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6/28/2005
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KLB - Beijing (7)
It's really a shopper's paradise in China - especially if you're into knockoffs and, let's face reality, who in China isn't? Here is a shot of some of the stuff I picked up the other day near the Holiday Inn. Though you can buy DVDs and CDs pretty much on any corner here, the areas near foreign hotels are the best for other things like Xbox games and "designer" clothes. And, as to be expected, the places are teeming with happy tourists.
Just to give you an idea, the DVDs and Xbox games are $1.15 (10 RMB) no matter where you go. The CDs are about $2. Everything else is negotiable. They start low and go way lower. After a year and a half in China, Jake has become an expert at bartering. He's so good at it that he makes me blush in awkward embarrassment. But he got me those Armani jeans for $15 (down from $30) each, and they have all the name brands: Levis, Diesel, Paper Denim, the works. The Samsonite computer bag, he negotiated from $12 to $7. I also got a really nice leather Polo wallet for $5, all the way down from $15 (Jake burst into laughter at that price). Personally I was ready to pay the first price on most things, but Jake gets a thrill out of arguing in Chinese, so I let him take charge. Anyway, I can't get over the quality of the imitations. The jeans are excellent, even after a few washings. They're pretty much the real deal as far as I can tell. The person who made them probably made the same amount as the person making the real ones, too, at the factory next door.
Everything looks like the orignal. Look at this video game. It's an exact replica, packaging and all, though you should ditch all packaging before leaving China or risk having your new collection confiscated at the airport. I guess CDs are OK. The last time I bought a fake movie in Korea it cost me 9,000 won ($9) and consisted of a poorly photocopied inlay, a regular plastic case, and a plain white DVD-R disk. Not in China, the shit is spot on. I guess except for shoes. They look good too, but according to Jake, they fall apart quickly. Everything is copied here. Jake's going to pick up a bag of Calloway golf clubs before going home for under $100, which I guess is a great price, though I'm no golfer.
I guess some of you have been pretty disappointed with the updating, but hang in there. Because of the sheer enormity of the pictures and material I have to write and post about which is all unrelated to "Korea" Life Blog, I have been working offline on an E-book. I will make it available in a few weeks for download from the KLB bookstore for anyone interested in all this stuff about China, which I have to say is quite interesting. It will have all the photos and all the commentary you're used to seeing here on KLB, but, of course, it will be all about China. Since I may even be here longer than I planned, (it's a damn good time here) it might wind up pretty thick in content. Hang in there and thanks for reading as always!
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written by shawn matthews
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6/24/2005
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KLB - Beijing (6)
Here is a decent blog I just found about China, but without any pictures:
Talk Talk China
I like the story he linked to here.
If you are interested, check here for a decent list of China related blogs:
Misohoni.com
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written by shawn matthews
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6/21/2005
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KLB - Beijing (5)
Everything is going really well here. No offense to Korea, but I'm having an excellent time in Beijing. No question about my stomach anymore. I'm now adjusted! The only downside has been the weather as of late. The average temperature has been a sickly 38 degrees Celsius, or between 95 and 100 Fahrenheit, which has kept me in the house for the most part the past week. Jake said it got up to 104 degrees today. Good thing he has an excellent air conditioner.
Anyway, despite the heat I've been having a lot of fun enjoying ice cold Chinese beer (about 15 cents a bottle), shopping all over town, feasting on a variety of delicious Chinese foods, hanging around with Jake and, when unable to get out of the house, watching some of my ever quickly multiplying movie collection. What could be more fun that this? A big Chinese temple? Maybe, but I don't think so. I haven't been to a single tourist trap so far. Jake says they're all a waste of money, as to be expected. I fell for that crap in Thailand. I guess maybe I should go hike the Great Wall, but not in this weather!
I think I could live here quite awhile, if I didn't have other plans, that is. China is huge and there is so much to do! It would be nice to go travel - especially in the cooler weather and preferably with someone who can speak Chinese or after picking up the basics myself, which I am doing already. I can safely say that Korean is the hardest language on earth to pronounce. I always thought I was just bad at languages, but that's not it. It seems so much easier to hear and speak Japanese, as I've been studying, and now Chinese. I picked up a lot already. I swear if I studied for a few weeks my Chinese would surpass my Korean, kapoa xing zao! just like that. I've been having mini conversations already. I guess it also helps that you pretty much have to speak Chinese here or you simply can't get by.
Well, I don't want to waste too much time in front of the computer, but here are a couple of teaser pictures to hold you over.
