Happy Chuseok Korea, and 北京欢迎你 Welcome to Beijing

Sept 18-23, 2010

All the planning and waiting was finally over. Getting up at 8am Saturday morning I grabbed the last of my things and headed for the subway around 9 to get to the airport for my flight. I opted to take the subway since it takes about the same amount of time as the bus, but is half the cost. Since I left early enough to ensure I had lots of time to check in, I stopped and got McDonald's breakfast at the airport before checking my bag. After I ate I mistakenly went and stood in the wrong line for 30 minutes before making it to the front and being told that I was on a shared flight and had to sign in with Korean Air instead of Southeast China Air. A minor setback, I headed over to the other check in line and waited another 30 minutes before I was checked in and good to go. My flight, originally scheduled to take off at 1:10pm, didn't actually leave until 1:40. The hour flight to Dalian, China where I would transfer to my flight to Beijing was good, and we got a small lunch to boot.
Once in Dalian, I grabbed my bags and headed for the next check in counter where I ended up in line with a girl from South Africa, named Candice. I seem to be meeting lots of South Africans lately. Anyways, we got to talking and the lady behind the desk sat us beside each other for the flight to Beijing. turned out, like most foreigners travelling to Beijing, she also teaches in Seoul, so we shared some stories and laughs during the flight. After landing she headed out to met up with some friends who were waiting for her at the airport already, and I went on my way to find the train into town. Before heading to the train however, I made a stop at the washroom where I thought my trip was going to go sour before it started. After using the urinal I went to wash my hands and that's when it got strange. There was a guy mopping the floor, and as soon as I got to the sinks he decided he needed to mop right around my feet. O.K. that I can deal with, but then another Chinese guy who had also finished using a urinal came and stood right behind me to use the sink instead of using one of the other 3 that were there. So, when i was finished I backed up to try and go around the moper and bumped into the other Chinese guy with my huge bag. Right away I spun around, hitting him again with it, to say sorry and was given a death stare and some words. Not knowing what he was saying and not feeling in the wrong, I looked back at him and told him to kindly get bent and that if he didn't want to get bumped then he shouldn't stand directly behind me. He proceeded to follow me out of the washroom and down the airport corridor. Maybe he was going that way, or maybe he wanted to give me shit. Either way I headed for the train and never saw him again.
Once on the train for the city, I got out my Beijing book and map to where I was supposed to go for a Kung-fu show at 7. It was already 530 by the time I left the airport and figured I had lots of time to make it into town. Getting into town and switching to the subway was a bit of a task, because the English aspect that I have grown accustomed to in Korea just doesn't exist in China. Which I might add is very weird given they hosted the Olympics only 2 years ago. Eventually finding my way to the right subway stop, I got out and walked for a few blocks to the theatre, picked up my ticket and went in to see the show with plenty of time to spare. The show was more acrobatic and story based than I had anticipated, but was still a pretty cool thing to see and learn about. After the show, I grabbed my bag from the back of the theatre and headed outside to track down my hostel. By now I was getting pretty tired and it was only 930, so I wanted to get to my hostel with as little trouble as possible. I found myself being bothered by motorized bike taxis who wanted to charge a ridiculous amount to take me not that far. In the end I thought I had figured out a fair price with one and had him take me to my hostel. When I got there he insisted that we agreed on a different price and got super angry when I would only meet him half way, though in retrospect I should have gave him nothing and just walked inside. Once inside, I found out that my hostel, The Tian An Men Sunrise Hostel, had over booked the dorm room I was supposed to be in and moved my up to a two bed private room for the same price. Not one to make a fuss or care where I rest my head, I went along with it and threw my bags down. Then to my surprise, a girl also teaching in Seoul form Ottawa came in with the same situation and was going to be my roommate for the night. We talked for a bit before she went to bed because it was her birthday the day before and she was still tired from partying. I headed to the lounge to grab a beer and sandwich while talking to a traveller from Norway until 1am before calling it a night.
