Let me just say now, street food is teh rad. Don't even deny. People standing around huge vats of freshly cooked food, doing most of the cooking before your eyes, vendors yelling the price of their goods of awesome, and locals huddling around the warmth of what was held on these rickety old - but surprisingly sturdy - carts. So far I have had these scrummy fish cakes scrumpled on a skewer, scrummy fish cakes scrumpled on a skewer and cooked in crab water and dipped in chilli, little roasted sweet potatoes, interestingly shaped (and interestingly delicious!) biscuits, and twirly sweet potato on a stick (muchos yum). Everything is on a stick!! And the best of all: hot pastry slash breadsies rounded thingies with deliciously hot brown sugar within. Freshly cooked, Oh My Godfather. Best thing ever. I could eat these all day. Literally. One day I most likely will.
Although...not all of my food experiences on this trip have been this crazy good. In fact, I would surmise that they were crazy bad extraordinaire. After posting yestermorning, we walked around Ewha Woman's University, which is exceptionally huge and had a delightfully awesome Tudor/Gothic-revival quadrangle-type building in the middle. Oh how I love you, architecture! ^__^ It was such a gorgeous university to walk around, corners that appeared one could (I didn't!) tryst within, a monumentally huge boulevard stretching from the entrance to right within the grounds, and the amazingly striking reds and oranges and purples of autumn that occur here (damn you two-seasonal Sydney). Anyway I digress. To the bad food moments, I do continue. It was after that nice walk that we "decided" that it would be a "good" "idea" to get "Greek"..."food". Oh man. I almost took the food in my hand and tried to slit my wrists. But then again, Gyros aren't particularly sharp. I cannae say much. I may try to inflict some sort of self-harm again. Let's just say that to Koreans, Greek food = Korean food + yoghurt. -____- And to make matters worse, I thought that I would have learnt my lesson. I got excited when I was presented with a sign that said "Traditional Artisanal Gelato". Yyyyeah. After running up and down stairs, opening broom closet cupboards in echoing stairwells, which was actually quite funny in itself, the end result did not end in laughter but rather I learnt that pistachio is not always pistachio. It was more...not pistachio. We even had the same sort of experience just half an hour later when Mintie, in mindless desperation, "Freshly Roasted Beans" as well. Lawl. I am putting this in writing now, just to try and sear it more in my mind. Do Not Have Food In A Country That Is Not Traditional, That The Country Does Not Contain Significant Minorities Of, Or Is Not In The Near Vicinity To. Oh man. Can I please learn now and get over my severe cravings of my usual foodnosities?!
So last night we got to know the Seoul Metro more when we met the uncle with whom we will be spending this weekend with. We were led to possibly the best Korean meal we've had this trip, a nice feast in a restaurant with pork cooked on our table and an extreme amount of side dishes and dips to accompany. It was nice, we had a bit of Soju, and then we were weaved through a series of dark and curious alleys up a goddamn mountain. I certainly worked off any alcohol that needed burning in my system...because that's how alcohol works, right?! Anyway, we are staying in possibly the smallest place I have lived (the house in Samoa is comparable, though), privacy is not exactly the top of the pops, and the bathroom is apparently built for dwarves. Which, luckily, means I can stand perfectly straight and not have to worry at all.
Today, and for the first time this trip, I felt more like I was with people who were culturally similar to me. After wandering around a really cool area for something like two hours this morning we headed over to a little arts student-run market. I love arts students. I saw so many things that were of extreme awesome. I bought some porcelain zebra earrings, a painted bottle-cap badge, and two pairs of decorated canvas shoes. So cool. I also realised that I have no practical way to carry these back to my actual luggage, about two hours away. Thanks, irrational buying mind.
In other news, I feel happy to know that there is a train station (and so I presume, suburb) named after me. Yes, friends, the station is indeed called Mia. or 미 아. Actually. Hehehehe... *grins*. Maybe we shall make a trip there for the novelty of it. And so I can take a million pictures of me being all ^___^ v in front of my own name. And so I can make sure that my people are maintaining order in that wondrous land. Work people! *Whip crack* Bring me more twirly sweet potato on a stick!
