Did you know that astronauts and spaceships that are in orbit are actually in a perpetual fall? They're falling around the earth. They're travelling at enough speed that their fall takes them around the curve of the earth. That's what being in orbit is. And that's why there seems to be no gravity. There is gravity, but everything is falling at the same speed.
If you could throw a ball fast enough (over 8000 meters/second) the ball's fall would align with the curve of the earth and it would never hit the ground! It would be in orbit!
This is what I learned today in my middle school physics lesson on gravity. Hopefully, this is what my students learned as well.
Changing the subject; there are a lot of people on this small peninsula. Did you realize that Korea has 14 million more people than Canada, while Canada has 9 884 950 more sq km of land than Korea? I was reminded again about this major difference between Canada and Korea this past weekend. I went for a run in what I thought was a secluded area outside of the city. On the way I saw a group of at least 100 kids and their parents, around 30 ajummas all decked out in their colourful walking attire, a whole other village, and when I thought I finally found a trail all to myself, I ran into a good sized rice farm. It's hard to get away in this country. I didn't realize how lucky I was growing up with the quarry behind our house.
I'm in need of a good sleep so I'm going to leave it at that.
Thanks for reading.
Go Canucks.
Michael
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Scooting Through Southeast Korea
The warm weather has arrived and this past weekend a group of us made the most of it. In the process, I went off-roading on my scooter in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
The story starts the weekend before when two friends, Kory and Alyssa, joined a group of Korean motorists on a trip to a place north of Pohang. They enjoyed the trip so much they decided to organize a group to go camping in the area that they had gone. I hadn't heard about their trip (foreshadowing) but scooting and camping sounded great to me, so I joined. Note: Kory and Alyssa have full sized dirt bikes, not scooters (more foreshadowing). Here, actually, is a selection of the motored vehicles on the trip.
So we headed out Saturday afternoon, late as was to be expected, travelled down the highway for a ways and then turned off onto a side road. One of the few things that Kory had mentioned before the trip was that, on the way, we'd be going up and over a mountain. And here's where you need to start picturing how great this was. So we are scooting through the countryside and everything is green - trees, grass, rice paddies - such a stark contrast from the city. But even greater of a contrast was the smell. For the first time in a long time I could smell nature clearly. Scooting through this experience made the beauty and smell all the more vivid. Then we head into the mountains and we start climbing, following the switch-back road higher and higher, a little worried that our scooters can handle the climb. Little did I know what was to come (further foreshadowing).
We reach the top and we cruise down through the trees and into the valley. And this is where the surprise happens. The concrete road stops and becomes loose gravel, which I wasn't expecting but apparently others were, so on we go. After the first couple of minutes of cautiously trying to avoid pot-holes, washboard bumps, and larger rocks I start to think that this portion of the trip isn't temporary. What's more, as we get further down the road, it's condition gets worse. At some points I am going down hills, bouncing along on sizable rocks, and doing all I can just to keep my 'bike' underneath me. I hardly noticed the beauty that we went through because my eyes were glued to the spot two feet in front of me. And let's not forget, this is a scooter I'm riding - a scooter made for city roads - the occasional pot-hole, well ok, but not a rocky path recently hewn out of the mountain. Of course, Kory and Alyssa are having a great time, buzzing past us on their dirt bikes.
Eventually we made it through, but not without some bumps, bruises, and bitterness. The next task was to find and set up a campsite - and there weren't a lot of options. We had come out into a narrow valley between some sizable cliffs and most of the space in the valley was taken up by the road and a rocky, meandering river. It was an awesome place, but not a lot of grassy areas for a couple of tents. At first, the only flat place we could find was a rock bed beside the river. It might have worked, but it would have made for a very lumpy sleep. Fortunately, we met a small group of older foreigners who showed us a much better spot next to them. Pretty soon the tents were up, we had a fire going, we were jumping in the river, and the anxiety over the trip had vanished.
It was great to be camping again. It's one of my favourite things. I didn't sleep the best but I was lucky that there was room in someones tent for me - I had imagined myself under the stars (which might have been ok except it got really cold overnight).
I stayed for most of the next day and then decided to head home in the afternoon along with another friend on a scooter, Jenn. Our trip home was equally as epic as the ride there.
We had all started out with full tanks of gas, happy that that would be enough to get us there. But once we'd arrived, I soon realized that it would be hard for us to find a gas station in the secluded valley we were in. My fuel gauge was just about on the E and I had no idea if I had any kind of reserve. But Jenn and I headed out with high hopes that it would work out. Of course, we were taking an alternate route home, decidedly not braving the mountain pass for a second time, but also a little unsure as to how our new route would work out. We had gone a little ways when we came to a fork in the road with a sign pointing in the directions of places unfamiliar to us. We asked a man if he could direct us and told him about our fuel dilemma. He looked at our fuel gauges, winced, and communicated to us that the nearest gas station was 8 km away but he didn't think we'd make it. We had no choice, we had to go for it. The road took us up another mountain and the whole time I'm picturing my scooter sputtering and dieing at any moment. We made it to the top and coasted down the other side just hoping that there would actually be a gas station in the village we approached. There was, yay! We filled up and headed back the way we came, pretty sure we weren't lost having come across a more helpful sign along the way. Without the worry of running out of gas at any time and with lots of time to get home, this ride through the mountains of southeast Korea was one that I will remember for a while.
