park. It's right in the middle of the city and accessible by public transportation. I definately want to go back and since there seemed to be a cool breeze it will be a nice place to visit even on a hot summer day.

FAQ's about Working in Korea

2006-06-11T23:42:00.000+09:00

Why am I writing about FAQ's of Working in Korea, you ask? Well, because I have gotten a number of e-mails from people who want to try and find a job teaching English in Korea. They ask my advice and about my experiences here. I try to answer as many people as I can individually but since lately time is in short supply for me and since most people want to know the same things - at least initially I decided to do a posting about FAQ's [Frequently Asked Questions] about working in Korea.

Here are some of the questions I have gotten and my answers:

1. How did you find your first teaching job in Korea?
I had a friend who was teaching here and I used her recruiter. He was a Canadian guy who lived in Ottawa, Canada and had taught here in Korea a number of years himself. However, from my experiences I think it is better to use a Korean recruiter because someone back home in Canada [or USA or Britain or wherever] can't help you much once you get to Korea. They are usually a very long and expensive phone call away.

2. Did you [does one have to] pay for your flight over to Korea?
No, I have NEVER paid for my flight to Korea. I know some people who have paid for their own flights to Korea with the "promise" that they would be reimbursed when they got here but in a majority of these cases they never received their money back. I consider it a bad sign if the school either doesn't have enough money or enough faith in me [their new Employee] to front the cost of the ticket.

That said, most contracts only provide you with a one way ticket so I advise everyone to have either enough money in travelers' cheques or a credit card with a high enough credit limit on it that in an emergency a plane ticket home can be purchased.

Moreover, most contracts state that if you don't stay and complete the first 6 months of the one year contract you must reimburse the school that hired you for the money they spent on the airfare to fly you over to Korea.

3. Can I apply from here at home [Canada, USA, Britain, etc.]?
Yes, you can. It's quite easy actually. There are a number of websites that list job openings in Korea. Using a computer and e-mail and a telephone you can apply and get a signed contract all before ever leaving the comfort and safety of your own home.

4. What is required to teach in Korea?
You must have a Bachelors Degree [the major doesn't matter - they like English majors but that is considered a bonus if you have that it is NOT A REQUIREMENT]. You have to have a valid passport that will remain valid for more than 6 months [the Department of Immigration makes the 6 month validity requirement - not the schools so this is not negotiable]. You, must be a NATIVE English speaker. *** That said I know some people who are actually French Canadians who teach here and do very well but I wouldn't advise it.***
You need to be from Canada, USA, Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, or South Africa [However, at this time Korean Employers prefer Native Speakers who have a North American accent but again this is a preference NOT a requirement].

5. How much money can I make working in Korea?
You can expect to make anywhere from 1.9 million won to 2.5 million won although the average salary is now about 2.0 to 2.1 million won. The lower salary would be for an inexperienced teacher and the higher salary for someone who has more experience and/or more qualifications [like a TEFL or TESL Certificate or a Bachelor of Education Degree]. The exchange rate varies from day to day but this is more than 2,000 dollars Canadian a month and your apartment is provided free of charge [you pay utilities] so you can save a lot of money. To check out exactly how much money this is check out this currency conversion website.

Currency Exchange Website

6. Why do so many people go to Korea for their first time teaching over-seas?
I can't speak for everyone but there are some general reasons that Korea is a good first job overseas. For one, you don't have to pay your own airfare to get over here. Secondly, your housing is provided free of charge [you pay your own utilities of course but you are living rent-free]. This means that you can save a lot of money to pay off student loans or save to travel to other countries. Thirdly, Korea - although not exactly a first-world country - is pretty civilized so that medical care and technology are on par with what they would be in most "western" countries.

7. How do I apply for a job in Korea?
You can apply on-line through websites like Dave's ESL Cafe or Pusanweb. I am attaching the links here.

Pusanweb

Dave's ESL Cafe

Also, you can apply directly to a recruiting company. I recommend Kim N' Joe Recruiting. They are a company I have used twice. They are located in Busan, South Korea and they have helped me from everything from picking me up at the airport to helping me get cell phone service. I realize more and more how fortunate I am to have connected with such a good company. Having read horror stories on the internet makes me realize how rare it is to have such a good relationship with my recruiting company. Here's the link to them. Their website has lots of information about what is required to work in Korea and lots of helpful links.

My Recruiting Company

Here are some pictures of the staff of my recruiting company Kim N' Joe. I still have contact with them and I let me tell you how nice it is to see friendly faces who understand my job and can help me with everything from Culture Shock to everyday living problems. I go every couple of weeks to their office and have lunch with them and they always make me feel so welcome. I have noticed lots of other teachers they have placed stopping by, too.

I admit, I am not entirely unbiased but I do have the experience of having used another recruiter for my first job in Korea so I do have something to base my comparison on.

Below is the Kim N' Joe Staff:

Amy at work.

Mini at work.

Jessie at work with Simpson in the background.

Kelly at work.

Sun Worship vs. Fear of the Sun

2006-06-04T19:38:00.000+09:00

Now that the days are getting nicer and spring seems to finally have come to Busan, South Korea I am noticing a phenomena. Where I am from in East Coast, Canada we rarely see the sun and so when we do we worship it. In the summer we flock to the beach and try to get a good tan. We go to tanning salons to try and get an early start on our tans. And, having a tan [even in these days when we hear about and fear skin cancer] we still see getting a tan as a goal worthy of our efforts.

In fact, in the middle of a long hard winter in Atlantic Canada a tan has become something of a status symbol. If you have a tan it means that you actually have enough time and money to have had either a vacation "down south" or that you have the extra time and money to spend hours at a tanning salon achieving that golden glow.

In Korea, the exact opposite is true.

Shopping for the most essential summer accessory- a parasol in Lotte Department Store in Symyeon, Busan, South Korea. May 2006.

It sort of boggles my mind but most Korean women carry parasols when they go out in the sun. I have even seen some of them wearing white gloves. I thought parasols and white gloves belonged to the past - to those days of 18 th Century English garden parties. It seems like something I would watch in a movie like Pride and Prejudice and not something that people in this day and age actually do.

I took this picture May 21, 2006 here in Busan, South Korea. It was a warm day and sunny and sure enough the parasols started making their appearance.

So, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the situation here in Korea and contrasting it to my past experiences back in Canada. After much consideration, it seems to me that in Korea [at least for women] having white skin is a status symbol. Most women's make-up products here have the word "WHITENING" on them. And, a lot of the advertisements seem to emphasis that point in their marketing. It seems to be an important selling point.

Above are some of the women's make-up products I am talking about. They all have the word "WHITE" on them and they all claim to "whiten" skin.
This makes me think about why this could be. In Canada in the winter I get so ghostly white that people always think I am sick and ask me "How are you feeling, now?" I used to go to tanning salons for a few sessions in the middle of winter just so that I could get a little color and not look so ghastly pale and sickly.

In contrast, in Korea in the past poor people used to have to work in the fields to make a living. In fact, in China the peasants [who are sometimes called "Coolies"] who make their living working outdoors and are therefore very dark are looked down on for their low economic status which is shown by their dark skin color. I guess maybe no one in Korea wants to be mistaken for a Chinese "Coolie".

Also, it seems that since Koreans are actually quite dark skinned it is being "white" that takes work and money and is therefore a good indication of social and economic status. To have pale skin here means that you have enough money or a good enough job that you don't have to work outside and in that way you can protect your skin from the sun. Also, the "whitening" products I mentioned are usually quite expensive so in that way, too, pale skin can show social status.

Even the older ladies who sell produce in the street use either an umbrella or parasol to try and protect themselves from the sun.

This girl is at the beach but she is completely covered in towels from head to toe. Notice the girl standing beside her is wearing a hat to protect her head and face from the sun. Even the people in the background of the photo are all wearing t shirts, shorts, and hats in an attempt to protect their skin from the sun.

In case you think it is only the women who seem to cover themselves from head to toe take a look at this picture. Here is a man swimming at the beach wearing a t shirt and pants [not even shorts].

In case you need more proof that it's not just ladies who try to protect their "complexions" from the sun. I saw this fisherman with a towel on his head, a long sleeved shirt and even gloves on his hands. This was in June 2005 on a warm 22 degree Celisus day. It wasn't even especially hot or bright. For example, I with my pale [prone to fleckle skin and burn] skin wasn't even wearing sun screen.

Immigration Office in Busan

2006-05-28T00:03:00.000+09:00

I seem to be living at the Immigration Office in Busan these days. Because an E-2 Visa [Conversational English Teacher] is linked to one location and I am working for one owner but at three different locations I keep having to go to the Immigration Office and change my Visa for each separate location.

Each time I go I have to have someone Korean [from my school] go with me with lots of papers and the school stamps and Business Licenses, etc. And, every time there seems to be a million questions. They certainly make it complicated and frustrating for people who choose to work legitimately and legally.

For whatever reason I could not just alter my working Visa to include the two other schools in one trip. Instead I had to alter it for one school and then later go back and alter it again. If I never see the Immigration Office again it will be too soon.

But all this running has made me a pro at finding my way to the office and figuring out the sometimes confusing and always lengthy procedures. So, let me give to some information on how the how to navigate your way to the Immigration Office.

First, get on the subway [the orange line].

Get off the subway at stop # 112 Jung-an-dong.

Go to exit # 10 and follow the sign for the "Busan Immigration Office".

Other along the way will see more signs showing you the way to the "Busan Immigration Office". In Korea it is called "Busan Chul Ip Kuk Gwan Ri Sa Mu So". 부산 출입국관리 사무소 [사무소 "sa mu so" means office.]

Ahead you will see an archway that leads to the International Ferry Terminal. Go through the archway and turn immediately sharply to your right.

There is the Immigration Office.

The Immigration Office is on the second floor through the main doors. But for everything you do there you must buy "Revenue Stamps" in the amount required for the service you require. For example the fee for an Alien Card in 10,000 won whereas the fee for a multi entry visa is 30,000 won and the fee to alter your employment location is 60,000 won. If you don't know the amount you go upstairs to the main office and on the wall is a large sign in English and Korean that tells the price of the various services.

***

To get an Alien Card takes two weeks and to get an "alteration" of your Visa takes one week. There is a new service [or at least it is new to me] offered at the Immigration Office called "Take Back" which seems to be Konglish for "courier service". If you fill out a paper [that sits at the express desk and there's a sign that says "Express Service"] you can get them to deliver your passport and Alien Card to you in Busan. The fee is 5,000 won but it's a real bonus in time and energy for people like me who would do anything NEVER to see the Immigration Office again.

***

The phone number for the Busan Immigration Office is (051) 461-3010. They speak English, at least some, so call them if you have questions.