/dictatorie overlordness
Eeek! Am I usually like that? Dunnae matta anyways! Love to all!
NB: Some more photies postied!
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Samsung + Lotte + SK = Korea
Korea is exceedingly good for some things. Korean food for instance, or cheap electronics. What I didn't know was that there was a rad rad market there that rivals any market I've been to in terms of concentrate cool.
Located in front of "Hong-dae" university (Hong-dae? Seriously? Guys, I'm on to you.), we got there about an hour too early and saw a few students unpacking things out of suitcases. Didn't look impressive at all. After wandering the area for a while, finding nothing but dodgy looking food and awesome artsy looking places that weren't open to the public, we returned to see stall after stall of artsy goodness.
Before that, we had really bad gelato. Way lol.
And afterwards we had really bad espresso. Not so lol.
We've been walking around shopping alot lately. Korea is full of awesome consumables. We've obviously been eating a lot of street food like Ho-dduk, which is basically dough with brown-sugariness inside as well as O-dang, fishcake on a stick. Both of these are far more incredible than you would imagine them to be right now. And the amount of ice-cream that Mia can go through is absolutely amazing. It's not even particularly great ice-cream. Although she can't do rice for more than a meal or so a day, I get the strange feeling that she could eat ice-cream at least four or five times a day.
ANYWAY.
Check the photos to get a look at the markety goodness. I loved the Ocarinas on sale, and the guy that wouldn't stop playing "My Heart Will Go On" for every passerby, as well as the various painted shirts, hoodies and shoes. A lot of absurdly cute asian jewlery abounded as well, with little doves, zebras, turtles, cats and a whole variety of korean characters. The bookmarks were so pretty that I don't know how I resisted buying one, while everything else was merely gorgeous but not my thing.
So damned good. I'm glad that we made it, since it was the last one of the year ^__^
After that, we decided to be good tourists and go to Myung-dong, an area that I didn't have many hopes for. It was full of brand-names and shitty stores, as expected, but also had awesome street vendors, really really shitty mugs and awesome amounts of classy food. We ate spicy ramen and we looked at things we could plausibly buy. Narrow streets full of people and stores, it was fun to just get around and be part of the atmosphere.
Staying at my uncles kind of sucks. The room we're staying in doesn't have a door that closes all the way, and the ceiling is so low that we barely fit. And if you remember how tall we are, that's pretty low. However, it kind of rocks because he's my dads younger brother and I basically feel like I can be comfortable without being rude or whatever. The son doesn't talk, and he kind of just lazes around all day, so we can kind of use it as a base to travel the city from.
Tomorrow, hopefully we'll be heading here to get our culture on. Does anyone know anything about Korean art? Jared? *pointed look* Apparently there's a leader of video art named Paik Nam June? Regardless, it should be an awesome day. I enjoy just using the smart card to get around, so I wonder how much fun I'll have doing something rad? WOO.
I just wish the Wilco tickets didn't cost so much -_-
Located in front of "Hong-dae" university (Hong-dae? Seriously? Guys, I'm on to you.), we got there about an hour too early and saw a few students unpacking things out of suitcases. Didn't look impressive at all. After wandering the area for a while, finding nothing but dodgy looking food and awesome artsy looking places that weren't open to the public, we returned to see stall after stall of artsy goodness.
Before that, we had really bad gelato. Way lol.
And afterwards we had really bad espresso. Not so lol.
We've been walking around shopping alot lately. Korea is full of awesome consumables. We've obviously been eating a lot of street food like Ho-dduk, which is basically dough with brown-sugariness inside as well as O-dang, fishcake on a stick. Both of these are far more incredible than you would imagine them to be right now. And the amount of ice-cream that Mia can go through is absolutely amazing. It's not even particularly great ice-cream. Although she can't do rice for more than a meal or so a day, I get the strange feeling that she could eat ice-cream at least four or five times a day.
ANYWAY.