The road took us to the top of a higher mountain from which we had an awesome view of the surrounding area. Then down into the most beautiful valley on earth. You have to picture it because I didn't get a photo: scooting along with green mountains rising up on both sides, rice paddy after rice paddy along both sides of the road, farmers standing in their wet fields, possibly harvesting their first crop, quaint little homes here and there, a steady river running beside the road and occasionally crossing underneith, and such a wonderful smell. It was a great moment.
I'm hopeful that there will be more adventurous trips in the future.
Monday was a holiday - memorial day. And what better way to spend it then on the beach.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
The story starts the weekend before when two friends, Kory and Alyssa, joined a group of Korean motorists on a trip to a place north of Pohang. They enjoyed the trip so much they decided to organize a group to go camping in the area that they had gone. I hadn't heard about their trip (foreshadowing) but scooting and camping sounded great to me, so I joined. Note: Kory and Alyssa have full sized dirt bikes, not scooters (more foreshadowing). Here, actually, is a selection of the motored vehicles on the trip.
 |
| Kory's bike. Notice the large shocks. Perfect for rough terrain. |
 |
| Lance's 450. It's a nice bike, and not perfect for rough terrain. |
 |
| Megan and Jenn's 125cc scooters. A lot nicer than mine. But still scooters. |
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| My 125. Not real pretty. I like it enough. But certainly not because it's perfect for rough terrain. |
 |
| The group |
Eventually we made it through, but not without some bumps, bruises, and bitterness. The next task was to find and set up a campsite - and there weren't a lot of options. We had come out into a narrow valley between some sizable cliffs and most of the space in the valley was taken up by the road and a rocky, meandering river. It was an awesome place, but not a lot of grassy areas for a couple of tents. At first, the only flat place we could find was a rock bed beside the river. It might have worked, but it would have made for a very lumpy sleep. Fortunately, we met a small group of older foreigners who showed us a much better spot next to them. Pretty soon the tents were up, we had a fire going, we were jumping in the river, and the anxiety over the trip had vanished.
 |
| The cliff beside us. The river where we swam is in that crevasse. |
I stayed for most of the next day and then decided to head home in the afternoon along with another friend on a scooter, Jenn. Our trip home was equally as epic as the ride there.
We had all started out with full tanks of gas, happy that that would be enough to get us there. But once we'd arrived, I soon realized that it would be hard for us to find a gas station in the secluded valley we were in. My fuel gauge was just about on the E and I had no idea if I had any kind of reserve. But Jenn and I headed out with high hopes that it would work out. Of course, we were taking an alternate route home, decidedly not braving the mountain pass for a second time, but also a little unsure as to how our new route would work out. We had gone a little ways when we came to a fork in the road with a sign pointing in the directions of places unfamiliar to us. We asked a man if he could direct us and told him about our fuel dilemma. He looked at our fuel gauges, winced, and communicated to us that the nearest gas station was 8 km away but he didn't think we'd make it. We had no choice, we had to go for it. The road took us up another mountain and the whole time I'm picturing my scooter sputtering and dieing at any moment. We made it to the top and coasted down the other side just hoping that there would actually be a gas station in the village we approached. There was, yay! We filled up and headed back the way we came, pretty sure we weren't lost having come across a more helpful sign along the way. Without the worry of running out of gas at any time and with lots of time to get home, this ride through the mountains of southeast Korea was one that I will remember for a while.
The road took us to the top of a higher mountain from which we had an awesome view of the surrounding area. Then down into the most beautiful valley on earth. You have to picture it because I didn't get a photo: scooting along with green mountains rising up on both sides, rice paddy after rice paddy along both sides of the road, farmers standing in their wet fields, possibly harvesting their first crop, quaint little homes here and there, a steady river running beside the road and occasionally crossing underneith, and such a wonderful smell. It was a great moment.
I'm hopeful that there will be more adventurous trips in the future.
 |
| The view from the top of the mountain. It reminds me of the mountains of Costa Rica. |
Monday was a holiday - memorial day. And what better way to spend it then on the beach.
 |
| And Tanya brought a feast. |
Michael
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
I had a kindergarten student last school year who I hadn't seen since March. She's small, quiet, and super cute. But despite her timid nature she has a way of making an entrance when she comes in the classroom. She's often late, so everyone notices her come in. Always, when she opens the door, she leans forward with her weight on the door handle, exhales deeply and then trudges into the room looking a little confused and uncomfortable with all the attention. I had forgotten about this until she returned to our class this week. So it's Monday and we're in the middle of learning the vocabulary words for our new story when, unannounced, the door opens, everyone looks over, and in staggers little Calla like she had just ran a marathon and isn't quite sure if she's in the right place. It made my week.
