Happy Sol Nal - The Year of the Rat

Everyone knows the familiar pop of champagne bottles and storm of party horns when the new year hits ... we thus chime in what the international world has adopted as the desired way in which to record the illusion of time - in accordance with the solar year. However many countries, including the Republic of Korea, also recognize the traditional calendar based on the lunar year. Beginning February 7th it was no longer the Year of the Pig, but the Year of the Rat. The Sullivan staff was given three weekdays vacation in order to celebrate - also joined with a weekend. Nice! A few of us decided to spend some time whippin' the slopes into shape ... or maybe the other way around.

My body ached to ski this year, and as Korea is approximately 70% mountain, perfecto! We stayed in a very decent hostile for 11,000 won a night, but it was the lift ticket and rental that squandered us. Yongpyong was a running candidate for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and only lost to Vancouver 53 votes to 56. It is nothing in comparison to the hour-long runs of the Rockies, but it most certainly served its purpose, and there were an immensity of grins. A few pictures to share I have... (The latter are of a temple location in Seoul that Mia and I visited this afternoon - Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung.)

A gondola granted access to a more advanced portion of the mountain, but it was 15,000 every time you wanted to go back and forth. We opted nay...but were just as high up.

The ski lodge smelled exactly like any other I've been in back home (nostalgic even...), despite them serving fish stew and kimchi jigae (spicy pickled-cabbage soup) - I was amazed!

The longest run was 1650 meters (not pictured), which took about five minutes of constant skiing to maneuver all the way down ... not so bad.

With the hat, vest, and plaid scarf she belonged chopping firewood in Wisconsin :)

A gathering of adjoshees (older men) was but another chance to expose my lankiness to the world.

Jeongjeon: National Treasure No. 227
"The main hall, which is the central building of Jongmyo, had enshrined the spirit tablets (a marker indicating where a person's spirit dwells) of the four ancestors of King Taejo in the early Joseon era, but later the spirit tablets of the four ancestors (great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, father) of the current reigning king, as well as the spirit tablets of particularly virtuous kings and queens were enshrined here. Ancestral rites were held here for those whose spirit tablets were enshrined here ...
... The architectural style is simple, but it is the longest independent building in Korea. It is set atop a platform of long, shaped stones, and exhibits dignity and solemnity as a shrine building."

I wish I knew the name...

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Wintertime

The night Max wore his wolf suit...

A Little Seoulful All Hallows' Eve

Originally I had Nikolai Volkoff in mind (peruse Croatian professional wrestlers), but settled for something more befitting my stick-like stature. "Very nice!" All in all, I really just wanted to utilize the mustache, or maybe sport the short shorts...ha.

Borat...and Joe as "God's Gift to Women" ... yehus!

Halloween in Seoul is as eclectic as you can imagine - a scantily clad Adam & Eve, Dr. Bunsen & Beaker, Frank-N-Furter, dwarfed 80's rockers, the game Operation, a fully transformable Optimus Prime (which won the costume contest), and my favorite for the evening - a dancing, axe-wielding, Swedish chicken...classic.

Mee mee...

Not only wearable, but functional...eeexcellent!

Jasmine and foe...

Mia as a human-canvas...it worked well until a random "Jodi" decided all space was taken outside of the center of Mia's face...ha ha!

Scary...



the Borat dance

The following work week, Sullivan School celebrated Halloween as well...first with kindergartners, and then after-school kids. I spent most of my time scaring the bejesus out of the little guys in a haunted house that we set up in the studio. Aside from my incisor puncturing through my lower-lip, everything went frighteningly swimmingly (a mishap with the Boogie Man routine...). We had games, pumpkin carving, seed roasting, costume contests, and the mandatory trick-or-treating. A hell of a lot of work, but a nice break from reality none-the-less.

Marie was good enough to rent costumes for us. There's little to choose from in Korean costume catalogues, as Halloween's not that big here - superheroes abound! Muscle suits are loads of fun though...

My Dolphin class and co-teacher Grace (my favorite is evil Andy looking through his even more fiendish-looking stave)

Scare tactics led to attacks of yon knight, the accursed-caped vampire, and the too-happy-to-fight Power Ranger.

Batmans!

