JBJV update
Picture from sean website link
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Weekend stuff
to anyone reading this and last post, they are just reminder posts to myself so i can fill them out later. Life is busy here, it doesnt ever stop…
fri: skol cake hm piano danguchun cake cutty shark fri dog lunch sat trist hangoverover hyun wedding bonsai wedding free meal blue house river dance unclebar hongde big willy style speech cake pocketknife seagull pin pokarekareana skabar itaewon kiwiboy canada fighter seoul garden hotel atm with dave wijongbu phoenix skype jo’s crash pizza and myoksu mon school brush photo not your friend…
Here’s some recent photo’s anyway from my weekend in Gwangju province with Hyunee Pie’s family, and his family’s wedding on my birthday. The pic outside the white university building is at Hyun’s old Uni (Chosun University), Korea’s 2nd best out of more than 100. The sign reads “F*#K YOU CAMPUS ADMINISTRATOR, YOU SHOULD QUIT YOUR JOB!!!”. I didn’t know Korean’s could be so angry till last weekend!…
Will post more stories this weekend when I get a moments breath!
JB
linkhair gel and chang hyun pay and tour les j link
So I guess it’s been a good week now since my last update so there’s a whole lotta crackin yarns to share. I will stick to the best of the bunch, and slot away the rest for my return to NZ so that I still have some things to talk about..
First of all I have to tell you about ‘Denny’. So earlier I’ve told you about my newfound friends from Ireland. Well one of them, whose house I frequent at most Sunday nights on my way back home from Seoul (You swell my heart Timlin, you really do…) lives opposite a small 7/11 type store identical to any of the Indian corner dairies found in Wellington and all around NZ. Her hometown (Mayo, Ireland) local dairy owner is named Denny, so she calls her Korean local man Denny too.
Now I first met Denny a couple of weeks ago and he has proved to be one of the most helpful and interesting contacts I have made here so far. His full name is Kim Young San, Kim being the family name and Young San his first name. Mr Kim is around 60+ years old, has a grandly-handsome and happy face, worked in Korean government for 40 odd years before retiring and buying the dairy, has a wife of nearly as long, two middle aged son’s, and has travelled ALL around the world, including to New Zealand (which he boasts of very proudly…). His English is impeccable, if only a little slow in understanding mine, and although the details above picture an ideal, cruisy Korean life, he has not had it all easy…
Mr Kim was not born in South Korea, he was born in North Korea prior to the 1950-53/4 Korean War (Wikipedia has the best link for info on the war - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War). Kim refers to it as the 6-2-5 War, as explained in the above article. Exactly where in N.K. I cannot recall. He left his birthtown around the time the war started, at the age of around 5 or 6 years old. He found a new life in Seoul, progressed his way through university, a good job and career in government administration and is happy to be where he is today. I asked him if he had ever returned to his hometown in North Korea but I cannot recall his answer. I was so honoured and humblised (in the humble not the humvee sense…) to be in his presence and hearing his stories.
When we first met I asked him about his family and he was happy to oblige. His first son, Kim Tae Ill is a TV Reporter/journalist for Arirang TV News - the Korean TV channel that broadcasts in English and teaches me Korean via the show ”Let’s Speak Korean” as per my earlier posts. ”Wow!” I told him, ”that is sooooooo sweet!”. His second son, Kim Tae Won, owns a prestigious hotel in the middle of Seoul whose name I can’t remember at present. NB: I may have their name spelling’s incorrect so ”sorry Denny” if that’s the case!
ps. I now call him ‘Sun San Kim’ in person, which means ‘Teacher Kim’. He doesn’t like the honorificness of the title but he always smiles at the play on words…
After speaking to him last weekend, Hyun and I walked around the corner to a local fried chicken & beer restaurant. They call it ‘Hoff’ dining, which is dining coupled with a variety of beers. I don’t know the entymology of ‘hoff’ but my guess is it originates from Sir David HHoff’s well documented afflicition for beer and chicken….