In other school news, I have 2 new students in my kindergarten class. But these students are different. I've talked about Pohang's soccer team before - the Steelers. The Korean league that they are a part of only allows for each team to have three of four foreign players on their squad. On the Steelers, one of these players is a guy from Ghana who just joined the team at the beginning of the year and has been a big part of the Steeler's success this season.
Well, one afternoon late last week I was surprised to see a 'Pohang Steelers' team van parked outside of the school and more surprised to see Derek Asamoah, this Ghanaian soccer player, and his wife in the office. I wasn't sure but I thought that the only reason he'd be in our office would be to sign his kids up for Poly School. Sure enough, on Monday morning Chavie, my co-teacher, let me know that we have 2 new students in our class. Now, sitting right in the middle of my familiar, straight-haired, light-skinned Korean students I have two unfamiliar, curly-haired, black boys. But if that's not enough, these boys grew up in London, England so they speak in these very proper English sentences with an accent that I have a hard time understanding, let alone my Korean students or co-teachers.
While I think it is cool to have the children of a professional soccer player in my class, and very cool for my students to be able to experience other children who are completely different from what they're used to, I'm finding it hard to meet these differences as a teacher. The older boy is too old for our class - he's at least a year older than the rest and, of course, has much better English skills than any of them. He's also a bit of a talker and has no trouble answering many of the questions. So now, instead of paying attention to what we're learning, the rest of the class mostly pays attention to him because he's smart and he talks so quickly and strangly. The younger boy fits in a little better. In reading, writing, and phonics, he's around the same level as some of the other students. He's also quieter than his brother, so he doesn't keep everyone's attention in the same way. Having them in the class certainly spices things up. They're staying for three months and then heading back to England. It'll be an interesting summer.
Outside of school, this summer promises to bring some exciting adventures. This weekend, I'll probably be joining a group going on a scooter/camping trip. Then, later in June, I'll be heading to Fukuoka, Japan for a weekend trip with a good group of people. In July, the annual 'Mudfest' party will be happening, to which a big group from Pohang are going (all I know is it involves mud). At the end of July, I'm going home for two weeks! And in August, Alisa, Jane and I are going to Jeju Island.
Tonight I cooked a potatoe, apple, and pumpkin mixture to go along with a chicken. It turned out really well.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
In other school news, I have 2 new students in my kindergarten class. But these students are different. I've talked about Pohang's soccer team before - the Steelers. The Korean league that they are a part of only allows for each team to have three of four foreign players on their squad. On the Steelers, one of these players is a guy from Ghana who just joined the team at the beginning of the year and has been a big part of the Steeler's success this season.
Well, one afternoon late last week I was surprised to see a 'Pohang Steelers' team van parked outside of the school and more surprised to see Derek Asamoah, this Ghanaian soccer player, and his wife in the office. I wasn't sure but I thought that the only reason he'd be in our office would be to sign his kids up for Poly School. Sure enough, on Monday morning Chavie, my co-teacher, let me know that we have 2 new students in our class. Now, sitting right in the middle of my familiar, straight-haired, light-skinned Korean students I have two unfamiliar, curly-haired, black boys. But if that's not enough, these boys grew up in London, England so they speak in these very proper English sentences with an accent that I have a hard time understanding, let alone my Korean students or co-teachers.
While I think it is cool to have the children of a professional soccer player in my class, and very cool for my students to be able to experience other children who are completely different from what they're used to, I'm finding it hard to meet these differences as a teacher. The older boy is too old for our class - he's at least a year older than the rest and, of course, has much better English skills than any of them. He's also a bit of a talker and has no trouble answering many of the questions. So now, instead of paying attention to what we're learning, the rest of the class mostly pays attention to him because he's smart and he talks so quickly and strangly. The younger boy fits in a little better. In reading, writing, and phonics, he's around the same level as some of the other students. He's also quieter than his brother, so he doesn't keep everyone's attention in the same way. Having them in the class certainly spices things up. They're staying for three months and then heading back to England. It'll be an interesting summer.
Outside of school, this summer promises to bring some exciting adventures. This weekend, I'll probably be joining a group going on a scooter/camping trip. Then, later in June, I'll be heading to Fukuoka, Japan for a weekend trip with a good group of people. In July, the annual 'Mudfest' party will be happening, to which a big group from Pohang are going (all I know is it involves mud). At the end of July, I'm going home for two weeks! And in August, Alisa, Jane and I are going to Jeju Island.
Tonight I cooked a potatoe, apple, and pumpkin mixture to go along with a chicken. It turned out really well.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
There's a prank here that is mostly performed by kids and apparently can be found throughout Asia. It's infamous among foreign teachers because it's terrible. It's called the dong chim and is roughly translated to 'poop needle'. What happens is the child comes up behind his or her unsuspecting victim and, with hands clasped together and index fingers pointed out, will jab the person in the bum. It's surely one of the most unpleasent experiences that anyone can have. For the most part, our school had outlawed it before I had arrived, thankfully, but it still happends from time to time. I mention it now only because it's a part of the foreign teaching experience - otherwise I don't like to think about it.