New Furniture

2006-05-21T23:57:00.000+09:00

Well, I finally got some new furniture for my apartment and I couldn't be happier. A Korean friend and I went shopping in Jwacheon-dong the area of Busan that sells furniture and we found a "discount" furniture shop. We went in and with my friend translating and I was able to order some furniture and arrange to have it delivered.

This was on a Saturday and the delivery was arranged for the following Tuesday morning [since I don't work mornings] and would be home to accept delivery. I paid half the money down and got a receipt and paid the remainder when the furniture was delivered.

What many people don't realize about Korea is that there are not really street names and building numbers. So having anything delivered or giving someone your address involves drawing a map and using a lot of landmarks. Luckily, I am near MegaMart a huge department store in Dongnae, Busan so if I use that and the Dongnae Subway station and my school [school X] as landmarks most everyone can find my building. I can even draw and label a map to my apartment in Korean.

This is my new chair. I bought two of these and a glass-topped kitchen table and luckily the price included delivery, too. I've sunk so much into this apartment already that every penny [or should I say won] hurts.

I bought a frame for my bed. As, I mentioned before I just can't get used to sleeping on the floor. I don't like it. I had the matress already as it came with the apartment. The bed frame is only lamanated plywood and it cost around 150,000 won [about $ 180.00 Canadian]. But for me it was well worth the cost. The pollution is so bad here that over night a dust settles on everything including the floor and with my head so close to the floor I wake up coughing and with a sore throat. [I can tell the purchase of a vacuum cleaner and some bags are in my near future].

One thing I had forgotten to do was measure the matress and so I had to get my friend to help me buy a tape measure and then later measure the matress and then call the company and tell them the exact size of the matress so that they knew which size bed frame to deliver. It turns out I have the smallest matress made. It is a single and not even a twin or super single.

I bought a new "mink" blanket for my bed. A mink blanket is a warm, soft, fuzzy blanket that is popular for tourists to buy when they visit Korea. I found this one on Texas Street. Texas Street is a foreigner street located across from Busan Train Station. It mainly Russian and has a lot of bars and nightclubs but it does have some souvenir shops and some shops that sell some of the "black market" foreign foods Westerners crave like canned corned beef and Cheese Whiz.

This is a picture showing my new table with the microwave [ithe microwave was actually provided by my school] and my toaster oven which my friend, Ray, had stored for me while I was in Canada. I recently went to Ulsan and got the things he had so graciously stored for me the entire 10 months I was home in Canada.

***

Well, that's my new home in Korea. It is so much more comfortable now. I spent a forture getting it fixed up especially since I have only received one pay check since arriving in Korea. [In Korea you get paid monthly and on the 10th of each month]. But, it is at the beginning when I need the comfort the most. It is then that I feel the most homesick and am the most apt to experience culture shock. Also, by buying all these things now I can get the most use out of them before having to think about selling, moving or storing them. Or at least that is the way I am choosing to look at it.

Korean Food

2006-05-14T21:12:00.000+09:00

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Korean food. When I arrived in Korea for the first time a few years ago - I discovered that although I like spicy food what I consider spicy food and what Korean people consider "spicy" are two entirely different things. I like Tex-Mex food and spicy chili but I don't like red pepper paste. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the fundamental ingredients in Korean food seems to be red pepper paste and chili flakes.

I quickly learned to ask "매 워요"? [May why oh?] "Is it spicy?" of Korean people and if they said "네" [nay] "yes" or "조금" [Cho-gum] "a little" I learned to avoid that food like the plaque.

I used to watch the Korean cooking shows and I'd see them making what looked to be a lovely dish but as a final step they would add a cup of red pepper paste or a cup of chili flakes and then I would turn the TV off in disgust. Since for me they would have just ruined the wonderful fresh vegetables by burying the taste under spices that burn the tongue and make you sweat and your nose run.

That said there are a few Korean foods that are spicy that I actually enjoy eating.

This is a photo of Dduck-boo-key. It is rice cake and pressed fish in a red pepper sauce. It is a favorite food of children. They buy it in paper cups and eat it with a toothpick. Street vendors always seem to sell it near schools and private academies and they do a brisk business with the children. A cup of it costs about 500 won [or about 50 cents Canadian]. It is very spicy but quite delicious and filling.

One other Korean food that I enjoy is called Dwegi-kuk-bop. It is a soup made from thin slices of pork and it has rice and sometimes noodles in it. It is a wonderful food to eat in the winter and, also, when you have a cold. It is spicy and makes your nose run so it sure does help clear up the sinuses.

In Korea there are always a lot of side dishes when you order food. At the top of this picture is Kim-chi [the national dish of Korea]. It is fermented cabbage in a hot red pepper paste. Imagine sour kraut with a hot red pepper paste on it. Next [the square shaped food with the red/orange sauce] is ggag-du-gi. It is a radish kimchi. On the left is something that looks like grass but is actually called jeong-gu-ji. It looks like some kind of edible grass to me and when mixed into pork soup it serves to add color and fiber to the soup.

Pet Peeve

2006-05-09T00:13:00.000+09:00

I enjoy living in Korea for the most part and I never want my blog to be one of those ones you read and think "Why do they stay there if they hate it?" But that said there are a few things that really bug me about Korea. I know that in comparison to world peace the things that bother me are only small and of no real consequence but still sometimes they grate on my nerves and like every other blogger I feel the need to vent.

In Korea my pet peeve involves a large number [a majority it seems] of Korean women and their shoes. The first part of my beef is that a lot of Korean women wear high heels EVERYWHERE. And, I do mean everywhere. I've even seen some women trying to climb mountains in their spike heels. They wear heels even with jeans or leggings and even with ragged jeans. See the photo with this posting if you need to see an example of this.

Eastern Asia and China in particular have a long history of women suffering foot pain and damage for fashion and looking at Korean women whining and mincing around in their shoes makes me feel that those days are not in the distant past. I know that I can't truly compare Chinese foot-binding to Korean women wearing high heels but there are some similarities. Both result in women suffering pain for fashion.

But that's not the most important part of my pet peeve. The thing that bugs me the most is that so many Korean women don't wear the strap on their sandals. They just shove their feet in their shoes and just let the heel strap flap in the air. It looks so messy and lazy. It makes me go crazy wondering "Why do they wear high heels to look good and then make it look messy and ugly by letting the strap flap around like that?" I just can't figure it out. Do they think it looks good? Is it because their feet hurt and they want to wiggle them around in their shoes? Is it just laziness? Koreans take off their shoes to enter houses and even some restaurants do they just get so used to kicking their shoes on and off that they no longer bother with the straps?

I don't know. As you can see I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and trying to figure it out. And, still I am no closer to an answer than when I first began. If any one can help enlighten me then please send me your comments. I'll post them. I am hopeful someone can help me solve this puzzle.

I took this picture on Saturday, May 6th, 2006 in Youngsan Electronics Market in Seoul, South Korea. The woman walking ahead of me was walking very slowly and lagging behind her friends and slowing down the people walking behind her [me included]. As you can see her left leg is lifted as she tries to adjust her shoe to make it more comfortable [or so I assume] but she still doesn't try to put the straps around her ankle and heel for extra support.

Also, she is wearing leggings and a ragged jean shirt so I am left wondering why she is wearing high heeled sandals in the first place. Heels don't exactly go with her outfit.

Cherry Blossom Festival in Chinhae

2006-04-25T15:34:00.000+09:00

Saturday, April 8th I went to Chinhae to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. It is said to be the most famous place to see the cherry trees in blossom in all of Korea. It was wonderful to see! The blossoms had just started to fall from the trees and they littered the ground and people like confetti.

This shows the view from the tower - all 364 steps of it - looking out toward the Naval Base at Chinhae.

To get to Chinhae from Busan I went to the Express Bus Terminal in Nopo-dong. I took the subway there from Dongnae. The bus terminal is connected to the subway station so it was easy to find. I just got off the subway at ,stop # 134, Nopo-dong and followed the signs and the crowd of people and there was the Express Bus Terminal [in Korean it is called the "고속 [Go-sok] Bus Terminal"].

Unfortunately, there are only about 6 buses a day that leave there and go to Chinhae and the first bus at 10:50 am was full with only standing room for the hour and forty minute trip. After conferring with my friend, Ray - another Canadian English Teacher, we decided to stand up for the trip since the next bus was leaving for almost another two hours. We were standing near the front of the bus near the driver and there was a few steps there so I decided to sit down and rest for a while and the bus driver said something to me. I started to get up thinking I was allowed to sit so close to the door but instead the bus driver gave me his newspaper to sit on so I wouldn't get dirty. I was so pleased at his kindness. Ray and I took turns sitting down and with us chatting away the trip went quickly.

This is a picture of a sign in Chinhae. Even the signs show the famous cherry blossoms.

Above is the center of town in Chinhae. It has a small replica of the turtle ship and a town clock.

Coming home we took a different bus that was going to Ssang through Hadan and it was a much quicker trip home only about one hour. I would advise anyone going to Chinhae to go to Ssang and take a bus there at the Inner-city Bus Terminal as there as they seem to leave much more frequently and the trip is a good forty minutes shorter.

The blooming cherry trees are everywhere even over-hanging the streets.

We arrived in Chinhae at lunchtime and the first thing we did was find the market place.

Here are the tents that house everything from temporary restaurants to games booths.

Barbecued pork seemed to be the specialty. There were whole pigs turning on spits outside almost every tent. The smell was mouth-watering so we decided that would be our lunch. Ray treated me to lunch as I haven't been paid yet since arriving back in Korea [pay day in Korea is the 10th of the month and you are paid just once a month] and the Korean Won is really strong right now so when I turned my Canadian money into Korean Won I didn't get much. It was a wonderful meal and a great start to our visit in Chinhae.

This shows a whole pig roasting on a spit - or at least it was a whole pig until people [including Ray and I] ordered lunch.

Ray and I had gone to Chinhae the year before to see the Cherry Blossom Festival and at that time we had toured the Naval Base and seen the turtle ship. This time we decided to climb the tower that over-looks all of Chinhae. It has something like 364 steps to the top. I am so out of shape right now that I wasn't sure I could make it to the top - but we went slow and there were benches along the way to stop and rest at and eventually we made it to the top. It was well worth the climb. The view was incredible. I can't even begin to do it justice with my descriptions so I better just post some pictures - after all they say "A picture is worth a thousand words".

This shows the tower that if you climb to the top you can get an awesome view of all of Chinhae. It's a long hard climb at least for most people but since there are benches along the way - it is do-able for most people - at least if you go slowly.

Above is an anchor at the Naval Base where I took the tour and saw the Turtle Ship. Look at the crowd of people. I never get used to the crowds that seem to be everywhere in Korea.

Some Chinhae Sailors take a break from climbing the tower.

