A Young Man From Newfoundland

Boom...

2010-11-25T23:27:00.000-08:00

Luckily I don't live in a Korean village...

And I guess I'm happy Koreans are totally desensitized to this kind of stuff because everyone acts like nothing even happened.

Some video here if it will work for you...

Much more troubling are wild boars. Apparently "Wild boars are showing up on highways and in the middle of Seoul."

And it's because of climate change...

Here is the best part...

"The ministry announced a policy yesterday to let citizens capture more boars, from three to six per person, and said it would distribute traps."

Time to get my boar license I guess!

Pushy...

2010-11-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

Yeah... Koreans aren't exactly polite.

They are hosting some G20 shit that I know nothing about, nor care about. There are police and special security guards in all the subway stations. And lots of comical ads like this that should be up all the time, not only for the G20 Summit...

And on a totally different subject...

Here is a video of an old grandma that attacked a teenage girl on the subway.
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Apparently the girl crossed her legs and got a little dirt on grannies pants, then granny got angry. Girl apologized but grandma kept mouthing off. Girl apologized again. Granny still running her mouth. So the girl got snotty and started talking back to granny in the low form of Korean (the language has different levels of respect and a young girl should speak a certain way to an older, especially much older person. The girl didn't. Very rude in Korea). Then granny went psycho.

Worst thing is that everyone around just watched. This is kinda what Koreans do.

I saw a man at the subway station pull back and slap a woman in the face. She was holding his blazer and wouldn't give it to him. Both shouting. So he slapped her again, and again.

Just like the Koreans, I didn't do anything but watch. But I can't understand what they are saying so I don't know the situation. For all I know she may have fucked his brother or best friend or something and (yup gonna say it) may have deserved a slap.

But, I don't know. But the Koreans know. And always choose to do nothing and just watch. Kinda sad.

(dunno why this shit doesn't fit... oh well...)

Jackshit...

2010-11-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

Started jamming with the remaining members of my band so we're now a 3 piece.

Had a few names being kicked around... Buckmaster Circle... The Stinkeyes... Jackshit...

Jackshit has won the race until we think of something better... I kinda like it but a little juvenile still...

Might get back on the horse...

2010-10-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I wrote anything here.

Guess things kinda got pretty routine and there wasn't a whole lot that seemed interesting enough to waste my time writing about.

That being said, there probably is a ton of shit I could rant on about here so I might try to get motivated to come back more often.

So what is happening now in Korea.

Some professional Korean basketball team came to my school last week and donated these awesome basketball nets to the school.

Glass backboards and all.

Too bad they are outside on a sand playground.

I went to the corner store near my school the day they were there and I went to the side which is my smoking spot. One of the pro basketball players beat me to my position and was having a smoke there. Tried to talk to the guy but ZERO english. Tallest Korean I've ever seen.

And my band...

Terry, guy in my band, is gone back to Canada today so me and the remaining band members are gonna start a new band... called either "The Stinkeyes" or "Jackshit".

Our drummer thinks Stinkeyes has some kind of anal connotation that I don't immediately pickup on. Yet, he said to me "Man I got a real good band name: 'The Black Joke'.

He was serious.

I think that has more of an overtone of 'nah man can't use that name at all.'

Dirty rock...

2010-02-06T22:31:00.001-08:00

Playing in a band now.

Called Banco.

Here is a song.

Full...

2009-08-16T16:55:00.001-07:00

I'm home in Newfoundland now.

Too much food all the time. I can't move right now.

Awesome weather since I've been here too.

Time to lie down and get un-full...

Oink oink oink...

2009-07-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

I ain't even down with this whole swine flu panic.

One of my co-teachers is going to Canada for a training course and she's totally worried about 돼지 프루 (um, pig flu).

So, I showed her this just to be an asshole about it.

Media goes hog wild over swine flu: Millions die

June 18, 2009, 1:00 am · 0 comments

You cannot protect yourself from Media Flu simply by covering your mouth. You must also cover your eyes and ears.

You cannot protect yourself from Media Flu simply by covering your mouth. You must also cover your eyes and ears.

In the two months since the first case of swine flu popped up in Mexico on April 13, we’ve been inundated with media reports regarding our imminent demise.

They said we’re all going to get it. We’re all going to die. Borders were closed. People were quarantined. Trade was halted. We desperately need billions of dollars in research grants. We need a vaccine to keep us from going the way of the dinosaurs. It’s the greatest health disaster since 20,000,000 people died of the Spanish Flu of 1918. Oh, the humanity.

Let’s get back to reality now. Do you know how many people have actually died of swine flu worldwide in the last two months (according to the World Health Organization)?

A. 1,440,000
B. 144,000
C. 14,400
D. 1440
E. 144

ANSWER: If you chose E, you are correct. A grand total of just 144 people have died of Swine Flu worldwide. In contrast, WHO says the three main strains of flu cause somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally. That’s somewhere between 685 and 1370 per day.

Obviously, it’s much easier to fall victim to Media Flu than Swine Flu. But Swine Flu is easier to cure and much less deadly.

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/media-goes-hog-wild-over-swine-flu-millions-die

Then she said "But it is a pandemic!!"

I can't find the link now but apparently the definition of pandemic used to include something like "...kills a shitload of people...", like a million or something, but now it doesn't..

Ah, found it...

The WHO Finally Gets Its Pandemic!
By Michael Fumento

For the last several years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been claiming another flu pandemic is a "when not an if." Of course, it was talking about avian flu. But avian flu refused to comply, for reasons I've given in numerous articles beginning in 2005. So now they've seized upon swine flu to declare their pandemic.

Never mind that the mildest pandemic of the 20th century killed at least a million people worldwide and so far swine flu has killed far fewer people since it began in early April than die each day from old-fashioned seasonal flu. (144 total swine flu deaths compared to 685-1,370 daily seasonal flu deaths).

Further, in the country where the outbreak began, Mexico, swine flu peaked way back in late April. The worldwide crest can't be far behind.

So how could the WHO do it? Simple. In 2005 it rewrote the definition of "influenza pandemic," which formerly required "enormous numbers of deaths and illness." Under its new definition, a handful of cases and zero deaths can nonetheless constitute a "pandemic." And that's pretty much what we've seen. The term "influenza pandemic" has simply lost any truly useful meaning.

Thanks, WHO, for putting politics and self-interest above the interests of public health.
June 11, 2009 01:26 PM ·

http://www.fumento.com/weblog/archives/ ... nally.html

I'm not sure if it's true (read the writers bio and seems he may know what he's talking about) but I don't care. I just wanted to make her stop freaking out about it and she did, at least to me.

Hippies...

2009-05-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Watch this video. The last 10 seconds are amazing. Stupid hippies...

Here's another hippie video. This is what hippies are supposed to be like...

What are you looking for there, buddy...

2009-04-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

I was on the subway heading to work as usual. I reached in my pocket to grab my mp3 player and change the song but the player slipped out of my hand.

It fell into some ladies bag that was on the floor. She was sleeping.

She was sitting and I was standing so I had to bend down and start going through her bag. My mp3 player is tiny (as seen above... please note I don't wear it on my neck because it is not a fashion accessory) so it wasn't easy to find. Everyone on the train was staring at me probably thinking I was tryna steal something out of her bag because foreigners are evil.

So, after a minute of picking through her shit I found it, held it up in the air for everyone to see, then walked to the next car, which probably made me look even guiltier of stealing her shit.

Maybe that will be my new thing. Dropping my mp3 in someones bag, only if they are sleeping, and then seeing what other shit they have in there that I can steal.

Code...

2009-04-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

Here's the DL subway stop...

Boracay b'y...

2009-03-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

I'm super slack writing here. So don't even know if anyone still checks this out, and well, not that concerned about it anyway.

I went to Boracay in January. It's an island in the Philippines that is pretty much paradise. Amazing beach, clear sea, coral reefs, cock fights, cheap rum...

I went with Matt, and we met Lana and Sam there, along with about 10 people from their school. So we had a good crew of East Coast Canadians, and an even better little crew of Newfs.

The only problem was Matt wouldn't stop greasing up his chest and it was kinda embarrassing for the rest of us...

So, what did I do there... Let me think.

Sat on the beach, day and night.

Ate lots of great burgers from a place called jammers.

Had some Chinese kid try to bury my sandals.

Drank a beer or two.

Didn't fuck around because there are security guys everywhere and they are serious.

Swam in the ocean.

Saw Bliss Jeffreys.

Got a retarded sunburn. Maybe one of the worst in the history of mankind.

Went on an afternoon bachelor party boat ride and drank and went scuba diving and visited another island with monkeys that a friend gave beer to and the monkey drank it and got angry when it was gone and threw the bottle back at us.

Went scuba diving for the first, and maybe last, time.

Saw lots of really funny beach kids.

Saw the future Wu-Tang Clan of the Philippines.

Went to the Witch Cafe on the end "other side" of the island. No one was there besides us and it was kinda cool. Some kids lead us there. The oldest kid was smooth. His little sister kept whispering "Ask for money" but he knew how to play his cards. I told him I could hear her and he said "Sir, you have very good ears." We gave them some money.

Watched some cock fights. Intense. The chicken fights weren't as intense as the people betting and yelling and making weird hand signals and throwing money around.

And then I came back to Seoul and went to work 8 hours after I got off the airplane...

Violence...

2009-02-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

Here is an article from the English newspaper here in Korea.

The title is "Koreans don't rule out violence." Quite the awesome title.

The first line states "More than three out of every 10 Koreans regard violence as a more effective solution to problems than the law."

Maybe they think this because the Korean police are a joke. The culture of Korea is all about respecting your elders, so if the cop is younger than the offender, the offender doesn't feel he has to follow the police's orders.

But, that is not the point. There are some really crazy stats in the article.

"Most of the respondents (88 percent) had gone through physical punishment when growing up, and 50 percent had experienced beatings for no specific reason."

"Among those beaten for no reason during childhood, 69.1 percent said that their parents were violent toward each other."

Fifty percent were beaten for no reason? Um, seems a little high to me. Isn't that half!

There ain't much I can really say about this. I'd like to ask some Koreans if those numbers seem right, but dunno if I wanna go asking my friends or co-workers "Did you get beat up at home for no reason?"

If I do ask about it, I'll add what they say here.

Peace and Love.

Top gun...

2009-01-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Back from Shanghai.

Crazy tower, blimp with giant TV screen, TV boat...

Gonna post some pics on facebook soon.

It is a cool city because it's so new and modern, but so old as well. Beijing is the same, but the contrast between the old and new is much more pronounced in Shanghai.

Old Town... The harmonica: The instrument of choice for the Chinese youth.

The new is much flashier and exagerated. Pudong, the new built up business district, is kind of a crazy place. It's the new, built up part of the city that is trying to compete with Hong Kong's skyline. Although interesting, there are just a few too many tacky buildings, and the flat landscape can't really compete with the big hill/small mountain that the Hong Kong skyline is built upon.

Pudong skyline from our river boat tour.

But back to Shanghai and Beijing. I guess the older places are similar. I feel like I explored Shanghai more thoroughly because I was there about twice as long. And Matt and I were much more into checking out different parts of the city than shopping.

Beijing has the old Hutongs (sp?) but we didn't really see a lot of the older, more genuine Hutongs. Many are kind of refurbished for tourists, but in Shanghai we went to Old Town and although some of that area has been converted into a tourist shopping zone, we also spent a full afternoon cruising the back alleys.

Those small back streets made me feel like I was in China and not just any major city in any country. There is so much life and energy there and it's a shame that the whole area will likely be swallowed up by towering apartment buildings.

A shame for me anyway, but I'm curious how the people who live there feel? They'd probably prefer to move into a nice, new apartment building with their own bathrooms and sink, etc. But who really knows besides them.

We also went to Xitang. Tom Cruise was there not so long ago.

The nice, touristy area of Xitang. The old guys cell phone is better than mine...

It's a small canal town outside of Shanghai that has turned into a tourist destination. An old Japanese man I met at the bus station put it best. "It's basically a kilometer of souveneir shops." He was kind of right. Way too many shops selling the same junk, but once you get off the beaten path, it's worth the trip.

The town is well maintained because of the number of tourists that pass through, but outside of the main area of the canal town is the real canal town. Much more rundown and much less vibrant. We also left the canal town and went throught the regular town adjacent to the canal town. Again, this felt like real China.

"Real China"

I'm not even sure what I mean by saying "real China" but it's just the feeling I had. Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong are not representative of the average Chinese lifestyle. Outside of the three richest, most powerful cities people have a different standard of living and it was interesting to see that.

It's not total poverty or anything resembling that. It's just more rugged and tough than the major cities. Even Beijing is much tougher than Shanghai and Hong Kong.

But Xitang keeps it the reallest. Site of a Tom Cruise running scene in Mission Impossible:III, this place gets big props from me.

And walking the same streets as Tom Cruise was definitely the highlight of the trip.

If not the highlight of my life...

Shanghaied

2008-12-22T03:20:00.000-08:00

Going to Shanghai next week for another Chinese Christmas...

Then back to Korea for three weeks to teach English camps...

Next stop after that is the Philipines for about a week...

Me and Matt are gonna meet Sam and Lana there...

Ju ga lay?????

2008-12-22T02:56:00.000-08:00

Here's something that happened a few weeks ago... Below is an email I wrote to my mom about it... Rather than write about it again, I'll just post that email...

So, last week I'm teaching my last afterschool class of the day.

It's 4:30 and I'm about to start class when this crazy woman and her ajumma friend bust into my classroom. The woman starts yelling at the boys and then slaps 1 boys in the face REALLY hard. I run back to try to stop her but before I get there she slaps another boy just as hard. These boys are only in grade 4.

I really just didn't know what to do. I don't know the rules in Korea. I dont' know if I can push this lady out of the room, etc... So I just room to find the Mrs Park (my Korean co-teacher was still in the classroom but she was stunned).

So, the Mrs Park and a few other teachers run back to my classroom and take control. It was unbelievable! She was an expert. She was telling the crazy mom to shut up and she just commanded everyones respect.

By now, 5 or 6 kids are crying because they are so afraid of this mother of this girl Angela. Angela is also in this class. Her mom said the boys tease her daughter and sometimes steal her shoes after class. But, Angela never told any teachers about this she just told her mom. So her mom came to school to kick some ass or something.

Mrs Park tells her to apologize to everyone and if she leaves right now, it will all be over. So, she apologizes to the boys, to my co-teacher, and to me. But I didn't really want her apology and I just ignored her when she was speaking to me.

Anyway, Angela quit that class so that shouldn't happen again....

The only thing I heard from the mom that I understood was Jew-ga-lay...

It means "Do you want to die?"...

Told you so...

2008-11-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

Here's some clips of some financial guy. They are from a year or two ago and he pretty much predicted what was gonna happen to the US economy, but all the other "experts" just mock the guy.