I had my parent observation last week. So about 12 of my kids' parents huddled together in the back of the room and watched our science lesson. I shouldn't have been worried about it - my kids are geniuses. The lesson was a science lesson and we were talking about the earth. At the point when we were comparing the earth to a globe, Apple, one of my super cute geniuses, asks, "If the earth is round, why can't we see that it is round when we look at it?" .. "Wow, great question Apple. Well, it's because... oh Thomas [one of my mischievious geniuses], you think you know?"... "It's because the earth is big and we're small. So we can't see that the earth is round." ... "Wow Thomas, great answer (high five)". My kids are geniuses because they know when to pull out their genius questions and answers - right when their parents are watching. So the parent observation went well.
This past Saturday was the Open-Mic Night that my jamming group had been anticipating for a while. It was great! A good group of people showed up, our group kept it together and did really well, I got to show off my cool djembe, and I was struck again by how much hidden talent there is among our community here. I have some videos but I can't get them to upload - bummer.
Every once in a while, the realization strikes me - I'm living on the other side of the world from everything I've known, something I never thought I'd do growing up, and I have everything I could ask for. I have a good job teaching wonderful kids, I'm experiencing and learning new things about the world, I can get my clothes dry cleaned for 3 bucks from the guy down the road, and most of all, I'm surrounded by awesome people who are my good friends and even my family. This realization leads me to recognize God's love in my life and to realize how blessed I am.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
I had my parent observation last week. So about 12 of my kids' parents huddled together in the back of the room and watched our science lesson. I shouldn't have been worried about it - my kids are geniuses. The lesson was a science lesson and we were talking about the earth. At the point when we were comparing the earth to a globe, Apple, one of my super cute geniuses, asks, "If the earth is round, why can't we see that it is round when we look at it?" .. "Wow, great question Apple. Well, it's because... oh Thomas [one of my mischievious geniuses], you think you know?"... "It's because the earth is big and we're small. So we can't see that the earth is round." ... "Wow Thomas, great answer (high five)". My kids are geniuses because they know when to pull out their genius questions and answers - right when their parents are watching. So the parent observation went well.
This past Saturday was the Open-Mic Night that my jamming group had been anticipating for a while. It was great! A good group of people showed up, our group kept it together and did really well, I got to show off my cool djembe, and I was struck again by how much hidden talent there is among our community here. I have some videos but I can't get them to upload - bummer.
Every once in a while, the realization strikes me - I'm living on the other side of the world from everything I've known, something I never thought I'd do growing up, and I have everything I could ask for. I have a good job teaching wonderful kids, I'm experiencing and learning new things about the world, I can get my clothes dry cleaned for 3 bucks from the guy down the road, and most of all, I'm surrounded by awesome people who are my good friends and even my family. This realization leads me to recognize God's love in my life and to realize how blessed I am.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Mid-May List
Interesting fact; Did you know that in Australia, peppers (like the green, yellow, and red ones that you use for cooking) are called 'capsicum'?
Highlights of My Weekend: 1) On Friday night, Tilt had an 80's party. I've never been one to dress up for themed parties, but I did for this one. Unfortunately, or maybe not, I don't have a good picture of my get-up. It was a great night though and I realized how great 80's music is. 2) On Sunday, Alisa, Jane and I went to a Pohang Steelers game. I hadn't been to a game in a while and we picked the right one to go to. The Steelers were the 2nd best team in the league and we were playing the best team - the Jeonbuk Motors. It was an important game on a beautiful day and the stadium was packed. By the end of the first half we were down 2 - 0 and it didn't look good. Our cheering section had gone quiet while the small contingent from Jeonbuk were making most of the noise. But then the tide turned. A goal off of a corner kick and then another soon after that and we were back in it. Then, with the crowd buzzing and time winding down, a handball was called in their box ... penalty kick ... Goooaaal! We won it 3 - 2, the Steelers are now the best team in the league, and I don't think I have been to a more exciting sporting event.
What I'm Looking Forward To: The Open-Mic Night at Live Story this weekend where our jam group will be performing for the first time.
What I'm Reading: What Are People For? by Wendell Berry. The book is a group of essays of his. I'm enjoying them but also finding them quite 'thick' and hard to get through (thanks Frank). I just finished What Good Is God by Philip Yancey, which I really enjoyed (thanks mom). On deck: A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (thanks Pete).
What I'm Eating: A potato, ham, onion, and capsicum mixture that I'm pretty proud of.
What I'm Trying Not to Worry About: My parent observation tomorrow.
What I'm Looking At: The almost full moon that is directly outside my window as if someone is dangling it from the floor above me. It's bright and beautiful, and it makes me miss the stars.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Highlights of My Weekend: 1) On Friday night, Tilt had an 80's party. I've never been one to dress up for themed parties, but I did for this one. Unfortunately, or maybe not, I don't have a good picture of my get-up. It was a great night though and I realized how great 80's music is. 2) On Sunday, Alisa, Jane and I went to a Pohang Steelers game. I hadn't been to a game in a while and we picked the right one to go to. The Steelers were the 2nd best team in the league and we were playing the best team - the Jeonbuk Motors. It was an important game on a beautiful day and the stadium was packed. By the end of the first half we were down 2 - 0 and it didn't look good. Our cheering section had gone quiet while the small contingent from Jeonbuk were making most of the noise. But then the tide turned. A goal off of a corner kick and then another soon after that and we were back in it. Then, with the crowd buzzing and time winding down, a handball was called in their box ... penalty kick ... Goooaaal! We won it 3 - 2, the Steelers are now the best team in the league, and I don't think I have been to a more exciting sporting event.
 |
| The celebrations after coming back to take the lead! |
What I'm Reading: What Are People For? by Wendell Berry. The book is a group of essays of his. I'm enjoying them but also finding them quite 'thick' and hard to get through (thanks Frank). I just finished What Good Is God by Philip Yancey, which I really enjoyed (thanks mom). On deck: A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (thanks Pete).