So at the Hoff restaurant the owners niece was celebrating her 10 year birthday together with a few family members. I said hello, I’m from NZ, happy birthday and congratulations to her in Korean, and she replied with a bit of 10 year old small talk in English (ie. thank you, my name is__, I am 10 years old, it is my birthday…etc). Later, when she cut her cake, she brought over a slice for Hyun and I to share. I don’t know if she realised the connection of the kiwifruit slices on top of the cake to my homeland, but it was a very cute and sweet thing to do (no doubt prompted by her uncle and aunt). So as per traditional Korean birthday custom, I asked her to shake hands so that I could say thank you, and slipped a 10,000won note into her hand super-quick. That’s when the renowned Korean child shyness kicked in and she ran back to her table blushing and giggling with excitement, holding up the note to her family. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside…Hyun called me a pedo…..
MORE TO COME… PS. Anyone reading this today (Thursday) check out Campble Live tonight - my cousin is on it…
chigim ching-gu kang kim myong san sang nim kang birthday girl chicken kang ireland etish kang weekend wijungbu kang microbrewery kang paua fnc etish hanguk e businesses. Think NZ has social problems? Check out this article from Korea’s Number One English Newspaper, the Korean Herald, on gaming addiction in this country…
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/03/05/201003050039.asp
linkI am from Middle Earth, Nice to meet you
Finished school/piano and my ever so loving father (props to you NZ Dad…) helped me out with a bit of tie-over cash till my first pay check. I celebrated by popping out to a cheap bbq style restaurant near my house. Yet another cultural misunderstanding was underway. This was the same restaurant where on my second night in Korea Hyun had taken me to eat and drink many-a-bottle of the dreaded Soju. So I figured it’s a safe bet to pop back there alone as the owner could/would recognise me and be a little more helpful. Anyway, I arrived, ordered a bottle of Soju and tried to decipher the menu on the board with my minimal knowledge of Korean language.
‘Gogi’ is meat, therefore in Korea you can get ‘So-gogi’ (Beef), ‘Tweh-ji-gogi’ (Pork), ‘Mul-gogi’ (Fish - FYI: ‘Mul’ is water so the literal translation is ‘Water-Meat!’ - this refers to fish swimming in water, however the term ‘Sangson’ is used for fish when you are eating it) and so on. All I could recognise on the board was ‘Gogi’ so I called my Korean translation service (my friend Hyun) and asked him to order for me. This was a very good idea, as I was told by him that the bbq style of restaurant I was eating in is for groups of people, ie. minimum of two. Typically people don’t go there alone because:
A: It’s cheaper to eat together
B: It’s more friendly and relaxing eating together
C: The restaurant does not make enough money to cover costs when there is only one person ordering one meal of bbq.
Thus, I had to order for two people, which I happily obliged to. Another tidbit of good Korean knowledge, Korea is a ‘together’ country. Eg. there is no term or language for ‘My Country’ only ‘Our Country’ ie. ‘Our Korea’.
The bottle of Soju was barely touched when I took my last bite of that sweet, sweet bbq beef, so I took a chance and stoop-walked over to a neighbouring table of four military men dressed to the nines in their full camo-regalia. Bending down beside one of them I said, “Hello, my name is James, I am from New Zealand, may I pour you some Soju?”. All four of the men gave me the biggest smiles and pulled me down to sit, drink, smoke and chat. I am still friends with these men, and three weeks later I learned that my pronunciation that night was impeccable, and that they didn’t believe it was only my second week in Korea.
Our initial bonding topic was, lo and behold, Gandalf, Frodo, Mordor and the whole LOTR possie. They were very enthusiastic about NZ as the modern world’s Middle Earth, and I had to explain that I did not live in a hole in a hill, I did not pitch battles with my neighbouring orcs, nor did I smoke pipe-weed with my elf, wizard and dwarf friends (although NZ weekend nights with Khan, Slygo, the Prestney’s, McDaddy, Craig and the rest out the back of Majoribanks did come pretty close)…
All four of the men were in their late 20’s, 30’s or early 40’s, and all were captains in their units, so were very respected on both the base and outside in society. We parted ways with a Korean coffee in hand and swore to meet again soon.
