Khristmas in Korea

"Will they celebrate Christmas in Korea?" I thought to myself before coming out here. "It's a Buddhist culture, will it be recognized? Will I see the many lights that I've become so accustomed to over the years?"

With a long history of Buddhism in Korea, it's clear Christmas will never be the same as it is back home. With the growing number of Christians though, it's also clear that this holiday is generating a lot more attention then it used to. A Buddisht household will have no celebration or even acknowledgement of the holiday, as the birth of christ doesn't mean anything to them. The others would though.

With the weeks leading up to the big day, it's hardly been a typical Christmas. Rare lights (often blue) will scatter the buildings that I see, but no real sign that my favourite holiday is on the horizon. Conversations with the Korean teachers at my school and others have told me that while people celebrate it, it's not overly big here. With the Korean culture mimicking Western styles and cultures, it's obvious that it has grown in popularity over the years, but no where near what I am used to. It is a holiday that is gernerally celebrated with friends and not a family gathering type day. The common christmas present is money which is also the main gift for New Years (the biggest holiday for Koreans). Maybe being so close in date just overshadows christmas ?

Christmas food in Korea is pretty interesting and nothing like back home. You won't find many traditional foods but loads of kimchi, noodles, hot peppers, and bean paste. Our plan on the 25th is to check out a Western style christmas buffet at one of the hotels or bars in downtown seoul. Apparently one of the few places for foreigners to find some familiar grub during the festive season. A christmas without family I will have to bear, but the absense of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy is something I cannot do. With the presents that have been sent from home that are waiting to be unwrapped on the 25th, I'm hoping to salvage this holiday as best I can. Merry Khristmas!

"A Drinking Club with a Running Problem"

Over the past few months I've become involved in a club that is unlike any other I've encountered before. The "Hash House Harriers" is a running and social club. With the slogan (title) that is used to represent this club I was instantly excited. Physical activity and beer was a winning combination in my books. What I found out is that this is not just unique to Korea. There are over 1,700 groups (Kennels) around the world and has been around since 1938.



There are multiple kennels in South Korea and mine happens to be "Southside Hash House Harriers". We meet Sunday mornings at a selected location south of the Han River at 11am. After introductions, songs and a warm up the 'pack' begins the Hash. Whether your a runner or walker it's friendly to all levels of fitness. Each "Hasher" attempts catch the 'Hares' who have left 15 minutes before everyone else. They leave a series of hashes (X's, arrows, check points, etc.) that everyone must follow. Some lead you off the trail, confuse you and direct you over obstacles including walls, water, mountains and through busy streets. Catching the Hare or "Snaring" one as it is called in Hashing lingo requires a fast pace, determination and sometimes luck. It is rarely accomplished but isn't the real goal of the Hash at all. After completing the trail the pack gathers for "Circle" where a series of celebrations, songs, awards, food and of course the Hashes beverage of choice, Beer.

Since joining back in August, I've really had a blast meeting the great people that make up my Kennel. Although it's not for everyone, with such a diverse demographic of people that make it up and the amount of new people that join each week there's gotta be something appealing about it. It's certainly made my experience of Korea that much better. Knowing that you can find a Hash anywhere in the world, lets me safely say I'll be doing it for some time to come.

Chuseok

This past weekend was the celebration of Korea's second largest holiday (after Lunar New Years) and is the Korean equivalent to our Thanksgiving. Originally known as Hangawee, Chuseok is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea (4 days off! wooo) celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calender. The meaning of the word Chuseok in Korean is "Great Day". Like many other harvest festivals, it is held in Autumn. As a celebration of the good harvest Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food. If certain areas did not recieve a good harvest, they wouldn't celebrate this day.


On the morning of Chuseok Day, Songpyeon (a type of Korean rice cake) and food is prepared with the year’s fresh harvest are arranged to give thanks to ancestors through Charye (ancestor memorial service). After Charye, families visit their ancestors’ graves and engage in Beolcho, where weeds around the burial grounds are removed. As the night nears, families and friends enjoy the beautiful view of the full harvest moon and play folk games such as Ganggangsullae (Korean circle dance).