What I'm Eating: A potato, ham, onion, and capsicum mixture that I'm pretty proud of.
What I'm Trying Not to Worry About: My parent observation tomorrow.
What I'm Looking At: The almost full moon that is directly outside my window as if someone is dangling it from the floor above me. It's bright and beautiful, and it makes me miss the stars.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Thursday, May 12, 2011
I have a kindergarten student who cracks me up. Last school year he was in Teagan's class, and everyone knows Teagan likes to put on animated videos, such as "Peanuts", for his kids every so often. Well, this boy, Alex, has somehow learned to imitate Snoopy (Charlie Brown's dog)'s laugh. It's kind of like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH9MAhDvNjo
It's a fake laugh, everyone knows he's not really laughing, and the other kids don't really notice anymore, but he does it all the time and it gets me every time. I can't help but chuckle. I'm smiling to myself as I write this. Ahh kids.
So, if foreign teachers were complaining about not getting enough vacations a week ago, we shouldn't be now. We had last Thursday off, for Children's day - a wonderful, sunny day of paintballing - the weekend, and then Tuesday off as well. Some teachers even got the Friday and/or Monday off to boot.
On Friday, after a very delicious dinner at the Indian restaurant, some of us went to the Jazz bar. I've mentioned this place before because it's so cool to be able to sit and watch really good musicians play good music. And this time I took a short video.
Then Saturday was a full day for me. It started when I went to the wedding of a friend from church (she's actually more of an acquaintance - really, I don't know her that well - but she invited me, so I happily went). It was the first Korean wedding I've been to here and they're a little different than American weddings - mostly not as long. Not too far from where we live is a large, white, castle-like building designated to be a place where weddings can be performed. It is appropriately dubbed (in English at least) 'the wedding castle' - it's sort of a landmark in our area. A friend has been to a wedding at the wedding castle and she has said that weddings there are like an assembly line - you're in and you're out - one after the other. She said that guests then have a 'reception' dinner amongst all the other guests from the weddings around that time. Efficient weddings: only in Korea.
The wedding I attended on Saturday wasn't as quick as those at the wedding castle I'm sure, but it went pretty fast still. There was a 'reception' meal after the ceremony, but the bride and groom didn't attend it, which seems strange to me. The two things that I really liked about the wedding were, first, when the groom sang a song to the bride, Jane, my church acquaintance. It was sung in Korean but judging by the reaction of those around me, it was a funny song. The second thing was that after the ceremony and the family pictures, all the guests were invited to the front of the church for pictures with the bride, groom and their families. I felt pretty honored as one who knew the bride very little and the groom not at all.
After the wedding, I scooted off to Idong, past the awesome temple to our weekly jam session/practice at Live Story. Our group is hoping to have some songs ready for the open-mic night on the 21st, but our practices still tend to end up with us just free-jamming, which is great. Then, after a quick burger for supper, I buzzed off to join Alisa downtown. We shopped a little, I bought a shirt, and then I was off again to soccer practice. Saturday night soccer practices are the ones where we join a Korean team and they tend to be much more of a workout than our own practices. This one was like that.
And, though you might not think so, there was still time that evening for a haircut. Earlier, I had mentioned that I thought I needed one soon. Jane, who was there and who's great, offered to cut it for me. So she did. She did a really good job too. I've come to see cutting a friend's hair as a service to them similar to that of washing their feet in the Bible times. I've never given anyone a haircut but I've been very lucky to have my mom and other good friends cut mine. Thank you.
Sunday morning I went with Jane on a hike. I've talked about my special place - the forested hill nearby with a trail through it. Well, it turns out that there are paths through the trees everywhere around here. We went down a good long one near her apartment. The path goes up and along a hill and there are quite a few trails branching off and heading off along other ridges, each marked nicely with a sign. But the signs are written in Korean of course, so for us non-Koreans it was a bit difficult to navigate. Despite our attempts to keep a trail of 'bread crumbs', we took the wrong turn a couple of times on the way home and had to build up the courage to ask fellow hikers how to get back.