On my way home I popped into the HEITZ pool-hall (similar to Courtenay Place’s Cue Room) for a quick drink. I was introduced by the owner to a man named Ji-Yun (which is Korean for Mary and he later told me he was teased everyday at middle school for it) who owned the French bakery near my school. The bakery’s name is Tous Les Jour, it is a massive franchise in Korea and you see them every five minutes when you ride the bus through Seoul. Ji Yun lived and worked on a farm in Christchurch for one year back in 1998. I explained about my friends longing for a NZ meat pie and I was surprised to learn that in the whole 12 months he spent in NZ, he never once ate a pie! You can imagine how sorry for him I felt, and when I explained the concept to him he was desperate for me to use his bakery as the starting point for our pie creations. Who knew networking could be so simple?: Business Plan # 1 gets underway…
For anyone with time to kill at work (which from memory is pretty much the entire NZ population) or home, check out the bakery website - www.tlj.co.kr
It didn’t matter that I lost the game of Korean pool to him with a score of 25-0. The drinks were flowing and international friendships were blossoming. I was similarly stoked to meet another man named Mr. Kim who plays in a social soccer league on Sunday afternoons. The average age of players is 35-40, and they play three games of 25 minute halves. First game is coming up this weekend, should be a riot! Mr. Kim’s job is band and event management/organising, so we discussed a whole range of music and I learned that he managed top of the world artists like Madonna, Beyonce and Michael Jackson when they were touring through Korea. Later this year he is bringing over veteran scary rock’n’rollers Slipknot. I was blown away by this news as I got to serve drinks at a bar in Brisbane when they came in for an afterparty, minus the freaky masks. I left the pool hall beaming with my good fortune. Sleep followed easily.
link”Don’t you have an English degree???”
Today was the first time I’ve ever been homesick in my life. After my first year of university I lived and worked alone in Brisbane, Australia for 4 months, and I didn’t feel even the slightest pang of sickness, aside from wanting a decent pie and an actual beer every day. But this time it was different. Here’s how it panned out…
To start with I was late to school by around 10 minutes due to sending my beloved lady Grenade a Valentines present in NZ. Needless to say at this stage my Korean language is still not so super, and I had all sorts of translation problems at the Post Shop. As this was my second attempt (yes, I had been there the day before as well and yes, I was late for school the day before also) I was hoping to whizz it through, but no such luck. Once I finally got the job done and the package was on its way, I taxied back to my school only to find that I was out of cash to pay the driver and that my card was not working in the ATM. Ridiculous. When I finally got up the lift to my school I got blasted like a little child for being late in front of all the staff. Fair enough as I WAS late, but still it was pretty harsh. What can I say - I’m a bit of a softie…
Later, after classes finished, I had a meeting with the head teacher as part of a monthly catch up to get feedback and ask questions as they come about. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that:
A - My handwriting was “way too messy” for the whiteboards.
B - I am too creative in class (eg. with the rap battling and my lack of DVD player use)
C - I ask too many questions of other teachers in front of the class which makes me seem unworthy of the position.
D - I don’t know the meaning of “PP” (post-progressive).
Now for those of you who are raising your left eyebrow at “PP” fear not, I am here to help. PP or post progressive is a grammatical term that all Korean’s learning AMERICAN English need to study. It is used for verbs that imply something is happening or is going to happen. For example, ‘Jump’ is a present-tense verb, ‘Jumped’ is past-tense, ‘Will Jump’ or ‘is going to Jump’ is future-tense, and ‘Jumping’ is present progressive. It usually applies to words that have ing added.
For the records, and I’m basing this on my own experience and memories of NZ school curriculum, I have no recollection of using or studying “PP” (sincere and humble apologies to my high school english teachers if we did cover PP - Mr Dowling, Finlay, Smith etc, you’re my boyss). So when I asked what it was and my head teacher replied “You don’t know?!….Don’t you have an English degree?!!”, needless to say I was quite offended. “No”, I said, “I don’t know what PP is, and Yes, I do happen to have an English degree - English literature to be exact - and I studied (beer), slaved (for beer) and sacrificed (my money to buy beer) away at it for four solid years of my life thank you very much madam”.
