Erection Day!

Yes, that's what I heard all Tuesday, "Kaserine Sansangnim (Katherine teacher) do you know Wednesday is erection day? No school!!" Ah... yes I know, and I think you need to practice your L's a bit more. heh heh heh.

So on erection day, I went on a picnic with Rob and some teachers (and their wives and children) from my school.

walking...some trees... it was a really cold day, at least 5 degrees celcius. brrrrrr!
getting close to the source of the Han river...


My co-teacher, Cho Sansangnim, Rob and I at the source of the Han river... Strangely, we didn't actually take a picture of the source... But apparently the legend goes that a dragon was trying to reach the sky, so he swam up this river. For some reason he got stuck in a small pond and could go no further. Some Korean people trapped the dragon in the pond, by trapping him in a crevice or something, where he now still waits to be released.

My friend, Jibi Sansangnim, his wife and their son. Jibi also needs to practice his not just his r's and l's but his v's as well. He pronounces Robert as Lover... or Lubber...
Here he is saying, "Lover, have some grapes." Rob was confused, was Jibi coming on to him?
Delicious food. Cute kids. Good times. The End.

just an addition

it was very beautiful at the summit of taebaeksan, this is my second full ascent, the first time the weather was nice. Spring is here, even though there is some snow on the ground at the top, but it was still quite warm.



here is one of the 1000 year old yew trees i mention on the video, these trees are very ancient and majestic and only seem to grow at the summit of the mountain, not quite a pine tree, not quite deciduous, but something in between.



This photo was taken by a randomly passing Ajjumah, with our friend Pearly. Pearly also lives and teaches in Taebaek, and she too is a Canadian from Vancouver. Canada has practically invaded Taebaek by way of English teachers, we hold at least half of the foreigner population here (which is like 5 of us)...

On Saturday we go to Gangneung to see the Cherry Blossom Festival, I am very excited to see the beautiful flowers. The Cherry Blossom trees line many of the streets and in their prime are very very VERY beautiful, expect many photos. Until next time. 안뇽히 가세요!

Mashisoyo! (It is delicious!)

I've had many people ask me, "What the H E double hockey sticks do you eat in Korea?"
Well, let me show you! Below are pictures of my current favourite meal "Paek Bun". That roughly translates into rice dinner. It's a good compromise for Rob and myself, as I get delicious Dwen Jang Jiggae (spicy tofu soup) and Rob gets whatever the meat of the day is. The first time we went together, he got chicken. The second time, he got squid. Rob says that squid is quite tasty, but personally I feel a bit queasy when I see him eating the suction cups and the little pointed head. Poor Squidward. (side note: I accidentally got a bite of squid in my Sin Du Boo (soft Tofu) soup yesterday, it feels like eating... maybe a tire? ugh...)

Here I am spooning out some delicious soup into my bowl of rice. Often though, when you go out to eat with Koreans they will just share the bowl of soup and eat directly out of it. They like to share; it's a friendship thing. They share spoons and soju glasses too. Also, you may notice the plethora of side dishes. These are always different.
Here we have yummy squares of kim (dried seaweed), spicy gimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), fish flesh, bean sprouts, and the dish of meat (spicy chicken?).



My favourite soup! Dwen Jang Jiggae mmmmm...Mashida! (Yummy!)



And here are some more random side dishes, you never know what you'll get! Here we have little fishies, bean sprouts, hot peppers, radish gimchi, and molassessy peanuts.




Ah! Our other staple food Kim Bap! Kim = seaweed and Bap = rice. You can get many different kinds of Kim Bap, I prefer mine sans ham and fish flesh. Up in the corner is another type of gimchi. This kind of gimchi is not spicy, but tastes more like saurkraut... only vaguely. It's some sort of pickled radish anyway.

Mashisoyo? Mashisoyo!
(another side note: In Hangung-mal you often answer the question with the question. It is delicious? It is delicious!)

Our Backyard...

Yay! I'm actually not exhausted from teaching, so I am blessing you with a second post today! Rob found a wonderful hiking path just a hop, skip, and a jump away from our apartment!

The path meanders through a pine tree forest. It smells so good. The pine trees are completely different from Canadian pines though. I will have to get a proper picture of a Korean pine tree. Next time I'll take some close ups for all ya nature lovers out there.



Here I am pointing at our apartment after hiking for awhile. We really do live in the mountains. Not near, not a 15 minute drive away, but in the mountains.

"Um, Rob, which way do you think we should go?"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... One road takes you on a shorter hike and back to Taebaek. The other one we still don't know how far it goes. We hiked along it for awhile, but didn't make it to the end. Next weekend perhaps...

Ah, a random pile of rocks. These are everywhere in Korea, and although I do not know what they mean, I am sure they have some significance... Or, maybe a pile of rocks is just a pile of rocks....
and to end the hike on a happy note we walk past a Korean graveyard. Sweet!

Oh the things you'll see... Part One

Indeed. I've seen a lot of amazing things and a lot of strange things...
Unfortunately, I usually don't have my camera with me at the time, but here are some lovely things that I have happened to capture...

I know Rob posted it before, but it's so good I must post it once again.
The wonderful coffee/canned drink/telephone combo. Yes, it is convenient! Yes, it is a good idea! Why do I find it hilarious? I don't really know. But I pass it every day and I giggle.




"What, is this not a perfectly reasonable place to park?"
Sure, the sidewalk's as good a place as any. Why not? But wait, this was moments before we saw another car driving half on the sidewalk and half on the road. I was not quick enough to get a picture though...sigh.

I'm now getting used to the car or truck driving on the sidewalk phenomenon and casually step aside, no big deal.

One last thing. I found some wonderful socks in the grocery store... look carefully.
Yes, that is a man peaking over the stall watching a woman urinate... oh yeh!


... more to come in the future!

The East Sea

Ahhhh, this was heaven. Drinking wine and looking through the window at the sea.

Korean Wedding Crashers

My first performance in Korea. With no notice and no practice, I was swept away this weekend to Gangneung, a city by the sea, to play guitar at a Korean wedding. I didn't know the bride or the groom, but a fellow teacher asked me if I would play guitar so that she could sing them a song, so I went along. We arrived at the wedding just in time for the ceremony.

"What time do we play?" I asked.
"Oh, sometime later, probably at the dance." Brianne says.
"Good, we should practice the song once together before playing."
"Don't worry, we'll have lots of time."

So we settle in at the back of the crowd on an oceanfront hotel terrace which in itself was absolutely breathtaking. The groom rushes up and asks Brianne what the name of the song she was going to sing was. This in itself should have been warning bells, but I have become so accustomed to spontaneity in every fashion in this country, that I wasn't even surprised when I heard from the stage: "Blah blah blah blah Canada blah blah blah Brianne blah blah blah I'm Yours!"




So no practice, our performance would not be later on that day, it would be right that second. No worries though, we took the stage and played well, impressing a small crowd who wasn't really listening or watching anyway. But I can rest assured knowing that I had participated in creating wonderful memories for myself and the happy couple, whom I had never met, nor would again...

For entertainment's sake, here's a photo of Katherine, at the coffee/telephone machine: