This past weekend I...


finally finished the painting i was working on here.


Went to Yeouido to see the cherry blossoms. apparently they only last about 2 weeks. and after seeing them, i realized that this country is so deprived of floral diversity that something that is only kinda neat like the cherry blossoms becomes incredible.

but the yeouido park had a couple of white bunnies running around loose.

the next day i went to itaewon. it's to korea for westerners as chinatown in toronto is for the chinese. it felt weird being around so many westerners. jon wanted to buy a knockoff watch, so we were lead into a back alley shop to view the goods. the guy that served us had a business card. his name was cookie.

there were other fun shops there too. such as this one. look at it up close.

...and we found this genius idea there. "itaewon self-regulating anti-crime unit". i don't know what it means, but it sounds like it would work.
but the real reason to go to itaewon was to see the montreal vs. toronto hockey game. it was a re-run from the morning. and sadly as hard as i tried to not know the score before the game, it didn't work. but horray, toronto won, and they looked like they were headed to the play-offs... and then NY Islanders won the next day and knocked toronto out of the playoffs. so all in all it felt like a wasted victory.

and that was my weekend.

My new vow is to reply to any personal email to me within a week, annnnnd i now have a phone. so i'll extend this vow to phone calls.
My home phone number is 031-816-8999
toronto hours-
Sun. : 4am-12pm, 6:30pm-8pm
mon. -fri.: 7am-12pm, 6:30pm-8pm
sat.: varies, try anytime except for 1pm-7pm

i think i did the math right, i hope that is the hours i'm available if calling from toronto.

This is essentially what my mind feels like. I mean that simply as reflection of too many of my thoughts wanting to be somewhere important. And as they push forward they all lose their place. I'm pretty sure i don't have too much work to do, but i'm constantly unsatisified and fickle about the best way to organize. sigh. the ironic part is that i actually enjoy organization... to an extent.

APRIL FOOLS

i didn't really cut off both my hands in a freak accident.

sdo iiii cccvut oofdff bottthhh nmy hghanmdss oiin asaa fdfreaalk aaccciodetn..,., itttts raleely hhafrerrrdd tto tttyytpoe.

and here i am. and where i go. and anything. i'm not sure. let me get the manual. it's lost amongst the factual. simple things turn complex. complex blurs to simplicity. you ordered a hamburger. you got a nuclear war gift wrapped for the long haul. before the fall we'll see summer. before you go, get me another cola. get me another full one, no more half empty anything. anyway. there is a needle in the hay, i feign desire for the discovery. channels. flip on my side. worried about disgust choking me on my back. coming to conclusions i didn't know i had. maybe i borrow these things like library books. i must have fines. i must have... something.

yesterday's spelling test. the words were:
1. bookshelf
2. stereo
3. picture
4. chair
5.kitchen

puppies for sale on the street corner. it said 70% off(or that's what i assume). but i don't know what price it's 70% off of if it's on the street corner.

information. kinda in a cheesy format, but some things are interesting.

http://www.break.com/index/shift_happens.html

so the video is the product of my 2 days off. i meant to do my whole day, but the editing was taking too long. i apologize for the green words at the top, they're there because the only video editing program i could quickly get was a trial version, and trial versions do stuff like that to your videos. it's times like these that i wish i had a mac.

this is one of those things that i shouldn't mention in case it doesn't get done. but i will anyway. i'm currently trying to make a video of my daily work routine. it sounds boring, but i'll punch it up with special effects.... no i won't. but i'll put a good song on it, and least if you don't like the video, you can just close your eyes and listen.

the problem is, i don't even know if my video editing software works, or even how it works exactly. and secondly, i'm not sure i can put the video on here.

but i'd like to get your hopes high now.

high five.this is chai milk jam i got in japan. i like sharing, or giving away most food things i have. but i think this is one thing that i wouldn't want to share. yum. do you have any items like that?

http://little-people.blogspot.com/

i really liked this. it was quaint.

i avoided watching tv for almost a year, but then i finally plugged my tv in here. sigh. but i only get one english channel, and that is the army base channel. so if i have the tv on, that's the channel it will be.

every commercial looks like it costs about $100 to make; and i'm not sure if any are not geared toward military viewers. 'make sure you have all your documents in order', 'eat at your regiments cafeteria', 'be knowledged about new housing that you'll move to', 'sexual harassment is never acceptable'. The one i find ironic is when they inform the officers that if they speak about any superior officer, or speak about the president with contempt, that is an offense that can have them courtmarshelled. meanwhile, the shows that are aired on this channel, such as the late night shows, they make it almost a nightly ritual to degrade the president.

tonight, dan rather was on jay leno, and dan taught me something about the middle east situation. he said that the opium plant is the number one product in the area. it isn't exactly legal to grow, but no one can stop it at the moment. a lot of the opium is sold in central europe. and this is a very good funding tool for the 'terrorists'. dan told us that if you want to know how the war on terror is going, pay attention to how well the production of the opium plant is being limited.

I've been here exactly 3 months today. this is my calendar i follow. i actually use the other side of it. it looks like this(look below). it's not as pretty but i can write how much i spend each day. it's part of the routines i've taken up. along with reading each night, and doing push-ups and sit-ups. i can do 80 push-ups now. i'm saying this not to brag, but rather because if you are reading this brad, i know that you have always been competitive with me in the sense that i, being your younger sibling shouldn't be more physically able at anything strength related than you. and so if you're slacking on your push-ups, after hearing a number i can do, you will make sure you can do at least the same. you have 5 months to stay fair enough shape to compete with me when i see you next. maybe i should just lie. um, i can do 300 push-ups now.
yes.

i've been intending to post the blogs of all my co-workers, along with a site that they enjoy. but so far i have not gotten to that.

all i can post at the moment is:

malcolm:
furtherfrom.blogspot.com
(the redundancy is absurd)
recommended site:
bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com
also try this one if you like cute:
http://letsbefriends.blogspot.com/

i'm reading 'eats shoots and leaves' right now. it's making me very conscious of all my punctuation. that doesn't mean i will be better with it, i'll just now realize that sometimes people will pick apart my comma placement. actually, right now i'm semi dissecting why i put colons in the above section. but only semi.