Koreans are so kind though. We met quite a few people along the way and had broken Korean/English conversations with them; one of which was with a couple who were working in this small, peaceful farm that we found. We had bravely taken a path coming off of the main trail that led down into the valley. Amazingly, just a couple meters down we could already notice changes in the types of tree growth. On the top of the hill, only pine trees grew, with little undergrowth. But a short way down the hill, it was all deciduous trees growing, and with a lot more shrubs and plants underneath. Then, further down the trail, we found this beautiful farm. With homemade fences made from branches, it had been divided up into smaller plots as if it were a community garden of some sort. But what I really wondered about was how anyone would go out there regularly, possibly even daily, to work on their crops - there weren't any raods, only walking paths, and it was quite a ways from the city I thought.
Then right beside the farm was this seemingly empty, very pretty, temple-like building, which we certainly didn't expect.
It was another very cool discovery.
At another point on our hike, a big gust of wind blew through and we got to experience a pretty amazing Asian phenomenon: 'yellow (or Asian) dust'. Wikipedia describes it as:
"...a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia sporadically during the springtime months. The dust originates in the deserts of Mongolia, northern China and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles."
It continues to say that lately it's been a problem because the dust pickes up pollutants on it's way and because of it's increase in frequency due to the intensified desertification of China and Kazakhstan. As it was on the hill, when the wind blew we could see a yellow tinted cloud blow all around. It's possible that more people are wearing masks these days because of the yellow dust, but in our situation on hill when it blew all around, it was almost impossible not to breathe the dust in. Moslty I'm amazed by how the geography of a place so far away can effect us here so intimately. It really displays the power of the wind.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
It's a fake laugh, everyone knows he's not really laughing, and the other kids don't really notice anymore, but he does it all the time and it gets me every time. I can't help but chuckle. I'm smiling to myself as I write this. Ahh kids.
So, if foreign teachers were complaining about not getting enough vacations a week ago, we shouldn't be now. We had last Thursday off, for Children's day - a wonderful, sunny day of paintballing - the weekend, and then Tuesday off as well. Some teachers even got the Friday and/or Monday off to boot.
On Friday, after a very delicious dinner at the Indian restaurant, some of us went to the Jazz bar. I've mentioned this place before because it's so cool to be able to sit and watch really good musicians play good music. And this time I took a short video.
Then Saturday was a full day for me. It started when I went to the wedding of a friend from church (she's actually more of an acquaintance - really, I don't know her that well - but she invited me, so I happily went). It was the first Korean wedding I've been to here and they're a little different than American weddings - mostly not as long. Not too far from where we live is a large, white, castle-like building designated to be a place where weddings can be performed. It is appropriately dubbed (in English at least) 'the wedding castle' - it's sort of a landmark in our area. A friend has been to a wedding at the wedding castle and she has said that weddings there are like an assembly line - you're in and you're out - one after the other. She said that guests then have a 'reception' dinner amongst all the other guests from the weddings around that time. Efficient weddings: only in Korea.
The wedding I attended on Saturday wasn't as quick as those at the wedding castle I'm sure, but it went pretty fast still. There was a 'reception' meal after the ceremony, but the bride and groom didn't attend it, which seems strange to me. The two things that I really liked about the wedding were, first, when the groom sang a song to the bride, Jane, my church acquaintance. It was sung in Korean but judging by the reaction of those around me, it was a funny song. The second thing was that after the ceremony and the family pictures, all the guests were invited to the front of the church for pictures with the bride, groom and their families. I felt pretty honored as one who knew the bride very little and the groom not at all.
After the wedding, I scooted off to Idong, past the awesome temple to our weekly jam session/practice at Live Story. Our group is hoping to have some songs ready for the open-mic night on the 21st, but our practices still tend to end up with us just free-jamming, which is great. Then, after a quick burger for supper, I buzzed off to join Alisa downtown. We shopped a little, I bought a shirt, and then I was off again to soccer practice. Saturday night soccer practices are the ones where we join a Korean team and they tend to be much more of a workout than our own practices. This one was like that.
And, though you might not think so, there was still time that evening for a haircut. Earlier, I had mentioned that I thought I needed one soon. Jane, who was there and who's great, offered to cut it for me. So she did. She did a really good job too. I've come to see cutting a friend's hair as a service to them similar to that of washing their feet in the Bible times. I've never given anyone a haircut but I've been very lucky to have my mom and other good friends cut mine. Thank you.
Sunday morning I went with Jane on a hike. I've talked about my special place - the forested hill nearby with a trail through it. Well, it turns out that there are paths through the trees everywhere around here. We went down a good long one near her apartment. The path goes up and along a hill and there are quite a few trails branching off and heading off along other ridges, each marked nicely with a sign. But the signs are written in Korean of course, so for us non-Koreans it was a bit difficult to navigate. Despite our attempts to keep a trail of 'bread crumbs', we took the wrong turn a couple of times on the way home and had to build up the courage to ask fellow hikers how to get back.
Koreans are so kind though. We met quite a few people along the way and had broken Korean/English conversations with them; one of which was with a couple who were working in this small, peaceful farm that we found. We had bravely taken a path coming off of the main trail that led down into the valley. Amazingly, just a couple meters down we could already notice changes in the types of tree growth. On the top of the hill, only pine trees grew, with little undergrowth. But a short way down the hill, it was all deciduous trees growing, and with a lot more shrubs and plants underneath. Then, further down the trail, we found this beautiful farm. With homemade fences made from branches, it had been divided up into smaller plots as if it were a community garden of some sort. But what I really wondered about was how anyone would go out there regularly, possibly even daily, to work on their crops - there weren't any raods, only walking paths, and it was quite a ways from the city I thought.
 |
| I like the boots and the small terraced hill. |
Then right beside the farm was this seemingly empty, very pretty, temple-like building, which we certainly didn't expect.