Thus I left work that day with a dose of the blues to rival the mediterranean sea, and started thinking how lonely it could get working here for a whole year. I soon understood the importance of keeping busy and distracted in the short term. And thank god for friends who have been there for a late night drunken yarn every so often (Renee, Wayne, Craig, Barley, Carter etc. etc. you know who you are). Sure it didn’t help that night that I had approximately $3 in my bank account but I coped. I sure will be good when Mr. Alistair Goodwin gets here; someone to drink with till dusk the next day and reminisce with about the good ol’ 50 cent mix days. God I miss the 50 cent mix. And I’m not talking about the rapper…
p.s… after all that kafuffle with the postage and being late for school etc, I called Grenade two days later around 10am NZ time to tell her the story, and blow-me-down the NZ courier delivered the parcel to her in her florist shop at precisely the same time. Without a word of a lie, on my mothers grave, that’s some cosmic shiz right there don’t you think?…
linkWax on Wax off
Me and the G-man himself. Another tick off my bucket list….
Which one is Wax? I can’t tell, and I’m in the photo…
Saturday 6/2: Photos above from a very eventful trip to the 63 City Wax Museum in Seoul. The proprietor is a Madam Toussad associate with similar skills and training. I joined a few of my school colleagues for the ride to this famous outfit. The 63 City building is quite famous in Korea, housing an aquarium, a 4D (yes 4D - that’s smells and sprays included) Movie complex, an art gallery and Korea’s very own House of Wax. As seen above, I got to touch Ghandi’s feet, compare boot size with David Beckham, high-five Frankenstein, give Marilyn Munroe some dirty smoochies, and even pulled out a Presidential Salute with Obama himself.
After a couple of hours we taxied on to the Noryangjin Seafood market, another well trekked locale. It is an indoor market about the size of Wellington’s TSB Arena; long and narrow with hundreds of stalls and tons of seafood. We bought a massive sized fish for 50,000 Won, sliced and gutted in front of us to have as sashimi dinner later on at the house of Anna (fellow teacher) and Kevin (her American Navy boyfriend) in Itaewon. Their house is a mansion compared to mine; massive lounge, kitchen and bedroom with a spare bedroom and study to boot. However with a monthly price range of 750,000 Won ($938 NZ) they are living the high life.
Hyun showed up to join us for dinner and drinks, and what followed was my introduction to a proper Soju session. I won’t go into details of the drinking games, tomfoolery and outright shenanigans that occured. Partly because there was so much happening, and partly because there’s so much I have no recollection of. I woke Sunday at Hyun’s house with a killer hangover. A quick vom tag-teamed with coffee and a shower did the trick, and soon I was back in ship-shape. We tiki-toured around a few spots in Seoul doing nothing in particular, hunted for some hangover cures at the various pharmacies and ate some top notch chinese cuisine. Then it was back on the train to return home once again…
linkRap battles and Korean technology
Not alot happening in the new week. I’m really enjoying teaching and getting to know students, it’s a great way to find out if teaching is your thing, which is something I always wondered. Wednesday afternoon we created a new game with the kids. They are tested weekly on fluency and phonetic pronunciation (eg. P-ig…PIG, B-us…BUS, Sk-un-k…Skunk) and have one minute to read out a page of words the fastest. After a couple I started throwing my hands in the air gangster style to encourage the kids. Sure enough they all started doing it and when I threw in a little beat-boxing they turned into a full-on 8-mile rap-battle-possie. First one started giggling, then another, then a few started cracking up and the next thing I knew the kids just exploded with tears of laughter rolling on the floor. An absolute triumph. Their laughter was so infectious that soon enough I had tears in my eyes as well. Later on they told me that the rap game was pre
tty funny, but even more funny was the fact that just after starting one of the kids noticed that my fly was down and they could see my blue boxers! Classic. My homework for the night was set by the kids - “fix your pants please teacher!”.