Here is a picture of the turtle ship. I took this in April of 2005 when I visited Chinhae for the first time. The ship is located at the Naval Base and you have to go as part of a bus tour but you can actually line up and get to board the ship and take pictures. *** Warning if you take pictures of restricted areas you will be forced to delete your pictures at least the "classified ones" ask me - it happened to me.***

Getting home from Chinhae proved to be a problem. For one thing we hadn't paid much attention the year before to how to get home since we were with a Korean friend who took care of translating everything for us and knew or could ask how to get bus tickets home, etc. Luckily, we did remember using the bathroom at McDonalds just prior to getting on the bus so we figured if we found McDonalds we could ask someone how to get a bus ticket. That's what we did. We found two Chinhae High School girls and they helped us find a man who was standing on the sidewalk selling tickets. It was them that told us there were no buses back to Nopo-dong only to Ssang via Hadan. I had worked at a school in Hadan my last contract in Busan so I knew how to take the subway and get home from there. So, we bought bus tickets for Ssang. However, it had been a beautiful sunny day and it seems that everyone else had decided to come from Busan by bus and now everyone was trying to go home by bus and all at the same time. Bus after bus passed the bus stop we were standing at and didn't stop cause they were crammed full of people.

"Joy" and "April" our wonderful translators and self-appointed angels. We never would have gotten back to Busan without their help.

Our two High School girls who had decided to stay with us and help us decided we needed to walk to the bus terminal if we were EVER to get on a bus back to Busan. We thought they would just give us directions but instead they walked us the 20 minutes it took to get from McDonalds to the Chinhae Bus Terminal despite the fact it was getting cold and they were dressed quite lightly. When we got to the bus terminal there were at least 200 other people in line [ahead of us] waiting for a bus to Busan. We joined the line-up and waited as bus after bus filled up and pulled away. It took a good hour to get on a bus. All the while our High School girls waited with us. They even bought us each a chocolate bar when they found out we hadn't had dinner yet. I was so amazed with there kindness to us - two foreigners they didn't know and had no reason to help. I dubbed them "Our School Girl Angels" and we gave them English nicknames. They are called "April" and "Joy". I got took a picture of them and e-mailed it to them with our thanks a few days later. They really restored my faith in humanity and whenever I get frustrated with how crowded and rushed Korea can be I think of them and feel better.

My New Apartment

2006-04-21T23:13:00.000+09:00

My apartment is pretty nice if a bit sparce. In Korea they call it a "studio" apartment. It is what we would call a "bachelor" apartment. It is one room and you can lie in bed and look at your kitchen cupboards. But, I like it. It is bright and clean and has a lot of built in cabinets and closets. This sure helps keep the place looking decent when you eat, sleep, and live all in one room.

The major thing that bothers me is that I am lacking even the most basic of supplies. I've taught in Korea for 3 years now and I know not to expect too much from my "housing" but this time out did it's self. There isn't a cup, a knife a fork or a chopstick. There is no chair for the built in desk. Why there isn't even a toilet brush or a broom and dustpan.

So I went out and bought some things that I needed like a kettle [to boil the water before it's safe for consumption] and a plate and a knife, fork and spoon and a pair of chop sticks. I will have to buy more bedding yet as it's still quite cold here. I didn't expect to have to spend my entire first pay check [which I have yet to receive] just to make this place liveable.

Oh well, I am starting to complain and I just got here. So, here are some pictures of my apartment [after I added lots of things to it already]:

This is a picture of the one room. Notice my clothes drying rack in the back of the room in front of the window. There are no clothes driers in Korea - at least not that I have ever seen. It is called 건 조 대 [Kan Jo Dae]. There wasn't one provided in my apartment so late one night after doing a wash I had to go searching for one and of course I didn't know what it was called. I did a lot of charades and mimicing hanging clothes out and I did know the words for washing machine and clothes and later. So, I said the equilivant of "after" "washer" "clothes" and the English words "dry" and "hanger" and luckily "hanger" is the same in Korean and I actually found what I was looking for at a large department store near my house called MegaMart. It cost 18,200 won or a little over $20.00 Canadian.

Notice my bed is just a mattress on the floor. This is nice in the winter as the heating system is a series of pipes that run hot water under the floor so the floor gets lovely and warm. However, I just can't seem to get used to it sleeping on the floor. I think sometime soon I will try and find a used bedframe somewhere - if it's not too expensive. I don't want to invest in a lot of stuff when every year I move to a new apartment when I sign a new contract.

This is a shot of the kitchen part of my apartment. The washer is the a Tromm brand front load washer. I like it as it gets the clothes pretty dry so that when I hang them on the drying rack they are dry in just a day - even jeans. The down side is that front load washers require a special soap and it's pretty expensive. I had to pay 14,000 won [approximately $ 15.50 Canadian]. It had better go a long way and last a least 4 or 5 months.

There is no real counter space and I don't have a table just a desk and chair. The fridge and freezer are a good size and are hidden in the cupboard to the right of the sink. The stove is two gas burners. I love cooking with gas. After I got over my fear of leaks and explosions [and I don't even smoke] I have come to adore it. It is so fast whenever I use an electric stove now I get so impatient waiting for things to cook and the kettle to boil.

This is a picture of my bathroom shower. It is just shower head hanging on the wall. There is a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor where the water goes. This bathroom is nicer than my last one since there is a glass wall that keeps the toilet [located directly to the right of the wall] from getting wet.

This shows the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor and my clear plastic bathroom shoes. Since the entire bathroom gets wet when I shower, I have to wear these shoes for hours after when entering the bathroom [until the bathroom is dry] to keep from slipping and falling and to keep my socks dry.

In Korea you will find plastic shoes to wear to the bathroom in almost every restaurant and apartment in Korea. The upside is that that bathroom is always clean cause it gets washed daily.

I have a fancy toilet that even has a bidet feature. However, it is all in Korean and since I don't know how to use it I unplugged it so that I don't get any nasty little surprises by accidently hitting the wrong button. It has a regular flush so I was able to do this - and now it acts just like a regular toilet. In some Western restaurants I've seen the same kind of electronic toilets and in the winter the seats are even heated. It is just so amazing to me that I have a toilet like this in my apartment and in my school there are only squat toilets without even any toilet paper. Quite a contrast!

This is a picture of my dresser with my microwave and TV. I get cable so I have English CNN and some good stations that have movies in English and popular shows like "Sex & the City" and "Project Runway" and "Hell's Kitchen". Reality TV is alive and well in Korea.

***

Well, that's my new home. I am settling in and eventually I might add some creature comforts like a bedframe and maybe even a small table and chair to eat at. For now I am fine eating in front of the TV or computer.

I am back in Busan, Korea

2006-04-17T22:23:00.000+09:00

Well after almost twenty hours in the air and four airplanes I arrived safely back in Busan, South Korea. I got internet a few days ago but I caught a cold and between getting used to my new school [where I am the only foreigner] and nursing my cold I haven't had the time or inclination to make a posting to my blog until now.

One thing I had forgotten about Korea, and well Asia, for that matter is that smoking is so socially acceptable here - especially for men. In Canada, you can't even smoke in bars anymore and even in the parking lots of some hospitals [Cumberland County Hospital in Amherst, Nova Scotia - to name one]. Being home in Canada for a number of months I had forgotten that it was any other way.

In the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea I found this smoking section which isn't ventilated or closed off from the rest of the area. As, you can see in the photo below the walls aren't even closed in. It sort of reminds me of the old days in Canada when the difference between the smoking and non-smoking section was a sign.

****I have lots more to write about but I want to go to bed early and nurse my cold some more. Luckily, I brought cold medicine from Canada. Thank you NyQuil LiquiCaps! Here in Korea you can't just buy cold medicine. You have to see a doctor and get a presciption for so type of medication which usually includes anti-bodics of some type. Well, night-night.

I Am Headed Back to Busan, Korea

2006-03-28T12:31:00.000+09:00

Hi Everyone:

In case anyone wonders why I have been writing about my life and experiences in Gumi, Korea and what happened when I first arrived in Korea three years ago let me explain. There are a few reasons for this:

Firstly, and the most important reason is that I wanted to be true to my experience and since who I am now and how I view the world is so much a result of what I have experienced that it made sense to start my story [and thus my blog] at the beginning of my Korean Adventure. Since I kept both a trip diary and a personal journal from the moment I got on the plane in Halifax, Nova Scotia it wasn't that hard to go back and recount my experiences from the beginning.
Secondly, it wasn't until I was at my Mom's house in Canada that I actually had time to figure out how to start and publish a blog [with much help from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating A Web Page & Blog]. Moreover, since I was in Canada I couldn't exactly write about my day-to-day life in Korea since I wasn't there.
Finally, the reason I was home in Canada and stayed in Canada for much longer than I thought was that just before Christmas my Dad died of cancer. He hadn't been ill long, in fact, he was diagnosed and died of cancer in less than 3 months. My family is a small one with only my Mom, my younger brother and myself left in my immediate family. It was a hard time for all of us and writing about the past and my adventures in Korea [several years ago] provided me with a welcome break from the day-to-day pain of my loss.

I have kept a quote journal for many years now and in it I write down quotes that I read that I love and want to always remember. The quote that seems to be the recurrent one in my life these days is one by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling into at night."

I think that it is at night when the hustle and bustle of the day is gone that we - or at least I - feel my grief the most profoundly. It is then that I think back over my memories and wish that things were other than what they are.

This is a picture of my father holding me my very first Christmas. My parents were pretty poor then you can see they only had folding lawn chairs for furniture but it doesn't look like either Dad not I cared about that.

This is a picture of my Mom, me, my brother and my Dad at my graduation from University. I graduated from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. We are standing in front of Palmer Hall an all-female dorm that I lived in my first two years at Mt. A.

This is one of the last photos that was taken of my Dad. We didn't even know he was sick when this picture was taken but looking at it now he does look rather old and sick here.

They say that time heals all wounds. I'm not sure that I agree with that but with time the pain gets a little less and eventually there comes a time to move on. So, I have signed a contract to work for a school in Busan, South Korea. I will be heading back there March 30th and will arrive in back in Busan on March 31st. It will be the beginning of my fourth year in Korea. Wow! I can't believe it!

***

So, since I am headed back to Korea I will be traveling and getting set up in a new apartment and starting to work at a new school. Therefore, I will not have internet access for anywhere from a few days to two weeks or so. I want you to know that I will be up-dating my web blog as soon as I am up and running with internet access in Korea - and maybe even sooner if I get bored and find an internet room [PC Bong] that will let me use my zip drive [data stick, flash drive ... whatever you wanna call it] to up-load pictures and spell checked entries to my blog. So, keep me bookmarked and keep checking my site. I will be back.