This is me about to eat some kind of spicy crayfish, shell and all! To hell with cracking and digging out the meat!
And this is one of the best Chinese dishes I've had. It's authentic Kung Pao chicken and it's delicious. The price? Less than a dollar. We've been eating here a lot, trying a bunch of different dishes, drinking a beer or two, never leaving with a bill over $5 total. I love China!
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written by shawn matthews
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6/17/2005
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KLB - Beijing (4)
Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures, but come on, I'm on vacation. Actually I've been stuck in the house for the most part the past couple of days with the runs. "Welcome, to China," Jake said, with an evil grin. Apparently he lived for six months here before his stomach adjusted to Chinese food. Same with his prior roommate. I know mine sure hasn't! I've practically read a whole book on the crapper the past two days. Got a pizza tonight and will stick to western style for a few days...phew! Well, if you could see some of the stuff I've eaten, you'd understand why. It's all been pretty good, but there's been a few...oddities...
Other than that I'm doing really well. It feels good to take it easy after working for the past 10 months. You get a lot of miscellaneous holidays in Korea but never more than a week at a time, unless you're a university professor. Still, I can't complain. It's just nice that I am able to take some time off after a 10 month run with the same kids every day. On the other hand, the Chinese work 7 days a week from what I can see. Nothing closes on Sunday, including the banks and post offices. And that construction down below never stops, except between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The sun comes up here at 4:30 in the morning. Jake told me that all of China has the same time, so that if you travel in the middle of nowhere, the sun may go down at 3:00 p.m.
I admire that Jake can speak Chinese so well. He struggled a lot with Korean, as do most of us. It seems, as far as speaking, Korean is the hardest of the three main Asian languages. Chinese is hard too, of course, but they use the same subject-verb-object structure as we do in English. Just forget ever being able to read it well. I've been studying speaking Chinese, too, though I still find Japanese to be easier to pronounce. Korean makes me want to back my head on a wall. I just can't hear it well and I never had the chance to study intensively at one of the universities and I always had a girlfriend who could speak fluent English, not to mention I don't have any male Korean friends. Excuses, yeah, I know. Tell it to Jesus, Shawn. Seriously, you really can get by in Korea only learning how to read Korean and being able to speak a little. After all, there are a lot of English words in Korean. A ton, actually. That's not that case in China - everything has a Chinese word. If you don't speak Chinese, you really can't get very far here. That may change the closer it gets to the 2008 Olympics, though...
Well, that's it for tonight. I know I promised some pictures but the last thing I feel like doing is using the computer all the time and there has already been so much to tell and so many photos that I don't know where to begin...stay tuned though. I may have a lot of free time on my hands if my stomach doesn't get any better.
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written by shawn matthews
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6/15/2005
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KLB - Beijing (3)
I've had three misconceptions about Beijing already:
1. Internet. I thought it sucked. Wrong. It was my friend's 5-year-old Mac that was the problem. I've got my computer running now and the net is fast, pretty much as fast as in Korea. Still, it's a serious bummer that I can't see a lot of sites blocked by the government...
2. Pollution. The day I got here, the temperature was in the mid 90s and the sky was a strange white color. Stifling and depressing. I figured it must always be the same. Well, over the last few days it rained a little, a cool front came in and tonight I saw the prettiest sky I've seen in 5 years. Pics to come. Everything just cleared right up and it's like I'm in the middle of American countryside - except for the gigantic apartment complexes, wait until you see.
3. Dangerous. It seemed awful seedy when I first arrived. Hanging out with Jake, who I must say can speak Chinese far better than I ever imagined (he argued on the phone today for 30 minutes with his internet company) I got to realize it really isn't so bad. In a year and four months, Jake has never once been in a fight or robbed or in any trouble. Jake said the Chinese go to jail for fighting, maybe up to 5 years if they fight or otherwise harm a foreigner, so they don't bother him. Still, I haven't seen a single police officer myself. Wish they would enforce the traffic laws. The streets are crazy and dangerous to cross.
I've been having a blast, to be honest. In addition to just relaxing when my friend is at work, exercising, studying Chinese and Japanese, playing a lot of guitar, I've also been experiencing Beijing, China every night! It really pays to have a friend who can speak the language and who has been here for over a year. I'm not much into touristy places. Seriously, I've been happy just diving right into the local life. That's where the real experiences are anyway. So, I'm living like the Chinese do. Well, like the Chinese who aren't poor do, that is. Or like the Koreans who live around here making their riches off the Chinese. They're kind of snobby, says Jake.
