Top 10 Ways to Have Fun in Taebaek, South Korea

1. Poke giant spiders with a stick or in the spring catch cool lizards.

2. Sit in the plastic patio chairs in front of the Family Mart convenience store and drink beer (from which you purchased from said convenience store for $3.20 a litre or $5.30 for 2L).

3. Take pictures of funny Engrish on signs and t-shirts.

4. Laugh at the parking/driving chaos and then try to cross the street.

5. Go for a hike, wander aimlessly in the paths in the mountains and find strange shrines and graves.

6. Drink Makali and eat Chan Dubu Kimchi.... mmmm mashida!
(Makali is a fermented rice drink. A milky white substance with a bit o grit at the bottom. Chan Dubu Kimchi is boiled tofu on fried spicy fermented cabbage. It sounds terrible but it is truly delicious!)

7. Sing your heart out at a Noe Rae Bang or on the Noe Rae Bus! (Noe Rae Bong means singing room. Basically you get a private little room that you can do Karaokee in. AAAAnnd, you get tamborines! I personally enjoy doing "Know Your Enemy by RATM or BYOB by System of a Down. Good times, good times. Soon to be posted on You Tube is Rob and Kristen doing an inspiring rendition of "Billy Jean" by Michael Jackson. )

8. Climb Taebaeksan in misty rain, be in awe of the ancient beauty.

9. Adopt some kittens, give them korean names.

10. Try to order food using your really bad korean, then after butchering the language just point and say "egot"(this).

Rob wanted me to add, "eating live animals", but he's a korean psycho. Also, I almost added "take a ride in a speeding taxi." but that's more terrifying than fun.

haha one more thing... help a random one armed Ajuma(married woman) put on her sleeve cover. I know... strangee!

So, when are you coming to visit?

some new posts, and a promise of more to come.

if you keep an eye here, you may spot more posts in the near future, i still have to do a post on Osaka, Mishima/Fuji, and Tokyo pt.2, then i will consider us caught up to last month...then more on korea after that, if i have the gumption, but i promised myself to update this blog more often than i have, however a tragedy involving a wily kitten and a cup of coffee have rendered our home computer quite...paper-weightish (at least for now), so here are a few posts to tide you over from japan and one of kat's about cultural differences...enjoy.

Tokyo, Japan, July 19-20

The long awaited (by all 5 readers) blog post about Japan is here. In the effort not to make this too terribly long, I will offer this up chronologically.

July 19-20, Tokyo

Kat and I had taken the train in from Taebaek to Seoul at around 1am the previous night, as our flight was leaving quite early in the morning. We caught a cab from the love motel in Incheon that I'm sure my parents would have cringed at to the airport, and in less than five hours we were hunting for our hostel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The first thing to strike me after the initial shock of arriving was the heat. It was +35 degrees Celsius or higher the whole two weeks with a humidity that made the air so thick it felt more like swimming than walking. The subway was not as terrifying to navigate as I had initially feared, and it would be our main mode of transportation. Taxis in Japan start at around 650yen or $6.50, and quickly climbing in value. We found our hostel without too much trouble, as it was very near the subway station and we checked in. We were staying in a dorm-style room with around 60 capsule style beds. We didn't hang around and started out and about to explore the city a little bit. Our first stop was Shinjuku, the business type district with a bunch of massive buildings (probably more floors in one building than all of Regina's "skyscrapers" combined). A short wander through the park and the heat already was overbearing, so we looked for shelter in the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, a 60-some story building with a free observation deck. The view was spectacular, offering us a good chance to view the architecture and cityscape.


We found a place to eat, a fast food place that sold different types of crepe-type sandwiches. I was fascinated by the server's voice, like mickey mouse on helium, and how it seemed to be very natural ("Arigoto, gozaimasse!"). Later on in the evening we went to Shibuya, the young fashion district of Tokyo. To say it was only overwhelming is a great understatement, there were thousands of people crossing the street at the same time, and tens of thousands in the area. We found a Tower Records with a selection of music that I had never seen before, there were special editions of albums from Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, QOTSA, and unreleased (likely bootlegged) copies with songs I didn't even know existed. In the end I think I spent more money here than in any one place the rest of the trip. We were a little braver this time around and found a Japanese style pub to get a bite and a beer. I settled for some Okinawa-style Yaki-Suba (fried noodles), and Kat got a veggie stirfry. However, we were so beat, that after only 8 hours of sightseeing, we decided to head back and get a rest. Sleeping in the hostel wasn't so bad, with earplugs and an eyemask, though people were up and making noise at all hours of the night. The next day, we got up and went to Harajuku. This area is famous for the clothes and the girls. However, it also has two of the most beautiful parks in Tokyo, Harajuku-koen, and Meiji-jingu. Both are large parks with lots of trees and places to hang out and people watch. We finally found some Harajuku girls, who are famous for the extravagant costumes and fashion they wear (see cosplay).