Traditionally on Chuseok, the head of the household would buy new clothes for everyone, including the servants. This custom was known as Chuseokbim. Usually, a traditional hanbok is worn, but nowadays new clothes are not limited to hanbok. Hanbok is the traditional wear of Koreans. Ussually made of fine material it is worn only for formal occasions.

It was quite an experience this past couple weeks as you could see the excitement within Korea. At my school we made Songpyeon and took part in other traditional Chuseok activities. The students all dressed in Hanbok's one day and looked really amazing. They learned how to bow properly and were told stories about Chuseok. I think it's great how a country with so much history that has changed so much over the last couple hundred years still instills all of the values and pride of their country into the children.

H1N1 (Influenza A) in Korea

Now there are a lot of stereotypes about Asian culture that I have witnessed here and also been surprised at how untrue some of them have been. One though, that really can't be argued with is the level of paranoia they have about things. When I first arrived, I thought that the fact they wore masks around was a bit strange. Apparently it is due to the "Yellow Dust" which is pollution from China that is sent over the sea in dust storms from the Gobi Desert. It is recommended that you stay indoors during these times (usually spring) and not do any physical activity.
Although you can see some fine yellowness on black cars, I don't see it as that big of a concern.
South Korea is a very health conscious society that prides itself on its nutritious food. You can see it in the streets with the vast majority of Koreans being fit and rarely seeing any overweight. They must be doing something right, as even the kids tell me that they don't like junk food because "it's not good for the health".

Recently the country has been in panic over the new scare from the infamous "swine flu". If you think it's big back home, it's exponentially worse here. The minimal cases of people getting it here (only the old or very young with pre-existing health conditions) have made it a big cause for concern. During a foreigners convention for teachers a little while back, it was said that a dozen showed signs of the flu. This sparked a big report that foreigners had been spreading the flu from abroad. Some English schools have been closing do to this alone, where parents don't want to send their kids to foreigner present places. One of the teachers was required to stay in "quarantine" when she arrived before joining my school. This meant having her stay in her hotel and only going around her area by herself for the first 4 days in Korea until it was clear she had no symptoms of the flu. Pretty harsh... glad i didn't come then.

Our school has now been taking the temperature of all people that come into the building to check for high fevers. Anything over a certain degree and you get sent home (have been running up the stairs in hopes to achieve this... no luck yet). Also each child and teacher must receive hand sanitizer multiple times a day and mouthwash. I feel it's been pretty over the top and unnecessary to do all this. On the other hand if anyone is diagnosed with the flu, the school would have to shut down and it would be detrimental, so it's hard to complain. This blown out of proportion "epidemic" will hopefully soon pass.

Summer Vacation

Ah.. the life of a teacher. A couple months off from school to relax and take it easy... oh wait... we only get 2 weeks off a year. The Korea school system is go, go, go.. and finds that if students are given too much time off that they unlearn the material during the year. It's actually proven that asian students do much better than their western coutnerparts for this fact alone.

A bunch used our week off and headed for the much famed Jeju Island just off the south coast of South Korea. It is also known as the "Island of the Gods". The island was created thousands of years ago from a massive volcano (Halla Mountain). It is a super popular vacation spot for Koreans and many Japanese. It is also one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean newlyweds. Some of the main activities for tourists are hiking, catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, seeing one of the many waterfalls, riding horses, or just relaxing on the beaches. One of the things we wanted to do was to rent scooters as it was fairly popular to do so as their isn't much local traffic. Unfortunately due to not having insurance and an international liscence it wasn't realistic to risk the cost of crashing, although they still would of rented them to us.