There are construction workers working next door 16 hours a day or more on some new building and they live like slaves in "worker housing" with no running water. They make, according to Jake, about $50-$100 a month. They look damn haggard and tired when you pass them on the street. Really makes you think about how lucky you have it, in comparison. That's why I never fret about taking it easy in life and living like I want, working when I want, etc, because I am lucky enough to be able to live as I want, thank you America. I've been watching them and feeling a lot of pity but also appreciative for what I have and happy that I never had to suffer, nor chose to make myself suffer when I didn't have to just because everyone around me thought that's how you make it. You know what, I'm doing just fine in life. I'm the luckiest and happiest person I know right now. I'm very rarely depressed, compared to how often I felt miserable in America, ironically, going to work feeling like a schmuck in an office every day.
It takes a first hand look at real destitution to realize I have everything I want, everything I need, and, don't forget, chances - always chances. A lot of people in this world have no chances - or they buried their chances without realizing they even had them at all. I have so many chances, and for that I am truly grateful. That's why I can't denounce my country entirely, though I despise Americanism and most of what comes with that. We are given a lot of chances, no doubt about it, back there, lots of chances to get out and see the world, and that's where we are lucky. If you're Chinese you can't get out of China, unless you're rich or have connections. If you're a Chinese man, you really have to suffer. You don't have to as an American, that is, if you use your head a little.
Anyway, as for the "rich" American - I've had some excellent local cuisine including authentic Kung Pao chicken, some kind of delicious carp (who ever thought carp would taste delicious!) lamb on a stick (sounds gross but it's just as good - if not better than chicken on a stick) and shrimp and broccoli stir-fry which I made myself. A big bag of shrimp only cost me around $2.50. Eating here is dirt cheap, especially if you eat street food.
I had a lot of pics to go along with this post, but I just got connected today with the internet and now I'm getting tired. I just wanted to get this update out there for now to let you know how I'm making out here in China. Well, so far I love it. Stay tuned. There is so much to write about.
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written by shawn matthews
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6/14/2005
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KLB - Beijing (2)
On the bright side, you can plug anything in the wall in China from America or Korea. It all fits in the sockets and the power is automatically converted. Unfortunately the internet in China isn't so great, and my friend has a 5 year old Mac that has never been updated, which doesn't help in the least. And we were unable to hook up my laptop through the router I brought because he has no idea what his auto-login internet password is. Everything is controlled by the government here, so Jake will try to contact one of the offices tomorrow and see if he can get someone out here to get my computer online, but it may be hard despite the fact Jake's Chinese is very impressive - you should see him bartering! Even if they do get me online, the internet is extremelely slow and a lot of sites are blocked, including my own website, though luckily I can still access Blogger to make updates. Rest assured some kind of updates will come. So far I've been having a lot of fun experiencing the awesome food and cheap Chinese beer!
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written by shawn matthews
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6/12/2005
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KLB - Beijing (1)
Goodbye, Seoul, Korea! Hello, Beijing, China. I'm here at my friend Jake's place. Stay tuned for some updates, including how we just ordered 24 large bottles of Chinese beer delivered for $3.50.
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written by shawn matthews
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6/11/2005
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KLB - Gangnam One More Time
The updates just keep coming lately. That's because John doesn't have a TV and the only thing I have to do is take pictures and post. Here are the last pics of Gangnam I took:
A fancy building and a Burger King sign. Hard to get a pic around here without some western fast food place in it. Just like America! Well, here are some better ones:
That day I was brave with the camera. I just stopped and took pictures of whatever. I love Korean street food and so it was nice to get some pictures.
Some place where people can eat the street food and drink soju (cheap Korean liquor) with it.
When I snapped a picture of the soju tent, the donut guy next door got jealous and asked me to take his picture too....
Another building. I guess it's not too special, but here it is anyway.
Another Gangnam subway exit/entrance. Another Samsung ad.
In Korea cellphones are for sale pretty much everywhere. Lots of nice ones here. As to be expected, all Samsung.
Back outside, more street food pictures. Here's a pretty young lady getting a plate of deok bokki (slimy rice cake thingies in firey red sauce). Good timing on the shot. Oh wait, that's someone else's hand, I think.
I guess these shots are out of order but I don't have much time to fix things. This is down inside Gangnam station again.