***

Also, since I will be the only foreigner at my new school if you are in the Busan area and want to get together for coffee and/or to chat please e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you. My e-mail is queenforayear@hotmail.com [and the "e-mail me!" link on the left side of my blog under the "Recent Posts" and "Links" section works, too.]

Lastly, don't be afraid to comment on my blog I appreciate the feedback. I am moderating comments [just to avoid spam - as Blogger suggested in their guide to blogging] but so far I have published ALL comments.

Bye for now. See you soon.

Camp Carroll, Waegwan

2006-03-22T16:42:00.002+09:00

My first visit to Camp Carroll, Waegwan:

I headed back to Waegwan. Since my first visit there I have learned that Waegwan got it name from the fact that there used to be a Japanese settlement there. Wae means Japan. It is a small community located in the province of North Gyeongsang about 1 hour North of Daegu [Taegu], South Korea. It seems to be mainly an agricultural community with a large American Military Base there. The base is called CP Carroll [short for Camp Carroll] and is located in Area IV. Camp Carroll is called "The Crown Jewel of Area IV" and is a growing base. It has a new in-door swimming pool, an out-door pool with water slide, a large gym, racketball courts, and even minature golf. It has grown a lot since I was first there in the Spring and Summer of 2003 and now most soldiers [including NCO's - Non-Commissioned Officers] are housed on the base.

Most of the soldiers I have met from Camp Carroll are either in the fields of Signal or Communications. The base, also, has an MP [Military Police] unit attached to it. According to Globalsecurity.org Camp Carroll has a population of around 2,700 people.

If you've been reading my blog you will know that I met a soldier at Psycho Bar in Gumi and we became friends and previously I took the train to Waegwan to visit him. At that point I wasn't comfortable going onto the base - especially as I grew up in Eastern Canada with a Navy presence but no Army to speak of. This time I decided to let my friend sign me onto the base and get to look around at his "home in Korea".

Once again I took to train to Waegwan from Gumi. It's only about a 10 to 15 minute ride heading south toward Daegu. I love the train it is pretty affordable and it is never affected by traffic jams.

For more information of Waegwan and it's history check out Waegwan Wikipedia.

I was not sure what I could take pictures of on the base so I didn't take any. [Did I mention all this military stuff was new to me and more than a little intimidating?] I kept hearing about "OPSEC" and the need for information "security" especially with the climate of fear of terrorism in the world post 9/11. I wasn't even sure what OPSEC was and not wanting to look stupid I googled it. There is even a website on OPSEC. The definition of OPSEC is this: "Operations Security (OPSEC) is an analytic process used to deny an adversary information - generally unclassified - concerning our intentions and capabilities by identifying, controlling, and protecting indicators associated with our planning processes or operations. OPSEC does not replace other security disciplines - it supplements them."

Although, I am a North American and a native English speaker [and in some ways I felt very at home on the base] I could never really forget the fact that not only am I a civilian but I am a "Foreign National". My point in telling you all this boils down to the fact that I didn't take pictures on the base.

Not to deprive you of photos I found some great photos of Camp Carroll at the following website Photos of Camp Carroll and since they were taken by a soldier I am sure they meet the need for security, etc.

A soldier who served in the 304 Signal Battalion at Camp Carroll has a website that has interesting facts and other links on Camp Carroll. Here's the link to his website Waegwan & Camp Carroll Pictures & Web Sites.

I found yet other website with photos of Camp Carroll. Here's the link Ed's Photos of Camp Carroll. This takes a while to load but it has all the photos I wished I dared take including the pool and minature golf course. And here is Ed Bauser's space he has some other nice pics of Korea including the cherry blossoms in the spring time. Here's the link Ed's Space - Korea Photos.

Globalsecurity.org has a good summary of Camp Carroll and its area and purpose. The link to it is Camp Carroll/Taegu Storage Area.

I wasn't afraid to take pictures of the area surrounding the base. It was on Korean soil which has become my home so I snapped away figuring anything I saw was "fair game". Here are some of my pictures:

The first thing I noticed when I approached Camp Carroll was the water tower. It seems to loom over the landscape and is a good landmark if you get lost and need to find your way back to the base.

This is a close-up of the same water tower seen in the picture above.

There are always KNP [Korean National Police] with these riot shields at the gates to Camp Carroll and all the other American Military Bases in Korea. It takes a little bit of getting used to and it doesn't mean that there is any problem it just seems to be a normal precaution.

All cars that are owned by American Military Personnel in Korea have different licence plates. The first digit [in this case the number 5] is specific to SOFA [Status of Forces Agreement] cars in Korea. The 5 means Daegu [the area of the country the car is registered in]. In Korea, licence plates designate the area [this has changed on the new licence plates perhaps in recognition of the increasingly mobile society. If you move to another city and have to change your licence plate it's a huge inconvenience]. But at this point [2003] Korean cars had the name of the city written in Hangul on the licence plate (this car says Daegu ,대 구, in Hangul). [ I assume that Koreans figure English speakers can't read Hangul so need another way to recognize the area the car is registered in.]

What this means is that you can immediately recognize a car driven by a member of the American Military by the extra digit prior to the dash in the licence plate. That doesn't seem like such a good idea in turns of security - at least not to me. I know I am always a little nervous driving in a SOFA car - I just feel like it stands out and therefore could be a potential target... but maybe I am just being paranoid.

The majority of Camp Carroll's NCO's [Non-Commissioned Officers] used to live in the huge apartment building in the background of this picture. It's called the "Hanbit" but they pronounce it "Hanbee". This has changed with the expansion of the Camp Carroll base the increase of housing on-post. Now almost all personnel are forced to live on post.

I like this picture cause it shows the contrast between an old traditional house with its garden and the new, modern apartment buildings that seem to be sprouting up everywhere.

***

I had an amazing day visiting Camp Carroll. I ate pizza and drank soda [pop for all you Canadians] and even had my friend buy me a couple of English magazines to read. [I will have to buy a couple rounds of draft at Psycho Bar to pay him back.] I didn't have any American money and I had not even thought about the fact that they would use American money on the base. Since I am paid in Korean Won and everything I buy is in Korean Won I assumed that everyone uses Won at least in Korea. What I forgot to realize it that an American Military Base really is just a little piece of America only located on foreign soil. It takes a while to get used to but if I closed my eyes and ignored the walls and gates I could imagine I was back in North America with everyone speaking English and talking about movies and TV shows, etc.

I'm not sure I'd want to live on a base with the walls, and the curfew, and all the restrictions, etc. but it sure was nice to visit.

Dinner With My Students

2006-03-17T12:42:00.000+09:00

Did I mention how much I adore my Level 2 students at LG Learning Center? They are so fun to teach and my time with them goes by so quickly! They even help me with everyday things I need to know to make my transition to living in Korea easier.

For instance, then I first arrived in Korea I had trouble using the metal chopsticks that were provided at the cafeteria of LG Learning Center. I'm a pro at using wooden chopsticks but the metal ones I found slippery so I was always spilling food all over myself and the table. It was embarrassing but I didn't want to resort to bringing and using a fork from home as I thought it might be considered disrespectful. My students noticed and one day one of my students brought me some wooden chopsticks. I was so pleased and I used them so skillfully that my students could see that I did indeed know how to use chopsticks. I left the meal that day feeling quite proud and maybe even a little full of myself until I heard the student who had brought them to me telling another student that his 4 year old son had "graduated" from using the wooden "training" chopsticks to using metal ones. In other words I had less skill using metal chopsticks than a four year old Korean child. Needless to say, my ego deflated very quickly. But I was still deeply moved by the gesture of kindness to me and I soon regained my composure and there after used those wooden chopsticks proudly and skillfully everyday at lunch.

My students were thoughtful in many other ways both large and small. One day they heard me asking another teacher how to make a collect call to Canada from a pay phone. That teacher didn't know and neither did my students. I thought I was out of luck. However, the next day during the small talk I use to start every class - my student, Francisco, proceeded to tell me he had done some research and he could now tell me how to make a collect call to Canada. He then gave me a sheet of paper with detailed instructions on it. In case you ever need to know here's how to do it:

Hit the red emergency button on the phone.
Dial 1541 [no idea what this does maybe it is to get an operator (?) I'm not sure.]
Dial 001 [This gets is an International Phone Carrier Company number - also you can try 002, or 008. Personally I haven't had much luck using 001 so I use either 002 or 008.]
Dial the country code - for North America it is 1.
Dial the area code.
Dial the phone number.

For more information on how to make phone calls in Korea here is a helpful website from Tour2Korea. Here's the link How to call Overseas from Korea.

I guess my Level 2 students like me, too. They invite me to go to dinner with them. I wasn't sure if it was considered appropriate so I checked it out with my superviser, "Julie", and she said it was fine. So, I happily told them I could go and we pick a date and time to go to dinner.

This is my favorite picture of me and Jin Teacher with my Level 2 LG Learning Center Students. From left to right in back: Peter, Bill, Kenny, Terry, Francisco, and Mr. Shin [he didn't want an English nickname] and in front is me and Jin Teacher.

Here's a photo of Terry pouring Baek-sae-ju at the restaurant. It is a type of Korean alcohol that tastes like white wine. I love it! I had never tried it before but my students ordered it for me to try [since they know I am half-French they always tease me about liking wine, etc.]. Here Terry is teasing a fellow classmate by pouring from two bottles at once into his shot glass.

Our dinner was wonderful. We had So-goki. This is strips of beef that have been marinated in a sauce and we cook them ourselves over the burner in the middle of the table. The beef is so tender that it just seems to melt in your mouth. Yum! To eat it you take the cooked beef and place it in a lettuce or sesame leaf and then put some salad on top of it and roll it up. Then if you want to you can dip it into a sauce or if not just eat it plain.

After dinner we go to a singing room to sing Karoke. In Korea you don't sing karoke in a bar in front of strangers instead you get a private room. I much prefer this method as you don't have to either:

wait a long time for the song you want to come on
embarrass yourself in front of complete strangers

Here's a photo of me singing Karoke. Lucky for me at least half the songs are popular English songs [like top 40 songs from back home] so I don't have to try and sing in Korean.

***

I have to say it was a very enjoyable occasion. I am tired but very happy and in high spirits at the end of the night. I wish all my classes could be as special as my Level 2 class is. I miss them. When they "graduated" from the Learning Center they all gave me their business cards. I think about someday e-mailing some of them just to say "Hi" and that I still remember and appreciate their kindness to me. Maybe someday I will.