Check the photos to get a look at the markety goodness. I loved the Ocarinas on sale, and the guy that wouldn't stop playing "My Heart Will Go On" for every passerby, as well as the various painted shirts, hoodies and shoes. A lot of absurdly cute asian jewlery abounded as well, with little doves, zebras, turtles, cats and a whole variety of korean characters. The bookmarks were so pretty that I don't know how I resisted buying one, while everything else was merely gorgeous but not my thing.
So damned good. I'm glad that we made it, since it was the last one of the year ^__^
After that, we decided to be good tourists and go to Myung-dong, an area that I didn't have many hopes for. It was full of brand-names and shitty stores, as expected, but also had awesome street vendors, really really shitty mugs and awesome amounts of classy food. We ate spicy ramen and we looked at things we could plausibly buy. Narrow streets full of people and stores, it was fun to just get around and be part of the atmosphere.
Staying at my uncles kind of sucks. The room we're staying in doesn't have a door that closes all the way, and the ceiling is so low that we barely fit. And if you remember how tall we are, that's pretty low. However, it kind of rocks because he's my dads younger brother and I basically feel like I can be comfortable without being rude or whatever. The son doesn't talk, and he kind of just lazes around all day, so we can kind of use it as a base to travel the city from.
Tomorrow, hopefully we'll be heading here to get our culture on. Does anyone know anything about Korean art? Jared? *pointed look* Apparently there's a leader of video art named Paik Nam June? Regardless, it should be an awesome day. I enjoy just using the smart card to get around, so I wonder how much fun I'll have doing something rad? WOO.
I just wish the Wilco tickets didn't cost so much -_-
Friday, 23 November 2007
Dduk chuseyo!!!
Gentlewomen and Manlies...I iz learnings Koreans. Whhhaaaa! The title says to you: "Please give to me Korean sweet rice cakes". And for your informations, they are oh-so-delicious. I've had them in Australia (thanks Eastwood!) but these ones were bought for us last night and eaten this morning for breakfast. Oh. Man. Still so damn fresh. A man and a woman were grinding up the red beans as we walked through the shop's door and a man at the back of the shop appeared to be mooshing up a massive saucepan of rice.
So I, with the help of my travel friend, spent almost the whole day yesterday at the school getting my Korean language on. Got my letters (or symbols as I initially wanted to call them :s) almost down pat, got my word order pretty much set, and now I just read the random syllables I can catch off passing signs and billboards. I am quite sure that it is to everyone's great annoyance...so, yeah. Sorry people of Korea. You're putting up with me for two more months. Deal.
What else have we done since last postie? Well, I have eaten more rice in the past four days than I probably would in a month. I realise that I am getting pwned hard at eating in general, actually. The English teacher with which we have been staying at is about half my size and eats about twice as much as I.
Speaking of English, we've been "teacher's aids" for a couple of classes. We get asked questions of all kinds, funny, strange, and the outright repetitive ("Have you seen a kangaroo?" etc.). The normal reaction to practically any answer I give to any question is a massive all-class-involved "AHHH WWWOOOWWWW". It's like they are surprised I can actually open my mouth and speak words. Strange. Also, questions like "Do you like to marry?" are just awkward.
It's been quiet at the school. Yearly examinations are just about now, and they are all preparing for a big festival on Friday (today) and Saturday. Unfortunately we'll miss it, which I am a bit disappointed about, but yesterday we got to "party hard" with the teachers. And by "party hard" I actually mean "practise their hilarious dance moves with them for a piece they are putting on for festival times". So there we were, in a plastic greenhouse in the middle of the Korean countryside, listening to synth-ballad music, and standing in a three-row line shimmying and bringing out pretty tame moves. Don't worry, I rocked it as hard as I could...I only wish I had recorded it. Seriously, it seems as though Korea is just one big sitcom stuck in the 80s.
NB: Have posted some photos up in photobucket! Mraow!
So I, with the help of my travel friend, spent almost the whole day yesterday at the school getting my Korean language on. Got my letters (or symbols as I initially wanted to call them :s) almost down pat, got my word order pretty much set, and now I just read the random syllables I can catch off passing signs and billboards. I am quite sure that it is to everyone's great annoyance...so, yeah. Sorry people of Korea. You're putting up with me for two more months. Deal.
