Ultimate Tournament- The Great Gwangju Uprising: Battle for Jeolla

Gwangju is the pink bit

For my last weekend in Seoul, I was fortunate to have timed it right for a final ultimate tournament in the South West of Korea. Gwangju took almost 4 hours to get to by bus, through the rice paddies and mountains along the coast. Gwangju is most famous for the 1980 Gwangju massacre, in which hundreds of Korean students were killed by army forces suppressing a pro-democracy demonstration. It remains the forefront of the democracy movement in Korea, and has a thriving youth population. We played at the beautiful Chonnam University fields.

This was a hat tournament, which means that each individual signed up and then was randomly assigned to form teams. New players had the chance to learn more about the sport, and experienced players got to mix up the roster for a bit. 

The groups were well matched and the games were fun. The weather also managed to hold off on raining for most of the weekend! 

It was great fun spent with great people. I'm going to miss playing ultimate frisbee in Korea!! 

Teeth Whitening at the Dentist

This week I went to Tuft Dental Clinic in Gagnam to try another (relatively) cheap Korean medical procedure: dental whitening.

I was encouraged by friends who had been to this clinic already that it was fast, easy, painless, and moderately priced...Plus the end results were stunning!

So I booked my appointment for a morning before work. They told me to take a couple of painkillers before in case I had some dental sensitivity.

When I sat down in the chair, the first thing they did was a quick cleaning. Then, they  painted a seal at the edges of your teeth and gums to protect gums from the whitening goo. From there they painted the liquid on to your teeth. I knew how strong the stuff they were using was because she got some on my gums and immediately it started burning. This is where things started to go downhill.

This is my torture

Then they put a little blue light in front of my teeth and told me to relax for 30 minutes. The first 5 minutes were okay; my gums were still burning a bit from when she got the acid on them but she had cleaned it off. Suddenly, I felt a shocking sharp shooting pain in the root of a  tooth on the bottom that I know is sensitive. It stopped as quickly as it started so I tried to move my head back to the light and continue. A few minutes later the shooting pain came back worse than before, so bad that I started to have tears in my eyes and my heart was beating really hard from the shock. I tried to alert the nurse and tell her, but obviously my mouth was open and it was hard to talk. Then the shooting pain came back again, and in another tooth. It was turning into a torture session.

In the end I was a crying mess, slapping the blue light away and telling the nurse to take the acid off my teeth. The tried using a "weaker whitening agent" on my teeth only to have writhing  in pain and begging her to take it off. In the end I left traumatized, in pain, and W200,000 poorer. My teeth were whiter, though. Was it worth it? NO WAY

My advice: If you have any problems at all with sensitive teeth, NEVER get your teeth whitened... It was top 2 most painful experiences of my life.

Never again!!!

Boryeong Mud Festival 2011

This past weekend, 6 of us rented a van and drove southwest to the coastal town of Boryeong. Every summer this vacation town hosts a massive mud festival which attracts hordes of Koreans and foreigners alike to relax on the beach and indulge in the skin softening "beneficial properties of Boryeong mud"

We arrived to torrential downpour at about 11am, but the party had already started. Concerts, games, mud wrestling, body (mud) painting and muddy carnival games were packed. We set up our things on the beach, then bought W5,000 wristbands to gain access to the muddy playground.

By the afternoon the sun was shining and the mud pits were packed. It was great fun but unfortunately the lines grew waaaaay to long to stand my patience. I did one mud slip n' slide (after waiting for 20 minutes) and then spent the rest of the time having fun. Overall a great experience!

Word to the wise: WEAR SUNSCREEN! mud does NOT stop you from getting burned. Learned that the hard way :(

Click here for the official website: Boryeong Mud Festival

Post rain-storm

Running into friends

Beach Crew

Real Muddy

Prepared to get splashed with mud

My name is in a magazine!

I came third place in Goove Magazine's Konglish of the Month!

"Konglish" is a mix of "Korean" and "English", generally referring to the hilarious and poorly translated messaged you sometimes see around Korea. 

Groove magazine is a great foreigner magazine that is published every month. Check it out here (http://groovekorea.com/)

Finally got Sick: First Experiences with the Korean Medical System

I got my first bad cold in Korea. It started with a super bad swollen gland on the left side of my neck.. not a sore throat. To be honest it really felt like strep throat. With less than 2 weeks before I fly home for the holidays I decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and trudged down to the International Clinic (aka English doctor's office) in Itaewon.