i went for a gallery walk today. i now have tuesdays off because of the way the schedule is working. i like tuesdays off. i'd rather have my days off spaced out, and i like a day off during the week when more things like post offices are open, and things are generally less populated.

anyway, before i went on my gallery walk, i compiled a list from online of potential places to go. i left late, so i was very limited on how many i could visit. i wanted to go to the biggest one.

i asked some older guy what subway stop this one location was at, and after much trouble with the language barrier, he figured out where it was, and pointed to it on a small subway map i had. he even wrote out detailed directions to it that i could give to some korean to ask for help. of course the problem was that after he pointed it out, i realized it was on the exact opposite side of town, and i wasn't going to go there. and i felt bad that he was trying so hard to help me out. so i went on the subway anyway and i just asked the someone i sat beside where another closer gallery was.

i found one, it had photography, and it was ok. and i say another that just had a submarine made out of garbage.

then i went to a big bookstore and bought a book of korean expressions. i'm gonna have to start writing them here. they're awesome.


oh, by the way, when i stated that notion of a possible audience of 1 in my last post, it wasn't intended to be fishing for compliments.

ps.(do you do ps's in blogs?) sorry no pictures. i'm in a pc bong.

i don't write here nearly enough.
i don't post pictures nearly enough.
communication motivation is sometimes elusive.
and maybe the idea should be to reduce my standards.
maybe i should write even without exciting stories, or intriguing insight.
i think the internet can get people into a presentation mindset.
it instantly represents an audience, even though the audience may just be 1.
and with an audience in mind it seems it's appropriate to dress up words with poetic phrasing, and pretty pictures.

i don't always have pretty words, and poetic pictures though, or maybe i just don't care to take the time.

anyway, i'm just writing now to fill the blank space of me not writing. and it's somewhat appropriate that the blank space is filled with meaningless words.

i'm in korea right now. adventure on the other side of the world, and i'm writing about not writing.

here, i'll put a pretty picture here.i think all fast food should have clocks like this.

i've been meaning to do a list comparing canada to korea. i don't think i will. but one exists inside my head. i like both places for many reasons. and i dislike both for other reasons.

i will list some reasons why i don't like korea.
-you never know when things are going to be open or closed. hours of operation are optional, and even when they are posted, they're optional to follow. and actually, even when there's an open sign on the door, it doesn't mean the store is open.
-actually, sometimes stores close, and they leave up their store logo and everything. the only reason you know they're closed for good is because you never see them open.
-sometimes a place also keeps up signs, or leaves items on the shelf when they won't sell those items to you. they keep it there because they don't know what else to do with it. it can be very frustrating. especially when you go back a second time to the same store to try and buy the same item they didn't sell you last time; and you try to trick them to sell it to you this time, but no, of course they won't do that. instead they'll just put the item back on the shelf, and say it's not for sale.
-i can't stand the traffic lights. they leave the pedestrians waiting forever.
-the cars try to run you over.
-all the food is either meat, or too sweet. it's not good for me.
-there seems a distinct lack of organization about things.

and those seem to be all the major issues.
so in all consideration, it's not that bad.
-honestly, how many things about canada can you name that you don't like.
-expensive subway(ttc)
-worries about theft/vandalism/murder etc.
-poor work ethic
-there's others that i'm not thinking of, mostly because i'm not immersed in that culture at the moment.

i'll do my list of things i like about each country later.

Ok

So we were told the day before we left that we are going to japan. Amidst the numerous false announcements that we were going, it seemed only fitting that when we finally did go, it was with little warning. Luckily, the other supposed times we were going to go to japan allowed us to be prepared regardless…mostly. I actually didn’t really check out any tourist things, or really anything at all prior to the trip. I let everyone else do that, and when they said what they wanted to do I kinda picked and chose, but mostly just went with the flow. With only 3 days, most agendas you create are considered ambitious. Especially when 2 of those days are mostly taken up with arrival and departure plans.

i wanted to puncuate this list with lots of pictures. then i realized i had too many that i wanted to include, so i'll just put them on facebook instead under the category selected photos from japan. anyway...

So, the agenda was as follows…

-arrived, at the airport at about noon, and even cut in line to enter the country, to the chagrin of others, in order to get to the Korean embassy as fast as we could. We definitely had to get our visa requests in that day for them to be processed before we left.

-the irony was when we got to the area of the Korean embassy, and we met up with someone we cut in front of in line. And I think they got their work visa sooner than us.

-after much searching around the streets, we finally found the hotel we booked online. There’s a lot less English subtitles in japan than in korea.

-our hotel was in a more sexually exploitive district apparently(or that’s what we were told), but the hotel was actually a good hotel.

-finally at 8pm we were settled in, and we met up with a friend of a co-worker. She was a Japanese Korean who’s lived in Osaka all her life. I forget her name. it seems I always forget the names of Asians. I’m sure they have the same problem with us.

-we went to supper, and I noticed that Japanese cuisine is much better about accommodating vegetarians than Korean cuisine. I am a vegetarian in Japanese is watashiwa saishoku-shugisha.

-I wandered around taking pictures the rest of the night. Osaka is a very busy place up until just past 9pm when most things close. its still busy after that, but not nearly as much as before.

-I went back to my hotel and played cards with the others, and then went to sleep on my traditional Japanese bed. It was comfortable except for the pillow that was basically a big beanbag.

-I woke up early because I find it hard to sleep long in new places I’m not used to.

-I got my E2 visa. I’m FINALLY legal.

-I had pancakes at mcdonalds for breakfast which seems like the first time I’ve eaten at mcD’s for over a year.

-we went to Kyoto. And I saw an incredible temple that is actually printed on their 10 cent(or whatever) coin. I was actually very impressed by the historicity. Impressed enough that I bought playing cards from the souvenir shop for $9.