Not that I know anything about any of this, but interesting video none the less...

Rocktigers...

2008-11-16T03:10:00.000-08:00

I went to Club DGBD (AKA Club Drug) with a friend and we watched a Korean rockabilly band called the Rocktigers.

Not really my style, but they are a really fun band to watch live, and the singer is super sexy. There were a lot of foreign guys at the show and I think half of them were there just to watch her. Definitely not a bad idea.

Thankfully my friend is a cute Korean girl so I didn't feel like a big loser there just to watch that girl singing!

Sleeze...

2008-11-16T02:26:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago I met some friends near the foreign language university. The area is called Waedae and it's not far from my home. There were people from China, Poland, Belarus, Uraguay, America, Canada, Germany, and maybe a few more countries but I can't remember...

So, when the party was over we walked around looking for a good bar. We walked for a good while and didn't really find an interesting bar, but we did find something interesting.

We came to Cheongnyangni Station and thought we saw a place that may have some bars, but what we found was a giant red light district. I looked it up online and it's called "Cheongnyangni 588." Prostitution used to be legal here, but supposedly it's illegal now. Well, you would never guess it's illegal if you came across this place.

This place has five or six intersecting roads and on both sides of the streets are buildings with windowed walls, pink lights, and scantily clad girls sitting inside the windows.

The crazy thing is that this is so wide open, right next to a subway station. We walked around there and even found a police station right next to it. Apparently it's ok for Koreans to get service there, but not foreigners (and that is backed up by the link above).

I really wanted to take some pictures, but I was too chicken. So I took this picture for a sketchy alley in between the main streets. You can see the pink glow.

I went to Google and this was the best picture I could find. That's it right there I think. And if it isn't, it's exactly like that anyway.

I like this picture. That guy looks so sad. Shouldn't it be the girl who looks sad?

Scammin'

2008-10-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Neither of us were overly excited about seeing that band and then we found out the tickets we 60,000 Won (about $60 give or take). That was a bit much to see a band we didn't really care to see.

So as we were walking away from the ticket counter with no tickets some old Korean man came up to us and said "I can get you in 30,000 Won." After a little consideration you said no and walked around outside the festival grounds.

The concert was in Olympic Park so there was a nice hill where it was possible to see the stage (without going in to pay the 60 bucks). We went to get something to eat and planned on watching the show from the hill. $60 was just too much.

As we walked around we decided to go check out that $30 old man again. We were kind of afraid of getting ripped off so we made a plan. We would bargain with him and get him down to $20. Then, one of us would go with him and if the scam didn't work, we'd split the loss. I could deal with losing ten bucks.

So, we approached the man and got him down to $20 each. He reaches in his pocket and takes out some plastic armbands. Once we knew how he planned on getting us in, we just went for it. He put the plastic button on armbands on our wrists and then put one on himself. He said "inside you give back."

This guy had a pretty decent scam. Although the real armbands were just paper, the people at the door aren't gonna look that hard to notice the fakes.

We walked in with the guy with zero problems, gave his fake armabands back, then met our friends who all paid 60 each to get in.

Suckers...

Don't mess around...

2008-09-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Somehow I ended up watching videos of the LA Riots and came across these... Don't mess with the Koreans...

The economist...

2008-09-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

1000 Won versus The Canadian Dollar

Not only is the Canadian dollar doing really well, but the Korean Won is the worst performing currency in Asia this year.

This shit shouldn't matter to me.

But it does.

It really really really really does...

Ouch...

2008-09-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

Wow... This is harsh...

I can't even really understand how it is possible...

And, who knew Slovakia were so good?

I see the nuns are gay...

2008-09-06T01:45:00.000-07:00

Rolling Stone Magazine's website had a feature of the 25 funniest videos on the internet. Some of them aren't that funny, but this one is pretty good.

For your new lifestyle...

2008-09-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

I changed apartments and moved to a new part of the city. I'm now North of the river and pretty central. The area is called Wangsimni, or at least that's the name of the subway station. It has three lines passing through so it's really convenient to get to school (just take the purple line) and go just about anywhere because the green line also passes through here (the green line is the main line that makes a loop through the city).

The big circle is where I live now. The other ones are where I used to live (Munjeong) and where my school is (Geoyeo - pronounced guh-yuh). Yeah, my school is still in the same place and it looks far because it kind of is, but I only gotta leave my place about 20 minutes earlier to get to school on time. The subway is like lightning or something. You can click the pic to blow it up.

This is the view from my window. I'm only on the fifth floor and wish I was a little higher, but at at least I have a bit of a view. I don't have a picture of the outside of the building yet because I never take my camera with me. I'll probably take a crappy cell phone picture someday soon.
The living room/den/recreation room/bedroom. The hardwood is real. For real.
Here's the alternate angle.
The kitchen/laundry room.
Bathroom. Check out that toilet!! It's got a computer on it.
Oh yeah. It sprays water up your ass. But... I got the it unplugged from the socket... I swear.
Now I just gotta figure out how to use it.

The only thing I know how to do is heat up the seat...

Which is pretty damn awesome!

Straight south coastin'...

2008-08-31T01:11:00.001-07:00

Newfoundland is actually bigger than South Korea, yet has about one percent of the population of Korea. 50,000,000 versus 500,000.

So while I was home I subconsciously decided to go to somewhere that is the polar opposite of Korea, especially Seoul.

That place ended up being a small, isolated fishing village only accessible by a four hour ferry ride. The town is called Francois, supposedly pronounced "Franceway."

The town is in a giant cove surrounded by evil looking mountains. It has a population of 125 people. A waterfall goes through the center of town. There are no cars, just ATV's and snowmobiles. There are no restaurants or hotels. And the two stores close for two hours at supper time, which really sucks when you've spent the last five hours on top of a mountain talking about how awesome it's gonna be to get to the store and get an ice cream sandwich.

We arrived in town at 7 or 8 PM and asked some people where we could pitch our tent and set up for the night. They told us to go behind the church where there were a few camp sites. We checked it out and found out spot. We set up the tent on some slanted, rocky ground next to a stream. Our lot was surrounded by mountains and rocks keeping us well protected from any mainlanders that may try to siege the town.

See the tent?

We spent the night having a few drinks and cooking processed meat over the fire. When we finally went to sleep, we woke up with the tent caving in on us. The tent a little small for the four of us and because we were on a slant, when someone would stretch out, it would cause the tent to roll forward. Hard to explain. We all woke up at different times throughout the night wondering what was happening to the tent until finally the tent had rolled so much that the door was flat on the ground. We got out and straightened up the tent, then went uncomfortably back to sleep.
The next morning (actually, maybe it was the afternoon) we got up and cooked our breakfast on the fire and it was really good. Bacon, balogna, beans, and bread. Then we hiked up the mountain and checked out the scenery. Spence took a swim in his underwear and although it looked refreshing, no one else is as brave, or as strong as Matt. So... we didn't swim.
That's the waterfall. We climbed up to the top and found a small lake. That's where Matt's swimming hole was. It kinda reminds me of something from Narnia, although I've never seen Narnia. I have vague recollections of the TV show from a child and it looks like this with a big white lion, right?

Here's a picture from the lookout.
On one side of the lookout you see the cove heading out to the sea, and on the other side you can see the town, and on another side you can see the waterfall and small pond. One of the best views I've ever seen. Too bad Matt is kinda ruining my picture. I'd post a different on but it's the only I got. Sorry buddy.
Here is a shot of downtown Francois. It was happening down there. The place doesn't seem real. Now that I'm back in Korea, I'm 99% sure it isn't real.

And, finally, a picture of me and the b'ys. My brother looks tough. Maybe he's becoming one of the good ol' b'ys, but he still gotta prove himself a little more. But, just a little.

So, that's that. Francois, Newfoundland. A great place to go if you wanna see a place that really has no reason to exist anymore. The ferry service is pretty much a giant waste of money. It's $7.50 each way and when we took the boat there was about ten people on the boat.

Maybe it'll end up like Harbour Deep but hopefully not.

Although the teenagers who live there would probably kill to live in an urban center such as Deer Lake.

But it can't be that bad. They do have high speed internet...

Downtown...

2008-08-31T01:06:00.000-07:00

I just got back to Korea less than a week ago. I spent three great weeks back in Newfoundland and I had a better time home than I could have imagined. Enough of my friends were around and the Deer Lake bar scene is kind of retarded in it's own messed-up small town way.

There are also ridiculous bar specials such as "Toonie Tuesday" where one bar has three drinks for five bucks and the other bar has two dollar drinks all night.

The Rockwood has three for five and you get some sketchy peeps there every Tuesday. My parents and brother refer to that crowd as "Skully Monsters." I'm not sure what that means but it fits.

I don't know where most of those people crawled out of, but man, it must have been a dark, deep hole. I've never felt intimidated in DL but this crowd makes me uneasy.

Some other night is ladies night and girls drink there for two bucks or less. I can't keep track.

And at the other bar they have "Beat the Clock." $1.65 a drink and the price goes up by ten cents each hour or something.

It's cheaper to drink at the bar then buying your booze at the store...

But, it's probably much much safer to just buy your booze at a store and drink at home...

Wang....

2008-08-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy...

I'm gonna try to write a few things in here now that I've been to Canada for my summer vacation and I moved to a new neighborhood in Seoul.

The new 'hood is called Wangsimni and it's kinda seedy and pretty much the exact opposite of where I lived before. And my apartment/officetel pretty much kicks ass.

I have a Samsung computer toilet. More on that later.

There is also a Subway restaurant around somewhere. I saw it when I was apartment hunting and can't seem to find it. A Korean friend sent me a map so hopefully I'm smart enough to find it.

I also have a new co-teacher at my school, and a new after-school co-teacher.

While I was in Canada, the principal fired my old after-school co-teacher (she was awesome and so was her English... my principal is a dick) and he hired some lady with very very average English (and I'm being nice).

I said this to a teacher at my school and 2 hours later I was told I had to do an interview with the lady who was the school's second choice.

I interviewed here (awkward) and her English was much better. So she got the job and the other lady got fired before she even started working.

I feel awful about all of this but that's life in ULTRA-competitive Korea.

And my vacation home was great. More on that later too.
I'm too lazy to write about it now...

Gotta go to Romania...

2008-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Best ride on the subway ever?

Yup, I think so.

Can you relate...

2008-06-07T05:06:00.001-07:00

Did you ever work in an office?

I worked in an office in Calgary for a couple months. I didn't like it too much, but I definitely didn't hate it as much as this guy.

----Turns out this is fake... Some Russian made it to promote his new film... Lame...

http://view.break.com/513569 - Watch more free videos

True love...

2008-05-19T05:28:00.000-07:00

Maybe I've mentioned somewhere before that Korean men like to get completely shitfaced. And I've always maybe mentioned that the Korean culture is much more close and personal than ours back home.

You'll regular see girls (just friends) holding holds walking down the street. It's really cute, and kinda hot.

Personal space is non-existent for the most part, and it's normal to see drunk men in suits stumbling arm in arm walking down the street.

This next picture isn't really typical, but it's nothing shocking. And I can gaurentee you almost 99% that they aren't gay.

They are just wasted "salary men."

Super dude??? Nah...

2008-05-19T05:20:00.001-07:00

I came home one night with two Korean girls. One of them is my friend, and the other girl is her friend.

We were out drinking and they just crashed at my house but the old Korean man at the restaurant was damn proud of me.
The next time I went in there he put up two fingers and then made the hand gesture for sex (different in Korea than at home).

Yeah I wish he was right haha...

(I may as well mention the old man and woman at the restaurant. They only work the night shift the so only time I see them is after a night out. She sometimes hand feeds me kimbap when I'm drunk and the old guy tries to get me to slap the old woman on the ass. I'm still working up my courage to do that, but some night I will. )

Hmm...

2008-05-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

I bought a shirt today.

It fits perfectly.

Then I read the tag and this is what it said (click the picture and look for the English).

Maybe all of the Korean food is reforming me.

Or I've just been here too long...

Baby seals...

2008-04-20T04:54:00.000-07:00

In the last 2 weeks, I've went to a dance club 3 times. This is something I've never achieved before.

The first club was a small place in Sincheon that was small and really generic. 10 bucks cover.

Friday night, I went to "Answer Club" in Apgujeong. This is in the rich part of town. 30 bucks cover. It was a cool club with lots and lots of hot girls and strong drinks.

Last night (Saturday), I went to "Club Volume" in Itaewon. 25 bucks cover. This was by far the best club I've ever been to, not that I really know anything about clubs because frankly, I seldom go. But that seems to be changing.

The thing about Volume was that the sound was amazing. I'm not into dance music or techno or whatever you call that, but it sounded so good. Really loud, but really crisp. And even though it was loud, it wasn't uncomfortable because the sound system is just so good.

The setup is also really impressive. There are lasers everywhere and a giant LED wall.

Man, I'm tired today...

You bet...

2008-04-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

I got a couple people from China on my MSN.

One girl had an interesting MSN name yesterday...

Tibet, is, was, and always will be a part of China.

I don't have much of an opinion about Tibet.

"Before 1959, the present extent of the Tibet Autonomous Region (comprising Ü-Tsang and western Kham) was governed by the government of Tibet headed by the Dalai Lama" (Wikipedia)

I just ain't down with government and religion cuddling up with each other so I'm gonna ignorantly side with China I s'pose.

But...

...the Sixth Dalai Lama was only enthroned in 1697. The new Dalai Lama did not really live up to expectations: he would blackmail the Panchen Lama to let him return to the lay class, and afterwards grow long hair and spend the nights outside the palace, with women of his choice. He gained fame for writing love poetry. (Wikipedia)

Apparently, this dude used to hang out in the street and get drunk and pick up chicks. Says he lived in a park in a tent for a while too because we all know chick love tents.

Hmm, on second thought, maybe I side with Tibet...

There's hope...

2008-03-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

This is the best thing I read in a long time...

Maybe the best thing I've ever read now that I think about it more...

Now, we have to get more girls to read it...

Sad...

2008-03-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm usually pretty heartless but this story in the Korean Herald struck me.

Some random American teaching here in Seoul got severely burned by a fire in his apartment building. His Korean girlfriend died in the fire as well (this isn't in the article, but it's apparently true). The medical bill is gonna be at least $100,000 US.

I even made a donation. It's the first time I've ever made a donation.

I started reading the comments after the article to see if I could find out more. There sure are some sour Koreans out there. I'm not generalizing here, and most Koreans are best kind. I know some Koreans don't like foreigners because we are more handsome and steal their women, but some people actually have the gall to bitch on this dude who is almost dead, lying in a hospital bed with burns on 70 percent of his body. I'm not gonna paste their comments here because they make me too angry and disgusted.