Back outside, more buildings. The big one further down is the Kyobo building. There's a gigantic bookstore on the bottom two floors.
I don't know how these guys get away with selling fake DVDs (burned onto DVD-R disks) in the middle of such an upscale area is beyond me. At $9 a pop they're a ripoff too.
Wow, more street food. I guess you're pretty sick of these shots by now...
Some side street near John's place. Not too exciting, but thought I'd throw it in for those who said they are moving here soon.
More westernization here. The ubiquitous McDs and some movie billboards.
The one thing about Gangnam is that all of the most beautiful girls in Korea (and maybe the world) live or hang out here. It drives you crazy, really. It's like Darwinism at it's best. And they don't like western guys either because, let's face it, we're poor English teachers - not rich Korean businessmen with nice cars and plasma TVs and loads of moola. I know a lot of you want to see pictures of the girls here, but come on, it's not easy to stand outside and snap picture of beautiful girls walking around. This was the best I could do before losing my nerve again and, as you can see, I didn't do a great job. Maybe in the future I could shoot a video - I guess that would make it easier, now that I think about it.
I haven't been to this club, but John and other people have said lots and lots of pretty girls hang out. The problem though is that it gets overcrowded and you can't even move.
Well, that's it. Check back again soon for an update. I'm leaving the country at 9:30 AM tomorrow. And I'm bringing John's camera!
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written by shawn matthews
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6/10/2005
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KLB - Goodbye Kids
This is Kelly, one of the most innocent, adorable kids I have ever had the privelege to teach.
My favorite boy, Sam, is a very nice, polite kid, too. Bye bye!
Another little girl. Korean kids are so damn cute. I want one!
Well, I am not so sure I will miss this little trouble maker...
I took this shot so you could understand what I meant by having a traditional drumming class right next door. I get to hear these kids whapping away on drums while I'm trying to teach all the time. Still, wish I had a cool class like this when I was a kid.
Kelly and Sam getting busy with the crayons. All kindergarten through elementary school teachers should thank God for crayons.
As I said before, my A class drove me nuts my last day there. You can see on the left C and D teams have the big black minus-star sign, which means I'll take stickers out of their books at the end of class. I guess you may also be wondering about that peculiar drawing...
Victor, Dean, and June - three little uncontrollable kids. I drew this picture to let them know how displeased I was with them, and also because I like making silly drawings on the board just because I can. Kelly and Sam got a kick out of this one. Believe it or not this kind of thing actually works. Kids hate when a teacher focuses the classes laughter on them.
Goodbye, Susie and Sarah, two sweet little girls I enjoy teaching.
Simon. This is one of those kids that drive a teacher crazy. An at-times off the wall trouble maker who is also one of your brightest students. You'll yell at him one minute, the next be blown away by his ability.
After awhile I got to be a seating-chart expert. Ideally I like two girls and one boy at every table. For some reason in Korea little girls are almost always good and little boys are almost always bad. This has been the case in every school I have taught here. This seems to change around middle school though, when all kids become a pain in the ass.
No, I don't make kids draw and color in every class, but on my last day there I took it easy. Simon was on his best behavior today, a little quiet as I have him sitting next to two little girls, hehe.
Bye, bye D class. There's Sarah on the right. She just keeps getting cuter and cuter and cuter. That boy there with the curly hair is Justin. Every sentence he ever speaks in English has something to do with me. Every story he makes is something like this: "Shawn teacher I home came. Shawn teacher me TV watched and fun. Shawn teacher the kind and fun teacher, funny haha!...(his English drives me bonkers). He has this weird obsession with me, always following me in the halls and outside to the bus. Then he even got a "Shawn teacher pama" (perm) as he calls it. Maybe he lacks a father figure at home or something. At any rate, he'll probably go on to be one of those creepy Korean guys that bother foreigners on the subway, but I like him.
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written by shawn matthews
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6/9/2005
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KLB - Ganghwa-do (3)
The last installment from our trip to Ganghwa-do, brought to you by KLB.
Nice shot of the temple here, ala John. Notice up in the left corner, way up there? Yes, that's right, the walkway and stairs go all the way up there.
A shot of me looking around in awe. This place was really nice. See, now what gets me is this. Look at that sky. You never see that kind of blue sky in Seoul. That's what is sad about living in a modern city, all the pollution. You convince yourself it's just haze and fog and humidity, until you get out and see this.
We hung around this level for awhile snapping pictures:
I'm probably committing some kind of sacrilege here, but it's a cool picture nonetheless. I always wanted a pet that looked like this.
