full moon

A Saturday night began, waiting for plans to be confirmed by text message. This is the trend in Ulsan, texts over phone calls. I was sitting on a bench in Geongeuptap and a friendly voice to my left asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English". I replied with a smile and chuckle, "No, what do you want, how can I help?" Charlie sat down and we talked for at least 20 minutes before we decided it was sensible to go indoors, it was around 5 degrees Celsius outside. He in turn jabbed me about taking so long to reply to a text message about possible club plans that night. Charlie is a new recruit teacher from England and has a similar dry sense of humour. I have a feeling we'll be good friends. We shared first day stories and compared our... *ahem* Angel students.

A short taxi ride to Muegodong, the University pocket of the city, took us to a variety of choice for those wanting to meet other people our age. We hadn't walked for long before I ran into a friend from school, a lovely Korean woman Jeannie. She has just finished dinner with a friend of hers, Guk Jeon, and they decided to join us for drinks. Long story short, we had a fantastic time and I made two new friends by chance. This marks my favourite night in Korea to date.

Today I explored the Ulsan Park walking path which featured an outdoor exercise station at the top and further on, some odd stationary machines I will photograph later. The air was fresh and the changing leaves were beautiful and reminded me of thanksgiving walks at home with my family. The sunset was magnificent and the moon came up bright orange at 5:50 against a purple sky due to pollution I'm sure. It was a brilliant day rounded out by a Church concert my colleague invited me to listen to. The refreshments afterwards were tasty and the old ladies were very kind to me. Children as usual greeted me with enthusiasm; treating me like a theme park mascot in a fury suit with a giant head. I don't think that will ever change.

silly kids

Today was particularly cold and students were all bundled up. There is no central heating in the hagwon, only oscillating fans. One of my mid-day class students asked if they could borrow my down vest after I took it off. Ten minutes after the loan, he had somehow managed to get his head stuck out of the arm hole and needed help escaping! Meanwhile, on the other side of the class, two boys had locked themselves into their coats, arms inside, and lost their balance falling backwards. Class erupts in deafening laughter. In my last class, the students remembered I mentioned playing guitar and singing with them. We learned the chorus to John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and I hope they are just as transfixed with the verses.

korean wedding

My co-worker's wedding was this weekend and THAT was also curious.... I mean interesting as in "what just happened? That was ridiculous..." a euphemism I use frequently here. I showed up, with my boss who was kind enough to help me and another colleague get there, gratis. We were greeted by the groom, Hoon, who was wearing a grey polyester reflective suit, white gloves and white face make-up. My greeting was "Wow, Hoon you look great!" We sat down in a hall to eat together, as we do in Canada, only no chairs or shoes present. The food was all home-made and people were friendly. Time was passing and one of the guests from our school, Se Young, left all of a sudden and the director explained he had another wedding to go to. hmm. I noticed it was almost 2:00pm, game time and suggested we should go. My director calmly said, "It's okay, there is no hurry..." I still had some food on my plate. We eventually made our way to the door at about 5 minutes after and it was difficult for both of us to find our shoes. I started to wonder did someone take my shoes? Mr. Park made his choice but said "I think these are mine, but I am not sure." Comforting words for me as I continued to look for my shoes. With protected feet we walked up the stairs to see the "oldest church in Korea...100 years old". Inside it was, very new looking, perhaps renovated. There were many people in the back of the church standing and talking. The noise was so pronounced that If I closed my eyes, it could have easily been a bar in Seoul. I could just make out the back of the bride getting ready to walk down the isle and could faintly hear the wedding march processional on piano peeking through the roar of the crowd. There were still many people eating downstairs. Many of the people in the back were in Middle school uniform; the bride was also a teacher. The bride reached the altar and the ceremony began, the audible conversation in the back also continued. Banners not unlike those of Emmy awards showing the couple's portrait hung on the wall behind the altar; I'm guessing they were 10" x 20" in size. The live photographer often got the couple to change their position during the wedding and took the liberty of lighting some candles on the altar to improve a shot. Maybe he had a white belt in the priesthood and this was one of his duties. It was maybe 25 after and my Director turns to me and says: "Maybe we should go." I looked surprised and asked, "now... you don't want to stay and say congratulations? Is that normal?" "Yes, that is normal" he replied, “We said hi when we arrived.” Thus, having only seen the back of the bride and not hearing much of the service, we left. It took me 90 minutes to get there and we spent maybe 20 minutes in the ceremony. To my directors credit, after dropping off Vicky he shared, that leaving was not normal and that we would have stayed. His mother was sick and his whole family was at home waiting for him and he needed to be there. I thanked him for telling me and assured him that it was okay. This is testament to how generous a person he is, a truly selfless man! While I was at the wedding, a friend of mine text messaged me and told me that plans to play in a pub as part of a pick-up band had changed, he was hung over. ahh Korea.

This morning I visited one of Ulsan's 12 tourist attractions, a Cave. It wasn't really a cave, more of a tourist site made from an old Amethyst mine. Inside there was an acrobat show from China and hard candy to buy. They had an Egypt, New Guinea, Alien and evolution exhibit. I could not figure out what the theme was. These were all on the paper mache or inexpensive hurriedly made plaster mould level. Hilarious. Despite amusing display, I did learn that some tribes wear long horn shaped hallow cones on their genitals, reason unknown.

Recently I bought a bicycle and rode it all the way from Ulsan City along the high way with no issues. The ride was about an hour and my boss thought I was a little nuts. On the way I noticed that my gear shifter was loose and I stopped at a gas station and using hand gestures to communicate, borrowed a wrench. The rest of the ride was smooth and exciting with large transport trucks politely giving me more space as they passed on the busy high-way.