Light Up the Dark

As the summer months now have cooled, I've been considering where my time has gone and what I've accomplished here, aside from listlessly traversing the boiling humidity. I had been so absorbed for so long with setting up and executing my experiences that I hadn't actually stopped to consider where I would be right now. The changing seasons joined with a recent brief but meaningful email from my good friend Amanda have left me renewed - a broad field again in focus:

Little fields have big fields
Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And big fields have bigger fields
And so ad infinitum.

Fall approaches, and it's as though Seoul is a new and different place, alive with a gathering crispness that only autumn can reveal. There is nothing more agreeable, more pleasantly seasonal, than to walk without haste or particular purpose through the streets of your neighborhood this time of year. Until arriving, ginkgo and persimmon trees were an unfamiliar sight - they now contribute well to my latest appreciation for "urban diversity meets nature's tranquility." (Persimmons, by the way...meh!)

Anyway, without further ado...
Ten things I've learned thus far in Korea:

1. I've successfully learned to teach kindergarteners.

2. I've learned that kindergarten teachers are tough SOB's! (So yeah... how does that work then? Number one is directly proportionate to number two...yep.)

3. Korean toddlers are probably the cutest in the world.

4. Let's bend the last one slightly, shall we? In my opinion, Korean kids (just past the ridiculously cute stage) are more obsessed with the sphincter than any other children on the planet! [the shortened version: they play a game with their fathers called "Dongchim (dohng-cheem)," which literally means "feces-poke" or "shit-spike," and involves a sharp two-handed jab to one's rectum. And yes, I am often the victim of such underhanded attacks...pun intended].

5. Health and dental care is staggeringly inexpensive, and very good. (If you need a heart transplant, brain-surgery, root canal...travel to Korea.)

6. Going out to eat is ridiculously cheap, convenient, and gratifying (there are restaurants everywhere and a meal is a meal...emphasis on mmm).

7. I can efficiently survive with the Korean that I now know (and can read and write).

8. Don't inhale! (Seoul's air quality due to pollution is poor, as you can imagine, but there's also seasonal yellow dust to help complicate all things respiratory...)

9. You can make a lot of money here! In fact I'm slowly realizing just how much... With a bachelor's degree, the opportunity to be an English instructor, private tutor, college professor, conversationalist, voice-actor, editor...really all things English, seem to abound. Most jobs pay well and provide housing and insurance, so your income is actually doubled in a sense. Serious bank my friends...

10. As easy as it may be to bring home said bacon, there's no difficulty in watching it rapidly disappear. If you are where you live (...what you eat?), then being in Seoul is definitely like being in a cliché. Take the money and run...outrun spending it.

A summertime revisit:

This blogging business hasn't been what I had intended, but I can bring it back in segments...

I didn't have the Porcupine Mountains this year (indeed worthy of sizing up to anything), but I did have one of the greatest summer vacations right here in Korea. A co-worker and I were spending an idle afternoon in an eclectic cafe' in Hae-Bang-Chan, when we suddenly decided that it would be best not to waste our time off in Seoul, but rather exploring a remote lake in central Korea that we had chanced upon in an ubiquitous Lonely Planet guide. We left that evening from the closest bus terminal and made our way to what we assumed was Chungju...with an "ung." Instead we arrived at Chongju...with an "ong." We had absolutely no idea where we had ended up, so we began walking, and thus our meandering respite from reality began.

We did eventually make it to Chungju Lake, after hopping on another bus, and were able to explore an amazingly beautiful countryside. All in all, our evenings were spent first in an internet cafe', next a high-end hotel, and finally a ski-lift operating booth at the top of a mountain that we climbed at four in the morning. We saw some incredible things and met some even more incredible people. It really opened my eyes to how hospitable this country can be...and how intriguingly remote.

Funny side-note: we dropped by an international hostile in hope that we'd find a cheap room, but were turned away because of a Christian youth conference that was being held there. No room in the inn...Jesus is in the hooouse!

Chungju "ung" Dam...a taxi took us from town to here, then we walked to the lake itself...

Chungju Lake...the pictures don't do it justice

In my defense, a lame instrumental cover of the Titanic theme song was jacked through the speakers on the ferry. Okay, my defense is flawed...still guilty of being pathetic.