With my alarm set, I tried to get up around 8am Sunday, but still feeling tired from the night before I ended up laying around in bed until almost 9. Finally deciding to get up and going, i was dressed and out of the hostel on my way to the Summer Palace by 1030. I made it there on the subway by 11 and headed in at the North Gate for 60RMB (Chinese Yuan). I started out with a walk around Suzhou St., where I had an artist paint Braunwyn and Parker's names on some paper. Unfortunately the lady at the stand was very pushy about getting them laminated for an extra fee, but gave me a deal after 5 minutes of saying no. After Suzhou St. I headed into the palace grounds and headed up the way to the temples and other sights on Longevity Hill. I saw the Buddhist Tenants Hall, Buddhist Temple of the Sea of Wisdom, Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion, and then the Cloud Dispelling Hall. It was all super nice, and since it was a sunny day the colours were great. After coming down from the hill I walked west to the West Causeway, which is a walkway around the west side of the lake that the Summer Palace is at. Along the way there were several very nice bridges and pavilions that I stopped to take pictures at before eventually reaching the south tip of the lake and heading up the east side to see the 17-Arch Bridge that took me out to the Dragon King Temple on a small island. After the island I continued back up the east side of the lake to the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, then to the Theatre Stage, Harmonious Interest Garden, and then back to the place I came in. By now my feet were tired from all the walking and it was 530 in the afternoon, so I jumped on the subway and headed back to my hostel. On the subway I had a moment with a young girl who was in complete awe when she saw me get on. She was less than 6 years old and immediately began staring at me and whispering to her mother about how different I looked I'm sure, but I am used to it and I gave her and her mother a smile and went on with my business. After getting back to my subway stop I had my first run in with the money trap schemes that women here like to run on English speaking men. They come up claiming to be English students and ask you if you would like to go have a coffee or beer with them so they can practice, but what it actually is, is a way to get you to a place to buy $15 beers and rip you off (and possibly whore themselves out to you). Knowing what it was, I talked with them for a few minutes and then told them I was on to them and that I didn't have time for it. the conversation ended quickly after that and I was back to the hostel by 630, where I grabbed a beer and read on the front steps until dark. Once again I had a small child, who was walking with his dad, come over and stare at me in awe until his dad told him to say hello in response to my hello. Very cute.
After my beer was gone, I was feeling a bit hungry since I hadn't eaten all day, and decided to pop over to the near by Wangfujin St. Snack Street, famous for its weird food selection, and see what I could get in me. I started by taking a pass down the street to see what was there and found out quickly that one end was very typical Chinese food, and the other end was more critter based. I started with some scorpions on a stick (10Y) to warm up and then had a noodle dish (30Y) and beer (5Y) to wash it down. After that I walked around to see what the souvenir stalls were selling before heading back out to the main Wangfujin St. towards the Donghuamen Night Market, where they also have a cornucopia of weird food for people to eat. On the way, once again I was approached by several "English Students", to one I asked why there were no male students which made her quickly retreat. I also had one, after refusing her advances tell me I was poor, to which I replied "Not to poor to travel around the world and have hookers like you bother me." By then I was at the end of the street and at the end of my rope with the girls so it worked out well. I did a couple passes of the night market and promised myself I would get back to try some food there before I left. From there I went and walked around the outside of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City to try and get some shots at night. I was back at the hostel by 11pm where I sat down and had a couple beers with a girl from Australia and a guy from Montreal until 1230.
Monday morning since being switched from the two bed room to the dorm I had signed up for, I was awoken at 6am when one of the other travellers got up and went out for a bit. She wasn't gone long and I was still awake when she got back, trying to get the last 20 minutes of sleep in before my own alarm went off at 7. I understand that when you are sleeping in a dorm situation you can't control everything and that some people have things to do that might wake you up, but this girl decided it would be OK to take a phone call and talk for like 15 minutes in the room, the whole time telling her mom on the other end that she felt bad because people were trying to sleep. Normally I wold have told her to take that shit in the hall and stop being so retarded, but I was in a pretty good mood knowing I was heading to the Great Wall and I let it slide. Finally my alarm went of at 7 and I got out of bed and took my bags to check out since I was going to be gone to the wall over night. It was overcast and drizzling, which was how the weather would be for the entire two day trip. I had a quick shower, some porridge with bananas form the hostel then left my large bag in the store room for when I came back. I was supposed to be picked up between 8-9am but to my surprise I wasn't picked up until almost 930 because a few last minute people joined the group and the guide had to pick them up on her way to get me. More surprising was that one of them was Candice, the South African girl from the plane ride over and one of her friends. They had considered doing a solo sleep on the wall like I was thinking about last week, but also had no gear for it and looked into the tour company that I had told her about on the plane The China Guide). With the new people in the group it brought the total to 8, which dropped the cost from $245 to $200 per person.