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon and quickly made our way down to the southern part of the island to Seogwipo. After unpacking at the hostel, we visited a waterfall and had a great dinner, then met up with some other teachers. We spent the next day on Jungmun Beach, just sun tanning and getting thrown around by the huge waves crashing on the beaches.

We made our way to the Eastern part of the island to Seongsan where we stayed in the best hotel you could imagine. For 60,000 won ($60) between the four of us we were on the ocean with a great view and right beside was Sunrise Peak, a massive crator promising amazing views. Of course we climbed it in pouring rain and didn't exactly get any of those great views though. In the bay we were looking out into what was a popular spot for the famous haenyeo ("sea women"), who were often the heads of families, because they controlled the income. They earned their living from free diving, often all year round in quite cold water, without scuba gear in order to harvest shellfish, sea cucumbers and other marine products. It is thought that women are better at spending all day deep-water diving because they resist cold better. They were known to hold their breaths for up to 2 minutes. Nowadays these woman are the last of their kind and are 65-70 years old and still going at it. Quite a site to see.

The next day we made our way to the famous Lava Tubes. They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest in the world of it's kind. Once flowing with magma through them, they are now these huge cave-like channels. Only going in a kilometer or so was enough to see why these tubes are so popular.

Our next mission was to hike up another World Heritage Site, Halla-san (Halla Mountain). It is the highest peak in Korea at 2000m above sea level. We started early in the morning as it was said to be a 8-9 hour climb. The rocky and damp terrain made it difficult at certain points to climb efficiently but we slowly creped our way up the 9.6 km East course. Climbing through the clouds was an exciting experience. Exhausted, we finally made it up to the summit to enjoy breathtaking views of the volcano at the top. Looking down at the clouds had to of been one of the best sites I've seen in my life. We snapped a few pictures, had a bite to eat and headed down the 8.7km North course. None of us were looking forward to it...

After another day on the beach, we took a flight to Busan to meet up with some of the other teachers at our school. This is the second biggest city in South Korea and another major location for foreigners teaching english. Although the beaches were far more crowded, it was a great place to visit as there was lots to do. The weather seemed a lot fresher than Seoul with the ocean air blowing over the city. We only had a couple days there and as soon as we got there it felt like we were heading back for Seoul. Had a great vacation but the fact that we were right back in the classroom the next day after only a week off just wasn't fair.

Boryeong Mud Festival

I've never felt more like a kid than the time I had this past weekend in Boryeong, South Korea. It was the venue for the Boryeong Mud Festival which is held every July just a couple hours south of me. On the Daecheon Beaches lies this towns greatest export... Mud. Boryeong mud is rich in minerals and good for one’s skin. The high quality sea mud is famous enough to make mud cosmetic products such as mud packs, mud soaps, etc. It's rich in Germanium and other minerals known for their skin revitalizing properties. The festival was originally started with intentions to promote cosmetics manufactured from local mud but the popularity of the festival skyrocketed because of the fun that all the mud activities involve.The festival is one of the most popular events for the expatriate (foreign teachers) community in Korea. It attracts over 30,000 visitors from all over the world each year, lasts for 9 days and is basically one huge mud flinging party.

Our first stop was to the Military Training grounds where various exercises and games took place. We got into army gear and headed out to the mud field. Instantly we were being shouted at by this Korean dude to get down, crawl, squat and roll around in the mud. This was our first taste of the skin revitalizing substance and automatically turned a bunch of mature, respectable young men and women into five year olds. It was great! We also divded into teams, played some mud rugby and had a big battle royal to cap off the event.

After a quick stop off at the hotel to drop our stuff off, we made our way to downtown Boryeong where the main festivities took place. The main entertainment included mud pits, mud painting, mud climbing, a mud jail and the “Mud Super Slider”, a massive bouncy inflatable slide that stretches 25 meters on the beach. Needless to say there was a lot of mud. In the night they had fireworks, good food and a big concert on the main stage.

The Boryeong Mud Festival was definitely one of the best times I've had so far in Korea. 100% recommened to anyone who gets the opportunity to go. Only if you don't mind finding bits of mud in mysterious places for the next few days after that is...