I called in and was given an appointment immediately. Already impressed.

In the doctor's office, I arrived a bit early and was admitted immediately. They took my insurance card and information. Doctor gave me a strep test.

Even a dummy like me can't screw this up!

While I was sitting in his office I noticed a brochure for "live-blood analysis" for W130,000($114CDN) . It is something that family members have done in Toronto through a naturopath, with helpful follow up analysis and impressive results. Korea has the cheapest medical care I have ever seen, so I threw that into the mix. They said no problem, and took my blood.

After the nurse did all the testing, they told me to wait outside, read a magazine or relax for about 10 minutes while they ran the test. The had a testing lab IN the doctor's office.

Strep- negatory. Just me being whiny over a bacterial infection. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics in cool individually-sealed doses and I was on my way.

Unfortunately while I was paying on the way out the receptionist informed me that my insurance had been cancelled ( I paid too late, my bad... This is since been resolved). I pictured some nightmarish medical expense that would be impossible to pay. The actual amount? For the doctor's fee, lab testing, and live-blood analysis, my total came to W170,000. Considering W130,000 of it was from live-blood analysis, I was impressed!

So that is my take on the Korean medical system. Impressive. There is a reason they have a special designated "medical tourism" industry. It's quick, cheap, and safe. Hooray!

Korea Attack: Yeonpyeong Island Shelled By North Korea Nov.23, 2010

Yesterday I was doing my daily checking-facebook-between-classes and I noticed that many status updates from other teachers in Korea were links about North Korea attacking an Island near the disputed border between North and South Korea.

I've included the story from Huffington Post below, and will try to give the general mood in Seoul. My coworkers seem unfazed, and my boss seems dismissive of the attack. When I asked her if she was nervous, she explained that this sort of thing happens every few years, and it is just North Korea trying to get some attention. 

Everything was business as usual for the day, though by the time I found out at 4pm yesterday, I had only one class to go and was antsy to get home and read more news.

The Canadian Embassy sent out a message stating that they have not issued any advisories for Canadians.

So, as much as the news sources back in North America may be throwing around some pretty scary words, things seem to be back to normal today.

Keep sending good thoughts to the Koreas, though!

Today's violence, which saw dozens of shells rain down on their homes and set more than 60 buildings on fire, is the most serious act of aggression against civilians from Pyongyang since the bombing of Korean Air flight 858 in 1987. It was the first artillery strike on South Korean soil since 1953.

All over the news yesterday

As plumes of black smoke billowed from the coastline of the island, South Korea moved onto its highest peacetime emergency footing, returning fire on North Korea and scrambling F-16 fighter jets to the scene.

Yeonpyeong Island, which spans just three square miles and was once claimed by North Korea in the 1970s, has always been a point of tension because of its location near the Northern Limit Line, the sea border between the two countries.

Around 1,600 people live on the island, mostly fishermen drawn by the rich surrounding waters, as well as a garrison of 1,000 South Korean sailors.

The residents are used to acts of North Korean aggression. In June, North Korea responded to joint military drills by the United States and South Korea in the Yellow Sea by firing 130 artillery shells towards Yeonpyeong Island. However, only ten of these actually cross the Northern Limit Line and none caused any damage, landing in the sea.

Note: Incheon is where the International Airport is located

Today's attack also appears to have been in response to military exercises in the vicinity. "We were carrying out naval, air force and army training exercises and they seem to have opened fire in objection," a military official told YTN, a South Korean television station.

The attack came as Stephen Bosworth, the United States envoy on North Korea, departed from Seoul for Beijing. Mr Bosworth is attempting to find a consensus to restart the six-party talks between China, South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and North Korea on the rogue state's denuclearisation.

It also comes as North Korea prepares for a change of leader, with Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il, widely expected to take over from his 68-year-old father. Analysts have noted that the last handover of power in North Korea was also accompanied by a series of aggressive acts intended to strengthen the new leader's relationship with the army. An internal power struggle in North Korea, between hardliners and reformists, is also thought to be underway, and could have sparked military action.