It was another very cool discovery.
At another point on our hike, a big gust of wind blew through and we got to experience a pretty amazing Asian phenomenon: 'yellow (or Asian) dust'. Wikipedia describes it as:
"...a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia sporadically during the springtime months. The dust originates in the deserts of Mongolia, northern China and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles."
It continues to say that lately it's been a problem because the dust pickes up pollutants on it's way and because of it's increase in frequency due to the intensified desertification of China and Kazakhstan. As it was on the hill, when the wind blew we could see a yellow tinted cloud blow all around. It's possible that more people are wearing masks these days because of the yellow dust, but in our situation on hill when it blew all around, it was almost impossible not to breathe the dust in. Moslty I'm amazed by how the geography of a place so far away can effect us here so intimately. It really displays the power of the wind.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Children's Day, New Discoveries, and My First Chicken
My new favourite day of the year: May 5th - Children's Day. To have a day designated for the celebration of children - their joy, potential, and personality - what a great idea. I looked it up on wikipedia, thinking Children's day was only a Korean invention, but it turns out to be a full blown holiday in many countries (not Canada, and not the U.S. Why not, I wonder). I'm glad to have the chance to celebrate it here. To be honest, my celebrations will include shooting my friends in the head with paintballs, which isn't the most innocent of pastimes, but it's good friend bonding, and it's a Children's Day tradition here.
Our school celebrated this morning by going to a nearby playground and playing some games. It was a beautiful day.
I have to tell you about a recent discovery. On Saturdays, I have band practice/jam session in the afternoon. I join a group of friends, all much better musicians, and we play music together. It's a great chance for me to play my djembe. We practice in a bar called Live Story in the neighbourhood of Idong, which is on the other side of the city. I enjoy the the long scoot through the city in the middle of the day. This past Saturday I gave Jane (who likes cooking and is excited about my oven) a ride to Idong because she needed to go to E-mart. I usually take the main roads into Idong, but I had seen a back route during an earlier cab ride, so I decided to take this way instead. And that's when we made the discovery... We turned a corner and right there in front of us was a large, colourful, beautiful building. It was clearly a temple, but unlike the rebuilt temples that I've visited in the area, this one was about 5 stories high and much newer looking! I was surprised to see it because I hadn't heard anything about any temples being right in the city. We didn't stop right away, but on the way back to our side of town, after a great jam session, Jane and I decided to check it out.
We parked off to the side and walked tentatively through a garden towards the building, not knowing if we were allowed there or not. Surrounding the temple, on every floor, and hung up in the gardens around, were these very colourful, paper lanterns. Buddha's Birthday is on Tuesday of next week (another holiday I'm looking forward to celebrating) and I've noticed these lanterns hung up all over the city. It was gorgeous. I still couldn't believe we'd stumbled upon such a great place.
As beautiful as the outside of the temple was, the inside was possibly even more beautiful. All the walls had paintings on them - all about a part of the Buddha's life (or many lives).
We snuck inside and quietly took a look around until our curiosity got the better of us and we had to ask someone about the building. A very nice woman answered our questions and proceeded to give us a whole tour of the place. She told us that it is indeed a Buddhist temple, open at all times, and that we were always welcome to come in. She showed us two large rooms with Buddhas and told us about them and the symbols surrounding them. In one of the large rooms a group of older women were sitting off to the side, on the floor. Our guide showed us that they were making these small flowers out of coloured paper. But we didn't realize what they were for until later. After thanking the woman, as we were leaving, we walked by a large shed with the door open a little. Inside, a couple of women were sticking the small paper flowers onto these large, extravagant parade floats. And some of the floats were covered in these paper flowers - thousands of them! I can't imagine how much time it must have taken to hand-make each one!
So that was our discovery. I think it's awesome that there are places like that in Pohang that are there to be discovered. I'll go back sometime.
But Jane and I didn't go straight home. On the way, we stopped off at Jukto market. I hadn't been to Jukto in a long time and with my new oven, I needed to buy some food to cook. So, among other things, I bought a whole chicken for six bucks - my first one. I brought it home, oiled it down with salt and pepper, stuffed it with onion and garlic, and popped it in the oven. An hour later, I was chowing down on my first cooked chicken. I'd never felt more like a carnivore. I was again reminded by how easy it is to forget where our food comes from - especially when it is prepared for us by others. But, as I took my chicken out of the oven and started eating it's legs and wings, I couldn't help but realize that not too long ago little Chelsea Chicken was clucking around like all the others, oblivious that soon she'd be my dinner. Wow, food!
Another cool experience, just a quick one, happened Sunday, after our soccer game. I was scooting home, P.O.ed because we'd just lost our 6th straight, when I noticed people painting a wall. Pohang surely isn't the nicest city in the world, but if there are people like these, who take the chance to beautify it, I think it's a pretty cool place to be.