Field Trip to Gyeongju

2006-03-12T04:48:00.000+09:00

I got a chance to go with my LG Learning Center Class to Gyeongju, South Korea. For those of you who don't know Gyeongju is a very historic site. It was the seat of the Silla Dynasty from the 4th to the 10th century. It is a World Heritage Site because it contains "monuments of exceptional significance in the development of Buddhist and secular architecture in Korea" [quote by UNESCO my last link]. It has the Pulguksa [some people spell it with a "B" making it Bulguksa] Temple and a National Museum. It is located in the southeast of Gyeongsangbuk-do (a province in South Korea). It took about an hour and a half to get there by bus from Gumi.

For more information on Gyeongju check out the following sites.

Gyeongju - Nara City

Traveljournals - Gyeongju Photos

Korea Bike Tour: Gyeongju

Bulguksa Temple at Gyeongju

Gyeongju City

UNESCO World Heritage Site

This is a brochure from the National Museum of Gyeongju. They didn't have any brochures left in English so I took a French Version. I knew at least I would understand 80% of the French pamphlet. I didn't expect to have to use my French in Korea. I guess it just goes to show you never know when something you've learned previously will come in handy.

*******

I didn't have a digital camera at the time I visited Gyeongju but I did take some photos and I've scanned them into my computer. Here they are:

These are the gates to Gyeongju. You can see the parking lot just beyond the gates.

Here is a picture of 3 statutes. I love the stone statutes that seem to be located at every historical site in Korea.

This is a picture of me in front of one of the statutes at Gyeongju.

This is a picture of a Buddha Statute.

This is the Shilla Crown.

Here is a head-less stone statute.

This is some kind of stone pillar.

This is a stone temple of some sort.

This is a closer view of the same temple.

This is my favorite picture from Gyeongju. I wanted to save the best for last.

The only thing that I didn't like about my day at Gyeongju was that it rained very hard. You can see the water-stains on the stone statutes and in my second from last picture you can see how shiny the ground is because of all the rain. The rain made it harder to look around and really see ALL there was to see.

Queen For A Year

2006-03-08T12:07:00.000+09:00

Queen: For A Year - The Title of My Web Blog
I have been thinking a little about the title I chose for my web blog. Some people have been joking with me that the title of my blog is misleading and that it sounds like I am a gay guy who is acting like a "Queen". Other people think my blog is about a Beauty Queen who is presiding on her reign for a year. And, yet other people think that it will be about a female soldier stationed over-seas.

Technically, the term "Queen For A Year" refers to a woman in the military who is stationed over-seas (usually in a war zone) and who is in an environment where there are many more men then women.

For fun I googled "Queen For A Year" to see what I'd come up with on that term. I found the following link that talks about a female soldier, Kayla Williams, who wrote a book about her experiences in the American Military. She has this to say about the term and phenomenon of "Queen For A Year":

Any female soldier stationed abroad in a predominantly male military environment, she says, automatically becomes more attractive - "Queen for a Year" - and it can go to your head if you are unused to being noticed at home....

Here is the link to the web page showing a review Kayla Williams' book. Love My Rifle More Than You

Another blogger writes about the things he doesn't want to forget about Iraq.

He writes:
Queen for a Year - the fattest, ugliest, most obnoxious girls had the pick of the litter for one year. The line was "remember that you are only one plane ride from being ugly again."

The link to his blog is here. A Candle in the Dark - Blog

I didn't choose the title of my web blog knowing these things and it's not exactly a tell-all of my wild days chasing guys in Korea [that's for another blog someday - just kidding:)]. So, why did I choose this as a title for my blog? Well, let me clear up any confusion - that the brief blurb that I wrote in my profile doesn't - and tell you the inspiration behind the title of my blog.

I chose the title of my blog because any foreigner who looks like a "Westerner" does create quite a stir in - Korea - a homogeneous country.

As someone from my hometown wrote me in an e-mail when commenting on my blog (we) foreigners do get a surprising amount of attention in Korea. She told me how she and her boyfriend were living in the Sasang area of Busan and how they seemed to be the only foreigners there and how a guy driving a motorcycle actually fell off his bike and had an accident cause he was so busy looking back over his shoulder at them. I know it's hard to believe if you haven't been there and had similar things happen to you but its true.

Foreigners joke about being so noticed in Korea. As anyone who has read my posting titled "Neighborhood Boys" will know I even have/had Korean children watching everyday for me to walk by their house so they can run out and talk to me. After a while with all this attention you start to feel like you need to do your hair and make-up just to go to the store to pick up some milk for your cereal at breakfast. You know that wherever you go someone will be watching you and noticing what you look like.

Also, myself and some of my friends felt like we got so much attention that we were like "movie stars". One friend of mine who I'll call "Amber" told me how she had changed to a new color of eye shadow and how that class all her students would talk about was how it made her more pretty and that now she looked like a princess. She joked and told me, "After this I never dare teach class without my make up on. Now I know how Britney Spears must feel." So, I joked back and said, "If you are Britney Spears who are I? Queen Ann?" That sort of started our Queen For A Year jokes. After that whenever we would complain about getting too many stares etc., we would say "Oh, well, it's just part of being Queen For A Year."

I wanted some photos to add to this post. I didn't take these pictures with the idea of blogging instead it happened this way. After we started joking about being Queen For A Year wherever I went I tried on crowns to see how I would look. Here are some of my pics.

This is me trying on a Thai Crown at my favorite Thai restaurant in Itaewon, Seoul. The restaurant is called Thai Suki and I highly recommend it. Since I live in Busan I only get to go there about 3 times a year but the staff always remembers me and even encourages me to try on the Thai crown and model it every time I visit.

This is me trying on the head dress part of an outfit one of the girls wore on the day she graduated from Kindergarten. Look at "Sarah" in the background. She seems to be looking at me wondering, "Ann, Teacher, what are you doing?"

This is me in a paper crown. I wore it on Halloween Day at one school I worked at. I didn't really have anything in the way of a costume to wear so a friend made me a paper crown and told me I was now "Queen For A Year". In general, Koreans don't celebrate Halloween but every school I've ever worked at has had some kind of special event for Halloween - sometimes it was called "Carnival Day" and sometimes it was called "Market Day" and sometimes it was even called "Halloween".

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I hope this clears up any confusion anyone had regarding the title of my blog.

Weekend in Waegwan

2006-03-04T14:54:00.000+09:00

I met a guy a couple of times at a Psycho, the foreigner bar in Gumi, and he is an American soldier who is stationed at Camp Carroll in Waegwan. [For whatever reason all the American Military bases in Korea are called "Camps" and since there are something like 33,000 American Soldiers posted in South Korea whenever you go out to foreigner clubs you will meet some of these guys.]

Waegwan is about a 10 minute train ride from Gumi heading South in the direction of Daegu. So, after meeting a couple of times and chatting [in Psycho] he gives me his e-mail and cell phone number and we start sending text messages back and forth. We decide to we want to meet and spend sometime together. So, one Saturday he invites me to meet him at the train station in Waegwan. This is a good landmark so that we can easily meet up with each other. This is our starting point for exploring the local area.

So, once again, I am off to have a new adventure here in Korea.

I arrive at the Waegwan Train Station. It is, both, the beginning and end of my trip.

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I should admit that I didn't spend the weekend in Waegwan I actually only spent a Saturday exploring it with my new soldier friend but some how a title like "Saturday in Waegwan" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Weekend in Waegwan" with its alliteration.
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My friend offers me the chance to go onto Camp Carroll [the American Military Base] and look around but still not knowing him that well I decide we should just explore the town. [I tell him that next time I will let him sign me on the base and he can show me around his "home away from home" and that we can go to Anthony's Pizza and eat American fast food.] And, since I now speak some Korean and he speaks none we find a lot of interesting places that he has never seen before even though he lives in the area.

We walk around the market area of Waegwan and I found one of my favorite things in Korea - a coffee vending machine. For around 300 won [like 30 some cents Canadian] you can get a small coffee. This vending machine is a little different as it offers cans of drinks and lotto tickets, too. I have never bought a lotto ticket in Korea cause I have never been able to figure out how to check my numbers.

At the market we see this crate of baby chicks that have been dyed. The poor little things I wonder if the process of dying them results in the dye running in their eyes and blinding them or at least hurting their eyes. Koreans don't really celebrate Easter so this wasn't some sort of a display for Easter or anything like that. Wonder if Korea has an SPCA? Looking at these chicks I'm guessing they don't.

Walking around the market we see this old man selling fresh veggies.

I see this in the inner courtyard of a Korean house we walk by. It appears to be an oven. What you need to know is that Korean houses and apartments don't have ovens. Normally, there are only two gas burners. I guess it's because Koreans don't eat many baked goods but instead eat rice and lots of vegetables so therefore they don't need ovens. In fact, for the most part you can't even buy bread at a corner or convenience store you have to go to a either a bakery or a big supermarket. So, I wonder why this house had an oven. I found it most interesting.

This is a house and garden we walked by. I like how you can be walking right in the middle of a town or city and all of a sudden there is a house and garden and it looks so rustic. See the clothes drying on the clothes line this is because there are no electric clothes driers in Korea. I have never even seen one even in even huge appliance stores so I am not sure if they even sell them. I can say with certainty that I don't know anyone who has ever owned one in Korea.

When you have a large garden you need a cart to carry water to water your garden and to move the produce once you pick it. These "gypsy carts" can be found all over Korea especially to transport produce to market.

This is my train ticket from Waegwan back to Gumi. It cost me 5,200 won [approximately $5.75 Canadian]. This is a ticket from June 1st, 2003. Normally you have to hand in the ticket to a Conductor when you get off at your station and it wasn't until June that I new enough Korean to ask to keep the ticket for a receipt [really a souvenir]. But I told the Conductor I wanted it as Yawn-su-jun [receipt] that's what I knew how to say in Korean and it worked.

*********************

I have a truly enjoyable day and since it is getting late and I am getting tired I decide to head to the train station and back home to Gumi.

Tony & I Go to Daegu

2006-03-01T10:58:00.000+09:00

I love Gumi but sometimes it seems a little small and I get claustrophobic. I have been feeling the need to just get away and see something new. So my friend Tony offers to spend a Sunday afternoon with me and we take the train to Daegu to go exploring.

We went to the back of the train and there was a car that had an opening where we could stand in the fresh air looking out the back of the train. I took this picture showing the train tracks and the rice fields and the city of Gumi in the distance as we leave it behind and travel toward Daegu and new adventures.

It is wonderful to spend time with someone who can speak both English and Korean. He is even able to help me get my bank card to work at a Daegu Bank Machine that operates only in Korean. He tells me the words for withdraw and deposit in Korean. I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget. I know it will come in very handy in the future when I am alone and can't find a Bank Machine that offers English Displays.

Here is the scanned paper I had Tony print for me. I will try to type the Korean myself and Romanticize it for pronunciation, too.