I hurt my back a little in Tae Kwon Do class and am having a little break but expect to go back. I trade notes with my Master which my director translates, a pretty hilarious form of communication,. Sometimes there is no time to plan in advance when I need to explain important things such as: "No, I am not cool with you popping my blood blister because I am pivoting before each kick. What if there is a virus on the needle you want to shove into my foot. That is not very safe. No I don't think your culture is dirty, it is simply not hygienic...my open wound on this floor is asking for infection..."

My quartet met for the first time for a full hour as a group of four and not three. We actually don't sound too bad. Our first gig is in Busan, an hour south of Ulsan and Korea's 3rd largest city, is going to be a mix of Classical Western music and some Korean folk music arranged for string quartet. It should be... interesting. Following our weekly rehearsal, we enjoyed dinner together near Ulsan University in Muegodong.

the orphanage

This weekend I was invited to play with children at an Orphanage in Busan, Korea's third largest city. A church arranges transportation to Busan and those who go have to get themselves back to Ulsan. The adventure involves playing with children for a few hours, eating a meal and then exploring the city before the last bus leaves... The chance sounded horrid so I immediately decided it was perfect for me.

I met some friendly strangers turned friends at the church and was helped there by a cab driver who asked me if I was Christian. I lied, and said a little bit, wanting to not get him angry or confused having asked to go to a church and not actually being Christian. Although his English was very good, I did not think it was a good time to get into a broken English conversation about my spirituality. It could have also resulted in a long way there. He proceeded to tell me that he was a little bit Buddhist after I noticed a beaded circle near his stick shift. Similar to the one my Director has in his van, I found comfort knowing that someone else is sort of spiritual and was smiling. He was very proud of his Korean / English cue cards and got me to the church on time.

The ride to the orphanage involved a two hour stop in the city where a small group dove into the busy streets marked by small carts with food to sell. This included fried donut surprises of a multitude variety, filled, plain and a myriad of dried fish. We found what I did not think existed in Korea, an enormous used clothing paradise. Until Busan, I have had absolutely no luck finding used clothing. We did not have enough time for me to find a winter jacket and I could not decide on buying a used scarf for 5,000 won, around $5 CAD.

We got to the orphanage and the last driveway was extremely steep. The night before I was imagining a place different from what we found. The only thing similar was a large sunken play ground. The children were adorable and were very glad to see us. Some were eager to kick a soccer ball while others just wanted to be pushed on a swing. I was nursing a sore back, my kidney region got pulled in my last Tae Kon Do session and I was in no shape for an intense game of soccer. One of the other volunteers had brought some face paint and I stationed myself around a very crowded table and began to carefully apply animals, flowers and fruit to children’s hands and faces.

It was pure magic. Faces were calm and very serious until the mirror was turned towards them and they could see their new temporary face. The smiles were wonderful and only until dinner when I could talk with some of the other adults did the situation hit me… none of these children had families. Stories were varied, some came from large families where there were simply too many children. Others I imagine were abandoned because they were girls, unable to take care of an elderly mother and father; the duty of the first born son.

The children were also very very well behaved. Compared to the kids I teach, these little people were angels. I felt lucky to be part of their day and am looking forward to going back on the next trip, about a month away. A new friend captured some photos and I will be sending them to the orphanage if we can get the address. The food was delicious, especially the honey / herbal tea.

Back in Busan we took advantage of the time and returned to the used clothing treasures. Lisette found a great sweater and I found a brilliant black down coat with sleeves that actually fit! All of the dress coats were missing about 8 centimeters so I didn’t push a lower price than the $20 asked of me. We gorged on fried vendor food from potato chips on a stick, pork/crab meat/egg on a stick wrapped in batter and pineapple… on a, you guessed it, stick.

A full day left me tired and ready for bed. Chamber music today was cancelled because our violinist was sick. It is a shame that he text messaged me only 30 minutes before we were supposed to begin; a message I didn’t read until after I got out of the cab. On the bright side, I was able to spend time with Dong Jin and her friend who shared a Korean / English lesson with me over green tea, Americano and Mocha chino. A massage and groceries to finish the day and dinner at home with my first brown rice tasted in Korea.

Remembering the soldiers who helped fight for Canada’s freedom.

29/30 birthday

In korea when you are born you are one year old so as a foreigner there can sometimes be confusion about age. According to my Lonely Planet travel guide: "...Women can get married at 16...men [must]...wait until...18. Age of consent for sex (outside of marriage) is 18. 20 to vote, drive, purchase or consume alcohol and cigarettes..." So a woman can get married at 15... awesome?

I woke up for an otherwise regular work day on friday 2 November and showed up at my school. I was awkwardly asked to join another teacher in an empty classroom, something we never do and I knew something was up. Unfortunately for the secret keepers, they sent me away with someone who does not speak English all that well, yet, and the small talk was - it wasn't. I was walked back down a hallway and greeted by a staff room full of young Korean children and co-workers with a cake and candles. They sang a version of happy birthday after giving me a birthday hat and then I blew out the candles after being tackled by the 3 foot tall animals. Before I was even close to holding a knife, fingers were already going at the icing on the cake in healthy quantities and I laughed and laughed.

After class was over for the day, the teachers attacked the left-overs with ... chopsticks! I captured some photos on a timer over the course of about 10 minutes... That night I met some friends in Ulsan, at a long table in the University town. There, a new friend Dong Jin, violinist in my new string quartet joined a rowdy bunch of Waegooks. David was celebrating his birthday the next day and Michelle was on her way out of the country; much to celebrate. A tradition I was introduced to was smearing cake on the face of the special guest, in this case guests.