To end, I want to mention an aspect of the English teacher in Korea's experience that became a reality for my coworkers and I just last week - The Midnight Run. Last week Tuesday was a regular day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened; all the teachers came to school, all the teachers left school. But Wednesday morning was different. Right around the time that the first bell rang, we realized that we were without one of our coworkers - Annalisa wasn't there. We called to see if she had just overslept, but there was no answer. Then we noticed that her desk had been cleaned out, and we realized that Annalisa wouldn't be coming back to Poly - that she had probably left sometime the evening before and was long gone by now.
I'm surprised that Annalisa decided to quit her job this way. She hadn't been here very long, and it was clear that she didn't think too highly of the city or the school. But to just leave one night must've taken some courage and a small amount of respect for her contract, the directors, and her co-teachers.
But we have a replacement teacher from Poly headquarters who'll be here until they can find a new teacher. His name is Paul and I think he's pretty cool.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Children's Day!
Michael
Our school celebrated this morning by going to a nearby playground and playing some games. It was a beautiful day.
I have to tell you about a recent discovery. On Saturdays, I have band practice/jam session in the afternoon. I join a group of friends, all much better musicians, and we play music together. It's a great chance for me to play my djembe. We practice in a bar called Live Story in the neighbourhood of Idong, which is on the other side of the city. I enjoy the the long scoot through the city in the middle of the day. This past Saturday I gave Jane (who likes cooking and is excited about my oven) a ride to Idong because she needed to go to E-mart. I usually take the main roads into Idong, but I had seen a back route during an earlier cab ride, so I decided to take this way instead. And that's when we made the discovery... We turned a corner and right there in front of us was a large, colourful, beautiful building. It was clearly a temple, but unlike the rebuilt temples that I've visited in the area, this one was about 5 stories high and much newer looking! I was surprised to see it because I hadn't heard anything about any temples being right in the city. We didn't stop right away, but on the way back to our side of town, after a great jam session, Jane and I decided to check it out.
We parked off to the side and walked tentatively through a garden towards the building, not knowing if we were allowed there or not. Surrounding the temple, on every floor, and hung up in the gardens around, were these very colourful, paper lanterns. Buddha's Birthday is on Tuesday of next week (another holiday I'm looking forward to celebrating) and I've noticed these lanterns hung up all over the city. It was gorgeous. I still couldn't believe we'd stumbled upon such a great place.
As beautiful as the outside of the temple was, the inside was possibly even more beautiful. All the walls had paintings on them - all about a part of the Buddha's life (or many lives).
We snuck inside and quietly took a look around until our curiosity got the better of us and we had to ask someone about the building. A very nice woman answered our questions and proceeded to give us a whole tour of the place. She told us that it is indeed a Buddhist temple, open at all times, and that we were always welcome to come in. She showed us two large rooms with Buddhas and told us about them and the symbols surrounding them. In one of the large rooms a group of older women were sitting off to the side, on the floor. Our guide showed us that they were making these small flowers out of coloured paper. But we didn't realize what they were for until later. After thanking the woman, as we were leaving, we walked by a large shed with the door open a little. Inside, a couple of women were sticking the small paper flowers onto these large, extravagant parade floats. And some of the floats were covered in these paper flowers - thousands of them! I can't imagine how much time it must have taken to hand-make each one!
But Jane and I didn't go straight home. On the way, we stopped off at Jukto market. I hadn't been to Jukto in a long time and with my new oven, I needed to buy some food to cook. So, among other things, I bought a whole chicken for six bucks - my first one. I brought it home, oiled it down with salt and pepper, stuffed it with onion and garlic, and popped it in the oven. An hour later, I was chowing down on my first cooked chicken. I'd never felt more like a carnivore. I was again reminded by how easy it is to forget where our food comes from - especially when it is prepared for us by others. But, as I took my chicken out of the oven and started eating it's legs and wings, I couldn't help but realize that not too long ago little Chelsea Chicken was clucking around like all the others, oblivious that soon she'd be my dinner. Wow, food!
 |
| Chelsea |
To end, I want to mention an aspect of the English teacher in Korea's experience that became a reality for my coworkers and I just last week - The Midnight Run. Last week Tuesday was a regular day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened; all the teachers came to school, all the teachers left school. But Wednesday morning was different. Right around the time that the first bell rang, we realized that we were without one of our coworkers - Annalisa wasn't there. We called to see if she had just overslept, but there was no answer. Then we noticed that her desk had been cleaned out, and we realized that Annalisa wouldn't be coming back to Poly - that she had probably left sometime the evening before and was long gone by now.
I'm surprised that Annalisa decided to quit her job this way. She hadn't been here very long, and it was clear that she didn't think too highly of the city or the school. But to just leave one night must've taken some courage and a small amount of respect for her contract, the directors, and her co-teachers.
But we have a replacement teacher from Poly headquarters who'll be here until they can find a new teacher. His name is Paul and I think he's pretty cool.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Children's Day!
Michael
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