The attack, coupled with the unveiling over the weekend of a new light water nuclear reactor, equipped with a startlingly accomplished array of centrifuges, underlines North Korea's continuing intransigence in the face of international pressure on it to disarm and cooperate in a peace process.

Eight years ago, the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong saw 13 North Korean sailors and four South Korean sailors killed as gunboats traded fire across the Northern Limit Line. The 85mm guns fired by the North Korean ships were loud enough to rattle the windows of residents on the island, according to news reports. Three years before than, a further 30 sailors died in the first battle of Yeonpyeong.

Picture of Yeonpyeong Island

Aware of the precarious situation of the island, South Korea maintains one of its newest class of "patrol killer" guided-missile ships, designed for close-range naval skirmishes, nearby.

Meanwhile, the island itself is equipped with 19 fully-stocked bomb shelters, into which panicked residents fled today. Lined with tank traps and trenches, it is permanently ready for war, and residents conduct monthly air raid drills and keep gas masks in their homes.

South Korea has often speculated that the North will attack Yeonpyeong in order to strengthen its hand in any negotiations with the West.

Today's attack, however, coming after the sinking of the South Korean Cheonan warship with the loss of 46 sailors, may tip the tensions between the two countries over the edge. However, there are few immediate military responses available to the South. The North Korean gun posts which opened fire today are well-entrenched, and difficult to attack.

Dinner with Jan

On Friday I went for dinner with my cousin Jan and his girlfriend at his place.

He had invited several other people to dinner, including a friend of his, Junsu, who also happens to be one of the members of famous K-pop group 2PM (see their wikipedia page). During dinner, he put a photo up on twitter of the group, which had pages and pages of comments within minutes!

I don't really know anything about k-pop, but it was a pretty cool night!

http://twitpic.com/386svn

Happy Pepero Day!!!

While most of North America knows November 11th as a time to remember those who bravely fought for our country, things are a bit different here.

South Korea has unofficially adopted Pepero (빼빼로) Day. Pepero is a cookie stick, dipped in
chocolate syrup, manufactured by Lotte Confectionary (The Lotte brand is basically the high-end Walmart of S. Korea). Rumor has it, a few years ago people started giving gifts of Pepero sticks on 11/11 because it looks like four sticks lined up. Now it has begun a massive Pepero buying frenzy (extra large pepero sticks, pepero boxes shaped like a heart, pepero gift boxes, etc) around this time each year. Sort of like a Valentines Day, except only one company stands to profit!

Every year, 55% of the annual Pepero sales are made for this November 11th "holiday". While the company denies starting the annual event, it DEFINITELY promotes it.

I have no complaints. Arriving at school, I immediately received two boxes of Pepero, one box of ferro rocher chocolates, and a cookie/chocolate from my students.

So from me to you, Happy Pepero Day!

My First Visitor! Sarah in Korea

On October 23 I had my first visitor arrive in Korea.
She will be here until November 8 (With a big celebration for her birthday on November 5! woohoo!)

My friend Sarah has been travelling the world these past few months. She arrived to me having visited Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Germany, and then is continuing on from Korea to travel to Hong Kong, Japan, and back to Spain. Wow!

It's been the perfect opportunity to see the touristy side of Seoul that I kind of skipped when I first arrived here. So far we've visited various neighborhoods in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung palace, Seoul Tower, and eaten at many Korean restaurants!

Here is a picture at the palace. We were supposed to get a free guided tour, but we were late (naturally) and missed it. Wandering around cluelessly, I noticed a sign saying "free dress-up"... YES

Energizer Night Race 2010 with Adidas

The course (run through a zoo)

On Saturday night I hopped on a subway bound for Seoul Grand Park, where the Energizer Night Race 2010 was being held. This 5km race was held in the dark. Your race kit came with a reflective running shirt, a reflective bib, and a headlamp. The course ran through a zoo at night and, due to inclement weather, in the rain. It was AWESOME. Apparently we ran by wolves, and bears, but the only animals I saw were goats :(

The race also reminded me how out of shape I was.  As soon as I crossed the finish line, the chip on my shoe registered my time, when then automatically got sent via text message to my cell phone (again, AWESOME) telling me that my finish time was 37 minutes. Oops!

Me wish my headlamp, poncho, reflective bib, and "participation medal"

I decided from that point that the only way to continue to feel the need to run was to keep entering in more races so I have something to train towards. The next race it looks like I'm signing up for is over Halloween (10km), and then one in mid November (10km). It's time for me to get back in shape!