-japanese money is roughly equivalent to Canadian in the sense that 100 yen is about .90 cents Canadian. However they put their 100 yen and 500 yen in these small coins that look like they’re nothing in your pocket.

-after the temple, our group of 8 broke into 2 groups. I was now in a much more manageable group of 3.

-we went to the gates of heaven. It has about 9 gates leading up a mountain. Each gate is supposed to take you a step closer to heaven. We only went up 2 gates I think. so we were only kinda in heaven. There were lots of Buddhist prayer type things along the way. Apparently if there is a big rope tied around a tree it means that there’s a spirit in it. I didn’t participate in, or buy any religious related things because I think religion is a powerful thing that shouldn’t just be tried as a cultural experience. Especially when I believe that it contradicts my own faith. I did however buy a turtle keychain, which I promptly lost, and I’m quite disappointed in.

- we then went to an area that we thought was supposed to be where they geishas were. But it was entirely under-populated, and it was mostly just antique shops we saw. So we finally went in the opposite direction, and tada, lots of people, and lots of traditional looking shops peddling tourist related goods. I tried to buy plenty. Of course I’m not a shopper, and plenty still wasn’t a lot. I saw some traditional really tall wood geisha type shoes that cost over $1000. I didn’t buy them.

-with our ceaseless wandering, all we really had for supper was crepes.

-finally at 9pm we got some Japanese food. Well, it was food from a Japanese restaurant. I had deep fried cheese balls, and a pizza, and snow peas. The pizza was a tortilla wrap laid flat with pizza type things on it. In Japanese restaurants they actually charge you for just sitting there.

-my group of 3 finally went back to the hotel to meet up with the others.

-we couldn’t decide where to go, so we all tried on kimonos and took pictures.

-finally 5 of us just wandered and found a club in the basement of some place.

-there wasn’t many people in the club, but the bartender was from Africa, and we played connect 4 with him all night. He never lost, it was incredible.

-the music was mostly artists like kanye west, but then at one point the Japanese dudes busted out on the mics, and did some live rap.

-we finally went home really late, and just before we went in, jon wanted something to eat. So we went to the shop on the corner and he ordered chicken. We sat and tried to talk to this lady with too much make-up on. It seemed like we were waiting forever. Finally the chicken came, and it costs $22. I guess jon should have checked the prices first.

-I slept pretty soundly that night.

-the next day 6 of us went to an art gallery that was closed. So four of us left to go to Osaka castle. 2 stayed to go to a nearby imax. It is apparently the biggest in the world, but I still wouldn’t want to watch an oversized cinema with my limited time in japan.

-before we got to the castle, another person left to see some other galleries.

-so the 3 of us remaining saw osaka castle. it was really cool. It’s really just such an experience to see these aspects of other cultures up close.

-after the castle, we tried to go shopping. Although one person went to the namba district and me and another went to the umeda district.

-after walking around umeda for 15minutes because we couldn’t find shopping, we decided to go underground to the subway to try and find another area to go. And tada, the mall was underground.

-we were extremely limited on time, and finally the person I was with left, and I was alone wandering an underground mall trying to spend the last of my Japanese money.

-I had so many bags on me from having my big travel backpack, and my souvenirs, so I was tired, and I had to get back to the airport.

-after asking questions so many times I was able to find my way, and I met everyone at the airport in time to leave back to korea for 5:30pm.

-the airport was on a man-made island. Neat. After seeing japan from the sky, I understood why they needed to build it. Every available space was used up, except for the mountains. I’m sure they’ll even eventually need to learn to utilize the mountains more. I must admit japan is one of the coolest countries to see from above.

-the flight was only an hour and a half.

-I got back to korea, and I strangely felt comforted by being back home. I was happy to be able to be understood in Korean again. And it made me really realize how much apart of this city I’ve really become.

-I liked japan. It had an edginess about it that reflected my artistic sense. If you’re not familiar, post-modernism reflects a sort of raw aesthetic. It is about being exposed, and understanding and embracing things with all their dirt and ugliness. I feel I have an affinity for post-modernism. Atmospheres like japan breed new and edgy art styles, because it is so accepting of the latest thing. That’s one thing that appealed to me about the place, granted it carries with it a sense of superficiality.

-the problem is that raw atmospheres aren’t always the most ideal for living in. They just have a lot of character.

-so for now I like living in korea better. It’s safer, and more naïve. Of course this judgment is just based on a very short trip to japan. So it’s not worth a lot.

-one other fun observation about japan is that they love their bikes. These riders are so expert how they weave through people. There’s so many bikes that they need to put bike license numbers on them. And if they’re parked somewhere they shouldn’t be, they could get a parking ticket.

-and that was my trip.

dear blog,

IOU one long blog about japan.

lots of pictures
lots of stories
such an amazing time

look, cartoons for everything. even this door that has ambulances. i guess you have a less anxious nation when everything is friendly little caricatures.


this big rock looks like a whale. i bet that says whale on the side. either that, or do not ride.


i talked to some girls today. it was the funnest conversation i've had with koreans. it was four 17 year olds at church, and they only spoke a little english, but they were really trying hard to communicate. they would do little skits to try to demonstrate what they mean. for example, the one girl was trying to say that she saw me one time at the mall, and she waved, and i just ignored her. so she acted out with her friend how i snubbed her. and i apologized and said that i didn't see her. and then they were describing this one guy, and they said he walks like a penguin, and they demonstrated a penguin walk. and while they did that they said dui doon dui doon. i imagine dui doon dui doon means waddle waddle.

i think i'm going to use that word all the time now. it's good to incorporate useless words into your vocabulary when learning another language.

some pictures of the kids we were teaching.

to the left and ducking is angel. she was the smartest. and she always tried to help. one time some kid was being a brat with a balloon and she took it away from him and said he can have it back at the end of class.

the pouty one is kerry. she liked hitting me, but she was cute.
the bottom picture is self-proclaimed handsome david. everyday he went on about how handsome he was. in this picture i told him to be handsome.
there was another picture i tried to include but it's not here for some reason. and i'm on a public computer, so i can't get it here.