The Korean Language

Learning Korean isn’t what I thought it would be. I figured, you know, just live in a country for a while and you will somehow absorb it. I mean, it’s being spoken all around me constantly every day, how could I not eventually just one day start speaking it? Well, it’s been difficult so far. They language is so far from English or French in terms of phonetics and the structure of sentences. Not to mention one of the oddest parts of Korean language and culture is that there are many differently levels of respect and thus politeness in their speech. No less than five different levels (three or four commonly used) in they way you would talk to someone.

A lot of the culture is based upon Confucianism where it is very hierarchal. Knowing your place and respecting social status plays a large role from what I have understood. Someone talking to the their boss or teacher or father is very different from talking to their friend or co-worker. It makes learning the language slighty confusing and will be a while until I can hold a decent conversation. I have met both ends of the spectrum in terms of foreigners speaking korean. Some have made an honest attempt at learning the language and know quite a bit after a year here and I've met others who've been here for 3 or 4 years and can hardly order at a restaurant. I guess its all in how you value learning it.

I am proud to say that I have now learnt Hangul which is the Korean alphabet. It's actually rather easy to learn and only takes a few hours of practise and memorization. It consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels which represent the way your mouth, tongue or teeth look when saying the letters. I can now spell or read any Korean words or signs I see. The only problem... understanding any of it. Oh well, got 8 months to go.

Sports in Korea

One thing that my time here has certainly not lacked is physical activity. There is an amazing range of sports and activities to fill your time in South Korea. I've been very fortunate to come to a place where I can make some good money, see a ton of cool places and do what I love to do which is playing sports. From as long as I can remember sports have been a major part of my life. Not only have they kept me in shape but also and probably more importantly have been a great way to meet new people who have similar interests.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge soccer buff, and obviously one of the first missions for myself when I got here was to find out where I could play. Luckily I had two teachers at my school from England and soccer was a sure bet. They had been playing for a team on Saturdays that travels all around Seoul for games. I got myself a spot on the team and things were looking up already one week in. Not only was it good quality soccer but also a good bunch of guys that has made life outside of teaching pretty awesome. There is now also pickup games I play during the week at a really nice field turf facility and on sundays with a bunch of Koreans. Needless to say, I have been playing my fair share of soccer over the last four months.

I have also found out that there are quite a few hockey fans out here. I have joined a really well organized Ball Hockey League. I play just next to the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. Pretty quality hockey as well (lots of Canadian here obviously). I think with the Olympic games held in Seoul in 1988, sports have come a long way and branched out to more than just the typical sport stereotypes of asian culture like Badminton and Ping-pong (which of course are very big here).

I see the wide variety of sporting activities being done here. The most popular ones would have to be baseball, soccer, tennis, badminton, golf, biking, and hiking. As I have previously mentioned, image and the appearance of things is very important in the Korean culture. The average Korean may not be great at these sports but you can bet your ass they will be dressed to the T with the most expensive equipment and clothing for it. But, as long as they look professional...

Teaching so far

Over the past three months I can say I've fell into the role of "Shawn Teacher" very nicely. I am now "over the mountain" as it was described to me by my Korean Director. The first little while was tough adjusting to not only the teaching but life in general over here. So many things were thrown my way that I felt a little overwhelmed at times. Now that the dust has settled, I find
everyday that much more enjoyable.

My school is a Hogwan (private school) called "Wonderland", founded in 1993, it is one of the most successful English education companies in Korea. With 89 franchises and approximately 32,000 students, it has quite a high reputation in Korea. Though it is highly reputable in Korea, it is on the other end of the spectrum amongst Foreigners. Through the many conversations I've had, saying I work at a Wonderland sometimes gets a chuckle. It is known for some pretty bad management, but being such a large company, the many different schools have mixed reviews. With the poorer economy these days, there is more pressure to perform for each school as competition continues to grow. This pressure is generally put on the teachers. More hours, more work, more students.