If I had the choice between carved wooden statuettes and Josh's doltish effect to ward off evil spirits on my property, I'd most definitely have to take dumbass...ha ha!

After being marooned in the rain under a gazebo, two families stopped to offer us food and beverage, and then a ride to a nearby resort/hotel. After an exhausting day, it probably still is one of the best meals I've had in Korea... (daeji galbi - marinated pork or beef grilled served wrapped in red-lettuce or sesame leaves with garlic, bean paste, kimchi, and rice...)

View from the hotel room the second night - from what I understand, the white orb in the middle of the lake is some kind of light show that I was too tired to take in...

A vacations not a vacation...

Road trippin'...

Take to the low road...

It's going to be a fun winter - we've already got a skiing trip planned for January!

The view walking down the mountain sometime during the last morning - exhausted, dehydrated, wondering what exactly we'd been thinking forgetting to bring water...but the panorama made up for it, and then some.

Damsels...distressed

This small town was well-known for its pheasant, and was an oft visited tourist spot. It was also our place of departure...good times, good times.

I'll begin there...

Ending-notes:

I received acupuncture for the first time today at a nearby clinic in Apgujeong. With my insurance card it cost me 6,500 won (seven dollars). I'm pretty happy with myself :)

I'll also leave you off with some pictures and video from Seoul's International Fireworks Festival that is held every year in mid-October. This year's theme was "Fireworks that Light Hope," and the Korean pyrotechnic team was joined by Japan and the United States. I love fireworks. I am fascinated by them, and have seen many in my time, but nothing compared to this. I was thoroughly impressed! To give you an idea, the building that you see is Seoul's place of commerce...the 63 building...Seoul's tallest - dwarfed by the titanic display (there I go with that titanic crap again).



Finale full-screen



USA full-screen

Different Drummers and Dreamers

Well...time passed, as time passes, and I'm left with a great many things to report, but before I do, a dedication is in order.

To Kathryn Caroline Van Straten and her many Seoul sounds:

As many know, my sister visited Korea sometime near the end of June before leaving for Japan this midsummer. She spent twelve short days dancing along with the rhythm of the city, and I couldn't have asked for a better sojourn from reality. My mind was set free... And let me tell you, while Seoul continues to paint a glorious picture daily, and meeting new and wonderful people of the world never becomes tiresome, while a city of 14 million people fails to exhibit boredom, and the opportunity for discovery trickles from every stream and brook, what they say about missing someone after they've gone is true. Where they used to be, there is a hole. Void. Empty. I do miss my sister.

But, instead of trying to string the events of her time spent into a coherent narrative, I'll bring the beat like this - imagery.

Seoul Sista! (arrival in Incheon)

Not gonna lie...Kate was used (willingly ^^)

Ssshhh! Waygook speak not on the subway...just smile and look foreign.

Kate has an anime fetish we're trying to exorcise..."out foul Hello Kitty demon, out!!"

A taste of home @ Gecko's in Itaewon

First shisha...note the creepy Shaun expression in the background.

...and just because this picture is great - M M M Morgan!

Mt. Inwansang


Myawng (reflection)

Korean Folk village

She even declared independence from Japan before going there...nobody oppresses Kate! (all in the name of preventative measure)

...and remember folks, Korea is not the place to find ice-cream

EndNote: My hands quiver in the shadow of paranoia as I sit here confounded...confounded as to how. How do constituents of the "crimson guild" wedge through such impassable spaces unobserved? How do the blood-sucking bastards derive such evil magic? How, I say?! So swings the wanton pendulum of battle between seemingly balanced rivals - the incessant scream of little wings, the misdirected swat of flailing appendages. Ssshhh! There it is again... "aawWWW, C'MON!!!," muffled enough to ensure Jasmine's ofttimes fragile slumber in the next room. Pure ridiculousness. I need a damn bug-zapper! "The only good mosquito..."

(Early on I was told of Korea's notorious mosquito infestation during the summer months & monsoon season, but not until recently since the sky's been dumping consistently has it ever been this bad. I wouldn't be so mad if the air in Seoul was clean enough to allow your skin to heal, but as is, parts of my body look like they're revisiting oily adolescence. Enough said - Wisconsin, I miss your regenerative elegance.)

Kate...I love you!