After a long outing there, we went to a small area south of Roppongi Hills (where we would visit yet that night) called Azabu-Juban Shopping District, an area renowned for artists and its shopping (and it is the home of Sailor Moon in the anime series). Although we never bought anything, and we didn't see Sailor Moon, we found an awesome (and air-conditioned) vegetarian restaurant. Roppongi Hills was only a short distance away, so we hopped on a train and went there for the evening. Mori Tower is the centerpiece to the district, a cool 60-some stories tall. There was lots of cool public art ("Maman" by Bourgeois) and a generally fascinating layout that kept us intrigued for a few hours. Also it was here that we experimented (the only time!) with the sushi, and it was delicious of course.

July 21-23 Kyoto

We took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto the following morning. It only took 2 hours, and traveled several hundred kilometres. We arrived into the busiest train station I have ever seen, not completely wall to wall, but thousands of people walking very quickly to their destinations. Outside the station, the weather was at its hottest it would be the whole week, easily pushing +40. We had to take a bus to our Ryokan (Japanese style inn), and that proved to a little challenging, as nothing was in English, and neither the driver nor the attendant spoke any English. However, after a tense 45 minutes of being slightly unsure what the hell we were doing, we found ourselves being greeted by a very excited and happy Japanese family who were the owners and managers of the Yamizaki Ryokan. Our room had a wonderful view of the garden just outside of our sliding paper doors. The stereotype I had of Japan was embodied in this inn. Zen garden, traditional rooms, Yukata robes, you name it. We rested a little and decided not to do anything on the first day. We were hampered from sleep however by an unbelievably noisy insect that was in the trees surrounding our building. The cicada is a strange bug, living under the ground for over 7 years, and coming out for only one week to find a mate, and then dying. Its call can reach nearly 90dB. Other than that they are very benign creatures, with no bite or sting.

The next day, we prepared ourselves for a long, hot day of sightseeing by indulging in the Japanese breakfast through the ryokan, with some cigarette-like tea (i'm told it's oolong), a square of egg, baked fish, rice (of course), and miso soup. After that we hopped on the bus to Arishiyama, and the nearest temple, the Nanji-jingu, and then onward to the Tenryu-ji temple, a beautiful temple with an even more beautiful garden. Nearby there was a forest of bamboo, and it was stunning in its beauty. Words and pictures can not portray the ancient wonder of these buildings (even though neither are that old in age, just in form). The heat was a little overbearing at times, and there were multiple times I felt that I might actually melt. Our last stop in Arishiyama was monkey mountain, where Japanese monkeys run around free of cages in a protected area. We reached the top of the mountain just in time for feeding, and honestly it was a little frightening at first, as they are very quick moving and loud, and I wasn't yet sure if they were dangerous. But they were playful and friendly, and although we couldn't pet them or hold them, they were not shy, and you could feed them if you went in to your cage (which Kat did). After that we went home for a break, revelling in the air-conditioning. In the evening we wandered into the bar district called Hanamachi with lots of seedy looking places, and lots of interesting ones as well, built out of wood in a traditional style, even the streets in places were made of wood. A little foolishly, we delayed too long in the a small bar we found to catch the bus back to the Ryokan, so after nearly 40 minutes of waiting, we decided to try the subway. We luckily caught the last train to connect with the last train of another subway line and connect with the last train of the JR Line, putting us within a couple km of our Ryokan. We were lucky, otherwise we would have been stuck 19km from our accommodations. The next day we explored the touristy area of Kyoto, more so than Arishiyama, it was called Harashiyama. This was a district filled with shops, shrines, parks, gardens, and Geisha. A wonderful experience, if you ever get a chance to get to Kyoto, this should be high on the list. And no trip would be complete to Japan without running into Geisha.

Our trip to Kyoto was much too short, and I felt a little dismayed to leave, but we had things to do and people to meet in Osaka, so we went back to Kyoto station where we had stowed our bags in the morning and caught a 45 minute train to Osaka, which was so close to Kyoto, there is basically no where to tell where one ends and the other begins.

July 24-25, Osaka

The train ride between Kyoto and Osaka is remarkably short, only about 25 minutes by the express train, so we quickly found our hostel, a quaint little place with no frills but a really good location. First thing in the morning we decided to wander over to the Osaka-jo, a castle that was only about two blocks away. Despite the overpowering heat, the grounds were beautiful and an interesting experience. The inside of the castle has been turned into a museum with lots of historical things and stuff inside (hard to tell when everything's in Japanese). The moat was massive though, the wall built with stones that ranged up to 16 tons, and somehow they managed to make it over 100 feet high. Unbelievable.