OK, enough dilly-dallying, back to the steep climb. The hardest part is ahead.
Now here is where practices of old and new work in harmony. I've always admired the stone piles like these that you see around temples and trails, but I never knew what the significance was. Welp, back in the modern wolrd, fire up the computer, enter keywords in Google, and presto, the answer: "Along the trails in Korea you see piles of rocks. A prayer will be said as the rock is put on the pile. By attaching a stone to another rock's surface is a better chance of having your prayer answered. The stack of rocks can become very high." Wow, cool, so it's an ancient form of the game Jenga. So, what if you add a rock that causes the pile to tumble? I guess you're doomed to bad Karma for eternity.
And to think some of them start as small as this one. Ancient style Jenga was way cooler than the modern day version....
Here's John striking a serious photographic pose. Hi, Mom!
There's no perspective to this shot, but this resting Buddha figure was enormous.
Finally, up at the top, you come to this ancient stone Buddha sculpture. Again, no perspective, but it was very large and everyone was up here bowing and lighting incense and whatnot. Out of respect, we didn't take pictures of them.
I have no idea what this says, but I assume it says something very deep and meaningul.
You can see from this nice shot how far we climbed. Beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed the hike.
On the way down we stopped and, for a measly $10, we enjoyed the local dong-dong ju (unfiltered rice wine) and a few really delicious side dishes, the main being some kind of friend potato pancake that was awesome and very filling. We weren't hungry again until later at night. Apparently the rice wine from here is famous. It tasted really good and I ended up buying a jug for $5 before leaving the island, though it's still sitting in the fridge. It's not as much fun to drink with boiled eggs and tuna.
OK, I couldn't resist throwing in one shot of the flies infesting all the dried shrimp...that can't be healthy can it?
Anyway, we really wanted to continue exploring the island but unfortunately, there was one big drawback to the trip. The busses. For some reason we never did take any pictures of the gigantic lines, but the busses only came once an hour. We were supposed to go down to a famous beach, perhaps even take a ferry to another island, but after waiting nearly two hours in line, we decided we better get back on the bus from where we came. This was really too bad and we couldn't figure out why they wouldn't invest in better transportation on such a touristy island, especially what, with all the flub-dub in that video about how important the island is to Korea and the world!
John took a bunch of pics of the countryside through the door of the bus where we were squished like sardines.
Back to the ferry. That was one of the nicest parts of the trip anyway.
The cool breeze, the smell of the ocean, little kids throwing shrimp chips at seagulls.
If it wasn't for the fact that we didn't know where to sleep, and if it there had been a better public transportation system around the island (that was a real bummer baking in the sun for two hours waiting to be crammed on a bus) we may have stayed another night. But we stumbled upon a bus heading back to Seoul and decided to take it. While waiting in line we noticed a butcher shop across the street and mosied over. For only $7 we got a gigantic bag full of bacon-style pork which we were eager to get home and cook (coming next post).
And, finally, the last pic from our trip: a wonderful shot of the bus back to Seoul -and some happy looking ajumma.
Thank you for reading about our trip to Ganghwa-do. Stay tuned for more adventures, including a couple of pics from the last day at my school and information about where and what I will be doing the next month...
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written by shawn matthews
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6/8/2005
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KLB - Ganghwa-do (2)
Ah, the joys of keeping an online journal. You spend hours getting your pictures ready and writing your post, a little excited to share your adventures with everyone, hoping to bring some joy to your readers, only to wind up with comments like "You are gay! --Anonymous" or "Shut up loser! Nobody cares! --No Name Joe." Well, once again I don't have to worry about that anymore, so here we go. Back to the Ganghwa trip.
Oh, some of you were wondering how we decided on Ganghwa-do and where the hell is it, basically. We started by using this famous website among expats for travelling in Korea. Then I stumbled upon the Ganghwa-do page. We discovered it's not that far away and so we then checked the island's homepage. Next we watched the rather over-the-top, almost preposterous "cyber tour video" that you just have to see by going here and clicking on the link to the left. You'd basically think Ganghwa Island is the epicenter of the world after watching that, my favorite lines being, (you have to hear the narrator's dramatic voice and the background music to fully appreciate this): "It is a place full of hope for the future," and, "You can learn about the history of Korea and the origins of mankind!" No way! You got me sold!
Even though their directions to the island are horrible as they have you getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere, it's still a nice place, but man, that video is misleading! There was absolutely no English anywhere on that island. Even the tourist center woman in one of the bus stations couldn't speak a word! And, by sheer luck, we found another bus back to Seoul that made the trip in half the time and departed directly from the ferry terminal!
It wasn't until we left the next day that we had any idea what the hotel looked like. Well, turns out it looked kind of big and creepy. I forgot to mention in the last post that they turned off the power to the air conditioner and water tank during the night, so I woke up at 7 in the morning, sweaty and thirsty and had to drink warm water. I kept thinking maybe we blew a fuse so I went downstairs to complain. After waking up the ajushi, he acted annoyed and told me to open the window. "No air con!" I thought that was petty, but I guess most Koreans don't sleep with any kind of fan running, for fear of the infamous "fan death."
The sun was pouring in on that side of the building and there was no breeze. Fortunately, I did finally get back to sleep, though, and the guy was nice when we were leaving, giving us free maps and telling us where to go.
Walking down the side of the road, we got this picture of one of the many rice paddies. They are nice to look at, but this island must be hell with mosquitoes come August. That water is stagnant. Though, maybe it's all harvested by then, I have no idea.
We found our way to the bus terminal, pointed to one of the islands on our map and ended up on a bus.
Then we ended up on a ferry. The ferries were really cheap and convenient, coming every 15 minutes or so.
Ah, mountains and the ocean, this time up close. It was a really nice ferry ride, albeit short.
It was also hot that day, I was sweating even on the boat. This is kind of a nice shot though, with the mountain and the birds in the background. Hi, Mom!
After arriving in the middle of nowhere again we hopped on another bus and ended up here, in the middle nowhere.
Um, OK, I like fresh seafood and all, this stuff was still alive, but I hope there is more around here than this.
OK, over here: lots of old women selling stuff. Actually, this reminded me a lot of Koje Island.
Let's have a closer look. Hmmm, some dried baby shrimp, anchovies, mushrooms, ginseng and, well, weeds I guess. I decided not to post the picture of hundreds of flies buzzing about. John was telling me that flies poop through their feet...mmm! Fly poop!
What else is around here. Ah, lots of brown jugs. Can't get any more exciting than this...
I had to check. Yeap, all full of dwen jang, rotting in the hot sun. Man that looks good, and I'm not joking. I love dwen jang chigae. I wanted to buy this whole jar!
OK, at last we found the attraction. Lots of steps leading up into who knows where.
It wasn't an easy climb. It seemed to go up forever. That was half the fun, though, not knowing what we were doing or what we would see. So far we didn't do too bad. About halfway up we came across these nice temples.
Lots more pics of this place coming shortly, though I narrowed things down quite a bit. We left the island with a whopping 200 pictures. I think I will post about 15 or so more in the next update and end it there. Lots of other things to come too.
In other news, today was my last day at my elementary school, at least for the time being. It made everything a lot easier since I'm coming back (but you never know). The kids didn't take it too bad. In fact my A class was simply off the wall today. They really need to close the windows and get the air con working. It's just too hot in there for kids to study, not to mention much too noisy with kids playing and screaming outside and a traditional drumming class next door. I swear I couldn't wait for that class to end and I kept thinking I never want to go back there. That was until the next few class, when everything calmed down and the kids were much better. By the time D-class came I was sad. A bunch of the little girls started crying, and then I teered up myself. It would have been a rough day had they thought I wasn't returning - for them and me. Probably more so for me. I'm such a wimp with goodbyes.
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written by shawn matthews
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KLB - Misc Info
Day Date Page Loads Unique Visitors
Tuesday 7th June 2005 1,888 1211
Monday 6th June 2005 1,647 1080
Sunday 5th June 2005 2,090 1402
Saturday 4th June 2005 2,827 1998
Friday 3rd June 2005 2,089 1518
Thursday 2nd June 2005 1,654 1123
Wednesday 1st June 2005 1,624 1118
I'm not exactly sure why, but since Julie and I broke up the stats on my site have practically doubled. And, as to be expected, with the influx of readers comes the inevtible one or two internet stalkers (and John-haters) that love to leave all sorts of thoughtful comments under the guise of made-up IDs, for no other reason than to stir up trouble. I hate to do it, but my family and who knows who else reads this site, hence, for the time being, I'm going to moderate the comments section. So if you leave one and it doesn't immediately show up, you know why. I will approve any comment that isn't purposely abusive.