Also I am getting used to no suspension in my bedding. Hard floor, why do you want to kill me so? Alas, I am getting used to your unforgiving ways, and my back seems to be in less pain. Relatively speaking, that is.
What else have we done since last postie? Well, I have eaten more rice in the past four days than I probably would in a month. I realise that I am getting pwned hard at eating in general, actually. The English teacher with which we have been staying at is about half my size and eats about twice as much as I.
Speaking of English, we've been "teacher's aids" for a couple of classes. We get asked questions of all kinds, funny, strange, and the outright repetitive ("Have you seen a kangaroo?" etc.). The normal reaction to practically any answer I give to any question is a massive all-class-involved "AHHH WWWOOOWWWW". It's like they are surprised I can actually open my mouth and speak words. Strange. Also, questions like "Do you like to marry?" are just awkward.
It's been quiet at the school. Yearly examinations are just about now, and they are all preparing for a big festival on Friday (today) and Saturday. Unfortunately we'll miss it, which I am a bit disappointed about, but yesterday we got to "party hard" with the teachers. And by "party hard" I actually mean "practise their hilarious dance moves with them for a piece they are putting on for festival times". So there we were, in a plastic greenhouse in the middle of the Korean countryside, listening to synth-ballad music, and standing in a three-row line shimmying and bringing out pretty tame moves. Don't worry, I rocked it as hard as I could...I only wish I had recorded it. Seriously, it seems as though Korea is just one big sitcom stuck in the 80s.
NB: Have posted some photos up in photobucket! Mraow!
Points of interest
- We were sleeping at the house of the English teacher at the school. She lives alone, reads the bible for fun and has an annoying dog that she loves. In short: Crazy dog lady
- The next house we're staying at in this merry-go-round of strangers homes is near the border of North and South Korea. Apparently they get searchlights over their house and there are landmines quite close to them. I don't plan to go for many walks.
- I'm posting this from Ewha, an area close to a private women's university. We saw some cool cons, a lot of starbucks knock offs and I kid you not, a place specialising in Spam on rice.
- I'm really sick of getting up at 6 in the morning. If I am either asleep all day when I get back, or up early and to bed early, you'll know why.
- I think we're going for greek food at lunch. Things don't really change because we move continents. The internet is useful for pulling up deliciousness to eat.
- Apparently there's a place that does a good espresso near COEX, and my body yearns for it. I don't think I've been too cranky thus far. Either that or my crankiness has beaten Mia into submission.
Nothing has really happened here! We're planning to chill out and do some shopping today, head out to a student craft market on Saturday, and then to the tourist trap/antique street on Sunday! Tourism times!
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
OH HAI I IZ IN YOUR KOREAZ EATING YOUR KIM CHEE
That's right, it's true! More like like LOLKOREANS.
So! Korea. Where to start? The flight was pretty good, the usual lethargy and lack of air is always "nice". We got to read and relax and such after all the...eh, relaxing and gazing at the pr0n that is gadgetry in the airport duty free. I want gadgets!! Anyway, I'm sure I will pick up something awesome at the gorram huge electronics markets we plan to head to in Yongsan. Good times. So the plane! Well, I got to watch a smultzy Korean movie about a young Korean man who was adopted by an American family when his mother died and his father was rather incapable (jailed) of looking after him. It was all family reunification loveness and morals...I could barely deal with it, but it was pretty good. Pretty good in comparison to High School Musical II (oh man, aren't sequels always better x 10000000?!) with which my ears got the pleasure of listening to for about 15 minutes and my eyes got the pleasure of flicking over every now and again only for the benefit of my mouth to make a snide comment. The female protaginist was cute...and that's seriously about all.