Deposit = 입 금 하 다 [im gum ha da]
Withdraw = 츰 금 하 다 [chul gum ha da]
PIN (Personal Identification Number) the exact translation in Korean is "Secret Number" = 비 밀 번 호 [bi mil bun ho]
Amount = 잔 고 [jan ko]
Receipt (from a bank) = 거 래 잔 표[ka rae jan pyo]
Bankbook= 통 장 [tong jang]
Up-date Bankbook = 통 장 정 리[tong jank jeong ri]
Credit Card = 신 용 카 드 [sin yong ka du]

****

I took some pictures as Tony and I wandered around Daegu. I am including some of the pictures.

In a shop along the main market area in Daegu was this display selling wigs and hair. I found it quite interesting. At the bottom of the picture the hair is done in the style that the women who were Korean Royalty used to wear their hair.

I feel like I didn't explain the thing about the hair very well so I found another picture to illustrate what I was trying to say. This is a picture from one of the Palaces in Seoul showing a member of the Royal family wearing the same hairstyle as in the wigs in the above picture. How that helps clarify what I am trying to say.

We walked by a restaurant with people eating and on one side of the doorway has this stone pig with an apple core in it's mouth and on the other side of the doorway was a real live pig in a cage. Waiting for someone to order fresh pork maybe...

Poor piggy.

Here's a picture of Tony and I in front of a water fountain in downtown Daegu. Isn't he charming?

I took this photo outside the Lottie Department Store in Downtown Daegu. The man in the uniform works for the department store directing traffic. As you can see it is a very necessary job/service as there are so many people walking even on the street that it can be hazardous for pedestrians and drivers alike.

Gumi, South Korea - Photos/Pictures

2006-02-26T08:18:00.000+09:00

I found some more photos I took of both places I used as landmarks and some of my very favorite places in Gumi (South Korea).

Here is a picture of one of my favorite stores. It's the Click store. It has photo albums, jewelry, cell phone accessories, fancy writing paper, make-up and more. It is, also, a unique enough landmark that you can tell someone you will meet them outside the store and you can find one another quite easily.

As anyone who knows me [or has come to know me by reading my blog] knows I love Dunkin' Donuts. This is a pic I took of the inside of the Dunkin' Donuts store in Gumi. It is beside the train station and therefore is in a very convenient location. Although I don't know his name I do know that the man working in the photo is the store manager and for whatever reason for the longest time I mistakenly believed that he was either Thai or Filipino. I still don't know why I thought this maybe just because he knew I was a foreigner he spoke Korean to me extra slowly and clearly. And, I guess that led me to believe that he wasn't a native Korean either but someone who's second language was Korean - just like me. In any case he is a wonderful guy. He is super friendly and he always makes a big deal when he sees me. It makes me feel glad to patronize his store.

This is one of the bathhouses in Gumi. It is located near the E-mart and therefore very close to my neighborhood. Truthfully, I never went there. I always meant to go but somehow I just never seemed to make it. For those of you who don't know, most apartments in Korea don't have bathtubs only a shower spout on the wall. Therefore, when you shower your whole bathroom gets wet and you have to put on plastic "shower shoes" to keep your feet (and socks dry) when you enter the bathroom. Since you can't have a nice, relaxing soak in a hot bathtub there are pubic bathhouses where you can go and pay somewhere around 5,000 won (a little over $ 5.00 Canadian) and have a bath. These bathhouses include steam rooms and tubs of not just plain water but, also, green tea, Jasmine tea, mud, mineral salts, etc. You can soak in as many different tubs as you want. All for the same price.

I have gone to other bathhouses and had I known how great they were I certainly would have gone and tried out this one in Gumi. However, at the time I didn't know and I was shy about getting naked in front of a bunch of strangers especially since I didn't know how the whole system worked (i.e. Where do I pay? Do I bring my own towel? Will people stare at me cause I am a foreigner? etc., etc.) [For the record I didn't get anyone staring at me - even though people often stare at me on the street. I've even gone to a bathhouse with an Australian friend of mine who is super tall and whenever she and I are together on the street we ALWAYS get stares but in the bathhouse no one paid much attention to us. It was a pleasant surprise.]

Here is a photo of some of the stores and restaurants in Gumi. They are directly to the left of the Gumi Train Station. Family Mart is a great convenience store. It even has a bank machine inside great for getting money if you are taking a trip on the train.

This is a photo of the Gumi Train Station when it was still under construction. I took this in March of 2004. I just wanted to show the changes that have occurred to this landmark. There is a taxi stand directly in front of the building. It was always so convenient to go there to grab a cab. Or if I didn't know the exact address of where I was going I would just tell the cab driver "Gumi Yuk [Gumi Station] and get off at the train station and walk the rest of the way where I was going.

Here's the view of the stairway to the new Gumi Train Station. I took his photo at night not expecting it to turn out but it did and you can even read the sign in both Hangul and English.

I know I am going to offend people by mentioning this but I decided some time ago that I wanted to be true to both my experiences in Korea and to the true nature of Korea both good and bad. That said please understand I am not trying to be critical but to present the truth as it has presented to me. In Korea most of the barber shops have these striped poles outside of them. It makes it very easy to identify them. However, I have been told by many male friends that if the shop has more than one pole outside it then it offers "special services" to the male cliental. I do know of a fellow [a Canadian co-worker] who went to one of the barber shops for a haircut and he hadn't heard the rumors and he went to one that had more than one pole outside. He was surprised when it was a woman who cut his hair [in North America at least 90% of barbers are men]. And, he swears that he was offered a "massage" and that he could see into a backroom that was partly hidden by a curtain and that there seemed to be some "funny business" going on back there. That said I do not know any males to admit to having partaken in the "special services" so ...

One thing I like about Gumi is that no matter where you walk you get a view of mountains. Even right downtown there is a view of a mountain with a pagoda or temple on the top of it. It really is breath-taking to be able to see something so exotic [for a Canadian - anyway] no matter where I walk.

Here is a picture of a rice field. What is so astonishing to me is that it is located right between the block of brick houses and apartment buildings that form my neighborhood and the E-mart store. It's not like it's located out in the country of anything. I had never even seen a rice field before and it was quite amazing for me to live right next to one.

Neighborhood Boys

2006-02-22T11:12:00.000+09:00

It's hard to explain Korea to people who have never been there. It's such a homogeneous society. Coming from a multi-ethnic country like Canada it's even more difficult to imagine a country where everyone is the same race, speaks the same language, looks the same, etc., etc.

It is, also, a collective society. What I mean is that it seems to have a group mentality. North America especially is very individualistic. The history of our nations was formed by, pioneers, people who would leave the populated areas to go to a new place [like the west] and settle it. Korea is not like that. It is unusual to see anyone alone in Korean society. The children are in groups, the students walk in groups, even the housewives go to the supermarket shopping in groups. No one is ever alone.

As, a westerner I had a hard time getting used to this. And, I still never get over it when my students see me alone at a movie or alone shopping at the supermarket and they get all worried about me because I am alone. I've even had students cry and say they are sad cause I am alone. They will drag their parents over to talk to me and see if I am "OK" or get their parents to invite me home cause they think I am lonely. It's sweet that they love me and care so much about me but when I've been with people ALL day and I've only just stopped in at the supermarket to get bread or milk on the way home I want to tell them that, "It isn't a big deal" at all - at least not to me.

Anyway, since I never saw Koreans alone I was amazed when walking home from school everyday I would see this one little boy all alone. He was about 6 years old and he would be standing on the second floor of his house on the balcony everyday when I walked by. I started to feel sorry for him. The poor little boy. He was ALWAYS alone. Did he have any siblings or friends? It was so odd. This went on for weeks. Finally, one day [when my Korean had improved] I saw him standing on his balcony all alone. Then he caught sight of me and started yelling, "Wae-guk-in, [foreigner] ballie-hair-ah [hurry up]." Soon three other little boys of around the same age came running out of the door of the house and onto the balcony. They all stood there watching me walk by. This would happen everyday. As they got to know me they would try out their English on me and would call out, "Hello. How are you?" Then it dawned on me. He hadn't been alone and shunned all along. He had been the look-out. It was his duty or privilege [I'm not sure which] to watch for me [the foreigner] and call the others so that they wouldn't miss seeing me.

I got to know these boys well over the months I spent in Gumi. They soon lost their shyness and everyday without fail they would run out to meet me and talk to me in English [and Korean]. It became the highlight of my day. It was quite an ego boost to think that for weeks they had kept watch for me. It was hard to imagine that just to meet and talk to me was so exciting to them - but apparently it was. They taught me a lot of Korean and after that I always felt safe in that neighborhood cause I knew I had people watching out for me or at least watching for me.

The Belfast Boys

2006-02-17T07:43:00.000+09:00

I had the chance to meet some of the most interesting people while working in Gumi. Two of the most memorable characters were two guys from Belfast, Northern Ireland. I'll call them "Ivan" and "Al". "Al" worked at my school. He was a red-headed, soccer-player guy. "Ivan" worked at another school but he was a good friend who I dated casually. We used to hang out at PSYCHO a foreigner bar in Gumi on weekends. It was lots of fun and "Al" and "Ivan" got along great and were the best of friends.

By coincidence a couple of months later both their contracts were finished [at the same time] and they went home to Belfast for a vacation and to see their families. I kept in touch with them via e-mail and sometimes by phone. So, the first time I talked to "Al" I asked him, "So, how is 'Ivan'? Have you seen him lately?" To which he responded, "That no good protestant *%^*&... I don't associate with the likes of him here in Ireland." I was shocked and somewhat taken back not having known either of their religions - and truthfully not caring. I knew that Northern Ireland was infamous for problems between Catholics and Protestants but I had never really thought about it before and certainly not in the connection to the two of them.

Several weeks later both guys had returned from Belfast. I was in PSYCHO with "Ivan" and we were sitting around drinking draft beer [Koreans call it "Hof"] and talking when "Al" walked in and came over to our table. I was nervous not knowing what to expect. But "Al" said to "Ivan" "Hey, man let me buy you a pint." and with that they hugged each other and that was that. We spent the rest of the evening drinking together and they got along fine. They were the best of friends again.

I guess this just goes to show that when you are in Korea the rules you follow in the rest of the world just don't apply.

Beep, beep, honk, honk, bow, bow

2006-02-08T10:44:00.000+09:00

Traffic In Korea:

I realize sometimes that I really am experiencing culture shock and that I don't understand the way things work here in Korea. No where is this more evident than in regards to traffic.