I am gonna paste one comment made by a Korean though.

skella (211.116.94.198) 03-07-2008 01:22
I am sure that happened by arson. Dont come Korea if possible. They are very clever.And they hate foriegners. And the Samsung problem is the secret that everybody knows except under elementary school child, like santa. Have a good day. And I like you Americans very much. At least you guys are very naive compared to Koreans. Have a safe day and dont come to Korea if possible.

Shit like that. What the fuck is that all about? And the Samsung problem?? At least you guys are very naive compared to Koreans???

It's time like this when I don't feel Canadian, I feel North American. I'll take my jabs at Americans (or anyone else for that matter) when the context is right, but this "skella" dickhead makes me angry. Korea would be a communist wasteland if it wasn't for America, or at the very best they would still be under Japanese control.

South Koreans owe so much to America and the countries who fought here during the Korean War. You can argue that they made the separation that led to the war yada yada. Maybe that's partly true, but at that time the Koreans would have done just about everything to get out from Japanese control.

Anyway, I'm on a rant here and I shouldn't be.

Fuck all you Koreans who are gonna say shit about some dude who almost died just because he is a foreigner. I'm not generalizing here, I'm talking to specific people who posted comments on the Korean Herald site.

And to the American guy, hope you fully recover. Best of luck.

Number 1...

2008-03-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had to find out the hours of the laser eye clinic that gave me back my vision. I had to go for a check-up.

The name of the clinic is Hello Lasik. If you search it on Google, my blog entry about my surgery was the first link!

Today it's the tenth link. How lame is that?

But on the upside, the doctor told me my vision is better than 20/20.

That's a good and bad thing. Now I can see hot chicks from far away. But when I get close I can see every imperfection glaring out at me with these super eyes of mine.

I suppose there's a price to pay for being better than perfect.

He probably did...

2008-03-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

Back in the driver's seat...

2008-03-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

I solved a lot of my problems today. I've wrote a bunch of blogs. They are below.

I got ESPN back at my school. I can log into my blog. I can go to NBA.com. I've practically beat the whole friggin' system mang.

Thanks to some dude on the SMOE message board, I found a program that will get you through any content filter. Here's the advice the guy gave me and it worked.

"the easiest way to unblock anything has got to be tor.

install the tor software then the torbutton extension for firefox and you're done.

after your set, you'll see, in red, 'tor disabled' in the firefox statusbar at the bottom of the firefox window. click it, it turns green and reads 'tor enabled'. now you're unblocked. myspace works no need for plugins on youtube. everything should be good. click it again to disable tor and go back being blocked.

the one bad thing is that it slows your access down a little bit but since it's so easy to turn on and off it doesn't really bother me."

So to all of the people out there tryna watch porn at work but your network won't let you, install these little programs and you're home free.

Well, until your boss catches you beating the old hot dog...

The man's keeping me down...

2008-03-04T22:16:00.000-08:00

So Korea had an election a couple months back. The dude who was elected is nicknamed “The Bulldozer.” Maybe I wrote about him before, or I intended to. I think he’s awesome, mainly because of his amazing nickname.

Anyway, turns out they have some strange election laws here in South Korea, and writing things about candidates online can be a violation of these election laws.

You can go to this page to get a vague idea about what’s going on and how some people are saying it is corruption and even anti-democratic. Here’s is what the link leads to:

Kim Hye-jin from Global Voices online has an interesting thread on the National Election Commission (NEC) in Korea and their attempts to censor online discussion of the presidential candidates. According to some, this smacks of dictatorship (link to the Korean):

Frankly speaking, it is insulting people who died for democracy.
Why did citizens and students have demonstrations and march? It was to let people know about corruption in politics. Now it has been developed on-line.
Do we have to get a permit in order to write on the internet?

or as this commenter observes:

. . . they just send a notice, “Your writing violates the election law and therefore it will be deleted.”…. I have doubts about whether Korea is a democratic nation or not.

If you follow this link you can find the full discussion and some more detailed information.

I just came across this today while I was trying to figure out a way to get on the ESPN website. Yeah, my school or district has a block on that site, along with the NBA site, Rolling Stone, and even the login page to my blog.

I can understand blocking sites that students may be trying to access in the computer labs, but come on, blocking a sports news site that is in English! How many kids at my school are trying to access that?

So in my quest for sports news, I’ve stumbled across government corruption related to elections. Interesting isn’t it?

Oh, just got word that it isn’t my school blocking these sites, it is the district server. I have two options here. I can bring it up to my principal who loves me. He told me yesterday, right after he told me how handsome I looked, that if I have any problems, even something completely minor, I should tell him and he will fix it. My second option is to write a letter to the district and tell them I’m not a baby and I’d appreciate the “freedom” to be able to check sports scores during my lunch break (or during all of the time I sit around doing nothing!).

Man, I hate being oppressed…

Welfare 2006...

2008-03-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

The plan fell apart. I’m not sure where it all went wrong.

I remember back at MUN and maybe in Deer Lake our big plan. It was called “Welfare 2006.” That was the year my friends and I were all gonna graduate from university and then take a break together. Some people go on a graduation trip, say to Mexico or somewhere, and others go back to their hometown, and some immediately start looking for jobs. Our plan was different.

Here is the idea. We planned on getting on da welfare and just chilling out, drinking, playing video games and such, for a year. Wouldn’t that be nice? After slaving away at university (ha, yeah right) for four or five years, It’d be nice to take a year to recharge on the government tab.

It didn’t quite work out and I don’t even know if any of my friends got on da welfare! We always had troubles accomplishing our goals!

Now I have friends who are nurses, teachers, geologists, doctors, carpet cleaning technicians, airplane mechanics, businessmen, pipe fitters, haul truck drivers, car salesmen, Army Commanders, and engineers.

The closest thing I’ve got to “Welfare 2006” being realized is happening in Alberta I guess. I know people who have become crack heads. That’s kinda welfare. I know people living in trailer parks. That’s kinda welfare (although, not really in Alberta…). I know people who live in Ponoka. That at least sounds kinda welfare. I know people who see people living in RV campers using piss jugs. That’s really welfare. And I know lots of people who sit around playing video games all day. That’s not that welfare, but it was a part of the “Welfare 2006” manifesto.

So while I don’t consider myself to be a complete failure in life, I will always be living with regret knowing that I did not accomplish my one true dream…

Welfare 2006…

Normal people...

2008-03-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

I can’t stop reading the SMPA webpage. Another great post yesterday.

In Japan foreigners must always carry local-government-issued ID with them at all times. Failure to do so results in them being locked up.

Has Korea ever thought about doing something like this? It would be nice if foreigners were more regularly locked in jail.

Any guesses on the cops response?

This next one isn’t that great but I enjoy the response from the police so here it is (and, well, I’m bored at work so this gives me something to do, and look busy while I’m typing in MS Word…).

Recently I was walking around Seoul when I noticed a number of Christmas decorations up. There was a department store that had Christmas wreaths, and I even saw a Baskin Robbins playing Christmas carols.

As you know, Christmas is very offensive to non-Christians. It makes them very violent and dangerous. In western countries, we no longer celebrate Christmas. Instead we say Happy Holidays and decorate festivity trees.

We are at war. Displaying Christmas decorations could force the Islamic and atheistic forces to attack. For the safety of the country, I think you should cancel Christmas and make Christmas decorations illegal.

And the boys in blue’s response.

Thanks for visit to SMPA homepage

We understand what you want to say

However, normal people here could know what is good or bad,
so they are not affected by the celebration.

“Normal people.” I really enjoy how they imply that this guy isn’t actually “normal,” but all of the actual “normal” people “know what is good or bad.”

Really??? Like leaving the bar (with your wife) but insisting that you drive because you are the man, BUT you are totally shit-faced. Normal? It’s pretty normal in Korea.

Or pushing and shoving your way onto the subway, bus, elevator, set of stairs, or just about anywhere else. Normal? Yup, see it everyday.

How about this one? Making your ten year old kid go to school all day, then go to the private institute for another one to five hours to study English, Math, Science, etc. Then this child continues the routine through junior high and high school, has no social life (or social skills), writes the big exam they write in high school that practically determines your fate, does pretty average on this exam, can’t get into the program his parents wanted him to get into (I mean, um, the program he wanted to get into), sees no hope in his future because he will never get a job with a “company,” so he jumps off a building. Normal? I’m not gonna go as far as saying that this is “normal” over here, but it happens because there is so much competition for every job and placement.

And one more. Your dad works hard and goes to work every morning at 7:00 AM. He comes home every night at around midnight, give or take, completely smashed. Your mom puts up with this for some reason, and you don’t even know there is something wrong because this is just how it is. Your dad has to live like this because it’s how business is done in your country. Normal? Sure. Typical? Pretty much.

Don’t take this the wrong way. Thing is, I’m not even tryna bitch about Korea. I’m just explaining what “normal” people do here.

Chungking mansion...

2008-03-03T05:08:00.001-08:00

So I went to Hong Kong and China.

I've been too lazy to write, and unfortunately I can't get logged in to write at school which sucks because I'm there all week from 9-5:00 without any classes all week. But that's another story.

So the place I stayed in Hong Kong is called Chungking Mansion. This is what Wikipedia has to say about the place. I can't describe it any better so here's some cutting and pasting.
Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36-44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. The building is well known as nearly the cheapest accommodation in Hong Kong with a single bed of US $8 one night. Though the building is supposedly residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops, and other services. The strange atmosphere of this building is sometimes called by some "the scent of Kowloon's Walled City".

Chungking Mansions features a labyrinth of guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly Indians, Middle Eastern people, Nepalese, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans, Pakistanis, and many other peoples of the world.

The building was completed in 1961, at which time Chinese residents predominated. Now, after more than four decades of use, there are an estimated 4,000 people living in the Mansions.

Chungking Mansions is 17 stories tall and consists of 5 blocks, A, B, C, D, and E.

The age of the building, the diverse ownership, and management structure are the cause of the building's reputation for being a fire trap. The unsanitary conditions, security, ancient electrical wiring, block staircases contribute to the hazards.

On February 21, 1988, a fire broke out in the building. A Danish tourist who was trapped inside was killed. The fire in this building, as well as a blaze in a similar building provoked a review of rules and regulations concerning public safety.^[5]

CUHK anthropologist Prof. Gordon Mathews revealed that there are people from at least 120 different nationalities who have passed through Chungking Mansions in the past year.

With this lively mix of guest workers, mainlanders, local Chinese, tourists and backpackers, the Chungking neighbourhood is one of the most culturally diverse locations in Hong Kong. Chungking Mansions was elected as the "Best Example of Globalization in Action" by TIME Magazine in its annual feature The Best of Asia,^[6] although racial tensions are known to boil over occasionally.^[7]

It is also known to be a centre of drugs, and a refuge for petty criminals, scammers,^[8] and illegal immigrants. For example, in a Police swoop in June 1995, about 1,750 people were questioned, 45 men and seven women from various Asian and African countries were arrested on suspicion of offences including failing to produce proof of identity, overstaying, using forged travel documents, possessing equipment for forging documents, and possessing dangerous drugs.^[9] In "Operation Sahara" in 1996, 52 men and seven women from 14 countries were arrested for violating immigration regulations.^[10]

A murder took place there.^[11] It was later revealed that Sushila Pandey, a 37-year-old Indian tourist was killed in a domestic dispute with her Sri Lankan partner Attanayake Wasala Dangamuwa, 54.^[12]

The Chungking Mansions served as one of the filming locations for Wong Kar-wai's movie, Chungking Express (one of Quentin Tarintino's favorite movies).

So staying at this place was probably the most interesting thing about the trip. When you are outside the front entrance, it's like you are being attacked by a swarm of killer bees, but the bees are Indians and Nigerians and random other dark races trying to sell you shit ("copy watch, suit?"), rent you a room, or get you to go to a restaurant (these pics aren't mine... I didn't wanna be taking out my camera there, but I'm sure it would have been ok). We called it the gauntlet.
This picture doesn't do it justice though. Multiply it by at least seven to get the typical day when we'd walk by.

It's kind of crazy chaotic outside the front entrance but I didn't feel unsafe. They have security at the door, outside the elevators, and at a security desk in the middle of the long, narrow lobby.

One day the Chinese (or Hong Kongian, um, what is a Hong Kong person?) security man at the elevator just started yelling at this BIG black dude out side the elevator. The black dude was like "Are ya yellin' at me maan? I deedn't do nuttin'!" And the short fat Hong Kongite didn't back down and kept yelling. I didn't know what was going on and I'm pretty sure the black dude didn't so shit.

It actually reminded me of "The Wire" because this dude's friend looked just like Marlo Stanfield and he was chewing on a tooth pick. I was waiting for Chris and Snoop to come around the corner with a nail gun and a roll of plastic...

Speaking of violence, me and Cousin It, I mean, Daniel, were in front of the mansion with our two Hong Kong friends, Debbie and Claire.
We were all on our way home after a dinner and a few drinks. Fifteen feet away from the entrance this Nigerian dude says some shit like "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be" and he hauls off and smacks/punches the chick in the head. There were a few people around but no one did anything. Not our business, and you don't wanna make shit your business late at night around there.

It was pretty intense. Debbie and Claire weren't overly phased by it, and just crossed the street to walk back home. We offered to walk them home but they are locals and probably know what not to do better than us!

Anyway, go to Facebook and see my pics there if you're interested, although I don't have many pictures of Chungking, but a few.

My first room sucked at the "Taiwan Hotel," the second room was good (in Chungking terms) at "The Welcome Guesthouse", and half the price, if that makes any sense.
For a really vivid description of the place read this story called Hope and Squalor at Chungkindg Mansion.

The story is a little sensational but it sums up the feeling of the place, and gives a bit of history.

"Copy watch."

"Tailor made suit. Cheap. Good quality."

"Hashish. Bullet man."

Those phrases were banging around my head for days after I left...

Drop...

2008-02-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Hong Kong.

I found a flyer in my pocket and remembered someone took mine and Diggz picture at this bar called drop.

The site is Life Style Hong Kong and me and Diggz made the cut, as did everyone else by the look of it.

Click here to see us in all of our glory... 'specially Diggz...

Stop snitchin'...

2008-02-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) has a website. The have a section called the “Foreigner’s Room.” It’s pretty much just a message board where people can ask (in)valid questions to the police, and snitch on people for shit.

Earlier today, there was a post titled “Illegal Hockey.” It’s gone now. The complaint was that there is a foreigner illegally coaching hockey here in Seoul.

See, most of us foreigners have an E-2 teaching visa that clearly states that it’s illegal to have any other job or any other form of income. Even if, for instance, you are coaching a hockey team of six year old Korean kids, you are technically breaking the law when you accept pay.

The guy who wrote this complaint actually gave the arena address and the time when he will be coaching the kids.