Made it off teh plane! Alive and in South Korea. Pretty tired but we had a damn long drive with an uncle who came and picked us up. The car trip took about an hour and a half and basically consisted of weaving in between jammed cars on eight-highways. And then came the stop to buy us bread...? Hmm...don't get me started on the bread. Apparently all that 'Westerners' consume is bread and milk. Crazy, I know! Seinfield: "What's the deal with bread and milk?!" I get offered it at least once a day at this point and it drives me nuts, like a peanut on a bus. I came to Korea to eat Kim Chee and Bulgogi not freakin' bread!!!! Grah...
Anyway, we stayed at le uncle's place for the night. I got to meet le grandmama which was mostly disconcerting due to her ailing mental and physical health, but nice also in that connecting of familial ties to people known way. Make sense? Suck it up. After sitting on a plane for over ten hours, and hence not terribly active, we were forced fed food until we could no longer think. I find that my hardcore eating habits here are completely lost and these people totally outdo me with any munching I may do. Goddamn it. So not used to having rice yet for three meals a day, but y'all know what I'm gonna have to do? Suck it up.
After discovering the delights of a thin blanket on a hard heated floor, and then discovering that I will now have to (uncomfortably) do this for over two months, we got up and had a huge dinner-like meal. Cousins living in the same building came over and joined us with their incredibly cute (I know, wtf, I usually hate children!!??) children, the four year-old son being a total rascal. So damn hilarious that kid, he was way scared of me at first and I was informed that if I had blonde hair he would have totally freaked. But he ran around and opened doors to the -7 degree temperatures outside and pulled at what appeared to be ancient heirloom pottery. TOO MUCH FUNNY.
Plans got fuzzled and we got changed schools and arrangements of sleeping etc. Whatever, I am here for what comes. Despite the crap-ups and decidedly different land and people and situations I am witnessing, I am still having a good time. We got to do a 'hard day's work' (hah! I one-upped you bitches!) of moving and stacking chopped wood at this crazy-awesome (self-built by the people living within) place in the middle of what seemed nowhere. I ate live octopus and awesome roasted sweet potato. I got slightly inebrieted on Soju with a bunch of 50 year-olds who sang karaoke at the top of their screams to the friend jamming it out with laptop and "sex phone" (read: saxaphone). The ajumma (literally: middle-aged woman) at that house was really sweet and was an awesome cook. She then drove us around for half a day looking for pone credit and bought us ice-creams and a megabag of traditional biscuits from a man with a stall outside the equivalent of a Walmart.
So we are now staying at a hippy-ass school. Purely organic food from teh start, giant solar panels, and some interesting kids to boot. Some of them are absolute punks, others quiet and studious; all much the same as the high school we all know and kind of hated but y'know, that's how it goes. We helped out some kids today with their Engrish, helping them write speeches for universities and correcting pronounciation and intonation for a girl competing in a state-wide competition tomorrow. Good luck to her! I find it so difficult to understand the seemingly random way Koreans pronounce things. Mintie is a lot better and discerning what people are trying to say here. It seems that f's become p's, t's become d's, and m's become b's. I feel bad, but I completely mishear things ALL THE TIME. I'm sure I will get used to it. Hey, I'm even getting my Korean on, too! Ah, neeah, kormapsumnida!!!
It's still freezing, and I am adjusting to this very foreign land. I get the feeling that I am experiencing some things a lot of travellers to this country will never get to see. I like that. Things are also scary. You think one azn driver is bad? Try a whole freakho country of azn driverz. Yeah, that's right, I said it. I have even been driving inside the actual vehicles. Hardcore stylez to the maxfactor international.
That's all. I will set up a system now that will make the restricted access at the school okay for us to blag.
Anyonghekasayo!!! Neeahhhh... ^_________^
(Will post some photos soon. Remember to check the photobucket or flickr accounts I have linked to on the side. It takes too long to do it in bloggeh).
Love!
So! Korea. Where to start? The flight was pretty good, the usual lethargy and lack of air is always "nice". We got to read and relax and such after all the...eh, relaxing and gazing at the pr0n that is gadgetry in the airport duty free. I want gadgets!! Anyway, I'm sure I will pick up something awesome at the gorram huge electronics markets we plan to head to in Yongsan. Good times. So the plane! Well, I got to watch a smultzy Korean movie about a young Korean man who was adopted by an American family when his mother died and his father was rather incapable (jailed) of looking after him. It was all family reunification loveness and morals...I could barely deal with it, but it was pretty good. Pretty good in comparison to High School Musical II (oh man, aren't sequels always better x 10000000?!) with which my ears got the pleasure of listening to for about 15 minutes and my eyes got the pleasure of flicking over every now and again only for the benefit of my mouth to make a snide comment. The female protaginist was cute...and that's seriously about all.
Made it off teh plane! Alive and in South Korea. Pretty tired but we had a damn long drive with an uncle who came and picked us up. The car trip took about an hour and a half and basically consisted of weaving in between jammed cars on eight-highways. And then came the stop to buy us bread...? Hmm...don't get me started on the bread. Apparently all that 'Westerners' consume is bread and milk. Crazy, I know! Seinfield: "What's the deal with bread and milk?!" I get offered it at least once a day at this point and it drives me nuts, like a peanut on a bus. I came to Korea to eat Kim Chee and Bulgogi not freakin' bread!!!! Grah...
Oh, and just so you know I now know what it feels like for all you ladies and gentlemen who are affected by mass stereotyping and racism. How suckity and lame. :( But I guess most of you who are reading this are quite white so you wouldn't know it so much in l'australie...
/rant
Anyway, we stayed at le uncle's place for the night. I got to meet le grandmama which was mostly disconcerting due to her ailing mental and physical health, but nice also in that connecting of familial ties to people known way. Make sense? Suck it up. After sitting on a plane for over ten hours, and hence not terribly active, we were forced fed food until we could no longer think. I find that my hardcore eating habits here are completely lost and these people totally outdo me with any munching I may do. Goddamn it. So not used to having rice yet for three meals a day, but y'all know what I'm gonna have to do? Suck it up.
After discovering the delights of a thin blanket on a hard heated floor, and then discovering that I will now have to (uncomfortably) do this for over two months, we got up and had a huge dinner-like meal. Cousins living in the same building came over and joined us with their incredibly cute (I know, wtf, I usually hate children!!??) children, the four year-old son being a total rascal. So damn hilarious that kid, he was way scared of me at first and I was informed that if I had blonde hair he would have totally freaked. But he ran around and opened doors to the -7 degree temperatures outside and pulled at what appeared to be ancient heirloom pottery. TOO MUCH FUNNY.
Plans got fuzzled and we got changed schools and arrangements of sleeping etc. Whatever, I am here for what comes. Despite the crap-ups and decidedly different land and people and situations I am witnessing, I am still having a good time. We got to do a 'hard day's work' (hah! I one-upped you bitches!) of moving and stacking chopped wood at this crazy-awesome (self-built by the people living within) place in the middle of what seemed nowhere. I ate live octopus and awesome roasted sweet potato. I got slightly inebrieted on Soju with a bunch of 50 year-olds who sang karaoke at the top of their screams to the friend jamming it out with laptop and "sex phone" (read: saxaphone). The ajumma (literally: middle-aged woman) at that house was really sweet and was an awesome cook. She then drove us around for half a day looking for pone credit and bought us ice-creams and a megabag of traditional biscuits from a man with a stall outside the equivalent of a Walmart.
So we are now staying at a hippy-ass school. Purely organic food from teh start, giant solar panels, and some interesting kids to boot. Some of them are absolute punks, others quiet and studious; all much the same as the high school we all know and kind of hated but y'know, that's how it goes. We helped out some kids today with their Engrish, helping them write speeches for universities and correcting pronounciation and intonation for a girl competing in a state-wide competition tomorrow. Good luck to her! I find it so difficult to understand the seemingly random way Koreans pronounce things. Mintie is a lot better and discerning what people are trying to say here. It seems that f's become p's, t's become d's, and m's become b's. I feel bad, but I completely mishear things ALL THE TIME. I'm sure I will get used to it. Hey, I'm even getting my Korean on, too! Ah, neeah, kormapsumnida!!!
It's still freezing, and I am adjusting to this very foreign land. I get the feeling that I am experiencing some things a lot of travellers to this country will never get to see. I like that. Things are also scary. You think one azn driver is bad? Try a whole freakho country of azn driverz. Yeah, that's right, I said it. I have even been driving inside the actual vehicles. Hardcore stylez to the maxfactor international.
That's all. I will set up a system now that will make the restricted access at the school okay for us to blag.
Anyonghekasayo!!! Neeahhhh... ^_________^
(Will post some photos soon. Remember to check the photobucket or flickr accounts I have linked to on the side. It takes too long to do it in bloggeh).
Love!
I'm in KOREA. ARE YOU AWARE?
I had forgotten, since my dad hasn't been living with me for about a year now, that he is an unreliable shit.
The flight was good, and we were able to get away with a minimum of fuss from both customs, security and our clingy ass families. There was a way intimidating kid sitting next to us on the plane giving us both the evil eye, I'm not sure if it was for a reason, but she outstared me in every staring contest I dared to engage in. The ten hours went by reasonably fast, with an issue of the Economist and a viewing of High School Musical 2.... well maybe the last one didn't help as much as pain, but it's all the same after 8 hours of whirring jets and tiny food I guess.
We were whisked away from the airport by my uncle who was much funnier, now that he's grown a bit old and senile and he forgets where his keys are. The trip took about an hour and a half thanks to all the traffic and lameness. I pointed out the obvious to Mia, that there were millions of apartment buildings everywhere which she immediately referred to as "deathboxes". I don't think she's used the word apartment yet, to be honest.
After a quick night there, seeing my grandmother who is so frail and senile that its actually kind of painful to think about, we were picked up by my dads best friend, who to be honest is kind of a boorish asshole, but he's taken me in like family and I'm kind of indebted to him. He picked us up, and drove us to where we are now, an island named Gangwha which is connected to the mainland by two bridges, which took him about an hour. We were then fed, fed, fed till we burst in some sort of Karmic display of spite, with sweet potato, Sashimi and live octopus all to be had. GOOD TIMES.
However, my dad rang me and told me that all the plans we had made with the school had fallen through. I'm still not that sure why that is, whether they genuinely couldn't facilitate us, or if someone took ill or something, but it meant that we were at a new school in the area. And they weren't sure if Mia and I could share a room. They thought that perhaps we could share a room with 3 high schoolers.
It took all my self-control to not issue a firm fuck off in both Korean and English, to make sure they would understand.
Instead, I had 3 korean old men take turns in reprimanding me for having the nerve to insist that Mia and I share a room. I waited my turn and then yelled my frustration at them for a little while. My korean isn't very good but I think they got the idea. Of course, this is korea and they're all older than me, so it was so incredibly restrained that I must have come across as being respectful :o
So since then, we've been homestaying at the English teachers house. We would have blogged sooner, but the goddamn government blocks blogger on the teachers internet connection. What gives? Still, we think we have a work around so expect more frequent updatage. We're at a pretty schmick PC cafe at the moment, so this suits me fine, but I assume we don't want to waste the money just because everything looks awesome and works quickly.
The school itself is quite awesome. It's entirely powered by Solar and Geo-thermal power and is filled with hippyness and children. There's only about sixty of them, and they all live in the dormitory with four to a cabin. There's a really intimidating sense of community about the whole thing, and they seem like a very strange bunch of kids. Really nice though, very accomodating, but they don't seem overly eager to make friends. I guess you can't expect much from a bunch of surly Year 10s, 11s and 12s. All the food is organic and grown in the area, and everybody is expected to eat everything on their own plate and wash up their own thing.
Damned hippies.
It's been about -6 degrees here, damned cold weather by any measure. I've had time to play soccer, read Colbert and be mothered by absolutely everyone. It feels like people are either worried about us or wanting to make us feel overly welcome. It's been irritating nonetheless, but it's also been really nice to get away from everything. Conditions haven't been ideal, considering how much unnecessary hassle was added by my dad, but I'm really still enjoying being away from my daily routine. Sure, here I'm getting up at 6 am to go to the school, but I feel like I'm doing something good. Leading a simple life can be nice too.