On the road by 1030am we headed out of the main city towards The Secret Way, which is the entrance road to the Ming Tombs, the resting place of most of the emperors during the Ming Dynasty. We were luck enough that the rain would hold of every time we were out of the van, but it was still pretty chilly and without sun. The Ming Tombs were pretty neat, with lots of nice architecture and history. We finished up and headed to a Chinese restaurant for lunch around 130 and had our fill of delicious food and beer. After lunch we continued the 2 hour drive to the Jinshanling section of the wall and since it was still raining we were given the option of not sleeping on the wall as planned, but sleeping in a hotel near the wall for the night. Unanimously we all decided to go ahead with the wall idea, though a father and son later chose to sleep indoors at the hotel during dinner. We arrived at the bottom of the wall at 5pm, went through the security check and then on to the house where we would be having dinner. Since we were early, we walked up to the lower section of the wall and got to walk around until 6 before heading back to have dinner with the family. The food, all traditional Chinese dishes, was delicious and bountiful, and between that and the beer provided we had a great dinner and great time chatting with each other and sharing stories. Eventually it got super dark and we packed up our things and headed for the watch tower that we were to sleep in. The family gave us all lights, and we bought some rain coats from them to keep dry during the walk, then we packed some extra beers and headed up. Once at the tower the rain stopped and we were able to sit outside after making out beds (laying down mats and sleeping bags) and have some more laughs and beers. Around 1230 everyone started to head to bed, so Jay and I hung out and finished the last of our beers while the weather picked up again, making us call it a night by 130.
Waking up at 6am to the sound of the hotel goers, we crawled out of our sleeping bags and went outside hoping to see sunlight. What we got was more wind and drizzle (sad face), but it seemed to be letting up which was nice. The guides brought us up some breakfast, including muesli, bananas, and coffee and tea. I was able to locate a left over beer that hadn't been opened and started my day with a bowl of muesli, a banana, and a beer. After we were rushed through our breakfast we made for the side of the wall we would be hiking, the Jinshanling section heading towards Simatai. Along the way the weather let up and it turned out to be a good hike with plenty of great photo opportunities. We reached the end of our hike by 8am, as Simatai has been closed for repairs, and headed down towards the road though not until after jumping the do not cross sign to take pictures on the Simatai side. I'm just a rebel without a cause, what can I say. We reached the van by 845 where an elderly couple was selling t-shirts for 60Y ($8.50), but I haggled them down to 20Y and then hopped in the van so we could head back towards Beijing. A side not, during our hike of the wall our tour guide really wanted us to keep up and get it over with, but since I was taking my time because the views were so beautiful and I wanted to get lots of photos I was always last, and she joked about how she always knew it was OK to move on when she saw me approach. Nice to know I'm good for something.
Back in the van the rain picked up again during the two hour ride back to Beijing, where we stopped at the Olympic Stadium, before heading for lunch at noon. The Olympic Stadium was pretty neat looking but since it was raining we decided against going in and having to stand in the rain longer. Our lunch, at a Chinese restaurant was really good, and we ordered as many different dishes as we could without getting wasteful. Lunch was finished by 1pm and we got back in the van and jumped into the mid-day traffic of Beijing as we tried to get back into town. the one good thing was that the sun had come out and we could open the van windows to get some air and take pictures. jay, Candice, Yaara, and myself decided not to go back to our hostels, but instead to get dropped of at the Llama Temple. Why not make the most of the day right! We made it to the temple by 4pm, bought our tickets and got in for the last hour that it was open.

Leaving the temple with the doors shutting behind us at 5, I headed back to check back into my hostel, Tian An Man Sunrise. Making it there by 6 I was in a hurry to get my things sorted out and get back out because I had made plans with Jay to go to an Acrobatics show at the Chaoyang Theatre at 7. After a quick shower, I ran out of my hostel to grab a cab, but my ever present whiteness made it impossible to get one and the time was ticking. Eventually I hopped on the subway and subwayed across town, showing up almost 30 minutes late and missing the first 15 minutes of the show. Luckily Jay had had taxi trouble as well and had only gone in moments before I arrived, so I quickly got a ticket from our guide who had met us there to get the special priced tickets and popped into the theatre to find him. We enjoyed what was left of an amazing show. We saw bike tricks, plate spinning, stacked chair handstands, and plenty of other things that I wouldn't dare trying. After the show Jay and I went our separate ways because we were both still tired from the Great Wall adventure. On the way back to my hostel i took a detour to Ghost Street, a famous restaurant street, where I thought I wold get some food, but after waling the strip I realized how tired I was and jumped on the subway to go home. Back at the hostel by 11, I grabbed a sandwich and beer from the lounge and chatted with some other travelers for a bit before considering heading to bed. Unfortunately, when I went to my room my other roommates (3 Americans and 1 Canadian) were just about at each others throats due to one of the American girl's need to be loud and heard about how crappy Canada is. Wanting to break her neck, not because of what she was saying because it was all in all harmless, but because she was just being so loud so I went back to the lounge for another beer where I got roped into playing no money poker until 4am.