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Life’s for the living, so check me tomorrow. Actually no, but those were the lyrics to the song I’m listening to, and I needed some segway into a topic about life. I was playing it this weekend. Life. The game. Board game. Yes. What else do you do on a long weekend.

Anyway as I was playing I went to university first. Maybe a little reflection of my own life. And then when it was time to choose a career I had to randomly grab a career card. And of course I grabbed the ‘teacher’ career. With the teacher career you get to randomly grab another career card, and through chance I became an artist as well. And thirdly I had to pick a salary, which ended up being $30,000.

Funny,

I’m going to be a teacher, an artist, and the teacher’s starting salary is $30,000. it’s not entirely indicative of my life though. A) I never had kids in the game(which I think I’ll have in real life), and b) I had to pay someone $150,000 in technical repairs right at the beginning. Ugh.

In other news, I’m starting to read Shakespeare, and also, I spent the entire day organizing myself today. At least it feels semi-productive.

Mc Mong
(he's called that apparently because he looks like a monkey)here is a video of his. it is blatant rip-off of 'where is the love' but it's still catchy, and it give you some images of korea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHmDFzLLbfA

1. the start of the video is in a pc bang(bang, pronounced bong, means room). these things are all over the place.
2. the guys that are being all rough, are really about as agressive as i've seen koreans get. which is not at all. it feels really safe walking around here at any time of day or night...except for the really bad driving.
3. the word com-sa-nee-da means thank you, informally(to friends) you'd say com-sa, and to be really polite you'd say com-up-sa-nee-da. the girl in the video uses the really polite form.
4. i forget where it is in the video but you might notice that when someone gives something or receives something, their second hand that is not holding the item is either touching their heart(= really polite), or touching their shoulder (= fairly polite), or touching the inside bend in their elbow(= polite), or touching the hand that is giving the item, or pouring the drink, or receiving the pour (= ordinary polite).
5. finally, at the end of the video mc mong is eating food in a tent. this is a street vendor, and they are everywhere. honestly. it looks exactly like it is in the video, except that you'd see more people in the tent, and the street would be busier in general. probably filled with more street vendors.

some other korean artists that i know of are a guy name 'rain' on his website it says 'more higher, more wider'. and another band named 'in soon i' (i is pronounced 'ee').

thinking things through and realizing that cyclical contains us in it's million arms. i am as i was as i will be, i was always this, but i am always better. it keeps me smarter. it keeps me trying harder to surpass my father and fathers' fathers. to go farther, but really just deceiving myself because i am and will always be something other, no matter which way i spin it. new generations always survive in new contexts that can't properly be compared to the previous thoughts. i never previously thought i would feel as i do, except i always expect to feel contrary to my present tense with each next step. each chapter contained with each chapters rules of format and plot development. i am a story for you to read. i am a thought to be remembered later in nostalgia.

it's valentine's day. so fellas, here's a slick move from the book of justin timberlake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

in the news at my school in korea,
-hairy arms
-getting run over
-japan delayed
-and a crazy game called gostop

hairy arms...
apparently when you wear shirts that expose your arms, and you have some hair on them, kids like to pet your arms like you're a dog, or kids like to draw pictures of you looking like an ape. and it's not mean spirited, because they actually say they love the hairy arms. all in all, it's kinda strange. and for the record, i've never considered my arms to be that hairy. see.
getting run over...
i was afraid this might happen at some point. i mean given the crazy drivers around here that consider cars to have the right of way, not pedestrians, it only made sense that i would get run over at some point. basically what happened was that i've decided to run to the subway station from now on. i like it. but today, as i was running, i made a slight hesitation as i was running across a crosswalk because a car was coming, and that hestitation was enough to throw off my cantor, and it made me twist my ankle and fall. and of course as all good korean drivers do, once something is out of their vision(in my case being on the ground), it means go. and the car ran over my foot. the bottom of my shoe happened to be facing up as i was lying on my stomach, and the guy ran that over. i was ok, and i just kept walking because i didn't feel like telling the guy he was a dope. i'm sure he wouldn't understand anyway.

japan delayed...
yay!, we're going to Japan. yay, the plane tickets are booked. 2 days later... oh, remember how we booked your plance tickets to japan, cancel that. yes, of course nothing happens for us as we expect it to. and i've come to the point where i don't think anything will happen unless it's happening right then. of course we definitely will go to japan, because we need to get our work visas before the march opening of our school, but apparently not yet. we're going to osaka when we go though. so it should be exciting when it finally happens.
gostop...
it's a gambling game that i learned how to play the other night at a work party. then the next night, i bought some go stop playing cards and i played it for about 2 or 3 hours with some friends. and theeeennnn, i found out we played it for 2 or 3 hours WRONG. apparently there was a bit of trouble with the translation when they explained it to us at the party. but it's still a fun game. and now i'm gonna play it right. and if anyone wants, and they're really nice to me, i might buy them gostop cards. but only if you learn how to play properly, and you really want them... and you're really nice. here's 2 sites with the rules.

http://home.comcast.net/~t.sloper/gostop/rules.html

http://www.pd49.dial.pipex.com/pockets/games/hwa-tu.htm

I'm not saying I'm a big prorastinator...well, maybe sometimes. and blogs definitely are not a by-product of procrastination.

but anyway, here's a scientific link about it.