I feel like I'm still waiting to get into Korea and really see things. Sorry that this post has been so haphazard, I have a terrible memory and I know that Mia will do a much better job of posting the highlights. I've probably forgotten lots of important things.
BUT LOLLLLLLLL
The flight was good, and we were able to get away with a minimum of fuss from both customs, security and our clingy ass families. There was a way intimidating kid sitting next to us on the plane giving us both the evil eye, I'm not sure if it was for a reason, but she outstared me in every staring contest I dared to engage in. The ten hours went by reasonably fast, with an issue of the Economist and a viewing of High School Musical 2.... well maybe the last one didn't help as much as pain, but it's all the same after 8 hours of whirring jets and tiny food I guess.
We were whisked away from the airport by my uncle who was much funnier, now that he's grown a bit old and senile and he forgets where his keys are. The trip took about an hour and a half thanks to all the traffic and lameness. I pointed out the obvious to Mia, that there were millions of apartment buildings everywhere which she immediately referred to as "deathboxes". I don't think she's used the word apartment yet, to be honest.
After a quick night there, seeing my grandmother who is so frail and senile that its actually kind of painful to think about, we were picked up by my dads best friend, who to be honest is kind of a boorish asshole, but he's taken me in like family and I'm kind of indebted to him. He picked us up, and drove us to where we are now, an island named Gangwha which is connected to the mainland by two bridges, which took him about an hour. We were then fed, fed, fed till we burst in some sort of Karmic display of spite, with sweet potato, Sashimi and live octopus all to be had. GOOD TIMES.
However, my dad rang me and told me that all the plans we had made with the school had fallen through. I'm still not that sure why that is, whether they genuinely couldn't facilitate us, or if someone took ill or something, but it meant that we were at a new school in the area. And they weren't sure if Mia and I could share a room. They thought that perhaps we could share a room with 3 high schoolers.
It took all my self-control to not issue a firm fuck off in both Korean and English, to make sure they would understand.
Instead, I had 3 korean old men take turns in reprimanding me for having the nerve to insist that Mia and I share a room. I waited my turn and then yelled my frustration at them for a little while. My korean isn't very good but I think they got the idea. Of course, this is korea and they're all older than me, so it was so incredibly restrained that I must have come across as being respectful :o
So since then, we've been homestaying at the English teachers house. We would have blogged sooner, but the goddamn government blocks blogger on the teachers internet connection. What gives? Still, we think we have a work around so expect more frequent updatage. We're at a pretty schmick PC cafe at the moment, so this suits me fine, but I assume we don't want to waste the money just because everything looks awesome and works quickly.
The school itself is quite awesome. It's entirely powered by Solar and Geo-thermal power and is filled with hippyness and children. There's only about sixty of them, and they all live in the dormitory with four to a cabin. There's a really intimidating sense of community about the whole thing, and they seem like a very strange bunch of kids. Really nice though, very accomodating, but they don't seem overly eager to make friends. I guess you can't expect much from a bunch of surly Year 10s, 11s and 12s. All the food is organic and grown in the area, and everybody is expected to eat everything on their own plate and wash up their own thing.
Damned hippies.
It's been about -6 degrees here, damned cold weather by any measure. I've had time to play soccer, read Colbert and be mothered by absolutely everyone. It feels like people are either worried about us or wanting to make us feel overly welcome. It's been irritating nonetheless, but it's also been really nice to get away from everything. Conditions haven't been ideal, considering how much unnecessary hassle was added by my dad, but I'm really still enjoying being away from my daily routine. Sure, here I'm getting up at 6 am to go to the school, but I feel like I'm doing something good. Leading a simple life can be nice too.
I feel like I'm still waiting to get into Korea and really see things. Sorry that this post has been so haphazard, I have a terrible memory and I know that Mia will do a much better job of posting the highlights. I've probably forgotten lots of important things.
BUT LOLLLLLLLL
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