Interlude

We just got back from Beijing on Monday and it was a refreshing and fascinating escape from the sanctuary that has become Korea. I feel completely comfortable and at home in this country now, but it certainly is a nice thing to travel elsewhere for a while.

Because it will take me a while to organise the Beijing photos into a coherent narrative, I thought it timely to put up photos for this mini-post. These are from the weekend before we went to China, when we went out in Hwamyeong for dinner and drinks. I don't work for the Hwamyeong branch but Heather does, so sometimes I get to tag along and absorb more than my fair share of their merriment. In this photo are some of the Hwamyeong staff, slightly tipsy after a long dinner and eager to find ii-cha (the Korean word for 'any second establishment to drink at after finishing dinner').

Ii-cha turned out to be a karaoke room. Here food and wine flowed freely and all who were present imbibed dubious quantities while others serenaded dancing co-workers.

That guy with the tambourine is actually a bus driver for the school who became very jovial indeed. He stood up in the middle of dinner and announced to us "I driving Bus Number 2. Berry goot! Sankyou."
We finished up in the wee hours of the morning and I ended up hitting the sack around 5:30am.

That was well planned because the following day I had to get up at 7:30am to get the train to Seoul. At the train station I was feeling a little snoozy, but I still couldn't help noticing the name of this coffee and sandwich shop. I like coffee and I like sandwiches, but coffee in sandwich? What an amazing idea.

We walked into the train station, and with sandwiches on my mind I had to buy one. This thoughtful pearl of wisdom greeted me at the counter of another shop.

I chewed my sandwich a little more thoughtfully after reading that.

The reason we went to Seoul was for leadership training. The company paid for us to go up there and participate in a workshop at the Yeoksam Cultural Centre. We arrived around midday and had a quick lunch before meandering in.

The lecture theatre reminded me a little of my days at university. The presentations weren't too bad, a lot of things were fairly common knowledge but it wasn't a waste of time.
I met up with Ben, who you may possibly remember as my room mate in Seoul from Canada, who I lived with for a while during training. That was a long time ago. He's living in Daejeon now and engaged to a Korean woman.

After dinner we had optional team-building exercises which we were a little apprehensive of, especially when we had to take off our shoes. They actually turned out to be the highlight of the trip (as well as me winning $10 at the casino later that night, hooray).

These were the people running the show, various CDI workers from Seoul who each had a different challenge for us to complete as a team. We, the teams, had come from all across the country even as far as Jeju Island.

Before long we were blindfolded and frantically yelling orders to each other. In this exercise we had to cross an 'acid river' by stepping on tiles that could mysteriously wash away if no one was standing on them. Four out of seven of our team members were blindfolded which increased the difficulty by an order of magnitude. We passed.


This video is from a different challenge called Minefield. The mines consisted of sticky pieces that had to be avoided. The difficulty lay in that one person outside the minefield had to tell two others who were blindfolded how to step across the area. It was also a race, with both teams starting at opposite ends, resulting in an inevitable collision in the middle. The first team to cross the field received 3 points, but there was minus 1 point for every mine stepped on.

Here's the solution to a challenge called Toxic Waste, in which the teams had to dispose the contents of the green bucket into the orange bag while keeping well away from it. The only materials available were some strings and a piece of rubber. Good fun.
I came back to Busan by train the following day and left for Beijing three days later.

The next few posts will be all about Beijing, which is an enormous city of skyscrapers and history. I'll pop them out in succession as time permits.

See you then!

Odds and Ends

We just arrived back from Jeju Island yesterday (Sunday) and had a good time there. I'll upload those photos and share them with you when I have some spare time. This post is a little shorter and covers the week before we left.
Unfortunately for that particular weekend I left my camera at the hagwon, which was a little silly of me. So half of these photos were taken by friends and associates who I've tracked down on Facebook.

Jordan and Michelle have always had a nice rooftop on their apartment building, so for Tyler's birthday they decided to hold a rooftop barbecue party. It was a nice spring afternoon with a light breeze and plenty of sunshine. Photo: Nicole Kalisz

Here's the view looking west. Saha is the furthest suburb on this side of the city but a good public transport system puts everything within reach. Our school branch is just off the photo to the left. Photo: Nicole Kalisz

Jordan and Michelle have always been great hosts, holding quite a few dinners for everyone in the past. We took a portable barbecue upstairs and Jordan grilled chicken skewers and hamburger patties, while the rest of us looked on. Jordan drank light beer while he was cooking, which has long been part of an unwritten code for those who take on the burden of cooking at barbecues. My respect to those who do. Photo: Theresa Nicolai

We started at 3pm in the afternoon which was nice for a change. But that meant we were a little tipsy by sundown. Evidently we were a little jovial for this particular photo and it appears that I had finished eating by this time. Photo: Niko Davis

The very next day at 9:30 am, we went on a charity run for breast cancer research. CDI South put together a small team to represent. Here we are at Millak station, although the reason we met at this particular location still eludes me. Note the pretty flowers and brick wall in the background. Photo: Jareb Steines

I don't exercise these days due to time restraints, but I used to jog fairly regularly. I ran in the 10km and pushed myself. In the end I got a time of 1 hour and 1 minute. But for the next two days I had difficulty walking and transferring from a standing position to a sitting position. Now I feel okay though. Photo: Maya Son

Our Korean school had a special cooking lesson on Thursday last week. We're nearing the end of the term and it's been good, but I'm looking forward to getting some more free time in my schedule. We went to a cooking school out in Dongnae.