Sometimes there seems to be as many theories on a topic as there are people researching it. Fortunately, over the last 25 years, we have been testing these theories, trying to determine which one works best. Here we review four of the most popular theories of procrastination and consider the evidence for and against them. The empirical evidence comes from a recent meta-analysis, which is a systematic review of the all the literature written on the topic. The theory with the most support is Discounted Utility Theory, which is presented last.

or just go here: http://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~steel//Procrastinus/theories.php

it's essentially the same thing.

i've taken to drinking walnut milk instead of regular milk. i thought i'd explore the milk alternatives. I actually think this is the best tasting one yet. too bad, it's only in korea as far as i can tell. it seems like it should be healthy for me too, although i can't really find anything on the internet that talks about it. i'm one step closer to becoming a vegan now, although i don't think i could give up cheese. it'd mean i'd have to give up pizza. and also i recently bought a 100 pack of cheese slices because they don't really sell chunks of cheese here, and because it's cheaper buying in bulk.

oooo, that reminds me. the day i was grocery shopping and i bought the cheese, i was in this quaint grocery store. y'know, kids in grocery carts and all. and then i noticed the song being played on the radio sounded kinda strange. so i stopped and had to listen to make sure i wasn't just hearing things. and yes, that songs chorus really was 'if you suck ___ put your hands in the air, if you lick ___ put your hands in the air.' and yes, the verse really was a step by step instructional on how to be ultimately slutty in a club, and an instructional for the guys on how to... anyway, all in all it was shocking and hilarious seeing the koreans non-chalantly shop while one of the dirtiest songs i've heard was played on the radio. and it's not the first time. some of those rap songs played in the dollar store are beautiful.

and for no particular reason, here's a picture of jon making a snowflake. he was practicing for when he had a class that needed to make a snowflake.

Car horns in korea don’t just give a good solid honk. They honk, and fade out. It’s kinda funny how it deflates any anger that may have been put in the honk.

And I think most people have a leak in their mouth, because there’s always some gobs of spit around. Maybe it’s a word I haven’t learned yet, but they also often do that horking noise.

I sometimes sit at the end of the hall in my building. There is a 4x5 foot area that is like an enclosed balcony. It is supposed to be a smoke area. I sit here to use the internet, because I can’t get internet in my apartment. I also don’t have tv. Well, I do, but I don’t want it. For some reason I feel like internet isn’t as mind numbing. But I know it still is, but in a different way. At least with the internet I often type things, and I develop my writing skills… I guess. And sometimes I find recipes for pancakes(I know, pancakes are impossibly easy, but I needed to make sure that I wasn’t forgetting anything).

But then, the problem with the internet is that I need to sit out here to use it, and it looks kinda awkward to anyone coming home to this floor.

I just saw 3 girls go into one apartment. I hope they don’t all live there. These apartments are very small. I think I’ve seen some public washrooms bigger. I mean, I like the place, but I don’t think 3 people would be comfortable.

They advertise on doors a lot. I made sure they only advertised on one door tonight. Rebecca’s. hehe. I collected all the ads from all the doors.

I almost forgot, I got a business card today. It was from the new owner of the convenience store in our building. I bet you’ve never gotten a business card from your convenience store owner.

Happy Birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthhhhhhday kim jong il,
happy birthday to you.

GUESS WHAT! it's kim jong il's birthday today. i don't know how old he is, but isn't that neat. what do you get for a crazy dictator that has everything, even a kidnapped director to help him star in his own movies. i think i'd knit him a pair of socks, because that sort of thing comes from the heart, and you can't just buy that. and i'd write on the side of them some funny quip like 'you put the dick in dictator'. and we'd all have a good laugh.

anyway, my weekend pretty uneventful, aside from seeing my friend in Guri. i like his crowd. they're really... neat. it was one dudes birthday. and at one bar we went to there was a song playing in the background. and it was a song i've been trying to find the title for for awhile. so finally i could ask someone. and it's called ice cream by mc mong(because he looks like a monkey). or something like that. it's korean, and it sound like a complete rip off of where is the love. but i think it would neat to get a korean cd.

and the other neat part about seeing my friend is that he gave me a cell phone. now i just need to get a number for it. apparently receiving calls on it is free. horray.

maybe next weekend i'll actually explore seoul a little more.

granted i did go back to ipark, the huge electronic superstore. and i got my money back on an item that didn't come with an installation cd.(and i didn't have a receipt, hehe). and then i bought a new one. and the item is a USB lan thingy. it's basically an external device that allows you to get the internet. i know, i can already get the internet with this computer, but i built a mini satelite dish for the external one so it would boost the signal much further, and i could get internet from my bedroom. but of course i tried it out, and, sigh, it didn't work. so in the end it was still a waste of money.

Money

It’s amazing how easily you can confuse money in a different country. I saw a homeless man on Saturday. It clicked in my head that I really should give him something. My heart goes out to most homeless because of where circumstance has brought them. I could just as easily be there with a slightly altered disposition, and some bad luck. And on top of an abysmal financial state, dignity is taken from them as well. Anyway, so I went to give the guy 2000 won which is equivalent to about 2 bucks. After I put it in, I noticed that my money was a different colour than the other money in his bin. And then I realized that I actually put 20000 won in. and I feel really bad, but I had to switch the money with the intended amount. I know, you don’t need to chastise me anymore than I will chastise myself.

Later I went to this place called I Park. It’s one giant electronics place with tons of different vendors that you can haggle for a price. I found a music vendor in it and I realized I needed a guitar strap so I asked the guy for one, and he said 5000 won. So to get in the mood of haggling I said 4000. and he laughed at me and said ok. I assume he laughed at me because you usually don’t haggle for the little things.

Finally, after a little research I realized I could probably get the internet from my apartment if I just boosted my signal. And this one site on the internet taught me how. I just needed a USB wifi connector. So I found one for 20000 won. The word for this in Korean is ‘ EE MAHN’ . I wanted it for 15000 though, which is ‘MAHN O CHON’ . However I said, ‘O MAHN’ accidentally. So as he said 20000, it sounded like I was bargaining to have it 50000, not 15000. In the end I got it for 18000. And I’m extremely annoyed because it didn’t come with the startup CD that it was supposed to have. So I need to figure out how to make it work without it. Gah.