Just imagine it. You are a six year old kid and the police storm onto the ice and arrest your coach!

Hopefully, someone who knows this coach saw the post and managed to tell him that the SMPA are onto him.

Besides stupid pricks ratting on people, there are also a lot of asshole foreigners asking many a dumb question. I don’t intend to be one of these foreigners, but I don’t know if I can resist.

This is maybe the funniest post I’ve read thus far.

Bearded man in Sadang area

I would like to report a sighting of a bearded man in the Sadang area. I saw him entering Sadang subway station at approximately 6pm on Saturday. As I am sure you are aware, beards (especially ginger-coloured) are illegal in most countries in the West. I assume that the same laws exist here in Korea. I await news of action taken.

Funny? Yes.

But what validates the humour is the reply by the police.

beared…

Thank you for visiting the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency(SMPA) Website.

As you know, Korea is a democratic republic, so people can make they style as much as they want. That is definitely legal style.

Thank you

Do they have shit like this in Canada??

There are so many problems with this that I don’t even know when to start. Any site where people rat on people just pisses me off.

Also, what if there was a real criminal out there, but he checked the site everyday? He could, in theory, know what the police are up to.

I’ve heard stories of people who have been reported for drug use. Someone saw their names on the SMPA page and told them before the police came. Apparently, those people left Korea immediately, breaking their contracts and disabling all cell phone, Facebook accounts, etc.

Whether this is true or not is not really the point. My point is that it’s fucked up that some Korean with a chip on his shoulder can potentially cause a lot of problems for something that is not causing any problems.

Let’s say you break up with your Korean girlfriend. She knows that you were back home a month ago and probably smoked some pot. She logs on, anonymously, and soon the police are at this guy’s door. Maybe she doesn’t really want him to get in trouble but she is pissed off and emotional and makes a rash decision.

Not sure if that would ever happen, but anything is possible over in these parts, especially with girls (but that goes for any country…).

Anyway, it’s a funny site. I can’t say that I discovered it. I was reading an online ‘zine called “Broke in Korea.” I guess you can call it a punk ‘zine and it has some good articles.

There are some really interesting pictures of abandoned buildings and a good rant about the Korean punk scene needing an STD, but what I really want you to check out is the section “The Seoul Metro.” It is a collection of some of the funnier and more outlandish posts made on the SMPA webpage. Definitely a great read. Beards, prostitutes, DJ’s…

I also have to say the guy who put the ‘zine together was very helpful for helping me (shit, I couldn’t figure out a better way to write that sentence) figure out how to post on the SMPA page. The trick is, you actually don’t need a user name or password. Just type some random shit. But more importantly, don’t use any punctuation, such as apostrophes and quotation marks. Apparently, it may mess with the page’s code?

Now you have the power to get anyone you want harassed by the police!

Unfortunately, my first post was only there for an hour or so and then it disappeared.

But Wayne Lemieux will not rest until ice hockey is stopped here. I don’t want Korea playing Canada’s game, but more importantly, mastering Canada’s game, and then kicking our ass in the next Olympics.

So I’m on a mission.

And yeah, that’s definitely legal style.

Racial superiority...

2008-02-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

I’m bored at work again. No afternoon classes for the past two days and time is dripping by.

I’ve discovered a few interesting things during my extended internet scouring.

1. Koreans are “the smartest, most sophisticated and best educated people.”

2. Koreans are culturally superior compared to other countries.

Just click the links for proof of both.

HANMI Semiconductor chairman and CEO Kwak Noh-kwon is a smart guy. Here’s what he said:

"While I was traveling around the world conducting semiconductor business for over 40 years, I realized Koreans are the smartest, most sophisticated and best educated people. They are just right for the semiconductor business."

"But what I am sure of is that if we rule the semicon(ductor) industry, we can rule the world, just like human's brain rules the whole body."

Checkmate.

If Hitler only focused on semiconductors instead of wiping out those pesky Jews…

Next, we have Han Kyung-koo, a professor with Kookmin University's Division of International & Area Studies. This is what he has to say to say about Korean culture and superiority:

”These days, too, contemporary South Korean society treats people from advanced regions, such as the U.S. and Europe, very differently from those from developing countries. Foreign workers and spouses are suffering discrimination not because of our society's notion of pure-bloodedness, but because of our society's preposterous sense of cultural superiority over their countries.”

“It will not be enough to break away from ideas of pure-bloodedness or the mythology of ethnic homogeneity because our society's racial attitudes and biases are more deeply rooted than this. The problem is our tendency, based on a preposterous sense of superiority, to thoughtlessly despise and discriminate against foreigners merely because they are different from us and their income is less.”

Alright, agreed with you right up until that last sentence. My income is the same as a Korean teacher, buddy. AND, your government is paying my rent, so I guess that means I’m making more loot than my Korean co-workers.

Suck on that “Professor.”

Lazy...

2008-01-29T05:17:00.000-08:00

I've been slack here... So I'm just gonna copy and paste some emails I sent people about what I'm up to all the time... Here goes... This might be rather dry... If you wanna read in order start at the bottom...

January 28th

Yesterday I went to Kyobo at Jamsil and bought a book about Hong Kong. I was gonna buy the big China version but I thought I didn't wanna carry that around with me on my trip. There was a Korean-American girl there with a notepad reading the same China Lonely Planet book as me. She had too many notes made. She said she never buys the books. She just goes to the bookstore for an hour or two and makes notes from the book.

I think she is typical Korean. She loves studying so much that she enjoys making notes and acting like a student. I think she was offended when I jokingly said that to her.

I should have asked her if she ever heard of those places called libraries...

January 22nd

Today I went skating with the kids at my school English camp. It's fun being the best skater on the whole ice rink.

I also booked my tickets to Hong Kong for February when my Diggz comes. Gonna meet my Sam from DL in Hong Kong because she lives in a nearby city so she can take care of us. That means I barely have to plan anything because she's gonna book the places for us to stay and take us around the city! That's my kind of travelling.

So we're gonna spend the weekend in Hong Kong then go to Shenzhen. That's the city where Sam lives. She has to work, but her Phillopino boyfriend works at a bar in the bar district so we can hang out in that area and meet him when he finishes work, if I'm not too wasted. Once again, no planning.

Then we'll head back to Hong Kong for a few days on our own. So gotta make some plans for those couple days, or but a Lonely Planet book.

God, I really really really really wanna go out and drink. All this camp and sick stuff has gotten the better of me. I've been at camp for two weeks, then I got sick the weekend I came back. I haven't seen Matt or Karen in weeks so it should be good to see them, especially Matt because I still haven't heard about his trip to Canada.

I'm pretty sure I can predict what he did there...

Unknown Date

Very weird.I'm listening to this band called Windir. A folk metal band from Norway. The singer died when he was 25 walking to his families cabin in the forest. I was reading the lyrics to the album that he wrote when he was 22 or 23. Creepy...
A fate, a destiny,
an inevitable early death
Finally I'm dead,
And the vision is revealed for everyone else
Dying with sorrow not in hand,
Welcoming my gods, an equal I am,
A travel awaits before me,
Encircled as a God, dead as a manHe must have been listening to a lot of Biggie and 'Pac 'cause he knew, just like two of the b'ys, that his time was coming...

January 17th

I'm back from ENGLISH camp!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But a little bored because everyone I know has to work because they don't work in public schools so I don't have much to do. Last night I went to the Wa Bar near my home and drank with my bartender friend. She drank a lot while she was working. It was fun!

My apartment is such a mess!!! I still haven't really unpacked from camp and there is stuff everywhere. When you live in a box it doesn't take much to create a bad state.

Some students asked for my email address so I gave it to them. I already have about five emails from students. One kid already sent me three emails. He said "Why didn't you write back to me yet!" He sounds angry. But I'm not writing them back until next week because I don't want to think about those kids. Then after that, never writing to them again. Trying to forget the most of the last 2 weeks of my life!!!

The last night at camp we all went out for dakgalbi (spicy chicken... GOOD), beer , and soju. Then we went to a noraebang and it was so much fun. One of the foreign teachers called Jin a dickhead. We had two seperate rooms and when Jin would come in our room we (foriegners) would all leave and go to the other room. But we started smoking in our room so all of the Koreans left only and one or two stayed. One of the Korean teachers is such a giant flirt!! She liked all of the weigooks (foreigners) so much, but she has a boyfriend. She was the best thing about camp.

Everyone left the noraebang at about 2:30 so me and the foreigners went around the town stealing firewood. We had so much wood and our fire was burning until 5am! We were so drunk and happy and angry all at the same time! Happy to be going home... Angry about Jin and the old men who were yelling at us last time. One of the weigooks got crazy and started knocking over the barBQ and picnic tables and benches and just breaking stuff. So we shortly left because all of us were starting to go crazy.

We also bought a bunch of fireworks and put on a show for the students the last night. They loved it!!!

Today, I ordered 2 pizzas from the same place. I got my co-worker to call and order and the delivery guy just laughed at me because it was the same guy both times. DELICIOUS!!!!

Freedom is great...

January 10th

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

I really need to get out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just when things seem to be going good, something bad happens.

Last night, me and the weigooks had the night off so we had a fire by the river near of prison. We lit the fire with Pringles chips but we didn't have enough wood. Matt, the Aussie, went looking for wood and he broke into someones shed and came back with wood!!! He said the wood was actually a part of the shed. I don't know...

Then we wanted to sit down so we saw a bench in someones garden. So Matt went to get the bench and when he was walking with it, the old man came home and got out of his car and started yelling at Matt. Matt tried to explain we were just going to sit on it and put it back but he just kept yelling...

Then we bought MANY fireworks and shot them at the bridge!!!!! About an hour later a different old man came and started yelling at us and we were a little drunk by now so we started yelling back at him. Everyone was just yelling but no one understood anything... So he left.

Then we tried to cook frozen pizza on the fire but that didn't work?!?! Stupid weigooks...

When we came back to the prison it was midnight. We went in the staff room and the Koreans were having a party but they didn't tell us?!!?!?!??!? AHHHHHH a Korean teacher just snuck up behind me and scared the shit out of me while I am typing... She's one of the nice teachers...

Anyway... we went in the staff room and they looked so surprised that we were there. We started drinking their beer but we didn't really feel welcomed but we stayed anyway...

Now, on to Jin. So Jin apparently has a crush on my co-teacher. I actually had a crush on her when I taught with her this summer but now she has a boyfriend, and she isn't as cute. Jin is about 40 years old and she is 25. Jin is also married, but he is always kind of following her around and trying to sit by her. So, because I hate him, I decided I'm always going to flirt with her when he's around.

So I came into the staff room last night and there was no room on the table by her (Alice) but I went and told her to move over and sat by her. Jin looked so angry. Then I kept going "cheers" and drinking and joking with her, just to make him angry. He looked so cold. Next, I congratulated Jin for his wedding anniversary that was only a few days ago and said "you are so lucky to be so happily married."

I'm an asshole, but he deserves it.

Jin, and this camp, make me kind of hate Korea a little bit. All of us weigooks just complain about Korea and the culture when we are here because we are treated like 2nd class people at this camp (kind of, well, not really... hard to explain).

I just can't wait to get back to SEEEEEOUUUUUUUULLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How muchee...

2008-01-29T05:05:00.000-08:00

This morning was awkward.

I got to the bus stop a little bit late so I thought maybe I would be late for school. I was waiting for a couple of minutes, then I saw a familiar looking man coming to the bus stop. It was my vice-principal!

I've never seen him at my bus stop before. He knew he was a little late too, and he knew I was a little late. He asked how long I was waiting in his broken English ('Bus. Wait. How muchee?') and I said 10 minutes. Really, I was just there a minute or two but I didn't want him thinking I was late. I wanted him to think the bus was late.

Then we waited together and it was the longest 7 or 8 minutes I've had in Korea. He speaks no English, but I felt rude being there with him listening to music so I took out one headphone, but then I couldn't properly enjoy my morning music. The song I was listening to had the guitar and bass and vocal harmonies and on different channels so I only go half the song. Maybe it would have been better if I took out the left ear, not the right.

So the bus finally comes and we get on. Then we have to transfer to another bus but it pulled out in front of us so we couldn't catch that bus. So we went one more stop to catch another bus. We should have went one extra stop, then we wouldn't have to walk to transfer but he wanted to get off one stop before. Then we had to cross the road and run because the bus was coming. Thankfully, I was with an old Korean man because the driver stopped way before the stop and picked us up. That wouldn't happen for me.

Thankfully there weren't two open seats next t o each other so I didn't have to sit by him.

Played 'The Price is Right' all morning with my grade four kids. My students liked this picture...

A bad case...

2008-01-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna incorporate this into my teaching somehow...

Bad Case Of Diarrhea - Watch more free videos

Home free...

2008-01-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Oh fack... Just got back from two weeks in English Camp Hell.

Terrible...

As expected...

One of the Korean teachers, a 37 year old man named Jin, was a total dickhead, and I had to work with him on a club performance.

The club practices were supposed to be one hour a day, but this guy made the kids meet after lunch and each day the kids practiced for about 2-2.5 hours. No other club did this. Pissed me off because the kids were tired and just wanted to play with their friends.

Also, he might be a closet fag. In Korea there's this song called "Tell Me" by a group called Wonder Girls. Picture a 16 year old version of the Spice Girls with, dare I say, less talent. For some reason, this 37 year old man knows the "Tell Me" dance. That is definitely questionable.

Jin Jin Jin.

He also monopolized the stage even when he wasn't using it so no other groups could practice. He knocked over a snowman that grade 5 girls made. He had an annoying voice. He was married but was constantly flirting with my cute co-teacher who is just 25. He learned to play guitar after a previous English camp because another teacher played guitar and his wife was impressed by that dude. He called one of the foreign teachers rude because she was waiting for 25 minutes to use the stage and he just had his kids sitting on the stage talking to them.

I had already had a run-in with him before but the rude comment really pissed me off. The first time I told him that it is unfair to the kids because he's making them work too hard and taking away too much of their free time. I questioned his motivations for doing this, telling him I thought that he just wanted to show everyone up during the performance and that it's not a competition. I pretty much told him I thought he was a selfish prick without saying that.

Then I told the supervisor all of this, but she's been friends with him since high school. Anway.

After the rude comment, I pretty much said the same things again, but by now he had pissed many people off and I told him he was completely inconsiderate to anyone else's needs. I told him I thought he was a smug prick who used "Korean Culture" as his scapegoat for any problems he had with the foreigners.

I then went to the supervisor and told her I will never teach another camp again if Jin is there. I told her she wasn't doing a good job at this camp compared to last year, and the other foreign teacher told her the same thing (and that teacher has much more experience and clout than me). I told the supervisor she put us in uncomfortable situations by asking us if we were having problems with Korean teachers while Korean teachers were in the room. I told her the Korean teachers didn't speak barely any Korean last year when the foreigners were around, but this year they were mostly speaking Korean in the staff room. I told her we don't like it when they speak in their secret code and then we hear our names in their conversations.