I also got a new phone yesterday as a gift from my school. Very sweet. It has internet, tv, movies, music, email, the works (oh and I can call and text too…). Korea is a world leader in IT technology. Citizens can even get their birth certificate, passport, IRD documents etc from the internet, boasting the worlds best online document services. After receiving it I went upstairs to thank Mrs Song and said ‘Chung nun hay?! (“Are you kidding?!”) and she gave me a big smile. Success! Later I was also had to introduce myself to a seminar for new students mothers. All the other teachers (who are native Korean) did so in English, but I did it in Korean which brought out some good laughs. Being a foreigner here has its cultural advantages…
Doc said I can drink this weekend, only one day of antibiotics to go. Watch out Seoul….
linkKiwi Pie and Fire in the hole
In the wee hours of Sunday morning I asked Hyun what he missed most about NZ. Without blinking he said “Pies and Kebabs”, and soon we had a cracking business venture to start in Seoul. As meat pies are as yet an unknown entity in Korea, we discussed the basics of opening a pie shop/cart in central Seoul, selling pies for 3,000won each ($3-4 NZ). We came up with names ‘Kiwi Pie’ and ‘Pie Buin’ (Korean for Madam) and fell asleep with the notion of doing research and a sample tasting in the next few weeks.
As we were too tired from walking around all day Saturday to trek the mountain we slept late Sunday and had brunch at a chinese place across from his house, arguing the whole time over the MSG content of our meal. Hyun rang Renee (my girlfriend) as he wanted to call her by her new name (‘Grenade’) and I had to explain to her the meaning of titty-massage as part of a bet (to which she wasn’t impressed but loved the name ‘Fire in the hole!’). The day before Hyun had continuosly asked me if my leg was ok, to which I jokingly replied ‘It will be with a titty-massage. Suffice to say we didn’t end up getting one and my leg healed on its own - there is no selling of female bodies in Korea FYI. Then it was on to play a game of four-ball, which is similar to snooker or pool, and home to meet his girlfriend. On entering the house I hid down the hallway and jumped out to scare her when she got a few feet away. It was classic. Hyun said he wanted some ‘private time’ so I bailed on a bus to the station to catch the train home.
linkOn to Seoul…
Met with some agents from TNT recruitment Thursday morning (28th) to get health checkup for residency card, work permit and insurance purposes. The drugs are working and my leg is a thousand times better, but still they give me another shot in the butt (I think they just like the novelty of my pasty-white ass). Had to do a urine test which was very difficult as I had just used the loo at home before leaving so Yohan (one of the agents) stood outside the bathroom handing me cup after cup of luke-warm water and clapping his hands in support. Needless to say he got some strange looks from the other patients walking by. I had an X-ray, sight/blood/blood pressure tests and they took my height and weight. Results came a few days later and I was quite surprised to hear that I am in perfect health, so I bought a double-sugar-coffee and smoked a cigarette to celebrate…
Have been watching a Korean TV show called “Let’s Speak Korean” which is teaching me a lot of the language and culture. eg. Many Korean shop owners believe that the first transaction/event of the day is an omen for the remainder, so it is a bad idea to ask for a refund or exchange first thing in the morning. I also learned that Hwe Chun Chokyo is the name of a school near my apartment, NOT ‘I will give directions’. This explained the confused looks of many a taxi driver over the last 6 days!.
Saturday morning I got my final butt shot and then caught the subway to Seoul to hang with Hyun for the weekend. Despite help at the station, I still boarded the wrnog train and went in the opposite direction. After a little confusing Korean discussion, I changed lines and an hour later arrived at Shindorim station. It was a while till Hyun finished work so I strolled around, bought soup and a tofu-like stick for 500 won (60c NZ). I learned to say ‘How much? (Url maeyo) which is one of the most useful expressions to date. I met Hyun and we trained to Gyeongbok palace in northern Seoul, one of the five grand palaces of the Joseon dynasty (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung). Joseon was the last and most recent sovereignty that lasted for around five centuries right up until 1910. The palace grounds were huge and full of Chinese tourists (around 90%). We were asked to pose for a photo outside, probably because of my height and green eyes as most Korean’s, Chinese and Japanese have brown or dark brown.