Other events: I hosted a surprise going away party for Danny(or Myungho, his Korean name). All of us crammed into my apartment, and played some games and stuff. I put my bed against the wall to make more space, and we stole a whole bagful of balloons from work. Danny’s going to Japan now to improve his Japanese. He also has a book deal to write a book about how to make Western friends as a Korean. It sounds kinda funny that this is the book topic, but actually it’s a very valuable subject for some Koreans. If they make Western friends then it’s like a free English lesson. Most Westerners are wary of Koreans being too nice to them, and wanting to be their friend, because most of the time it is simply to improve English. Then there’s a number of westerners that don’t mind because they use the Korean ladies for something else(I don’t think I need to say what). It’s kinda terrible how the system works, and also I noticed that some Korean girls English is still limited. Like the one time I asked one if she wanted some chips, and she said ‘yes yes, that feels good’.

I played guitar at church. And I even got to introduce a song from my home church. It was awesome. And since no one else knew, I just had to belt it out. And then they got me to play it again during offering. So I’ll play it again next week, and then the week after I’ll introduce another song. Maybe by the time I leave I’ll have converted the entire playlist to freedomize songs, and then it will be just like I’m back home… except I’d be at the front instead of singing in the audience. And the coolest thing! I asked someone there to buy me some peanut butter from Costco. And he did. And now I have a huge tub of peanut butter. Except the funny thing was that I left the tub in a room while I went to do something, and someone took off with it. So we figured out who it was, and we chased them done in the car, and tada, I got peanut butter again.

That was my weekend.

this past weekend i went to a palace. the one that the korean alphabet was invented. it wasn't nearly as big as it once was, because warring nations love burning down buildings. but it was still big. apparentally the king at the time noticed that japan wasn't attacking china because they had such big palaces, so this korean king decided to make his palace big too. ya, that didn't work.

the best part of the palace grounds was all the senescent trees. all their limbs were propped up by these metal crutches. it looked really funny.

we also saw a museum and some traditional korean dance. both of which were as boring as you'd expect, but i guess they stilled carried a bit of charm considering they represented the culture.

sadly my camera's batteries died just as i got there, so i don't have any pictures. however i'm gonna steal a bunch from brooke and michelle.

this year is the year of the golden pig. it happens only 3 times a century. everyone buys a golden pig piggy bank, the bigger the better. it's supposed to symbolize financial luck.

here's mine:

based on the size, i'm not counting on too much financial luck. i learned from the museum that this oriental tradition is where the piggy bank came from. it cause pigs had such large litters of piglets and this meant good fortune, and plentitude that they translated into meaning wealth. but i guess pigs would've been a form of currency way back then.

i also had to get some pictures for my work visa the other day. the guy actually photoshopped my face right in front of me. actually it wasn't a bad thing, because i wasn't looking great that day anyway. but i noticed that he kept he kept lightening my skin tone. really white is either an ideal here, or that's just how they view us westerners. the guy also tweaked my face so that i'm smiling more, and he fixed my hair a bit.

finally, i'd just like say, koreans have some pretty awesome entertainment. check it out, you can ride this guy. i'm really not sure what the goal of it is, and now i'll never find out because they took him away just the other day.

i made a list of things to do and/or get the other day.

-calculator

-stamp

-groceries

-basketball

-glue+string

-art design

-journals

-sit-ups

-call home

-headset

-nunchucks

-clean

-learn song

-laundry

-fill out instant games

-read

i showed someone the list and they asked about the nunchucks and the string and glue.

i said that the string and glue were for my antlers. because i was redecorating. i think it's best to use visuals for this.
...and just for the heck of it, here's my stolen chairs. they're so nice. i rarely sit on them though. oh, and the other stuff are my other decorations.

profile#7

Wow, I just keep putting off talking about andrea. The last person I need to write about. Andrea lives in room 647 which coincidentally is an area code in Toronto. It’s easy to remember. I’ve needed to know her room number on occasion cause she’s my church buddy. Her father is actually a pastor, but don’t paint a stereotyped picture of her. She’s not like you think. I’ve actually seen her kill a man with her bare hands because he looked at her cock-eyed. I imagine that expression originated from old-time roosters that had lasers in their eyes, and when they looked at you it really annoyed you just like those laser pointers are annoying at movie theatres. She hasn’t given me the what-to yet. Anyway, she usually walks at a leisurely pace after work, probably because after-work symbolizes relaxation. But the other day she took the stairs instead of the escalator down to the subway station, and she beat all our asses(or for euphemistic joy: bums).

Andrea has probably had the most annoying initial living circumstance out of all of us. Her toilet was clogged. It remained clogged for at least a couple weeks. In fact it might still be clogged. She’s had to use the building’s public toilet. Ugh.

It was michelle’s birthday on Saturday. She’s 28 now. the scary thing is that that doesn’t sound old anymore. Not that 28 should be old, but you know what I mean. It’s one of those small acknowledgements to yourself that you are also getting older. And the world around you is a grown up world now, as much as you try to do stupid things to retain a grasp onto some semblance of adolescent vitality. It’s similar to the transition kids undergo upon entering highschool. They still like their lego and Barbie dolls, but lego and Barbie dolls just aren’t cool in highschool. So these grade 9 kids have a mini-battle in their heads between liking something, and telling themselves they’re not allowed to like that something anymore. And that is the essence of transition stages in life. I may or may not be going through a transition stage in my life. Actually, I know I’m going through a transition stage. But I don’t know if I can specifically characterize what I don’t want to allow myself to like anymore, even though I still like it. Or maybe I just don’t want to admit it in this semi-public space called blogging.

But all of this is wayyyy off track, and for some reason I allowed myself to wander. Right, so it was michelle’s birthday. A bunch of us went to a club in Seoul that mostly caters to wiguks(this means foreigners, such as myself). I didn’t like it. I don’t really like clubs, but I didn’t mind dancing that night. If I go to things such as clubs rarely enough, than I’m fine with them. The reason I didn’t like it was because it felt strange being around so many wiguks. I don’t know how to explain it exactly. I think maybe it’s that korean’s behaviour is more predictable and more polite, and less showy, and less ‘look-at-me’. And maybe it’s just that you adapt to where you are, and when there’s so many foreigners around you don’t feel like you are in that place you adapted to.