One of my first mornings in Gumi, I was walking to school at around 6 am I heard a lot of beeping and I thought "Wow, traffic must be bad." However, since I was walking on the sidewalk I ignored the beeping and kept on walking. I heard more beeping but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just then an old man grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way as a motorcycle roared by on the sidewalk. I felt the breeze as it zoomed by and I know if he hadn't pulled me out of the way I would have been run over. I bowed to the man to thank him but he just shook his head at me as if to ask "Why are you so dumb?" I continued on my way to school and told some Korean co-workers the story. They were all calm about the incident and only seemed to be surprised that I was so indignant that a motorcycle [they call a motorcycle an "autobi"] almost ran me over on the sidewalk. I told them in Canada bicycles and motorcycles aren't allowed on the sidewalks and that they are called side WALKS not side DRIVES. But, I still don't think they understood...

I took this picture of a motorcycle [autobi] in the market in Waegwan. I snapped this photo just as this biker almost ran me down. I think he was surprised and a bit embarrassed I took his picture cause after I did it he bowed his head to me maybe to say, "Sorry, I almost ran you over."

I now am extra careful walking on sidewalks and in markets for I know that in Korea motor vehicles seem to have or at least take the right of way.

Korean streets are very narrow and cars and trucks park along the sides of them. This means that in most neighborhoods cars can only drive down the major streets. In my neighborhood I have to walk to the corner store and take a taxi from there as the taxi will not even try to navigate the narrow street to my apartment.

I find it interesting that if it's bad weather raining or snowing etc. which is when you want to take a taxi so you aren't exposed to the weather you still have to walk to a big street to get a taxi. This sort of defeats the purpose. Yet, if you order Korean or Chinese food it is not only delivered to your door [by motorcycle] but it is brought on real dishes making it necessary for the restaurant delivery person to come back an hour or so later and pick up the dishes. All you have to do is leave the dirty dishes at the front gate or just outside the door of your apartment. Wow! Quite a paradox, eh?

The thing I notice the most about traffic here is all the honking. Since I am partly French Canadian I was always a bit of an aggressive driver back home in Canada and I used my honk a fair amount [more than anyone I know] but in Korea EVERYONE uses their honk. I noticed that drivers honk at other cars at intersections in warning, "Don't pull out in front of me". If a car stops in the middle of a street [blocking the street in either direction] and the drivers goes into a store if a car comes and needs by the driver honks and the person in the store will run out and move the car. Honking seems to mean everything from, "Thanks", "Don't open your car door while I am driving by your vehicle", to "Get the heck out of my way" and yet in some strange way it works and makes sense to the people here. They seem to understand perfectly. I just watch in amazement!

One evening I was walking down a street and I saw a big truck parked in the middle of the street. A car pulled up behind it and honked. I stood there watching and almost laughing at the driver honking. I thought to myself, "Stupid! There's no one in the car. It ain't gonna move itself!" When all of a sudden the truck driver runs out, bows to the honker and quickly moves the truck. The honker bows his head back and drives away. I stand there in shock. Honking works! Even at an empty vehicle. WOW!!!

This is a photo of a Gumi street showing the same kind of big [bongo] truck I saw parked in the middle of the street blocking traffic in my story above. It, also, shows how narrow the streets are and how with vehicles parked along the street anyone stopping a car will completely block traffic.

Daegu Subway Fire

2006-02-02T08:03:00.000+09:00

I haven't posted in a few days and it is because in going back and looking over my journal I have come to one of the most heart-breaking and tragic things that happened my entire time in Korea. I am somewhat hesitant to write about it and yet I feel to be true to my experience I must. It had a huge impact on me at the time and I wrote and recorded my feelings at the time and even looking back the rawness of the feelings are still there.

I am talking about the DAEGU SUBWAY FIRE that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th, 2003.

I had been to Daegu on Saturday to get my Alien Card. I had meet people from there in the Immigration Office. I had talked to them and shared some laughs with them as we went through the process of being finger-printed. And, since I didn't go beyond that meeting level I never knew if they had been traveling to work or school and rather they found themselves becoming victims on the Subway that day. I guess I will never know for sure.

I learn about the subway fire when my Mom calls me [from Canada] on my cell phone and wakes me from the midst of a deep sleep. "Where are you?" she demands. "Why?" I ask her. "Where are you?" she repeats. "I'm in bed at home trying to sleep. Why?" I respond.

It is then that she tells me about the tragedy. I later read about it in the newspaper and hear people at school and elsewhere talking about it. It still upsets me to talk about in details so I am quoting the following two sources at length.
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Wikipedia has this to say about the incident:

The Daegu subway fire of February 18, 2003 killed at least 198 people and injured at least 147. An arsonist set fire to a train stopped at the Joongang-ro (or Jungang-ro) station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway in Daegu, South Korea. The fire then spread to a second train which had entered the station from the opposite direction.
The arsonist was Kim Dae-han, a 56 year-old unemployed former taxi driver who had suffered a stroke in November 2001 that left him partly paralyzed. Kim was dissatisfied with his medical treatment and had expressed sentiments of violence and depression; he later told police he wanted to kill himself, but to do so in a crowded place rather than alone. By most accounts, on the morning of February 18, he boarded train 1079 on Line 1 in the direction of Daegok, carrying a duffel bag which contained two green milk cartons filled with a flammable liquid, possibly paint thinner or gasoline.
As the train left Daegu Yeok station around 9:53 a.m., Kim began fumbling with the cartons and a cigarette lighter, alarming other passengers who tried to stop him. In the struggle, one of the cartons spilled and its liquid contents caught fire as the train pulled into Joongang-ro station in downtown Daegu. Kim, his back and legs on fire, managed to escape along with many passengers on train 1079, but within two minutes the fire had spread to all six cars. The seats and flooring were composed of flammable fiberglass, carbonated vinyl, and polyethylene, and produced thick, chemical smoke as it burned.
The operator of the train, Choi Jeong-hwan, failed to notify subway officials immediately of the fire.

Errors compound the disaster

Smoke being visible on their closed-circuit television monitors, subway officials radioed the operator of train 1080, Choi Sang-yeol, advising him to proceed with caution because there was a fire in the station. Train 1080 entered Joongang-ro station and stopped alongside blazing train 1079 approximately four minutes later. The doors opened only briefly, then shut, apparently in an effort to keep out the toxic smoke that had filled the station. Shortly after train 1080's arrival, an automatic fire detector shut down the power supply to both trains, preventing train 1080 from leaving the station.
Transcripts show Choi Sang-yeol made three announcements advising passengers in train 1080 to remain seated while he attempted to reach superiors. Finally, he was advised "Quickly, run somewhere else. Go up. . . kill the engine and go." Choi then opened the doors and fled, but in doing so he removed the master key, shutting down the onboard batteries which powered the train doors— effectively sealing passengers inside. Later investigation showed 79 passengers remained trapped inside train 1080 and died there.
Inadequate emergency equipment also worsened the disaster. Daegu subway trains were not equipped with fire extinguishers, and the stations lacked sprinklers and emergency lighting. Many victims became disoriented in the dark, smoke-filled underground station and died of asphyxiation looking for exits. Emergency ventilation systems also proved inadequate. Over 1,300 fire and emergency personnel responded and the fire itself was extinguished around 1:25 p.m.; however, the toxicity of the smoke prevented them from entering the station for another three and a half hours.

Victims
The intensity of the fire made it difficult to accurately assess the number of victims. Most were burned beyond recognition, many to the bone, and required DNA analysis to identify. A total of 191 bodies were found and identified; 6 additional bodies were found but so thoroughly destroyed that they could not be identified; and 1 person's possessions were identified but remains could not be located.
As the incident occurred late in the morning rush hour, most of the victims were students or young women who worked in the downtown district's department stores, which opened at 10:30 a.m. Many were able to contact loved ones on their mobile phones, and mobile phone operators released call connection and attempt records to help authorities determine who was in the station.

Investigation and coverup
Choi Sang-yeol could not be located for 11 hours after the accident, and investigators later discovered he had made contact with officials from the subway corporation during that time. The master key from train 1080 was found in an office at the Ansim train depot. Omissions from transcripts of radio communications also heightened suspicion of an attempted coverup.
On February 26, 2003, authorities arrested Kim Dae-han, who had fled to a hospital for treatment. They also arrested both Chois and six officials of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway Corporation, the head of which was fired the same day.

Aftermath
The tragedy prompted outpourings of sympathy and anger from throughout South Korea and internationally.
Officials promised to install better safety equipment in subway stations, and added spray-on fire resistant chemicals to the interiors of the cars of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway. Six stations were taken out of service for rehabilitation and restored in April 2003. The tragedy was considered by many a national embarrassment, provoking debate about whether South Korea had cut too many corners in safety during its rapid industrialization.
Also on August 7, the Daegu District Court convicted Choi Sang-yeol, operator of train 1080, and Choi Jeong-hwan, operator of train 1079, sentencing them to prison for five and four years respectively for criminal negligence. Kim Dae-han was convicted of arson and homicide. Although prosecutors and victims' families had asked for the death penalty, the court sentenced him to life in prison on account of his remorse and mental instability. Kim died in prison on August 31, 2004 in the city of Jinju, where he had been receiving medical treatment.

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CNN.com has the following photo and information about the incident.

Traditional funeral flowers line Daegu's subway entrances.

Arrests over Daegu subway disaster
Monday, February 24, 2003 Posted: 0022 GMT');
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- South Korean police say they have arrested seven railway officials over the subway fire in the city of Daegu which killed at least 133 people and has left scores missing.
"Seven people (subway officials) have been arrested and are in custody here in the Daegu Joongbu Police Station," one of the detectives in charge of investigating last Tuesday's arson attack told Reuters by telephone.
He did not specify the charges, but police said at the weekend that they were seeking charges of negligence against subway officials.
The detective said arrest warrants for the suspected arsonist and two more subway officials would be sought on Monday, because they had been hospitalized.
"Initial investigations found subway officials were negligent in their duties," a member of the investigating police team said earlier.
Relatives of the missing, some brandishing placards demanding punishment of the guilty, and civic groups marched through the rain on Saturday to the subway station in Daegu, 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Seoul.
Most of the 300 marchers were overcome by emotion as they descended to the third level where the apparent arsonist lit a container of flammable liquid in a train, setting off an inferno which engulfed the second which pulled alongside.
Police said the suspected arsonist, identified as a 56-year-old former taxi driver with a history of mental problems, told them he had not wanted to die alone.
"I cannot find the right word to express the misery and tragedy we are suffering," Kang Dal-won, a representative of the families of the missing, told Reuters. "I want capital punishment for them," he said of those the police deemed negligent.
More than 300 people are still listed as missing after a conflagration which left some of the 12 carriages of the two trains strewn with skulls and bones.
Many of them, however, may be among the unidentified remains. Forensic experts say it may take months to determine who they are.
The investigator said the initial probe deemed three controllers negligent for allowing the second train into the station, where they knew a train was on fire.
They believed the driver of the first train was negligent in not reporting the fire properly and the driver of the second negligent for taking away the controlling masterkey without checking to see whether all the passengers had left, he said.
Domestic newspapers have suggested the train may have stood at the station for as long as 20 minutes with the doors closed and the majority of the dead are thought to have been aboard it.
The latest tragedy in a country with one of the worst traffic and public works safety records in the industrialized world shocked President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office on Tuesday in ceremonies scaled down to reflect public anguish.
"I feel shame and strong responsibility that those in charge of safety at public facilities worked with such a poor sense of safety awareness," he said on Friday. "We should feel like we committed a sin against the people."
Saturday's marchers also demanded that the subway station go unrepaired until the investigation was completed.
"The cause of the accident will disappear if the city rushes to repair the station," said Kim Hye-jung, another representative of the families of the missing.
Confusion