So that was that.

I put up with him the rest of camp and barely spoke a word to him even though we worked together for almost 2 hours each day.

The kids at camp were great, just like last year. My class of girls were less snobby so that was nice, and my boys were kinda pansies (but kicked ass at soccer) so they were no trouble.

My co-teachers were much better this year. I worked with both of them at a summer camp, and the young teacher Jin liked is extremely cute, so that made my days more enjoyable.

We had a foreigner party by the river one night. We had no wood so the Aussie broke into a shed and came back with some lumber that he actually tore from the shed. It was the shed. Then he went to borrow a bench from some dudes garden and the dude came home and got out of his car freaking out. Funny.

Then another old man came freaking out at us but by now we were drunk and lacking respect. We tried to say "It's ok" etc. but he kept freaking so a few choice words were flung his way.

The last night of camp we went out to dinner, then to a noraebang, then to the river again. This time, we knew where to get wood. One morning we went on a bike ride and I scoped out a dude splitting wood near the river. Soooo, we borrowed a little wood from him and had a kick-ass fire until 5 in the morning.

It's good to be back to civilization and back to a place where the food isn't utter shit.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll eventually write something more about China but meh... Probably not. Just look at the Facebook.

I ain't down with redundancy...

Ching chang chong...

2008-01-01T01:14:00.000-08:00

Got back from China a few days ago but I've been drinking every night since I've gotten back so no time to write anything... Well, I have time, just too hungover.

I'm hungover now of course, but I gotta go to English Camp tomorrow for two weeks so I thought I'd write something now.

New Years Ever last night. I met Kyu at Woodstock for a few drinks and then headed up to Jenn and Gavin's apartment. Karen met me there too. It was a big Newfy party. Almost everyone there was a Newf, besides maybe three or four people.

When I got to Jenn's, I started drinking somac (soju and beer mixed). I got pretty drunk and left kinda early. Not sure what time, but it wasn't too late.

I woke up in the taxi and he was just driving around my neighborhood waiting for me to wake up. The taxi was about ten bucks more than it should have been!!

I stepped out of the cab and started throwing my guts up. For some reason I just kept walking and barfing. I'm not sure why I didn't stop. Maybe it was too cold or something.

So that was New Years. All in all, total success!

And now, Christmas in China.

China was fun. Did all the touristy shite like the Great Wall and Forbidden City and some temple. Went to the big market and bought a bunch of fake stuff. Got three pairs of Jordans for about 70 bucks. Two pairs are fine but one pair isn't. The right shoe is about a cm bigger than the left.

Stupid Chinese goods...

The paint is starting to come off of the shoes I've worn only twice.

Stupid Chinese goods...

Gotta expect that I s'pose.

What else did we do. Went to lots of bars and found the cool back alley bars. We went to this area called Sanlitun (I think) . We kinda lucked out because we had no idea where to go so we stopped this white girl on the street. She gave us the lowdown and told us to go to The Rickshaw bar. Once we found that bar everything else fell into place.

It was definitely an expat hangout so got some go info there, although we didn't get this info until the second night. So we spent our first night on the main strip there getting harrassed by Chinese dudes on the sidewalk tryna get you to go to their bar. Every bar was essentially the same on that strip. They all had live music. Most bands were comprised of one or two hot Chinese girls singing, with an old guitar player and keyboardist.I think I was falling in love with both of those girls, especially the silver girl! They were so cute. They really weren't into it at all, and they be playing with their hair or looking at their nails. The silver chick sang the last song and by then she was giviner. Sexy sexy sexy girl!

After getting brutally overcharged there, we went looking for the back alley bars. We were actually in the right area but it was just so dead that we thought it couldn't be the right place. The next day we were talking to some diplomats at The Rickshaw. They told us some cool bars and they knew their shit. These bars were pretty awesome and that's where we spent x-mas night. Bar Blu and the China Doll.

I met these two cute Chinese girls at Bar Blu and danced with them all night. One of them spoke decent English because she is majoring in English. I got their phone numbers and was supposed to hang out with them the next day, but in my drunken mess I lost their numbers. Shitty deal!!! They wanted me to come hang out at their university which would have been super cool. They both lived the dorm there so I could have potentially stayed there with them. Ah, I don't wanna talk about it?!!?

Well, I gotta get ready for English Camp now, so I'll write some more later. For now, check out the Facebook to see my picture story of China.

Happy New Year ya pricks!

Catch up...

2007-12-19T04:32:00.000-08:00

Lot's of good and bad lately, but even the bad was good.

Yesterday I listened to "Dopethrone" by Electric Wizard at least four times before I came home from work. When I got home I checked out a music site and realized they released a new album a few days ago (Witchhunt Today). Finding this out was like an early Christmas present. I'll be listening to this a lot over the holidays. It's good Christmas music, it really is...

Also a new Ghostface and Wu album.

Going to China on Sunday. Should be cool. Don't really know what to expect and I haven't looked into anything yet. Hoping someone else who's going is a diligent trip planner type because I'm definitely not.

Looking forward to some time off, even if I know that English Camp Hell is going to follow

Now the baddish...

I was seeing this girl for about two months. Liked her a lot but she's going away to school after this summer and she thought it would be better to just end it now before it gets too serious. Very disappointing but there are lots of octopus in the sea. She was a smart one though, and cool, and she spoke good English, and a music school student. Shit...

So that's done with and there's no hard feelings. "We're still friends," whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean...

But.

Luckily I met another girl this weekend. She speaks decent English and likes to drink. She finished a fashion design program is just studying English now (wants to go to London and study in a couple years) and taking dance lessons (?). The good thing about this is that she isn't one of those SUPER busy Koreans with no time for anything. So if things work out I can actually see her regularly. And she lives relatively close to me (just 7 stops away on the same line).

Now I just gotta get her to breakup with her boyfriend who is gone away to the army for two years. There's always a catch...

What else, what else?

Um, a new president was elected here today. That means about dick-all to me...

It's cold now.

My brother is in Fort Mac becoming a man and working way too much.

My cousin is coming to visit in February and I'm tryna convince a few other friends to join him. Save some money AC.

My eyesight is flawless.
I wish I was a cheesier, eviler guy. I'd get this tattooed on me somewhere...

Toilet house...

2007-12-06T05:48:00.001-08:00

Remember that toilet house? Well check this out!

I've been told you can spend the night for 50 bucks!

Apparently the owner is Sim Jae-duck. He's a Korean congressman.

He's also known as Mr. Toilet. For real...

I just feel like technology, it doesn't impress me...

2007-12-05T05:48:00.000-08:00

About twice a year I find myself listening to nothing but Kool Keith for about two or three weeks. The guy has so many albums that it's not a problem to always listen to something new.

He gotta be one of the most inconsistent artists ever, but his last couple albums have been surprising good.

Anyone who has any interest in hip hop and weird things should listen to Kool Keith.

He's one of the crudest and most clever rappers ever. He's at his best when he's not really making any sense...

DIY...

2007-12-02T03:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had laser surgery to correct my vision. More specifically, I had LASIK surgery... Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis.

The surgery took less than five minutes in all. They numbed my eyes with some drops then I went in the "operating" room.

It took about 20 seconds to cut a flap in my eye, then 18 seconds with the laser, then another 20 seconds to put the flap back. Then onto the next eye.

To think that I payed nearly two grand for this makes me feel a little ripped off, although I can see perfectly and there was absolutely no pain, and just minor discomfort for four hours afterward.

If I had my time back, I would have saved a bundle of money and instead just purchased the LASIK@Home kit.
Seems legit I s'pose?

PC police...

2007-11-22T04:41:00.001-08:00

"If we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man with AIDS on the moon. Then, someday, we can put everyone with AIDS on the moon." SS.

Just randomly watched an episode of the Sarah Silverman Program. Might have to download them all simply based on that one line.

May I make an observation...

2007-11-21T04:19:00.000-08:00

I've finally gotten around to sending some pictures from my cell phone to my computer. I was really surprised with the size and quality of the pictures. Kinda makes me wish I used my phone to take a lot more pictures of stupid shit.
This is probably the manliest sign I've ever seen outside a men's bathroom. I felt super-hetero walking in there...
Keeping to a toilet related theme, this truck was on the edge of Olympic Park. It was kinda like a play area for kids. Children here love shit, as you can see by the dude's hat and his finely tailored Brutus The Barber Beefcake styled pants. Ddong, as you know, means shit. '97 was a good year for feces here in S-K.
I went to one of the many Woodstock bars with a friend. This particular one was in Sincheon (near Jamsil) and the place was empty. We sat around for about five minutes contemplating stealing guitar amps when finally the bartender arrived. Turns out he was the owner and he played. He plugged in his guitar, turned on some amps, and finally put on his aviator sunglasses. Then he played a few tunes, the best one being a song titled "Michelle" that is about a foreign girl he has a crush on.

This dude was about 50 years old. He didn't look it.

He tried to call Michelle and get me to talk to her but thankfully she never picked up. After that me and him jammed for half an hour or so switching from drums to bass (he had no electric guitar there). Decent laugh, but our styles didn't mix too well. I'd like to back sometime with an electric and blow a few of his amps some night.
This is a homeless guy I saw. He was walking up the sidewalk and suddenly stopped and started talking to the ground. One of the few times I really wish I spoke Korean.
Now, back to the theme. Me and Matt were out around not drinking one night and came across this in one of the subway stations near Olympic Park. Can't remember the station name right now. Anyway, I didn't have to piss but I made the extra effort to use "Seoul Best Toilet 2000." The effort was definitely worth it.

Just a little sidenote. I'm gonna go to Beijing for a few days during Christmas with my cuz Karen and some of her co-workers. It's gonna be freezing there but the trip is cheap and there's just about no way it won't be interesting. China kinda mildly scares the hell outta me for some reason.

Maybe it has something to do with that one stray hair on the chin of the old lady who worked at the Tai Lee Family Restaurant in Dar Lake. The one 12 millimeter hair that was always there until one day I found a black 12 millimeter hair in my Chi-Besso.

Valid reason to fear a country if there ever was one right?

Jake's truck jump...

2007-11-12T02:59:00.000-08:00

Me and Matt were drunk one night surfing the internet. We ended up on Youtube and I felt this was worth sharing. It's only 9 seconds long.

And you can thank me for saving you a lot of time later. This is the best truck jump on the net so look no further.

The internet makes me dumb...

Wha??

2007-11-09T22:06:00.001-08:00

I was just surfing the net and ended up reading the side effects of some prescription drug. These are some of the things you don't want to happen if you take it.

...nervousness, nausea, dry mouth, diarrhea headache, drowsiness.

Hold on a second there. Diarrhea headache?? What in the hell is a diarrhea headache??

I hope I never find out...

Hello lasik...

2007-11-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Friday and it was a school holiday. In all of his glory, the principal planned a big outing that day for the teachers. Most teachers just wanted to stay home because these outing are a 12 hour ordeal. I was willing to do that stuff last year but this year I feel much less inclined to participate so I needed an out.

I found it.

I made an appointment at the Dream Eye Center in Myeongdong. I've been thinking about getting the laser surgery to correct my vision so this is the first step. You have to find out if you're eligible for the surgery by under going numerous tests during first consultation. If all goes well, you can then make your appointment anytime after.

I went there at 2:00 and was out by 4:00. First, they did a number of regular vision tests, then some stranger ones. They tested me for astigmatism, cornea thickness, pupil size, cornea symmetry, eye pressure, and some other things I don't remember the names of.

They put a two different drops in my eyes. One drop was an anesthetic which enabled her to poke at my eyes with a pencil-like machine to test for some crap. The other drops inhibited my pupils from working so they were really dilated. Again, this allowed them to do some other tests that I can't explain.
I looked like this for about seven hours after the tests. It didn't matter if I was in a dark room or light room, my eyes looked like this.

My vision was also blurry for a few hours and that's normal. I could barely read text's messages on my phone, and texting has become an integral part of my life these days. How lame is that?

Anyway, all is well with my eyes. My cornea kicks some serious ass with it's thickness, and my pupils are well above average size. This isn't really a good thing for the surgery because it means the results will be better if they use the "Wavefront" machine for my surgery. This cost's a little extra money, but I'll be able to see through girls shirts so it'll be worth it.

So here's what they're gonna do to me when I go through with the surgery. You can click the numbers and it shows you the steps. They say it's pain free and it takes just a few hours to heal. Technologay is awesome... I think...

Yeah, and you know what they say about guys with big pupils.

The Sensuous Black Woman Meets the Sensuous Black Man...

2007-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Check this out (click it!) even if you don't like hip hop.

Skip to the middle of the page for the good shit.

Big Bear is definitely my favorite.

Don't try to tell that this isn't the best thing you've ever seen. He got pimped out bears on his album cover! That is brilliant, and I don't even like bears one bit. I've compared bears to terrorists in the past, but that viewpoint may well soon change.

I'm downloading this as we speak...

Doctor Dave...

2007-10-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

I had to go to Corner Brook to see the doctor. Myself, Lana, Sam, and Daniel went down there together.

I walked into the building holding the clinic. It was in an old apartment building and first I walked into the wrong office, but the tenant told me what room I had to visit.

I knocked on the door and Doctor David Mustaine opened up. Paint was peeling off the door.

The dresser was covered with medical equipment and empty beer bottles with no labels. The doctor let out a wry laugh as I walked in.

He checked my sore throat and said I didn't need a prescription but I insisted that I did so he wrote one up.

I asked a few questions about being on tour while being a traveling doctor and he said it was quite manageable. It was a serious conversation.

I walked over to the window and on the street below Jeff Hewitt was getting roughed up by some tall sketchy guy and Jeff ran inside the building.

Dave said he was hungry and I told him and the band could stop by my parent's place in Deer Lake if they were passing through. Maybe they were getting sick of eating on the road and a good home cooked meal would go a long way.

The next thing I knew I was in a car with Greg, Chicken, Boomer, Lana, Cardoulis, and Dave Mustaine. We were in a taxi in St. Johns trying to get to a McDonalds.

The cabby took a wrong turn and Greg freaked out at him but we were soon at a McDonalds anyway. Greg had a different McDonalds in mind.

We say down and ate our McDonalds and it was raining outside.

I woke up craving McDonalds and Megadeth. It turned out to be my lucky day.

Six Nuggets, a Big Mac, and a few hours went by and I was sitting in the hall waiting for Megadeth to take the stage.

Dave and co. soon arrived and it was an awesome concert. They played a lot of old songs, but not enough for my liking. I definitely could have used more songs from "Killing is my Business... And Business is Good..." They played just one tune. Not enough.