Temple Vegetarian Cooking class at O'ngo Food Communications

On Saturday I trotted off to a cooking class for vegetarians. I was very excited and a little nervous because a) I love to eat, but b) I can't cook. Like nadda. Toast, pasta, microwaves are where its at for me.

Watching the cooking demonstration from an expert

Grating some potato for the pancakes

Tada!! The finished product

Things we made (From left to right): Soybean Paste Stew in homemade vegetable stock. Potato Pancakes with Dipping Sauce. Shitake mushroom and Kelp Jorim. Nutritious Stone Pot Rice.

1. Vegetable Stock
• Water 3C
• Kelp 2pieces dried (4inchx 4inch)
• Shitake mushroom, dried 2each
• turnip 60g(2oz)
• Carrot 20g(.7oz)
• Spicy green pepper 1 each
• Spicy red pepper 1 each
1. Clean the kelp with a damp towel
2. put all the ingredients in a pot and bring to boil
3. when it has a light brown color, take the kelp out. put aside for side dish.
4. after 5 min take the mushrooms out. keep the mushrooms for side dish.
5. strain the stock
2. Soybean Paste Stew
• Temple style stock (we just made it) 2C
• Tofu 50g
• Zucchini 30g
• potato 1/2 each
• enoki mushroom 20g
• soybean paste 1/2tbsp
1. Wash all ingredients and cut the vegetables and tofu into bite size pieces
2. bring to boil the stock and put in potato first. After put in soybean paste and other ingredients
3. cook your soup until vegetables are done
4. put the enoki mushroom on top
3. Shitake Mushroom and Kelp Jorim
• Shitake mushroom and kelp (used for vegetable stock)
• Sauce:
• soy sauce 1 1/2tbsp
• sugar 1tsp
• sesame oil 1tsp
• sesame seed, crushed 1tsp
1. Slice shitake mushroom and kelp
2. make sauce and set aside
3. stir fry the mushrooms and kelp
4. put the sauce in the pot and reduce until vegetables are well coated
4. Potato Pancake
• Potato 100g
• Flour 1tbsp
• sesame seeds 1/2tsp
• pinch of salt
• Dipping Sauce
• soy sauce 1tbsp
• vinegar 1/2 tbsp
• pinch of chili powder
1. Grate the potatoes into the bowl
2. mix with flour and sesame seeds
3. season with salt
4. pan-fry with vegetable oil
5. serve with dipping sauce

It was absolutely DELICIOUS, and I think I will try to make it again soon. You should try it, too. YUM!

Seoraksan National Park

Took a bus from Seoul (can you find it?) to Seoraksan  (top right)

On Sunday September 19th we took a day trip to Seoraksan National park. Here's a little blurb on it that I pulled off of google. Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in South Korea (and apparently the most beautiful in autumn). We decided to climb up Ulsanbawi (울산바위), which I think was one of the easier climbs, which took us just over 2 hours to get up.

Ulsanbawi (울산바위) is a rock formation in the Seoraksan national park. The shape of Ulsanbawi is unique in the area. To reach the rocks you need to follow a hiking path and climb over 800 steps (it's actually 888 steps according to locals). On the way there, there are two temples and a spherical rock (Heundeulbawi, 흔들바위) which is located on top of a larger rock.

Me with a GIANT Buddah

As you can imagine, 888 Steps does feel as bad as it sounds

Made it to the top! Too bad none of the leaves have changed colour just yet.

Demilitarized Zone & North Korea

First stop on the tour: A train station they built (Dorasan Station) a few year back with a big hooplah and ceremony dedicated to uniting North and South Korea. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan, and the train station, still fully functional, has remained unused for years.

The inside of the train station. I would have wandered further in but they don't let you past the turnstiles!

 My first view of North Korea! It is also North Korea's first view of me. See the they guy on the steps looking through binoculars? Awesome!

The standard picture of me throwin' up a peace sign in front of North Korea. The blue buildings behind me are UN conference buildings that straddle the border.

We were allowed in the blue building. We could even walk into the North Korean side! After a few minutes, we noticed that the North Korean guards had come REALLY close to the building. The guard in the picture above is literally 3 feet away from the South Korean border.