Trains are running, but many are not ready to travel on the line again.
Chief investigator Cho Doo-won said on Friday the driver of the second train told investigators he had ordered passengers over the loudspeakers to get out three times and waited 10 minutes before removing the masterkey and leaving himself.
"We are focusing our investigation on the possibility that he left the train at a timeframe that was not 10 minutes," Cho said.
"After he escaped, he said he had given his jacket to a co-worker. We discovered that the masterkey was inside that jacket." Asked why the driver had handed over his jacket, Cho said: "He did not provide the reasons for that."
One survivor from the second train, sitting in the second or third carriage from which he could not see the fire on the first train, said the doors did open initially.
"We arrived at the station, the doors opened and smoke billowed in. Then the doors closed again," Lee Chang-ho, a 27-year-old student, told Reuters from his hospital bed.
"The driver told the passengers twice through the loudspeakers that the train would leave soon."
Lee said he thought it was about 10 minutes before passengers were finally told to get out. Lee said he had groped his way up the stairs through smoke so thick he could see nothing, tripping many times over what felt like bodies.
"What hurts me most is if they had told us to evacuate earlier, fewer people would have died," he said.

The link to the CNN site that tells more about this is here
CNN.com RE: Daegu Subway Fire
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Several weeks later a Korean friend took me to Daegu for the day to go sight-seeing and while we where there he asked me if I wanted to see the site of the subway fire. I was hesitant but I knew that ignoring it wouldn't make it any less real. I remember the family members of the people who died living in the subway. It was black with soot and they were sitting on blankets on the floor holding vigil. There were pictures of the dead and even food laid out for them. Some of the victims were quite young so some of their favorite food was strawberry milk and moon pie. I looked at the pictures of the people who had had their lives cut short and I especially remember one who was a girl in her early twenties from Gumi and she was training to be a police officer.

What I remember the most is that on the soot covered walls that had previously been white tile people had written the names of their deceased loved ones and messages to them like "I love you" and "I miss you." It had quite an impact on me. And, it made my family in Canada more nervous about me continuing to live and teach in South Korea. But I reminded them that tragedy can happen anywhere and time.

Gumi Municipal Library

2006-02-01T15:50:00.000+09:00

I decide to explore my city more so I go off to the city library in Gumi. In Korean it's called "She Rip Do So Gwan" which means Municipal Library. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my new Alien Card so I can fill out the form to get a library card but I can't complete the process until I come back with my Alien Card. I am allowed to use the library but I can't borrow any books.

This is a picture of the Municipal Library in Gumi. For more information on the library go to the following website. It's in Korean but it has a great streaming video of the library.
Gumi Municipal Library

Since Gumi is a growing city many places have changed since I first visited them in the Spring of 2003. The same is true for the library which is obvious if you look at the difference between this picture and the streaming video on the link.

I decide it's about time to start learning some Korea so I look at the children's books. Being the only Westerner at the library I attract a lot of attention! Mothers keep pushing their little kids to come over and say "hello" and practice their English on me. This is fine for about 20 minutes and then it I start to feel a little like a trained bear in the circus. So, I decide to turn the tables and I find a picture book in Korea and I make the kids teach me Korea. I will help them with English but only if they tell me the words in Korean. I learned a lot of baby words. It's sort of humiliating to realize that I don't have the vocabulary of the average Korean 2 year old. But I guess I got to start somewhere. In fact, the kids seem to think its more fun to teach me Korean than to learn English. So, I guess I am getting the better part of the deal.

It does make me consider that maybe I should think about coming back and doing a story time with some easy English books. I bet it would be fun and a great way to meet more people and maybe even learn some more Korean.

The librarians are very nice to me and not only help me fill out the paper work [which is in Korean] so I can get a library card but when they discover I don't have my Alien Card with me they agree to put my application aside and just hold it until I come back another day. This saves me having to fill out the papers all over again. It seems like a hassle to me but when I look at the section of English books there are at least half a dozen good novels there that I have never read like "The Poisonwood Bible" so I decide it's worth the effort. There are only about 50 English books in total but the librarian tells me they will get more for me. In turn I tell them I have some books at my apartment I have read that I will bring and donate to them - if they want. They seem very surprised and excited that I would consider adding to their collection of books that way. Maybe it's not such a common thing to do in Korea with all the reading rooms where you pay to read comic books. In Korea I discovered that there are a lot of stores where Koreans rent comics or other books just like we rent videos and DVDs in the West.

I get busy and don't get back to the library for several weeks but when I go back I not only bring my Alien Card but I have at least 20 English novels to donate [when the other English teachers at my school heard about my adventure at the library they all started collecting their English books for me to donate for them, also]. The same librarian I talked to before is working. She takes me over to see that the library moved some books around made room for more English books and that they even bought 2 new English novels. It makes me feel bad that I kept procrastinating and took several weeks to get back. They were obviously waiting for me.

I show them my Alien Card and they record the number for their records and even photocopy it for their files and issue me my own library card. Having accomplished this I really feel like I am starting to settle in and make Korea my home.

Above is my scanned Gumi Municipal Library Card [I photo-shopped out my personal info but other than that it's legit]. I still have it. Some day I plan to go back and visit the new library.

About two weeks later I get a letter in Korean so I take it to my school to get someone to translate it for me. It is a letter of thank you from the library for donating books. Donating books was such a small thing for me to have done but it obviously was appreciated. It leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy. It makes me feel confident and excited about exploring even more places in Korea.

Getting An Alien Card in Korea

2006-01-31T11:04:00.000+09:00

Getting an Alien Card in Korea:
This is a necessary procedure for any foreigner wishing to live and work in Korea legally. Also, it must be applied for at the nearest Immigration Office within 90 days of your arrival in Korea - if you arrive with a working Visa. In my case I had an E-2 [Conversational English Teacher] Visa. So, within 90 days of my arrival I had to go to Daegu [South Korea] about a 30 minute drive from Gumi [South Korea] to register at Immigration. In fact, when I got my Visa in Toronto, they paper clipped the following paper into my passport.

[Author's Note: On this paper Daegu is spelled Taegu. There is some confusion in Korea about the Romanization of Korean and therefore often D and T are interchanged as are B and P. Lastly, G and K can be used interchangable in place names. This leads to a lot of confusion cause some people say they live in KUMI and some people say they live in GUMI. It's the same place just spelled differently. Having gotten used to this I am try to be consistent about spelling place names I always spell Gumi with a G and Daegu with a D. However, I am not consistent is the spelling of Busan/Pusan. Sometimes I spell it will a B and sometimes I spell it with a P. Just want to you know it's the same place.]

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Below is my E-2 Visa. They have since changed it and made it a computerized paper that is pasted into your passport but this is what it looked like in January 2003 when I got it in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I know it's a little blurry and hard to read but above is a stamp on my E-2 [Conversational English Teacher Visa]. It says that the Daegu Immigration Bureau issued me a Wae-guk-in [Alien or direct translation is "foreigner"] card on February 15, 2003.

It's important to get an Alien Card for without it you usually can't do even the most necessary things like:

Open a bank account
Buy or set up cell phone service - not even Pre-paid or "Pay as you go" cell phone service
Get internet hooked up
Register at a hospital or clinic - this is not to say you can't get medical treatment cause you can but they always ask for your Alien [Wae-guk-in which actually means "Foreigner"] Card.

So, on Saturday, February 15th, 2003 Mr. Kim picked me up at my apartment and drove me to Daegu to get my Alien Card. I remember being excited to get this process over but unfortunately I didn't record about it in my diary so in writing about it I am relying on my memory. I know that I had to take my passport and my University Degree - the original degree - and I think Mr. Kim had some papers with him from the school like the school's business licence or at least the number of their business licence.

What I will never forget is that I was finger-printed. I didn't expect it. I had NEVER been finger-printed before in my life. And, all of a sudden I was being finger-printed! I was horrified! I felt like a criminal. Luckily, there were some other foreigners there going through the same process and so I was able to laugh and talk to them about it.

The worse part of the whole finger-printing process was afterward in when I was sent to the bathroom to try and wash up. There was no soap or paper towel in the bathroom and the water was ice cold. Trying to get the black ink off of my fingertips with icy cold water and no soap was useless!

I later learned that all Korean people get an ID card and that they are finger-printed for it. They even have a scanned thumb print on the back of their ID card. So, it being finger-printed was not some kind of a discrimination thing or some comment of the likelihood of my committing a future crime. It was just a standard procedure.

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There are some websites that tell more about getting an Alien Card in Korea. One of the best is at Dave's ESL Cafe. Here is the link. Unfortunately the download applications do not work and I was not able to find another place to find them but it does offer information and tells how the first time you go you will be fingerprinted [wish I had known that, ha, ha] and to take at least 3 small passport sized photos. I think I only had 2 one for the card and one for their files but maybe you need 3 now [better safe than sorry].

Alien Card Info

Another website I found with all kinds of useful information about Korea is LifeinKorea. I have the link for it here.
Life In Korea

One of the best blogs I've read about Life in Korea is I Have Seoul. This is another Canadian English Teacher in Korea. Shaun has tons of useful links and information. His information is for Canadian and the map is for Seoul. To find the office nearest you ask someone at your school or call the numbers of the offices I have listed above. Someone in every office speaks some English. Or at least I have always found that to be the case.
Here's the link. I Have Seoul

I found a website with information of how to get the Daegu/Taegu Immigration Office. Here's the link. Daegu Specific Information

Above is a sample of what an Alien Registration Card looks like. I found it on a Korean Government website. So they don't get me for copyright violation here's the website I copy this image from. City of Daegu

I hope quoting my source is enough to mean I am not infringing on a copyright. I would have scanned in my Alien Card and blurred the personal info. but I have never had a scanner in Korea and I never took my Alien Card out of the country so I don't have any copies of it.

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So I get my Alien Registration Card [ARC]. Having gotten this process out of the way I feel more established in Korea. Now I can open a bank account. Yippee!