The heat was so intense that even at only 11 o'clock, you could fry an egg on my head. So we decided to hop on a subway to the Osaka Aquarium. We spied an IMAX theatre right next door, so we went and bought a double pack, Aquarium plus 3D IMAX Dinosaurs! The aquarium was all kinds of amazing, I saw creatures I've read about in books, or seen in pictures and on TV. There was one tank that was boasting to be the biggest in the world, four stories tall, big enough to house two whale sharks and a plethora of other creatures. The Manta-ray may be the most graceful creature I have ever seen in my life. I advise that if anyone were to visit Osaka, the aquarium should be very high on your list of things to see. After several hours in the aquarium, we headed over to the IMAX, to watch an interesting, but not that interesting 3-D movie.


Working our way back to the hostel was easy enough, so we crashed for a little while and then went out to grab a bite to eat and try to find an area called Dotombori. This was the supposed nightlife area Osaka was famous for, with a Europetown and Amerikatown in the near area. This of course being the Japanese versions of Europetown and Amerikatown. I of course, have this lovehate relationship with maps, and although most of the time I know exactly where we are and going, sometimes, they outright lie to me ;). So we went for a nice extended tour of the area. It was nice. Eventually we found Dotombori and marvelled in its neon wonder. There were pachinko (gambling) parlors everywhere, bars, strip clubs, bookstores, restaurants, you name it. At one point we stopped in to a building that had a large pool of tub of water filled with exotic fish that you could go "fishing" for. Very strange. But it was fun, and shortly thereafter we crashed for the night.


The next day we were lazy and slept in, we found a bite to eat, and then went back to the hostel to chill out and wait to catch up with Natsuko, an old art/film school friend who grew up near Osaka, who was going to show us the town. We explored a festival that was going on, it had lots of really good food tents and a carnival-like atmosphere. However, the people kept filling in and filling in, so in the end we left and found a cool restaurant that displayed art. Natsuko had a few pieces there, and there was a lot of cool stuff hanging on the walls (decent food too). After we went looking for the fireworks, however the giant buildings were really cumbersome, and in the way, so we didn't see many fireworks (except some reflections). We chilled out in a tiny white juice bar in Amerikatown for a while, where we experimented with some fancy juice drinks. It was nice having Natsuko around, as she spoke Japanese, and we weren't waving our arms around performing charades. But our time was too short, so we said our goodbyes and left Natsuko on the last train to her city. The next morning, we headed back out on the bullet train for Mishima and Mt.Fuji.

Language and Cultural Barriers Galore

Let me take a step away from the wonderful land of Japan, and bring you back to the strange land of JangSung Girls High School

I have been having some problems with language barriers and cultural differences at my school. Being foreign, female, young, and not a full-time teacher places me pretty much at the bottom of the schools heirarchy re: little to no respect. The only respect I do get is because I am a blonde haired, blue eyed, s-lined woman that can speak English. Basically the kind of respect I don't want, and the kind of "respect" that women in the west have been fighting against for a hundred years now.

I keep telling myself this is a lesson in patience. A lesson in keeping ones cool in a difficult situation. I think that cultural misunderstandings are very important to talk about, but that doesn't mean that I don't get angry when they happen.
Our societies are so different it's hard to nogotiate through the tough patches. In Canada I would have handled these situations by speaking directly with the person. Is that the correct way to do things here? Or should I go through someone else who is higher up on the ladder? Should I show my emotions or pretend that I'm not ready to strangle you? What makes one way better than another? I know that this is a pretty simple thought, but really there is nothing like being taken out of everything you think is truth and being placed in another version of the truth.

Cultural missunderstandings in a work place are very difficult, as you must continue to work with the same people and never actually figure out what went wrong (and at what point?). Language barriers are even worse because you never know if things have gotten straightened out. Maybe? or Surely? Often ESL speakers here use "maybe" as a polite way of saying you should do something. As in, "Maybe there will be a dinner meeting tonight, and maybe you should come". When what they really mean is, "There is a dinner meeting tonight and you are expected to be there". Maybe? Or surely? Let me tell you, sometimes I get pretty surly and there's no maybe about that!

But nevermind that, it's water under the bridge, now onto a positive note of school. Let me share with you the glowing diamonds in the rough, that is my students. The students, for the most part, are quite eager to listen and try to speak english with me. I honestly don't know what the rest of the day is like for them, but I have many students saying how they look forward to my class. I look forward to seeing them too and the creative work that they come up with.

Last semester we did a unit on travelling and vacation. Here are some of the more amusing postcards that were made:

and here is an example of the levels of English that the students have. From very low:

to pretty much fluent:

Su Min is way above everybody else.

So, there are good days and there are bad days, but over all it has been and continues to be a great experience. I am continuously breaking the walls of the Canadian culture comfort box that I had been living in and being pushed to the limits of what I think is correct and morally just. It's painful, but no pain no gain, right?

An open mind is an open heart.
Gombai,
Kat