I've found my school to have its ups and downs. My weeks go by super fast which is great but I do quite a bit of work during this time. Most of the operations at the school are based around one major thing; pleasing the parents. Korea is a very "if it looks good, its good" kind of society. A lot of work goes into making things look pleasant from the outside. First impressions and appearances are held highly.

From weekly student comments to daily lesson plans there sure is a lot of work to be done. I have about 60 or so students I teach each week. All my classes range from 3 to 10 students and are between 7-14 (Kindergartens to lower elementary students). It is considerably harder teaching the younger students who don't have much english experience. When you can't help them understand by using their native language, it can be very confusing for them. The Korean teachers have the advantage of telling them in Korean what certain meanings are and this helps a lot. I feel that with no prior teaching experience, I have come a long way already in my abilities to get through to these kids and really make a difference. Being able to deal with the devils who can't sit still (can't blame them when some go to school for 7 or 8 hours a day) and still teach a class was certainly a challenge. All in all though I've really began to enjoy my classes. The students are all great in their own way and so far it's been an experience I won't soon forget.

100,000 Lotus Lantern Festival

This weekend I had the chance to see one of Seoul's great festivals. On April 24th was the beginning of a week long celebration of Buddha's Birthday. His birthday is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, which, this year falls on May 2nd. Today, about one-quarter of Koreans are Buddhist and this week was no doubt a big cause for celebration for them. Every year Seoul hosts the "100,000 Lotus Lantern Festival" in which hundreds of thousands of people come to see. It is apparently the largest of its kind in the world. I was fortunate enough to witness this great event and defintiely wasn't disapointed.
The streets in front of Jogyesa Temple in downtown Seoul was filled with thousands of people enjoying food and activities. There were hundreds of booths offering the chance to make a Buddhist rosary, try a rubbing of a Buddhist sutra, or you could even make your own lantern, which is said to help one attain enlightenment in the next life. It was amazing to see of these people together, some in full constume celebrating so proudly.

The food was good, the lanterns were amazing and the atmopshere was incredible.

Some Thing's I've Done So Far

In South Korea there is so much to do and see. I'm hoping that by the end of my time here, I can say that I've experienced all thats to be offered. I've read about many foreigners who come here to teach don't end up doing all they expected they would. It's apparently pretty easy to get caught in the "Seoul Gravitational Effect" which means that you stick around Seoul and don't travel to the other parts of Korea. It is easy to miss out on the "Real South Korea" they say. I plan to use as much of my time off to see as many places as possible.

Today me and Rachel climbed one of the many mountains that scatter the Korean landscape. Our choice was Gwanik mountain, which is directly across from our apartment buildings. There could not be a better view to wake up to each day. My walk to work is through a beautifully landscaped park with tons flowers and trees (many cherry blossoms right now) and this huge mountain across the way. It's about a 2 hour hike from the bottom of it to the top and another 2 down. Certainly 4 hours WELL SPENT! The legs are feeling pretty sore, but worth it.

The main sport over here sort of surprised me. I figured it had to be Ping Pong or Badminton but was overwhelmingly Baseball. It's as big here as anywhere. Thousands of people file in for the games over here, chanting like it's the World Cup finals. The World Baseball Classic was all that people were talking about here (from what I could understand). Also up on the list is Soccer which was a big relief for me. There are many leagues to join and fortunately a couple of teachers at my school are big fans. There's a league on Saturdays that I now play in regularily. There isn't many grass fields here so we resort to dirt and sand fields but I don't mind as long as I can play. I also found a Ball Hockey league which I've joined for Sunday afternoon games. Defintiely keeping active over here so far.



A few weekends ago I officially found out how big gamblers the Koreans are. If your looking for a place to make you feel like your in a can of sardines, look no further. The Seoul Racetrack has to be the most insane place I've been to so far. About half a million Koreans jam packed into this place. With people shouting like they just bet their lives on a horse, it was certainly a sight to see. Winning 40,000 won ($40) certainly helped me leave with a positive view of the place though.