In other news: I will be leaving the country on Saturday for 3-4 weeks. Since I am just about out of copies of my book, and probably won't be getting more anytime soon - if at all - I've made both books available in PDF format through Lulu.com: (Click here for more info.) You can also order the paperback copies there, just not from me directly anymore, though What the Book? in Itaewon still had a few of the last IOF copies left, last time I checked.
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written by shawn matthews
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KLB - Ganghwa-do (1)
It was a three day weekend, something to do with the Korean constitution - I can never keep track of the many different Korean holidays. John and I woke up at around 3:00 PM on Saturday and decided to head off somewhere - anywhere. Just to get the hell out of Gangnam. In a mad rush we packed our bags and made our way to some island we never heard of. Gangwha-do.
We started on the subway. Here's John looking peculiarly shiny.
At the bus terminal we stopped and had some grub. I got dor sot bibim bap, rice and vegetables in a stone pot, yum!
John got ramyon noodles. This picture cracks me up. Look at the innocent expression on his mug...no, this guy didn't just rob a bank. No way!
*Disclaimer: no we are not gay, in case you were wondering. I'd better point this out to all the homophobic biggots out there, and my worried mother.
Here I am on the bus from Incheon to Ganghwa. I look happy. I'm happy as hell to get out of Gangnam. I hate it there, to be honest. In all my years in Korea it has been the least enjoyable place I've ever lived.
OK, so after a couple of long bus rides we finally got to Ganghwa-do, let off in the middle of nowhere at 10:30 at night. Think about that. We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere in Korea in the middle of a pitch black night. I mean it was desolate. So desolate and dark that we couldn't even take any pictures. We broke into hysterical laughter. It was the most fun we'd had in awhile.
After walking for about 45 minutes we stumbled onto a fried chicken/beer restaurant. Even in the middle of nowhere you can find these places. I was thrilled! I love fried chicken and beer. I love Korea! Yah!
After looking at a few really rundown "motel" rooms, we jumped into a taxi and made them bring us to the nearest decent place. This is where we landed. And we got the last room. We did "rocks, paper, scissors" for the bed and, as usual, I lost. Not the best sleep I ever got but not too bad either.
They even had a great selection of movies to choose from. I grabbed three!
Ah, after a few hours of wondering around Nowhereville, Korea, it was nice to finally relax. I really got into the movies. I can't deny it - I was into this trip and felt great! Who knows what tomorrow may bring!
John, too. Check him out...he's totally siked and into the movie...
A Bruce Willis film, can't go wrong. And wow, what a treat for my readers - a shot of my sexy leg! In all honesty, I felt good and alive and excited about the movie and the day ahead tomorrow. I love picking up and heading off to nowhere.
Have to throw in this shot I took of John's foot. I think he's been watching too much "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" as I have never seen such a groomed foot in all my life. I'd need a sand blaster to make my feet look anything even close to this.
Sunday morning! This is the scenery outside the hotel window. Ah, rice paddies, the ocean and mountains. Good riddens, Gangnam! We had no idea the night before where we were, so the view was a pleasant surprise. That was the beauty of the trip - figuring out exactly where we were and what we could do. Stay tuned - this is just the first of 4 or 5 updates to come...
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written by shawn matthews
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6/3/2005
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KLB - Koje-do
New! Visit the KLB bookstore to download the PDF version of Island of Fantasy - A Memoir of an English Teacher in Korea, the book I wrote about my experience on Geoje-do, Koje-do, Geoje, Koje, Geoje Island, Koje Island, South Korea.
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written by shawn matthews
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6/2/2005
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KLB - John Cooks Dinner
One of the things I was looking forward to about staying with John is that he can cook. He made some pretty good spaghetti for me and Julie before and a couple of other things. Unfortunately he's been on a serious diet for the past month and living on tuna and spinach. Tuna for breakfast. Tuna and spinach for dinner. Maybe a boiled egg for a snack and some beans at night. It's getting hard to watch him eat. Meanwhile, as per usual, I've been stuffing my face with anything I can get my hands on, especially gigantic sub sandwiches from Subway. The Subway in Gangnam rocks, by the way. The young guy in there loads everything up.
Well, finally we went shopping one night and got some fish, which John cooked up after having a few beers. Check it out:
Here he is telling me something or other about the fish. I wasn't listening.
"Yeah, man. If you put your finger in it like this, it feels all weird and squishy."
I never liked fish in America unless it was breaded and fried but nowadays I love it. John is an expert at preparing seafood as he grew up with a family in the seafood business.