Then it was on to the cultural museum next door, exhibiting many national treasures like the Joseon royal stamp, clothing, family tree, as well as weapons, sundials and astronomical charts etched into stone. Hyun says (quite matter-of-factly) that he is part of the Joseon dynasty, to which I reply that I am part of the Brownseon dynasty. He hits me in the arm. Then it was on to another shopping district nearby that was the size of Cuba Street, Wellington, with tons of shops and tons more people. We seized the chance to sit down and have a typical Korean lunch of cold-noodle soup, traditionally a summer dish. I bought stationery, photos for my Korean citizenship card application, and had a hit-out in a batting-pen (baseball is hugely popular in Korea).
Next it was on to Sillim, Hyun’s district. He lives in a place similar to mine except older and a little bigger (he has two bedrooms). We had a few beers and he cooked me dinner, a delicious beef and pork stew accompanied by kimchi, a national dish of spiced cabbage/turnip which is seen at 95% of meals and loved by Koreans. Today, you can even find ‘Kimchi refridgerators’ in many middle-class houses, which are a modern version of a ‘Jong-Dok’, a ceramic crockpot that they half buried in the earth to keep their Kimchi cool.
After resting we bowled over the road to a PC Room (which are everywhere in Korea - like a massive computing cafe). The Korean passion for computing would rival only that of the Amsterdam-ian passion for the ganja. Hyun talked me through www.Auction.co.kr which is simlar to Trade Me but much cheaper and containing mostly new products. We left after a couple of hours gaming to crash out with plans to hike a local mountain on Sunday.
linkIt’s all good
One of the best things so far about Korea is the cost of living. My apartment is rent free thanks to the school, all I have to pay for is the monthly heating bill which is around 50,000 won in the winter ($60) and 20,000 or less in summer! I also had the opportunity to meet Mr Song, the principal of my school. Despite the language barrier, I can tell he is pretty cool and am told he’s very popular amongst the Korean education system and people. He laughed at our first handshake saying that I was very strong for a NZer. Am looking forward to getting on the razz with him big time.
As I am yet to get medical insurance I had to repay 80,000 won to Mrs Song for my hospital treatments so am hoping the antibiotics work their magic! Plan to visit Hyun’s parents in Gwang-Ju which is in the Chonlado province during Korean New Year in mid-Feb. James, my agent, says he’s planned a ski/boarding trip for that time but he’s a big talker, probably due to his U.S. influence, so don’t know if it will happen.
Wednesday 27th was my first full day at school. Every class I introduce myself with my name, age and origins. Most kids know a little about New Zealand but some say “Is it in Europa?” and others “It is part of Australia right?”. Korea and Japan have a NZ/Oz rivalry based on the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945). For example Korea’s first Olympic gold medalist was Son Gijeong in Berlin, 1936. But his achievement was not recorded in Olympic history because of the Japanese occupation at that time. He was made to wear a Japanese uniform on the day of the medals ceremony, as seen in the photo below.
In response, the national Korean newspaper published the photo of him that day but erased the Japanese flag from his shirt, landing the staff in big trouble. Eight of the workers were imprisoned for their involvement and the paper was closed by the Japanese government for nine months! Bastards!… This makes the Football world cup this year in Sth Africa all the more interesting - it’s gonna be an absolute riot here. Can’t wait.
I also explain the difference between kiwifruit (which all kids know) and kiwi (the bird and the person) by drawing pictures on the board. When it is question time, the first thing always asked is “How tall are you?” (190.5cm) to which the kids are amazed. They are very fun and eager to learn (for the most part). Teachers give out coupons for good behaviour/answers with which they use to buy treats and things at school or to get out of a test or doing homework. There is a lot of rote learning so I try to make things as fun as possible, funny-faces, movement, games and using the little Korean language I know make a big difference.
Just a quick brown-shopped picture to give an idea of the height difference between me and the Korean men. Of course my stomach has changed since this pic was taken 3 or 4 years ago, it’s more like the Korean dudes now…