A visit to Seoul Tower was in order the next weekend. A saturday night view of Seoul was quite the spectacle. When I walk down the streets at night I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not in Vegas, so you can imagine the sight when looking over the entire city.

Something that very big over here is a site called www.AdventureKorea.com. It's a group that organizes tons of trips all around South Korea. From temple stays to mountain hikes to white rafting it gives you many options to see and do tons of stuff. I plan on doing a lot of the things they offer. A good and easy way to get aroudn without having to plan things for yourself. So far my travelling has been limited to places reachable on the subway line. I get my first paycheck on the 15th so a portion is definitely going to travel expenses.

A Month in Korea...

I have now been in South Korea for one month. A couple weekends ago the bunch of us went to Seoul Tower (basically the Seoul version of the CN Tower). On all the windows looking out they had the exact distances to major cities around the world. Paris, London, New York, Sydney, etc. I looked around until Toronto showed up. The exact distance was 10,607.77 km's to home. It was then and there that I realized just how far away I really was from everything I've known for the last 22 years of my life...

The last month has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least.The ups and downs of travelling to the other side of the world andattempting to start a year long adventure has been quite the experience. All signs point to this being an awesome time and I am now just starting to feel somewhat settled into this crazy place. The culture shock is wearing off and the jetlag is long gone. In a city that has the population of Canada within its greater area, its been a hard and sometimes annoying process to get used to but at the same time a pretty funny experience. The poorly written english signs and terrible driving were expected, but there are many customs and quirks here in the Korean culture that requires some getting used to. Bumping shoulders with someone, where back home one would expect a "sorry" or maybe even a fight doesn't get a second look here. Just accepted happenings of walking in downtown Seoul.

I arrived at the beginning of March not really knowing what to expect. Would it be hard? Would it be crazy? Would I like the food? Could I get around not knowing Korean? Many questions bobbled in my head, but I figured I'd just go with the flow and hopefully things would work out. To my surprise it's actually quite welcoming for a foreigner to come and live here. A lot of signs have some sort of bizzaro enlgish written on them to help you understand. Many people in stores do understand some basic english, if you use exagerated hand signals. It's fairly westernized over here and that makes certain things a little more familiar to all of us. The Koreans at my school have also made sure all of us foreigners feel super comfortable giving us directions, showing us ettiquette and the other day even helped me translate the instructions on my washing machine. Now if only they had dryers, I would be set. I've found it a little easier to settle into my surroundings though with all this in mind. Still, Im 10,607.77 km's from home and it's hard not to feel the distance at times. But thankfully, if you ever get homesick, there's always a Starbucks or McDonalds just around the corner.

Closing One Chapter, Opening Another

I have now completed a milestone that one is lucky enough to acheive from life in a developed country... the opportunity to go to school for 18 years of my life which has ended with a university degree. As much as I surely complained at times during that period, I am grateful to of gotten the chance to do so. I can't help but reflect on the the last four years and how much of an impact it has had on my character, my dreams and my overall outlook on life. Through the many experiences I have had during these four fast paced and amazing years, it has really shaped who I have become and what I strive for in life. As much as the information, comprehension, library time, early mornings and late nights brought me to add a University Degree to my collection of achievements, to no surprise has most of my more valuable knowledge come from outside the classroom. Through great friendships, crazy experiences and mistakes I have begun to see life a lot differently and look to make the most out of it.

I think that society tries to set out a life for you starting with an education, going to university, finding a job, find a wife, get married, have children, work till 65 and retire. It is very easy to allow this to happen as it always seems like the logical next step. I don't want to follow this path.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman
I want live life off the beaten path, out of the ordinary where every day is filled with something new and day to day is hardly a routine. So as I close this chapter, I open a new one that begins with all of these things in mind...