Dave Mustaine actually seemed happy and like he was having fun. I expected someone much more bitter cynical.

The best part of the show was his in between banter. He said that the Seoul set would be longer than their usual set because the promoter was great. I don't really understand the politics of that but I was glad to hear it.

As the show progressed the sound go better and I didn't get bored with the 35+ guitar solos. Just deadly b'y.

They ended the set with "Holy Wars" as I figured they would. That's a fucking metal masterpiece right there.

Like I said in an earlier post, I'm getting stoked for the Usher show that's coming up.

STOKED!!!!!!!!

Dream home...

2007-10-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a great little read from a good technology site.

Toilet House Won't Flush, Smells Like Ass

In celebration of the first General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, the founder, Sim Jae-duck had this commode house built south of Seoul. The home boasts four deluxe toilets -- whatever the hell those are, and its center has a showcase bathroom, where "the toilets have features that range from elegant fittings to the latest in water conservation devices." The Assembly's goal is to provide clean sanitation for the more than 2 billion people who live without toilets. So why they're building a giant toilet house is a mystery to me. If you happen to be in South Korea go check it out, right at the intersection of Shit Street and Urine Avenue. You can't miss it, it's the house shaped like a f'ing toilet.
I seriously gotta somehow find this place...

Who cares? I care....

2007-10-09T04:38:00.000-07:00

I've never really had a reason to care about the economy and the strength of the Canadian dollar until now.

When I send money home I'm getting raped. Just a month or two ago I could send home 800,000 Won and it magically turned into a little over $900 Canadian,.

Now it only transforms into about $850. That's lame

Here's a chart showing the Canadian dollar compared the Korean Won.

Please come wipe away my tears...

The Blacks...

2007-10-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

There's a new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I didn't realize this until a few nights ago. Catching up on the episodes and they are as funny as ever. I wonder if Koreans would get that type of humour?

And the South Park about Tourettes Syndrome was also amazing.

Truly /asspiss/ amazing!

If you wanna be great, you gotta do heroin...

2007-10-09T04:17:00.000-07:00

The title is a quote from Dave Mustaine. Good philosophy I suppose. Worked for him, and a bunch of other musicians.

Unlike a lot of the others Dave is still alive and picking. The last 10+ years of Megadeth has been pretty much embaressing but the olds albums still tear shit up. They'll be playing here at the end of the month and I'm in. Don't know if I'll find anyone to go with me because most of the people I know here are pussies and not into metal.

Sorry people. That's a sad thing for me to say b'y. But that's the breaks I s'pose, right?

Machine Head will also be playing at the end of the month. I liked them when they first came out then they got all nu-metally and shitty but they've sort of redeemed themselves with their last album or two. Nothing great, but at least it's metal again.

But what I'm truly excited about is the Beyonce and Usher concerts.
I bet the Usher concert will be an awesome place to meet girls...

And fags...

Save me a P.I.F.F...

2007-10-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

I went to the Pusan International Film Festival this weekend. It was in Pusan, which is the second largest city in Korea. It's down south and it's known for it's beaches.

Pusan is an alright city. This was the first time I was there and I checked out most of the main areas. Spent the first night in a motel in Haeundae, which is a beach area. The second and final night was spent in Seomyun, which is one of the nightlife party places I suppose.

Although my reason for going was the P.I.F.F., arguably the most popular film fest in Asia, I ended up watching just one film. "Kremen," or "The Hard-hearted" in English. It was a Russian film and it was surprisingly good. Kinda had a "Taxi Driver I'm out to do good in a fucked up way" feel. My kinda movie.

Not much to really say about the trip really. Just a lot of exploring and wandering around so I'll let the pictures speak for me.
Christmas comes early in Pusan. So damn cute ain't it?
Not sure what the deal is here, but it's confusing at least.
I didn't know I made such an impression so quickly.
Disgusting. I hates octopus but somehow I keep ending up with it in my food. I really gotta learn some more Korean if only to avoid situations like this.
No comment. All I know is that this is creepy. I'm glad it was daytime, otherwise I may have lost my cool and freaked out...

Seriously...

2007-10-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

My brother was tough as nails. He was the only kid I knew who could handle the "Gorialla Press Drop."
This was my brother's signature move. I don't remember what it was called but it's kinda gay I s'pose. Maybe it was called "The Ass Cracker."

My childhood hero...

2007-10-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

Team impulse...

2007-10-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

Long time, no writing. Back in the groove at work. Don't have as much time to write while I'm getting paid sitting around doing nothing. That's because I don't really sit around doing nothing anymore. I teach afterschool classes so the days I am free I actually have work to do.

I'm sick now. Got a sinus infection/cold. Tomorrow is a holiday but I know I'm better off staying home and getting myself better. Then I can get drunk on the weekend.

Last week was Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. Or something like that. Went to a small island off the west coast with Matt and some people who work at his school. Good time. Too relaxing. In a good way though.
Only a handful of stores on the island and two or three restaurants. No bars. Really small town. Lot's of pensions and guesthouse type things.

The highlight of the trip was a "hayride." Well, not really a hayride. The lady who owned the place we were staying at said she'd take us for a ride around the island.
We got to the other side and she drove down this crazy steep hill Boomer-style. We got to the bottom and she put a dirty fishing net covered with bugs in the dump (or bed of the truck for you non-Newfs) with us. It was gross.

Then she attempted the drive up the hill. I had faith. Her first try was a bust, so she backed down the mountain. Her backing up skills were terrible and she drove us into thorny trees. We had to jump off the truck.

Her second attempt was also a failure, and this time she backed up into a bunch of Korean alders and brush. The trees and grass got wound around that axl thingy that spins on the bottom of some trucks. We were stuck there.

Matt helped the ajumma clear the grass while me and one of the Davids went down on the beach looking around.
They yelled for us to come back and we walked up the hill and got picked up by her co-workers in a van.
Corn ice cream was also quite the event, although this didn't happen on the island. We discovered this in Incheon, a dirty port city near Seoul that is home of the international airport.
We stayed in a love motel the night before we went to the island. This stuff made my skin really smooth. It also turned the other guys on, so I had to have a shower and wash it off.
Before we left the island, me and Matt rented a quad and dirted around the island. It was awesome. We could drive onthe streets, but cruising around the dirt roads and trails was more fun. We managed to not get too lost and returned the quad with a few minutes to spare.
There were poisonous snakes on the mountain so it could've been the end of us if we got a flat tire or something. But shit, it woulda been a cool way to go out.

The day before, I went out and my sandals were gone. Some Korean dude was wearing them. I went over to try to get them back but before I could ask, he was pouring me scotch. It was about two in the afternoon. Sat around with him drinking beer and scotch with his three nieces. I thought they were his daughters at the time. They were embaressed by him.

He was soon plastered and his head began to dangle. One of his nieces looked at me and spun her finger around her ear, the universal sign for "yeah, he's crazy."

I kinda forgot to get my sandals so I just stole someone elses for the day.

When we got back to the place we were staying, the Korean family who was occupying all the other rooms on the floor were trying to bust into the room next to ours.
Thanks to our Korean-American friend Hahna, we discovered the dude who stole my sandals was passed out in the room. They were worried about him. Someone tried to picked the lock and busted the clip. Then someone came with the key but it couldn't work. So they slammed the door with a fire extinguisher and eventually got it open with a clam digging spade.

The sandal thief was alright. Luckily, he survived fan death.

We played asshole one night and got really drunk. My friend bet the president 5 bucks he would lose. I made the same bet, but if I lost I'd have to pay him 10. Thankfully, we teamed up and he lost. He called us cheaters for the rest of the night. We didn't break any rules so we didn't cheat, right?

Here's a photo of the place we ate at in Incheon. Mmm!
The island was nice. People fishing, digging clams, catching crabs. Not crowded. Nice beach. Good place to disappear if you never want to be found again, or if you're a North Korean defector.
And Matt's nuts b'y.
Just imagine, we used to call this guy pitiful...

NIN...

2007-09-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

Saw the Nine Inch Nails concert last night. It was so much better than I thought it would be. I'm even going to go as far as saying it was better then seeing Slayer. I thought no concert would top that, but this did.

They played a wide selection of songs and the show lasted for a little over two hours. The venue was small, I guess holding about 2500 people, but it wasn't nearly sold out. We had seats but we were free to roam which we did. When the light and screens show started getting cool we moved to some seats in the middle so we could take in the effects from a central vantage point. It was pretty awesome.

So awesome, in fact, that I'm gonna post some clips below so anyone who missed it can be really jealous...

The last video I have posted, Eraser, had the coolest effects live but it's the worst video of the three.

Some tired...

2007-09-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Read a full book yesterday. It was called "I Have the Right to Destroy Myself" and the author is South Korean, from Seoul. I believe his name is Kim Young-Ha.

The book was only about 120 pages and when I finished it, I felt sick. It's not that the book of gory or gruesome, but man, but was it ever hopeless. The final sentence vaguely summarizes the idea of the book. It went something like this...

'I have traveled such a great distance but still everything is unchanged.'

I don't have the book with me now so I can't quote it exactly.

The unnamed narrator is in the business of helping people commit suicide. He works at his own suicide help line, but instead of helping the callers, he helps them find a graceful way to kill themselves. The book focuses more on his "clients" (only 3-4) than himself, although the narrator is present throughout.

It's impossible to describe how this book made me feel. I've never felt anything similar before. My dream that night was even loosely formed around this book and it's characters.

Here is what one review said about the book:

"Such is the real horror of the novel: that planning a tidy death could trump living a messy life."

Well, going to see Nine Inch Nails tonight.

Professional...

2007-08-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an open class. 25 new foreign teacher were invited to watch as apart of their orientation. I did the same thing before I started teaching at my school last year.

You guys well done today, I'm very proud of you also I've learned some good ideas from your class.. The supervisor from Kangdong OE (office of education), made a phone call to me and said your class was so great, she gave thanks to you two.. She asked me don't forget to tell you that you two people were chosen specially by SMOE (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education). I asked back her that is true and she was sure about it..

So I searched public document once again, I could confirm that just 3 districts of OE (There are 11 districts OE in Seoul) and 4 schools (And also over 100 NTs work at each Seoul) were chosen..

It must be honorable to you, uh?

Now, get some rest...

Thanks...
Park.

One more thing I want to say to you, school principal and two vice principals are extremely sensitive these days because of school accident(1-4 child)

Be careful.

So apparently I'm pretty awesome kick some serious ass when it comes to teaching. Someday I'll be the ruler of this land.

And if by "rest" you mean "go get drunk" then sure!

You can count on that, uh?

Way to go b'ys, I mean brothers and sisters...

2007-08-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

So the Taliban freed those South Koreans. From what I've been reading and hearing from genuine Koreans, those people weren't Christian Aid workers but instead missionaries.

What kind of retards go to Afghanistan on a Christian Mission???? That would be like going to Africa (Not South Africa ;P) looking for new Ku Klux Klan recruits. Just a terrible idea.

Some Koreans I know don't feel much sympathy for those who were kidnapped. One girl even said something along the lines of "Why don't they just stay and die. Martyrdom is a part of their religion." Yes, she was talking about the S. Korean Christians, not the Afghaners.

Here is a link to another blog. I met this guy a couple times a long time ago but I'm not going to say I know him. Anyway, the pictures he's collected and posted on that page are interesting. If you try to search for those pictures within Korea, you won't find them. The government has actually censored these photos out of respect for the families.

I think that is bullshit and the Korean government wants the Korean people to think these dummies were aid workers and not irrational Christians.

But what do I know right?

So now to the thing I intended to write about...

The S. Korean government actually made a deal with the Taliban to free these people. The deal goes something like this...

The decision to free all 19 remaining hostages followed a deal struck Tuesday between South Korean officials and Taliban representatives in which Seoul reaffirmed its pledge to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and to suspend South Korean Christian missionary work there.

Seoul claims it was going to pull the troops at this time anyway. And to be clear, I don't think they are even ground troops, just some type of support, I'm not sure.

So Korea may have set a terrible precedent here and given new life to the Taliban. "Kidnapping works so let's kidnap everyone!!!!!!!!!"

But I'm not going to directly blame the S. Korean government. That finger should be pointed at those Christians for going there in the first place, ignoring multiple warnings from Seoul, and ignoring their god-given brains and better judgement.

Yup, God can sure be a hassle sometimes can't he b'ys...

And I'd like to smack this guy in the mouth... There's really no need to go fucking around with monks. No need at all.

I wanna say something about Thich Quang Duc, but I just can't fit in in so here's the picture anyway.

Not my style...

2007-08-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me or reads this know I'm not a Bush bashing hippy. I'm not exactly a supporter either. But I thought this was funny, or maybe cute is the better word.

I've got the whole world in my hands...

2007-08-26T03:15:00.001-07:00

During my teaching internship in St. Johns, my cooperating teacher called in sick one day. The school got a substitute teacher. It was a dude a couple years older than me.

The class had a field trip that day so we had to take all the kids to Signal Hill for some walk against cancer.

Last night I stumbled into the Woodstock bar in Gangnam with my cousin, Karen, and some of her co-workers. Sitting in the corner were a couple people who work at Matt's school, the people we went to North Korea with.

Sat and talked to them for a bit, but they were pretty wasted and took off.

There were a couple white guys at the table next to me. One of them looked really familiar. I asked him where he was from and looked at me strangely and said Newfoundland.

We introduced ourselves and were talking for a bit.

Small world.

We started asking some questions, etc. and he said he had a teaching degree and subbed in St. Johns.

Then it clicked and we both realized we worked together that day when I was doing my internship.

Smaller world.

Got around to talking to his friend. Asked him where he was from. He answered "Pasadena."

He knew all the people I named and said he was good buddies with my cousin Jamie.

Smallerer world.

Sat and drank with those guys for a while got good and drunk. It's the first time I've really been drinking since I got back. I have a feeling I'm gonna be drinking a lot less this year. Don't have the will to get wasted all the time.

But chances are that's likely to change...

Smarten up b'y...

2007-08-18T00:52:00.001-07:00

Here is the schematic for an airplane security collar.

If a passenger is acting up, he gets a syringe of poison in his neck to contain him. Not in use yet, but who knows right.

If they end up using these on planes (which they won't), why not use them in school too.

It'd be deadly.

A good string of bad luck...

2007-08-16T04:04:00.000-07:00

I lost my wallet in a taxi a few days ago. The good luck is still rolling...

I don't care about the 50 bucks I lost. I'm much more irritated by the fact that I lost all my I.D. and cards, plus god knows what else I had stuffed in there.

On the up side, I lucked out at camp and was teamed with the cutest teacher there. If it wasn't for her, camp wouldn't be as good. Losing the hard drive, then the wallet hasn't exactly put me in the best mood.