Back in the day I used to be a restaurant cook for a lot of my high school and university years. I've been a bit out of practice in Korea but the cooking instincts still remain. One of the first things I want to do when I get back to Australia is to walk back into my old kitchen and feel the weight of a decent wok in my hand again. I used to work 6 nights a week in that kitchen, saving up the money to come to Korea.

Good times.

We were split into smaller groups and divided the tasks up accordingly. On the left is Anna, a Chinese student from our other level 3 class, and on the right is Ge-Ge, who is the only Mongolian student in the school. She's also the only Mongolian I've ever met.

It seems that digital cameras became a standard inventory item for everyone sometime ago. This girl was cycling through six cameras to take photos while her friends were cooking. I remember the days when I used to wind on my disposable cameras and get photos back from the developer that were a little less pleasing than I expected.

This was the end product of our toils, chapchae, which is a noodle dish made with beef, vegetables and clear mung bean noodles. Koreans will often eat this dish during festive times. It tasted pretty good for a group effort. We also made seafood pancakes.

Here we are enjoying our concoctions. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected.


This is a video I made of my classmates reading the dialogue that they wrote for class. Our teacher is recording them with an MP3 player. The entire class is taught in Korean but I can manage fairly well these days. Learning Korean remains one of the most difficult things I've ever encountered. It will be an ongoing process.

And here are some of my students. These boys are naughty at times but generally in good spirits. The one closest to the photo recently requested that his English name be changed to 'Farrand'. I granted his request, but it was interesting, because it coincidentally happens to be my surname. When I asked him how he thought up that name he told me that it's a secret.

Anyway, I'll be posting up the trip from Jeju when I have time.

Stay tuned!

Food, Drinks and Mr Segway

I was talking to Polish Damien in Australia today and he told me that on my blog "It pretty much looks like all I do is eat, party and travel." I think that's the first ever blog critique I've had from a Polish guy. Muchly appreciated. It's his 27th birthday today and I'm sure he'll be celebrating in style with the guys back home. Happy Birthday Damien!

In this photo is an U-dong hotpot with stuffed pockets of aerated soybean and various other goodies. On the right is some sundried chilli cashew chicken. We chose to enjoy this particular meal with some apple and kiwi soju cocktails.

Some time ago, a group of adoptees came down to Busan for a quick tour and we met up after work for some drinks. I'm pretty much the only GOA'L affiliated adoptee down here, so I feel like an ambassador of sorts.


Here's a new drinking game that Eric taught us that night. Two lines of people are on either side of the tables. Each person in turn (one after the other) has to drink the beer from their own paper cup and then put it on the edge of the table. The next person can only start drinking once the previous person has flipped the cup so that it lands properly on the table. The first line to finish wins.

We played this game a few times.

I led the group to the U2 bar in Haeundae, somewhere I hadn't been in a while. U2 is fairly nice and they serve free popcorn. The owner speaks a fair bit of English and likes to drink tequila shots.

One of the European adoptees decided it would be a good idea if we all took our shoes off and danced. Mine are the brown ones in the centre.

Then Eric thought it would be a good idea if we all went for a swim at the beach at 2am. I wasn't particularly in the mood for it, but was eventually persuaded. Catching the taxi back home with wet pants in the wee hours of the morning was an interesting experience.

I also lost my old cell phone at some point that night.

Meet Lee's new and improved cell phone. It has a DMB connection, which means I can watch free television broadcasts on a few different channels. On the screen in this photo there's a Beijing Olympics replay of Park Tae-Hwan winning the 400m.

Soon after the other adoptees left, Marie Fleur, another French adoptee from Seoul came down for a visit. I didn't have much time to show her around because of work commitments. We had a walk around Gwangan and visited this live seafood shop. That's her on the right, with her sister and sister's husband. Live seafood still impresses me to some degree and it's funny to see how the little Korean kids can just pick up an octopus like it's a toy.

Heather and I are going fairly well these days. My only regular teaching duties during the week are on Friday nights, when I head to her branch to teach an upper level reading class. That means I also get to join in their Friday night hwe-shiks (after-work dinners).

Here are the admin staff of the Hwamyeong branch. Heather received a promotion yesterday to the title of wonjang, which is the branch manager. We've both come a long way since our humble beginnings at the old Busanjin branch in 2006.

Near our house there's a small unstaffed amusement outlet. In this photo, you can see two versions of the ubiquitous punching machines here. You put in a coin and get to see how hard you can punch. You also find out how easy it is to sprain your wrist by trying to impress your friends.

Here's Anthony, one of our new additions, in the batting cages. These were entirely coin-operated as well. You just pick up the bat and a machine will launch baseballs at you.