But again, I’m off track. My whole intention was to talk about karma police. This guy told me that he didn’t pay enough upon exiting the subway(I don’t feel like explaining how the transit works right now), and so the subway security came over to him. When they saw that he was a foreigner that didn’t understand Korean, they just said forget it, and walked away. So on our way to the club, I hopped the turnstile into the subway, and of course no one stopped me. And I thought I was genius, or badass, or something. Later that night when we left the club, we had to take a cab home because the subway was done for the night. Now here’s the tricky thing none of us noticed, the cab driver didn’t put a meter on. When he dropped us off he charged us $40(except in Korean of course). None of had taken a cab before, so we begrudgingly paid it, not knowing if it was a typical price or not. We found out the next day that it should only cost $20. so anyway, the karma police found me, and made me pay for cheating the subway.

I guess I should also watch my back, because I took a couple of chairs from a restaurant/café patio that night… and a milk crate too.

Almost Profile #7So I was gonna write about this girl from alabama today. But she just quit. this a picture of her walking out the door on her last day. i won't take up any more time talking about her since she isn't even a coworker anymore.

instead i'll mention some fun korean stuff.

1. most double doors in korea swing both ways, but the label on the handle always says pull. and also one of the two doors is usually always locked for some reason.

2. i saw a whole kitchen crew at a restaurant line up and give each other massages at the same time. apparently koreans sometimes pump themselves up before they start work.

3. this is awesome:
it's a cup that has chicken nuggets at the top, and your drink at the bottom. the guy doesn't actually serve this, but he still keeps the picture up for some reason.

So I’ve been blogging about my coworkers. And there’s 3 left to write about, but I don’t have pictures of them right now.

So I’ll refer to my notes.

Work 7days…

Koreans work very hard. Like 7 days a week hard. That’s why you see a lot of them falling asleep on the subway(sometimes on your shoulder. Gah.) I read that one thing to do to combat culture shock is to become a regular at some place. And it works extra good with these 7day a week Koreans. Sometimes they’re the only one that works at a particular place, and so you’ll only see them if you go there all the time. I have 2 regular spots so far. I’m working on 3, maybe 4. one spot is a pizza place, and one spot is a taco place. And at both spots I think it’s only one person that works at either.

Dukboki

(pronounced: duck-bo-key)

This is the food served at my third spot I’m working on becoming a regular. It’s this chewy pasta type stuff served in a spicy red sauce. It tastes really good, and it’s really spicy even when you tell them only a little spicy. And sometimes the two girls that work at the place laugh at you while your nose is running, and you get the hiccups because it’s hot. And sometimes they bring you a glass of pineapple flavoured milk because they think you’re funny. Actually I’ve only been to this place once. But like I said, I’m gonna work on making it a regular place.

Residence…

This is soooo much like residence in university. It’s awesome. The size of my place isn’t that much bigger either except with the addition of a bathroom and a small kitchen area. Also, I don’t have tv or internet in my room, just like when I was in res. And also there’s a number of other teachers also in the building that I can call on, just like res. And also I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s almost useless eating at home because I’ve went grocery shopping a number of times, and I’ve still barely found anything quick, and substantial to eat. Besides which, eating out is cheap.

Long end to words…

A peculiarity to Korean speech is that it’s considered friendlier if you extend the last part of your words. For example, thank you, would be like ‘thank youuuuu’. Everyone does it.

No F, No Sh, No V…

There’s no f sound or sh sound, or v sound in the Korean alphabet. So it would be ‘puck you, you sit head, you have a bagina’. Also, there’s a number of letters that aren’t distinctly pronounced as one particular English letter. For example, there is a letter that is a cross between a ‘g’ and a ‘k’. one letter is a cross between a ‘p’ and a ‘b’. one letter is a cross between a ‘ch’ and a ‘j’. one letter is a cross between a ‘t’ and a ‘d’, and one letter is a cross between a ‘r’ and a ‘l’. there was one Korean that went by the name ‘landy’ for 4 years. Then some westerner asked how’d he choose that name, and he said it was his favourite baseball player. Landy Johnson.

DVD Bong…

Bong means room. You go to one of these to watch movies in your own private screening. I went to one tonight, and it was pretty neat. There was a couch/bed thing we laid on and watched the brothers grimm on a movie projector. I could imagine that those rooms are serious make out rooms though….or worse.

No correction food…

If there is a mess up on your food, don’t expect them to really fix it, they don’t like wasting the food, or time. For example, I got bacon bits on a baked potato so I sent it back. They clearly just scraped off the bits and brought it back. There was still a whole bunch of bacon bits around the potato.

Korean kid ass gun…

Bratty Korean kids think that putting their hands together in the shape of a gun, and trying to shove the thumb part up your bum is funny. For some reason it’s ok to do that as long as your hands are in the shape of a gun.

Advertising…

Maybe it’s because they don’t tape flyers on polls that instead they just drive down the street throwing loads of paper advertisements on the ground. I’ve also seen cars with giant blow-up tubes slightly blocking traffic to advertise. I also like the cars driving around with loud speakers. And my personal favourite is the 50 flyers taped to my door every time I get home. No wait, I got an even better favourite. There’s this dude that yells out constantly something in Korean(probably ____ for sale). I can hear it for several blocks and he reminds me of a drunk dude I saw during frosh week at york. Winter’s college at york would go around to all the other residences at 2am during frosh week and just sing them songs. The one time there was a drunk dude that followed them and just started chanting by himself, HEY-OOOO, WINTER’S BLOWS NUTS!!! And so winter’s college adopted this as their own song they sang all the time. Anyway, the advertising dude sounds like the drunk dude.

Ice cream…

Koreans like ice cream year round. I walked by a baskin robbins last night when it was still very cold out, and the shop was full with people.