A picture of the South Korean guards in the building with us, with the North Korean soldier outside. I don't think they come this close to the border often, so people were keeping an eye on them.

Suddenly more soldiers starting lining up outside the window. This is the point where our tour guide started getting nervous!

When we were escorted out of the building we could see that they were giving a couple of North Koreans a tour of the Demilitarized Zone! 

After South Korea erected a large flagpole on their side of the border, North Korea retaliated by building a flapole almost twice as tall, with a flag that is something like 30m long.

We were also told that, when looking through binoculars, one can see that all of the buildings around the flagpole are uninhabited; in fact, the "windows" are simply black pieces of wood nailed into the cement walls.

Standard touristy shot.

Chuseok: My first (of few) National Holidays

The next couple weeks are going to be pretty jam-packed, and I couldn't be more excited.

Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) runs from September 21-23. Yes, that is a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And no, my school chose NOT to let us off easy and give us the monday or friday off.

What Chuseok is supposed to look like

After hearing that everyone usually clears out of Seoul for the holiday, we decided to plan a fun-filled few days. So The plans are as follows:

Friday, September 17: My BIRTHDAY! 

Saturday, September 18: Getting as close as we can to North Korea on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)!

Sunday, September 19: Day hike in Seroksam National Park

Monday, Sept. 20: Work

Tuesday, Sept 21-Thursday, Sept 23: DeokJeok Island (guided hikes, beach time, etc)!

Friday, Sept 24: Korean Vegetarian Temple food cooking class!

I'll let you all know how it goes :)

Typhoon Kompasu

Today I lived through my first typhoon!!



TYPHOON KOMPASU



forecasted as: "A typhoon is expected to directly hit South Korea, with heavy rains and strong winds forecast for Wednesday night and Thursday, as it moves northward toward Jeju Island on Wednesday."


Well, this morning I woke up to nothing but the sound of strong wind outside my window. It was about 5 am, and the noise was deafening! The halls in my building are lined with windows and they were all open and whistling. Doors slamming, building swaying. 


I was obviously WAY too excited to go back to sleep so I stayed up and watched the storm for a while... fences blow down, hard rain, and insane wind!

At one point, the doors in the hallway that lead out to a public balcony slammed so hard the glass smashed (see picture). Note that I am on the 11th floor. I can't imagine what it looked like on ground level with stuff blowing around and trees falling over!


I tried to take a video showing how strong the gusts were, but it didn't do the storm justice. After about an hour I got tired and dozed for the rest of the morning. When I woke up again at 7:45 the storm had passed.


An exciting way to start a day!!

Cars in Seoul

Cars in Seoul. I don't get it. There is always traffic, there is so much pollution... and yet, they have the BEST subway system. there are literally hundreds of subway stops throughout the city and surrounding suburbs! Apparently there is a bit of a car culture here. Everyone has one, and they are all jamming them into the smallest parking spaces.

The actual street

I even saw my first car elevator! You know, that ferris wheel for cars to get stacked vertically? It was AWESOME (and at the hospital where I got my registration card sorted out... I'll be getting my card it in 10 days or so!!!)

I have learned a couple funny things about the car system here. The first lesson I learned while climbing an impossibly steep hill heading to a friends apartment. The streets leading up the hill to the apartment are super narrow (about the width of a car and a half) and steep (the cement is scored so that you can get a better grip while walking up).  Yet cards are parallel parked all along the way up and down it. So I wondered : How do cars pass up and down when they arrive or need to leave?

Turns out every car has a sticker on its windshield with the phone number of the owner. If you need to get by, you call them on your cell phone and they come out and move it. That would suck for the person at the top of the hill trying to get down!

Not the actual parking lot

The next weird car thing regards underground parking. I was in a car with my boss (for registration card) and she went to park underground. Trouble is, the lot was full. I noticed right away that cars has parked perpendicular to the cars in parking spots. Again, I had to ask her: What do the cars in the parking spots do if that have to get out?

She told me that they leave their cars in neutral when they park in the aisle- if a car needs to get out, it is their job to push the other cars out of the way. I immediately pictured one of those tiny old Korean ladies pushing 3 sedans out of the way to get her car out. Strange.

And still, everyone here has their car in a city that doesn't seem ready for the volume. Subway works fine for me~!