But I gotta admit the English camp has been fun. I'm the lead foreign teacher at the camp and tomorrow it's all done. Then I have another camp at my school next week. I know my school camp won't be as fun as this one because there are a lot less teachers and students at my school camp, plus I already know all the kids. It's more fun when you don't know the kids, and the kids don't know you.

There's this one girl at my current camp named Ally. This camp is for disadvantaged kids so many of them aren't the best students and it's quite likely that this is the first time they've ever experienced such a camp.

So this Ally girl, she can never get my name straight. Every time I see her I ask her "What's my name?" and her answers get progressively better. Reet, Reeksar, Ratch, Ratcher... She almost got it right today and called my Richy. That's the closest she's gotten yet.

On another topic, my school wants me to teach an extra 10 afterschool classes a week. I'm all for it but there is a possibility that they will interfere with my holidays. I told my school that there's no way I'm taking the job if it means I can't leave the country during my holidays because I gotta teach those afterschool classes.

But, on the other hand, if I do take this job and everything pans out with the private lessons I supposedly have lined up for September, than I could theoritically be making over $4000 Canadian a month tax free.

That's just as good or better than the oil patch suckas. Just gotta see what happens...

Back in China...

2007-08-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

So I just got back to Korea. Had a decent time back home for sure. One of the best things was hearing this question all the time...

"Richard b'y, heard your over in China or sumthin'?"

Yup, I'm in China. It's all the same.

Too bust and jet lagged and tired to write much anytime soon. Teaching an English camp now and trying to re-adjust to the working life.

I also had my external hard drive stolen from my checked in luggage on my way to Canada.

Great.

Lost a looooooooooot of shit. All my music, all the music I recorded. A bunch of pictures. A friend put it best when he said losing data is like losing a limb cause you ain't ever getting it back.

If anyone got anything I ever recorded, lemme know so I can get it from you.

And to make matters worse, I also had the special USB cable for my MP3 player in the same box so now I can't even change the songs the thing. Fuck right off b'y!

Airport workers are scabs that deserve to be picked.

Renewable resources...

2007-07-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... Many tangents...

No class this week. Tomorrow, being Tuesday, is a holiday. Going home on Thursday. The next few days can't go by fast enough.

I just made a powerpoint presentation that I'm gonna use during English camp. I'm gonna get the kids to act out a news program, and the theme song is gonna be the Danger Bay theme song. I spent all morning trying to find the tune, and ended up having to rip it from Youtube.

Last week I went rafting. I wouldn't exactly call it white water rafting, but there were some decent waves and rapids at a few points. I went with the foreign teachers in my district so everything was arranged and paid for by SMOE, the schoolboard.

One of the girl in my raft got hit in the face by a rope. The rope goes across the river and it's purpose is for people who fall outta the raft. They can grab the rope and haul themselves to shore.

The rope was kinda low and the dude in front of me lifted it up, and I hit the deck. When he let go of the rope it flicked back and got the chick right in the eye, ricocheted (this word looks retarded) off her face, then hit another girl in the helmet and actually cracked the helmet.

Good times!

So I fly into St. Johns at noon on Friday, July 20th. Diggz is gonna get into SJ on Tuesday and then drive across da rock with me.

I'm hoping to get into DL at 7 or 8, depending on what time I'm able to get outta SJ. I got lots of partying to do at home because that day is the beginning of Strawberry Festival, the best festival East of Lollapalooza.

Everland...

2007-07-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Everland is a big amuesment park a little outside of Seoul. I went there a couple months ago with the grade sixes but didn't post anything about it.

And I'm not gonna post much about it now. Here are a few pictures. Check out my facebook for more pics.

See all the buses? This is kinda typical in Korea. They love going places on buses. There were 3 or 4 rows. Too many Koreans b'y.

This is me kicking a birds ass in a staring contest.
Here's a happy polar bear loving the summer heat. Look how happy he look! Why would anyone ever say a zoo is "inhumane"? This guy got it made. Paradise. It gotta be way better than living in the Arctic.

This next photo is a good warning. Life is sometimes too easy for people on this lovely planet and we often forget about the many threats that are trying to eliminate the human race.

Somehow, people have managed to become very passive towards our worst enemy!
BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are definitely a threat to our freedom, and economy.
This guy is just cold chillin'. Representin'. Keepin' shit real. Loungin'. Maxin' and relaxin'.

My type of dude.

This guy could learn a thing or two from our friend above. Here he's tryna eat a rock. Just a moment before this he was hitting himself on the head with the rock. I can't decide what's a better idea. Eating it or bashing your brains out?

Monkey, or gorillas, or whatever this thing is, sure have weird asses. I also like the Korean high school girls who decided to flip me the peace sign. It's about time monkeys and Koreans get along.
Here's my favorite grade 6 class, I think. I don't really like any of the grade 6 classes so these guys may as well be my favorites.

I like their homeroom teacher.

The city is a labyrinth...

2007-07-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

I just saw an awesome t-shirt. One of my grade three students was wearing it.

On the front it said "People of the Labyrinths."

The back had something to do with basketball. Said something like "Basketball training" and then some really technical sounding words like "high definition skills" and "fundamental structure" or something like that.

I wish the kid was bigger because I woulda made him an offer he couldn't refuse, like a big bad of candy, or an action figure...

Buckle up...

2007-07-07T20:18:00.001-07:00

It's been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks. I sent home most of my money after I got paid (I only get paid once a month) so I ain't got the dough to get out of hand every weekend. I think I'm gonna need a lot of money when I'm in Newfoundland so the sacrifice should be worth it.

Yesterday I had to get a medical exam. All of the English teachers who renewed had to do the same and this is standard practice in Korean. Even the Korean teachers have to have the exam once every five years.

I hope I passed. And I hope I don't have AIDS or something...

I also looked a few apartments yesterday. Well, technically, they aren't apartments. They're officetels. To me, they are apartments.

I viewed three different "rooms" all in the Seokchon area, one subway stop south of Jamsil. Two of the apartments weren't suitable but one was decent and I think I'm gonna move there. The other incentive is that the girl living there now said she'll leave her TV and bed for me (both are bigger than the ones I have now).

There is a "lake" about five minutes from my apartment called Seokchon Lake. This is where I go jogging, when I actually go jogging. It's been too hot these days.

Seokchon Lake is next to Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, and YES, Lotte World. Lotte World is an indoor/outdoor amusement park that has been closed until recently because someone died on one of the rides.

I was told that it wasn't a problem with the machinery, but instead, the guy who died actually worked there and was using the rides on his free time. Apparently, he didn't use the safety strap/bar and went flying off the roller coaster. The people working at the time are at fault I guess because they should make sure everyone on the ride is strapped in.

But the dude who died also sounds like a bit of an idiot.

Jamsil, which I said is just a ten minute walk from my potential new home, has a lot of really nice apartment buildings. To buy three bedroom apartment, you're gonna pay 670,000,000 Won. IN Canadian dollars, you're talking exactly $764,757.48!!

That's kinda nuts for a three bedroom apartment.

You could buy about all of St. Judes for that price, and probably a large chunk of Cormack and Reidsville to go along with it.

Nothing to do with the French...

2007-06-29T07:51:00.001-07:00

So Paris Hilton is outta hail and as much as I don't want to watch her Larry King interview, I have it downloading on my computer right now.

I pretty much feel the same way as the dude who writes for www.thesuperficial.com. Here's what he had to say...

"It's pretty hilarious how seriously she takes herself. If you've got 40
minutes to kill I totally recommend watching it. Although you'll definitely
want to kill yourself afterwards, so watch out for that."

God, she sucks, and so does everyone in the world who watched that interview. I'll soon be added to that list.

I'm just relieved I have no guns or sharp knives in my presence...

Mmm...

2007-06-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Every morning I eat two bananas and drink a glass of orange juice at my apartment. I then brush my teeth and head to the corner store to buy the main course of breakfast. Usually it's a ham and cheese sandwich, but sometimes the store only has these crazy disgusting sandwiches that it's impossible for me to describe.

If I don't get my ham and cheese sandwich here, I jump on the bus and go to the corner store next to my school. I've only gotten a ham and cheese sandwich here on one occasion, but it's still worth a shot.

When this happens, I have to go for the second option which is a Bonito Bread. It's just a round piece of bread with some sweet brown stuff in the middle. I'd much rather a ham and cheese sandwich but what can you do?

For the last week or two I haven't been having much luck with the sandwich hunt and I've been eating Bonito Breads almost every morning. Today I finally read the package. This is what it says...

"Bonito is a fresh, elegant and dignified bakery goods for the young generation that the meaning of it is 'pretty', 'cute' in spanish. And it gives value above taste to consumer."

I'm glad to know that the company has it's priorities straight in giving me value above taste. That's how all food products should be? Don't you think?

Download your floppy...

2007-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

I've had the same MP3 player for years now. It works fine but it's just so damn big and bulky. I can't take it with me on the weekends because it fills up one pocket, but I can't really justify buying a new one until this one dies.

So I made a decision. I decided that it's okay to have two MP3 players. One with a hard-drive and large capacity like the one I have now (20 gigs), and another flash-based player for being on the move.

After too much time searching the net, I decided on the Iriver S10. It's super compact, has 2 gigs of memory, and has a ton of great features.
Look how tiny this thing is yet it still has radio, a microphone, a full EQ, and too many other features to mention.

Okay Iriver. Pay me. Pay me now.

I never really understood what a "consultant" does...

2007-06-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Mercer Human Resources Consulting (who ever they are) released their list of the most expensive cities in the world.

Apparently this list is used to "measure the cost" of placing Expat workers around the globe.

The list says I'm living in the third most expensive city in the world. It sure doesn't feel that way.

I'm able to send money home, buy clothes, eat well, and party like it's 1999.

Calgary is the 92nd most expensive city but when I was living there I felt like a bum with no cash and no partying.

I can't understand how living here is more expensive than living in Calgary. Even if I had to pay my rent, I would be better off financially than in Cow Town.

I'm sure this "consulting" company knows what it's doing, but it seems like a bunch of bullshit to me.

Rites of passage...

2007-06-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've never been one for tradition, but some rites of passage are important.

For example, some Indian groups have their boys go live in the forest alone with no food or supplies. They are banished from the village for a temporary period, and when they are allowed to return they are officially a man.

Fair enough. That makes sense to me. Being able to survive on one's own is something that makes sense and is relevant to their culture I suppose.

Hockey players also have to go through a hazing. For example, nine "freshmen from the Vermont Catamounts spent a dazed and hellish evening in the team captain's basement, where they were made to strip naked, grab each other's genitals and drink until they vomited."

Sometimes there are "initiation parties that include group masturbation, the shaving of pubic hair, and forced drinking."

Remember, this all makes sense right? If you wanna be respected by the team, you gotta earn it right.

Some "Tilbury Hawks players, Hawks, a junior C team in the Ontario Hockey Association, were told to do pushups and positioned on the floor so that their genitals would dip into cups of beer; whoever did the fewest pushups had to drink both beers."

"In another contest, the team captain placed marshmallows into the rectum of two rookies, with the last one able to push it back out being forced to eat both. Players also were blindfolded and told to lie face-up on the floor with their tongues out, as another person sat on their faces."

Other "rites of passage" include "rookies stuffed naked into the bathroom at the back of team buses, and games of tug of war in which skate laces were tied around rookies' penises. Players had strings tied around their penises, which were then connected to a hanging bucket that other players threw pucks into."

I realize I'm just copying and pasting an article here but it's too good and I can't help myself.

According to "Laura Robinson, the author of Crossing the Line, a groundbreaking 1998 book on violence and sexual assault in Canada's national sport.'The (hazing) you see in hockey is highly sexual.'"

"Robinson, noting that many young players are new to sexual experiences, argues that some of the initiation acts serve as a hidden way for players to explore homosexual urges. 'I think the boys are curious about bodies, but because of their homophobia they had to turn it into something else' -- sexual forms of hazing, she said."

Once again, just a rite of passage.

My intention here was to talk about my experience at the horse track this weekend and how that is also a rite of passage. I was gonna talk about how I feel like more of a man since I blew some cash betting one horses.

But I went over board on my lead in to my little joke and now I'm sitting here kind of disturbed. The next time I watch a game of NHL hockey, all that will cross my mind will be "Shit, I wonder what that poor dude had to do to get to where he is today."

Then I'll wonder "During his time exploring his homosexual urges, I wonder if he enjoyed eating that marshmellow?"

The song I am listening to just said "I remember the fear, I remember the taste." (Shadow by Neurosis).

Damn, how fitting.

Slave...

2007-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

What a terrible day.

I only had two classes, so now I'm sitting here in front of the computer trying to look busy. I have nothing to do or prepare that needs doing right now.

The worst part is that I also have no classes tomorrow so it will be the same.

Actually, tomorrow afternoon I teach the teachers for two hours so I'm grateful for that, believe it or not.

It's 2:32 now and I still have another two hours and forty minutes until I can go home. I need to think of an excuse to leave early but I'm having a hard time being creative in the lie department.

That's strange.

Holy shit the NBA finals sucked...

2007-06-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

No final best-of-seven series in any league should end in a four game sweep.

The NBA playoff format needs a facelift of some kind.
The East is just terrible and the West is a power house.

Tim Duncan is a bore and Tony Parker is French.
The Cavs never really had a chance. The only team in the East that could have possible put up a fight were the Pistons but they completely unravelled this year. Maybe Big Ben was a lot more important than anyone thought.

I wanted to end this post with a picture I had of Tim Duncan and Coach Popovich hugging and looking like fruits.

I can't find the picture so this is the next best thing I suppose.

When it rains it pours...

2007-06-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

This was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Quite relevant right now...

Under the bridge...

2007-06-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Matt and I went to the Han river and rented bicycles. It cost six bucks to get a bike for two hours which ain't bad I s'pose.

It was a nice relaxing ride because my bike didn't have a bell so Matt was in the lead. A bell is essential because their are so many people on the path and running over people isn't cool, although would probably be a decent way to meet girls.

Because Matt was in front of me, let's just say we rode at a leisurely pace. But in usual Spence fashion, he seemed to speed up at the oddest times, such as riding up a hill.

Our first stop was under one of the bridges that crosses the Han. There was lots of action down there as you can see by this picture.
First, we have an old lady taking a rest on the asphalt. She looked rather comfortable for a person sleeping on pavement.

On the bridge footers we have another lazy Korean passed out and a group of old Koreans playing some game. I'm assuming the game involves some sort of gambling because it just makes this picture better if money is at stake.

Here's another shot of the goings ons.
Not much else happened that's worth mentioning, but I did get a couple good pictures.
Here's a view of one of the bridges. The next picture is even better, if not almost exactly the same.