Ok, that’s enough(or more than enough for now)

If I could just catch it, just hold it like a fly in my hand. Maybe then I could crush it or smother it or swallow down. I could face everything if it were in its right place. square my corners, seal my box with tape. But no reflex can be conditioned to lose any inconvenient moment. No flavour wanders too far when it’s left to ferment for so long. Like wine, the good is the bad all rolled into one. It’s an acquired taste that I’ve never reasoned out. But the flies seem to like it enough to drift around.

Profile#6This is Chantel, and Jon, and waterjug. They're the couple...except for the waterjug, he's only around for the 'riding the bucking bronco' game. see how jon stares at chantel lovingly. and see how chantel is distracted by a puppet show with pink bunnies on LSD's. jon proposed to chantel earlier this year... no wait. i don't know when he proposed. and i don't really remember how. and neither of them are around to help me out. but apparently they like each other enough to do this crazy couple adventure of teacher together in korea. neat. they're both from ottawa. jon really likes the montreal canadiens. chantel likes artsy stuff, like theatre. it's a wonderful stereotype. the sports loving guy, the cultured girl. they're nice people though. not that they wouldn't be because they like sports and/or theatre.

jon and chantel live in a different building than me. so we don't hang out that much outside of work. actually, that's a funny notion, because i don't really call on the people that live in my building all that much. i called on rebecca last night, because i wanted her to tell me how to make this korean food i brought. of course, i still screwed it up. but as a constellation, she lent me some spongebob dvds. yes, i wrote constellation, not consolation. i think it's funnier this way. MAN! could you imagine a spongebob dvds constellation!!!

jon just came in the room a second ago. i said i was writing about him and chantel. he pretended he was saying what i was writing, 'i give them a week'. man, he's such a funny guy. CRAZY. yes, i'm yelling. imaginary yelling.

Profile#5


This is Daniel. He's not really as badass as he looks in this picture. And Daniel isn't his given name. He adopted the name as his english moniker because he was in the American military in Korea, and he had a friend named Daniel. He's never lived in an english speaking country, but his english is really quite good, and his japanese is alright too, although i suppose i wouldn't be able to tell. He sometimes uses english slang, and it's really funny. i use danny a bunch. translate this, translate that, paint my bedroom... ok, i don't ask him that. my bedroom has wallpaper on it. He taught me the korean slang, shi gin ee day. it's sounds like begin a day, and it means it kills. you say it when something is awesome, like a hot girl, or some cock fighting. hmmm, i wonder if there is any cock fighting around. Danny is in my group for groupwork. On the side he privately tutors japanese girls, but i'm still doubtful about the tutoring part. he asked me if i wanted to chill with him and his ladies one weekend, but i had other plans, and like i said, i'm not sure about what he calls 'tutoring'. i wouldn't actually be tutoring though if that's what it was, because i'm legally not allowed.

Danny is taking off for japan in a month to live there for a year. it'll be sad times, but i guess to be honest time never stops and we are constantly moving on somewhere. everyone is. and i myself will be leaving here in around 7months, but i can't think about that yet. time can't exist to me yet. it'll ruin me if it exists too soon. i like it here anyway.

...and that's danny. i like him... not like that.

Profile #4
This is Brooke, she's from australia and she arrived just the other day. she's the one that didn't want to eat the squid head because it was gross, so she ate another part of the squid that she didn't know what it was. and then we told her that what she ate was actually the squid head. she was in china last year. her boyfriend is working in england. she calls cotton candy fairy floss. she's always cold because she's from a warm part of a australia. and usually a girl that's cold is good for guys such as myself, but i don't want to hit on her. she thought geese standing on the frozen water was neat.

i was supposed to post this blip about brooke yesterday, but i got busy, and i didn't have time. ...that sounds kinda funny saying 'i got busy'. right, so i would ask brooke some other fun things about her, but she's no longer in my group(therefore, she's not in the same room). apparently my group is too flooded with awesomeness, and more awesomeness found in brooke would just be overwhelming. that's why she had to move.

so i guess i'll make up the rest about brooke. brooke once shot a missile launcher, and blew up a bridge. it was awesome. she was sick in the hospital when she was 6, and she went temporarily blind. that experience taught her to value bats. she has a pet dingo back home.

and that's brooke.

ha, i fail terribly at taking pictures. there's something about the imposition of it that makes me uncomfortable. maybe that's why i prefer abstract images, or maybe myself as the subject. actually, no, i'm sure i prefer myself as the subject because i'm ego driven... ok not really. anyway, in remedy of my anti-tourist approach to korea, i will force myself to become a photographer by creating photography days. these will be theme days that need to be fulfilled much to the same capacity as i fulfilled the scavenger hunt. there's something about a challenge that stirs one's heart.

so far my themes are as such:
-bad grammar(believe me, this is funnier than you think, take a look at www.engrish.com)
-corporate art (i don't know if it's all of korea, or just my area, but there is A LOT of this stuff. and despite the negative connotation that some may derive from the title 'corporate art', i think it's alright)
-cartoons(cartoons are everywhere, and used for everything. i even saw some cartoons used for the police station)
-food(yum. lots of gross fish. last night this girl brooke had pasta with seafood. there was squid in it and she made sure not to eat the one part she thought was the head but she ate another part. shortly thereafter, we told her what she just ate was the head, so she just ate the whole thing. i guess her aversion wasn't that strong)
-architecture(mostly typical buildings, but i'll find something)

that's what i have for now. i think i need more ideas. i just bought a calendar, so i'll mark those picture taking adventures on it, and then i'll add more later.

oh, by the way. new years was good. i went to three bars. the last of which i ended up in because of a fit of indecision and self-preservation. maybe self-preservation is too strong of a phrase. i'm pretty sure i wouldn't have died if i had gone to the other option. i just would have gotten home at 4am, and i was already tired. so i watched new years on a big screen in a bar. seoul city hall had music and junk. there was a band called 'in soon i'. i think they're big or something, but so far i haven't been able to download any korean music. that's ok, i like my indie scene anyway.