Here it is almost ready. There's the inevitable spinach as well. I think John may have put tuna on his fish too, but I can't remember. Anyway, the fish was pretty damn good, even if it was naturally too salty. I should have brought my rice cooker. I like fish and rice, but John can't eat rice on his diet because he can only eat tuna and spinach.
I guess I'll throw in this pic of myself that John took. Something about the new Pantene conditioner I bought or the high humidity has been affecting my hair. The kids keep giggling that I have a "pama" (perm).
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written by shawn matthews
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6/1/2005
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KLB - Open Class
Any teacher's worst nightmare is to have to teach in front of parents. Especially if you're in Korea. Well, once again today was "open-class". That meant that all the parents of the children in all of my classes were free to come in and observe. I'd been dreading it for the past month. Just as I did the last time we had one. But like the last time, it turned out really good and it gave me an opportunity to show how how much progress I've made with their kids.
Can you imagine yourself teaching for 50 minutes in front of this crowd? Look at the serious expressions on their faces. It was really intense at first but after awhile I managed to get them laughing. At one point I almost teered up. The students were on their best behavior and did a fantastic job. I was so proud of them. After my A-class Bonnie remarked that my students are among the best she's seen. Yeah right! - she should be there on a Friday when no parents are around!
I didn't think it was going to be a good day, to be honest. I got to the school about 20 minutes before class and this kid was running all over and screaming. Then he ran up behind me and slapped my back as hard as he possibly could. It actually hurt! Bonnie and his mother just look on and smiled as if to say, "Oh, how cute." I was tempted to throw his ass out the window. He's bad 98% of the time, but fortunately today he was on his best behavior during the class - meaning he only acted like a twerp 50% of the time.
I was so prepared for this open-class I could have taught the kids for 2 hours. After the initial shock wore off, I started getting into it and even enjoyed myself. I felt really good about the progress I've made with them.
Here I am telling some kid to get out and never come back. No, seriously I'm teaching phonics in this pic. Look at these kids. They're totally involved in the lesson. Who's your teacher! Yah!
I taught every class a new song for today. When I first came to Korea singing in front of people terrified me. After awhile, however, I started to enjoy karaoke rooms and nowadays I'm always trying to drag people to them against their will. Kids in Korea love to sing and I teach them a lot of songs. I made each class line up in front of the parents and sing. I sang along too. The parents got a kick out of this.
Here I am meeting the parents after class. I was telling them how important it is their children practice English at home...I don't think anybody understood me, including poor Ally who was wishing she was anywhere but there.
Phew, one class down but three more to go. You can see I look so thrilled!
B class went just as well as A with a few minor interruptions from the usual two trouble makers. I'll get revenge tomorrow, hehe. Minus stickers! In this picture I am teaching phonics again. Like A class, this group can read and spell almost any combination of three and four letters. It took awhile and a lot of frustration, but I'm happy they can read an so are the parents.
Hey, help me out here kid - your father is giving me the evil eye. What am I doing here? Why did I decide to be a teacher? I wish I could go back in time and change majors and, whoa! - class is over. That wasn't so bad! I love my job!
Well, there you have it. Open-class. I'm glad I brought along John's camera. I had almost forgotten to do so. I also managed to take a load of pictures on the way home which I will post over the next few days. Stay tuned!
Oh, by the way, after class Bonnie thanked me over and over for doing a good job. Even though the parents looked so serious all day, they gave the thumbs-up to my performance and said a lot of nice things. Also, it turns out some of the parents were just there to see the program and, impressed, they signed their kids up for next semester.
You can imagine then why Bonnie was thrilled. She begged me to consider staying at the job. I told her I need to get out of the country for a month and she said it was no problem, that she would put in a replacement instead of another teacher if I promise to come back. She would cancel her remaining interviews. After thinking it over I agreed. That way I won't have to worry about my visa or anything like that and I'll have a sure thing lined up for when I return.
So, I'll take a month off then return to Korea and stay on until the end of the contract in September. That works out perfectly. Since I'm not jetting until next Friday, I also agreed to teach until Wednesday and she will pay me for the three extra days along with my month's salary. She was so happy she even drove me all the way back to Gangnam and promised to take me to the dinner of my choice before I leave. I can almost taste the lobster, steak and expensive wine...she also kept offering me all of these high paying jobs working for the Board of Education if I decide to stay in Korea after this contract. And to think, I had contemplated not getting off the train this morning!
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written by shawn matthews
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