Have you seen the new Star Wars release? It's an animation based on Attack of the Clones. I've always been a big fan of Star Wars and Star Trek, but unfortunately showing an enthusiasm for such things here results in one being labelled a nerd. Jef's definition of a nerd is when someone owns a twelve-sided die (singular: dice). But I don't own one of those.

Yet.

Heather and I found a new favourite restaurant. It's called Van Gogh's Terrace and it's in the Haeundae area near the APEC building. They specialise in particularly good Italian food and French champagne. It's right next to the water and you can see the Gwangan bridge at night. We go down here sometimes for a treat and are developing a worrying affinity for Moet & Chandon.


Most days on the way to work, Mr Segway (as I like to call him) crosses the main road at the same time as me. He's usually crossing at exactly the same time each day. This is the only Segway I've seen in Korea. He seems to like it when people look at him and ask him questions about his device while he's waiting for the lights.

These days I work in the office at our company's headquarters in Dongnae. That's my seat right there in the middle. Next to me is Brandon Na, the human resources director and in this photo he's interviewing someone via Skype. My work duties include interviewing new teachers from overseas, guiding them in and general HR related troubleshooting. I also look after the April English program to some degree.

Here's the CEO's office. We only moved in here a couple of month's ago.

And here's our dear Kelly Park, who left the company last week for greener pastures. She's been working for us since the beginning and would often be found running around to the different branches or the immigration department. She was really good at fixing problems and watering plants. A few weeks before she left, she found a snail on her lettuce and brought it into the office in a plastic cup. Then the cleaning lady threw it away because she thought it was rubbish. Oh well.

The snail had eggs though, which we kept in a different cup. Hopefully they'll hatch sometime soon.

That's all for this time. See you!

Art, Shapes, Daegu

Having reached my 2 years in Korea, it was time to extend my F4 visa at the immigration department. Immigration offices here tend to remind me of the old Centrelink offices in Australia.

Although a little skeptical that immigration could really be that wonderful, I was pleasantly surprised. All I had to do was fill out a form and pay around $30. I sat nervously on the other side of the desk trying to look like a model immigrant while the officer looked at my card. For a while it seemed like he was using his tongue to remove a piece of food stuck in a molar. Then he looked at me and asked me if I'm enjoying Korea or not.
"It's really good here" I replied, not knowing what the correct answer was supposed to be. But sure enough, a few keystrokes later and kabam! Two more years in beautiful Korea.

The thing I like about Korea is that I still find things amusing on a daily basis. I guess I'm still a little immature too.

So anyway, last weekend we decided to take a trip up to Daegu city, the fourth largest in Korea. Prior to this, I had only passed through the city once and that was very briefly.

Daegu is well known for being involved in the art scene. Last weekend in particular there was a special exhibition called Art, Shapes, Daegu. The focus was on art submitted by foreigners living in Korea. Some of my co-workers in Busan submitted some works (Michelle Lynch, Logan Fry and Randall Mosman).

This pagoda was made out of stacked up soju glasses. Now that's what I call fine art.

I must say that I'm not that much of a cultured art critic. Some art I get, and some art I don't. This one belonged to the latter category.

This is what I'd call good art.

'Cept I probably would not buy it.

One of my co-workers at the Saha Branch, Michelle, took these photos in the Middle East. Nicely done Michelle!

This exhibit encouraged observers to crouch down and become immersed in the silhouettes. Heather felt like she was part of an African wildlife stampede.

These two pictures are my attempt at artistic photography. I call it 'Two Photos of Heather and Emily outside an Art Hall and Heather is Sitting, while Emily is Standing."

Pretty good eh?

As dusk approached, we wandered the shopping districts of central Daegu. It was very similar to the Nampodong district of Busan, but a little nicer because traffic is kept out of the area. Clothing in Korea used to be cheap, but these days it's about the same as prices back in Australia.

Daegu also seems to have a bigger presence of foreign restaurants. We stopped at this French restaurant called Dijon to grab a bite to eat. Compared to Australia, there isn't as much easy access to quality international cuisine in Korea. The main reason for that being because Koreans love Korean food more than anything else in the world.

Oysters with melted European cheese, wrapped in char-grilled aubergines.

Dee-ricious!

Slow-cooked duck with apple sauce.

Oh look, here is my second attempt at artistic photography. These two photos are entitled "Waiting for Food - Arrival of Food."

It was a nice quaint little restaurant and away from the busy crowds. We lazed around for a bit and then headed back to Busan on the KTX.

We enjoyed Daegu and it does have its own distinct atmosphere. The roads were more peaceful and there seemed to be a few more trees around the place. Our taxi driver was also very chatty and apparently funny, judging by the laughs of my fellow companions. My Korean still isn't good enough to understand Korean humour. I usually laugh just because other people are laughing.

And last week we also had a training session for April English, the program that I'm partially responsible for. Here are some of the April teachers from across Busan and Changwon city, enjoying their lunch after some morning training. They're a friendly bunch.

That's all for now. Soon I'll be filling you in on the 10th GOA'L Anniversary in Seoul that I just got back from yesterday.

See you then!