When I start my long-overdo 70's inspired psychedelic rock band this is definitely gonna be my first album cover. I'm thinking that the album will be called "Infinity" or "The Never Ending Channel" something thought provoking and vague like that.
I'd name my band "The Purple Lights" as a tribute to my Uncle Dave's band back in the day.

This picture of the subway would also be included somewhere in the album's art work.
Pretty trippy wha'?

After we returned our bikes, we went walking around trying to find out if there was a baseball game. Stopped at a PC Room but couldn't find the info so gave up on the baseball and looked for something to eat.

Matt bought a few $5 shirts in the process in this little market alley

This is a pretty typical alley with all types of little shops and people on the street selling stuff. It's in places like this that I feel like I'm in Asia and Korea instead of some sprawling metropolis.
The odd part is that PC Rooms are all over Seoul. So you're in this old-school alley and there's still an internet cafe smack dab in the middle of the place. See the "PC Interface" sign.

Things like this quickly remind you that you are indeed in one of the world's biggest cities and that you are in developed Asia where technology is a little ahead, or maybe just more accessible than in the West.

As I turned my head I saw this scene.
Three cute little girls hanging out in the alleys and sidestreets they call home. This is likely where they meet their friends and play. I often wonder what it would be like to grow up in a big city, and a scene like this probably one of the least appealing scenarios.

No backyard or grass to play. No park anywhere close by. Just chillin' out in an alley while high school kids also hang out and drink chocolate milk.

Once we left this place we tried to find something to eat. We weren't in the mood for Korean food so wandered around and ended up in the Konguk University area.

We found a Dominoe's Pizza and Pizza Hut but neither had any tables to sit at so we ordered from Dominoe's and wandered until we found some tables outside a convenience store. This is super common in Korea so we went inside, got a couple cans of Coke, and sat outside and ate.

After eating, we went to visit a bar we haven't been to in a long time. The bartender speaks okay English and is a super funny guy. He gave a good lesson on China and told us to avoid Shanghai but to instead visit some other city that I can't remember the name of. He also said Chinese women have big breasts.

He's a super funny guy and even when I don't quite understand what he's getting at, I know it's most likely something perverted.

After a beer here we were both too tired to much else so we just chilled out and watched a movie. Great day and very uneventful night. I really needed a break anyway.

Today, I'm meeting this girl I've seen a couple times and she's bringing along a friend. It's common for a girl to take her friend to meet her potential boyfriend, especially if the guy is a foreigner.

To battle back, I told her I was also gonna take a friend with me. Hopefully this friend is cute and single and likes Matt, and hopefully she also approves of me.

Although I think her approval is a given because I'm such an awesome guy, and I already have that girl believing and telling me of my awesomeness.

I also have some stories to tell about about our first couple of meeting.

Maybe more details on that later, but to quickly summarize, it involves too much drinking, calling in sick to work, and convincing a doctor I'm sick, all with my little female Korean helper guiding me through it all.

Could be trouble...

Who's laughing now...

2007-06-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in Korea. Obviously, it is not a memorial for WWI or WWII but for the Korean War.

I just finished reading an hour’s worth of websites about the war so I’m gonna purge some info here before I forget it.

The war is sometimes called “The Forgotten War” because it was jammed in between WWI and the Vietnam War, and in China they called it the “War to Resist America and Aid Korea.”

The crazy thing about the Korean War is that the North actually took over 90% of the country but couldn’t get Pusan. If they obtained control of Pusan, they likely would have “won” but the Americans and other Allies were able to hold the city.

President Truman thought this was going to be the beginning of WWIII when North Korea attacked. You had the Soviets supporting the North and Truman knew America would quickly also be involved. They had doubts about the intentions of China, who would later be involved but only when they felt threatened that the Allies would continue onward and invade China once they took all of Korea.

Air raids and bombings by the Americans were quite brutal, but totally necessary. They destroyed just about every strategic bridge, railway, and port that could be used to the advantage of the North. Many cities were also leveled as well, along with their populations.

Both sides launched many major offensives and both sides pushed ahead and fell back.

Click this picture to see how close the North came to taking the whole peninsula.

These are the stats that tell the real story, from Wikipedia.

More than 80 percent of the industrial and public facilities and transportation infrastructure, three-quarters of all government buildings, and half of all housing was destroyed.

According to U.S. estimates, about one million South Koreans were killed or went missing in the conflict, 85 percent of them civilians. According to figures published in the Soviet Union, around 1.13 million people, or 11.1 percent of the total population, were killed in North Korea (with the total casualties of some 2,5 million).

Korean history is filled with hardships. This country has been through a lot of shit over the years. Being sandwiched in between China and Japan had led to countless occupations by both countries, and cities and towns have been destroyed by both nations.

When you’re in this country you realize that there aren’t old buildings and wonderful architecture because they were destroyed during the Korean War, or the Japanese occupation. The cities are really quite bland because not much is older than 40 or 50 years old, and the majority of the buildings weren’t built nearly that long ago.

Just imagine St. Johns if you destroyed everything that was around in 1950 and started from scratch. It wouldn’t nearly compare to it’s current version.

Woody...

2007-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

On our way back from North Korea we had many rest stops. Rest stops must be a part of the culture here or something. It seemed like we were stopping every hour and it was kind of annoying because every time we stopped I would wake up.

Yes, those things are what they look to be . Giant wooden cock sculptures. (I gotta say for copyright purposes that I never took this photo, one of my friends did)

To me, this just seems absolutely ridiculous. In the middle of this restaurant/convenience store is a family of humongo members.

Apparently it has something to do with fishing culture and this isn't all that uncommon in places by the sea.

I think Newfoundland should pick up on this cultural phenomenon, if not only for a few good laughs.

First nations goes digital... Another rant...

2007-05-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

I was checking out the CBC website today as I always do and I come across this headline...

"Manitoba chiefs want cellphone revenue"

I clicked and continued reading and what my eyes conveyed to my brain was one of the most outlandish claims I've ever heard.

This Chief wants to actually to get "compensated" for every cell phone signal that passes through their First Nations land. This is what he said:

"[The request is] based on the understanding that we do have some fundamental rights as indigenous people to land, water and airspace," said Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Grand Rapids First Nation.

"When it comes to using airspace, it's like using our water and simply because there's no precedent doesn't mean that it's not the right thing to do," he said.

Okay, so this precedent isn't actually set but just imagine if it is. Next, we will be asking radio stations for cash because they are using "our" airways. The same goes for satellite TV. Then, we may decide to ask Air Canada for some bucks because planes that fly overhead are using radios and GPS to navigate "in our airspace."

Indians get a lot of slack in Canada from non-indians. I know "Indian" isn't the proper term but when they are scheming like this they deserve to be called Indians. Actually, indians without the large 'I' is better.

See I respect this type of First Nations dude...

You know, the Lakota dude who sells the pills for back pain and arthritis. That's a legitimate gig right there.

Fuck this "Gimme money because I'm an indian" bullshit. We give you enough already...

Twaegi galbi...

2007-05-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

Twaegi galbi is pork galbi. Galbi is just barbequed meat I think. Just imagine how much galbi, or bacon for that matter, you could get from this ridiculously sized wild pig.
Over ten feet from snout to hoof...

Mmmmmmmm...

Time for rant...

2007-05-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this just now.

It's a bunch of pictures of "Al-Qaeda Style" torture techniques.

I fully support Americans torturing terrorists but I don't support terrorists torturing people back.

Here's my favorite method the terrorists use.Now I must state I'm not a racist, but the middle eastern people, I dunno. I used to think the war was against terrorism or something like that but it's not. It's now turned into a battle of extremism versus moderation. And if you look at who these extremists are, well, they all turn out to be Muslims

This is especially true for the whole Lebanon and Hamas thing. Both parties, the extremists and moderates, want to rule. What we have to do is help strengthen the moderates and impose a solution to both parties.

Some dude I was listening to the other day had this to say. Everywhere else the US has said "Okay, you people are fighting and you gonna reach peace." He said a few examples where this has worked such as Kosovo.

And say what you want about America and the fact that Iraq's in a bad war. Yeah that's rather obvious. But it's also rather obvious that the people they are fighting have a big ol' chip on their shoulder and hopefully they don't convince the "sensible" Muslims to also take on this chip. What's maybe a little less obvious to many is that Lebanon is not Iraq and it has a /relatively/ stable (well, when compared to Iraq) government.

In other news the US and Iran are gonna sit down and have a chat. It's been like 27 years since they sat around and chewed the fat. Iran could be a big part in the solution to all of this but I doubt they will be much help. Iran is the most successful "democracy" in the region besides Israel.

That's not really saying a whole lot but it says something I suppose.

Anyways, politics is kinda boring so I'm gonna go read one of the books I bought today. I've already started the 'international best seller' "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. I think it's gonna give me hope and help me follow my heart and face my fears and a bunch of other cliched things related to positivity. I just hope it doesn't turn me into a big pussy.

I also purchased "L!fe, the Un!verse and Everyth!ng" by Douglas Adams, the dude who wrote "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." I haven't read anything by him before but I'm hoping it's gonna be similar to Vonnegut.

And finally, I bought "Slaughterhouse-five" by Vonnegut. It's the only book I've read twice, and I'm gonna read it a third time. I'm bored at work and they didn't have anything else that appealed me at the store.

I was gonna but a book about the Middle East but I figured it would probably make me too angry and then my "Korea" blog would end up being a lot more of this.

I read this somewhere, maybe a friend wrote it, I don't remember. "Muslims have such nice food, why can't they just relax.

Great statement, and I agree. Chill out b'ys...

And I gotta get myself a vice.

Booked solid...

2007-05-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

By now I'm sure you, like myself, are a member of Facebook. I avoided it for a long time thinking that it was just another Hi5 or Myspace ripoff.

In a way I suppose that's all it really is, but unlike like the other "social networks" it seems that everyone who's ever used a computer is on Facebook. I have people on my list who I've totally thought my brain would never be reminded of again.

The site, like all "social networking" sites, is kinda creepy. It tells you what other members are doing, like adding pictures and comments and shit like dat.

I read today that the developer of the site is some 25 year old Harvard dropout ala Bill Gates. And like Microsoft, he's trying to get third party companies to develop software and ideas for Facebook. Believe it or not, Facebook traffic has recently surpassed Ebay in the last month and it is in the top five most visited sites in America (or maybe the universe, I can't remember).

I jsut wish I had Franky Basha as a friend on there.

King of the jungle... Yeah right...

2007-05-25T04:29:00.001-07:00

This has nothing to do with anything but it's pretty cool.

I saw this video at geekologie. Here's what they had to say about the video...

"This video was taken while on safari and shows a battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and two crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Throw in Voltron and you've got yourselves a war."

More on The Hermit Kingdom...

2007-05-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

I want to write more about North Korean "vacation" but there's not much to really talk about because we weren't really allowed to do anything.

It was more like going to a resort that you couldn't leave so I'm just gonna talk about a few pictures I took.

In this picture you see me drinking water and a bunch of South Koreans getting some water.

This ain't just any water though. This is special spring water that actually makes you ten years younger. After I drank it I felt great, and well, a little immature.

They say if you're greedy and drink too much of this water that you'll end up back in your mother's womb because you'll be so young. I didn't wanna test this theory so I just drank a little.

This picture was taken from the bus after we went through North Korean immigration. You can see a picture of Kim Il-sung on the building. It sucked because we weren't supposed to take picture's from the bus and they had soldiers all along the road watching us. If they see you taking pictures from the bus they hold up a red flag and then all of the buses have to stop. Soldiers will then come on the bus and kill you or something. I'm not sure what they do actually, maybe they just delete your pictures if they can figure out how to use the camera.

The lack of propaganda was actually the most disappointing part about the trip. I was expecting big pictures of the Kims everywhere but I only saw two. There were many signs but I can't read Korean so I don't know what they said. There were also a lot of inscriptions on the mountains and rocks that I couldn't read.

This picture was taken after the acrobatics performance. The show was truly impressive but we weren't allowed to take pictures. We could only take snaps when the show was over. The music for the show was actually performed by a live orchestra on the balcony.

My favorite performance was this chick who had three full wine glasses on a tray and a thin sword a few feet long. I can't remember exactly how this went but I think she took the sword, tilted her head back, put the sword in her mouth, then balanced the tray on the sword. This was impressive enough but she kept stepping it up.

A trapeze then lowered from above and she was hoisted up. She was hanging on the trapeze by her legs and started swinging back and forth. She still had the tray of wine glasses balanced on the sword that was in her mouth. She changed positions a few times all while swinging and the concentration and skill that went into this was unbelievable. I'm pretty good at balancing and stuff. I can ride a bike really really good, even with no hands, but the performance she was putting on was much better.

Still in awe of this swinging lady, she once again turned it up another notch. She took a large ring and started swinging it on her leg, then she started juggling with her hands.

So she's now swinging on a trapeze balancing a tray of glasses on a sword that she's holding in her mouth, swinging a ring on the leg, and juggling. Crazy!

Say what you want about Kim Jung-il and his tyrannical regime but damn, the man knows how to put on a good acrobatics show. That's more than can be said for most world leaders.

We also weren't allowed to take any pictures of North Korean people but I did anyway. I walked along with my camera held in front of my stomach and happened to get this picture. It's my favorite picture from the entire trip. Those two men are North Koreans as you can tell by the pin on their shirts. All North Koreans have to wear Kim Il-sung their pins all the time and they get new pins on certain holidays.

The guy with his hand on his head is like a big metaphor for something to do with North Korea. Their plight, their hardships, their struggles.

I'm not exactly sure what that metaphor is but it's probably something like "Man, it's warm in these black clothes on this sunny day" or maybe "Why did god create me this way. I don't want to be this way anymore, but that young white boy in front of me is so damn hot that I can't look at him any longer without my heart breaking."

I hope it was the first one because I wouldn't wanna be forced to tell the other North Korean dude that his buddy is a fruit. He doesn't seem to be the open-minded type.

Here's another picture of that dude. This time he's contemplating something. Again, a great picture that can be used as some kind of analogy for North Korea. And again, the exact wording isn't coming to me as simply as I would like it to, but I have a few ideas.

Maybe the analogy is something like "I feel that myself, like my country, is just a woman trapped in a man's body" or maybe "I wish my country was not so poor because then I could get that sex change I've been dreaming of since I was 13."

Of course, the woman is a symbol of democracy and the man being hardliner communism. The sex change is a symbol for his countries desire to change over to the free market system, and more importantly, to allow him to make some bucks to get a set of breasts.

I almost feel bad for making fun of this poor man who lives in the most repressed country on Earth, but thankfully I don't feel bad. Yes, I do pity him a little but he probably lives better than 95% of North Koreans. And also, laughter is the best medicine right?

I'm sure he probably got some shit wrote about me on his blog too.