Waking up exhausted at 8am on the 22nd, I had to get a move on to meet Jay, and Candice and friends at the far end of Tiananman Square for 830. We had made the plans after parting at the Llama Temple the day before because we all wanted to make a full morning/afternoon of the square and Forbidden City. I arrived fashionably late as usual at 840, but then was left waiting until 920 before I realized the rest of the group must have been out late and slept in. I headed in by myself which was no big deal, and the crowds were huge because it was the first day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival to celebrate the harvest and there were dozens upon dozens of Chinese tour groups flocking to Beijing. I spent less than an hour walking around the square taking pictures and being complimented again on my use of the tripod for self photos. I was even stopped by a couple of Chinese girls for a photo, which seems fairly standard around Asian countries. By 11 I was crossing the street to head for the Forbidden City. I started at the front gate but was stopped by another scammer trying to get me to go and check out his calligraphy collection beside the palace promising it to be a better entrance to the Forbidden City from his gallery. He was quickly told how much I don't care about calligraphy, or the fact that he was trying to mess with me, and then decided to move on to someone else. I went into the city via the front Meridian Gate, then passed through the Gate of Supreme Harmony to actually enter the city grounds where you start to see the buildings. From there I walked through/past the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Middle Harmony, and Hall of Preserving Harmony, all of which were nice to look at and get pictures around, but in all honesty after seeing so many temples and halls in Asia they all begin to look similar. After the ceremonial halls came the actual part of the Forbidden City that I think was for the Emperor only, well him and his numerous concubines. First I walked through the Heavenly Purity Gate, and since I didn't burst into flames, I moved on to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and finally the Imperial Garden that included the Thousand Autumns Pavilion and Bronze Elephants. All of a sudden after a mere 1.5 hours I was at the back of the Forbidden City Shenwu Gate exit. Not wanting to leave I turned around and headed to the east side of the city where a miniature city within the city had been built during the times of occupancy and has since been turned into a museum wing of sorts. There were halls fills with artifacts such as jade-ware, jewelry, art, sculptures, and ceremonial wardrobes, as well as a stone carving nine dragons long, called the Nine Dragon Screen which was my favourite thing in the whole place I think. Having exhausted my time in the city I exited out the back and climbed the hill in Jingshan Park to get an aerial view of the Forbidden City.
Leaving the park I weaved my way back to my hostel by 2pm where I just sat around until 4 before having a 2 hour nap to make up for the sleep I missed the night before.After my nap I thought it would be wise to head back to the night market and try some food that I might not normally eat. Between 630 and 9 I ate several species of beetle, a centipede, and some lamb skewers; and stayed clear of things like sheep testicles and dog meat. There were several other things I could have tried but I was tiring of the walking and decided to head back to the hostel to check out the Mid-Autumn Festivities they were having. When I got there, the hostel was serving a hot pot dinner with moon cakes and fruit for dessert. I got in on the dessert part while talking with some other travellers from Seoul and a couple from Shanghai who were on vacation before their wedding. By 130 I was completely wiped and went to bed in a quiet non confrontational room tis time.
My last day in Beijing started at 830am and me packing up my large bag so that I could take it and go after my days activities. I checked out of the hostel but left my bag so I didn't have to carry it all day, and headed for the Temple of Heaven Park. It was a nice place to start the day with some more temples and green space, but what the day was really about was finding some Peking Duck. having been turned away the night before from a restaurant, I was determined to have Peking Duck (Beijing's former name) while in the city it was founded in. I left the park and tracked down one of the more famous duck places that is well hidden among a small neighbour, also called a Hutong, called Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant. It was rather expensive for me to eat there alone since I had to buy an entire duck to myself at 190Y ($27) a piece, but it was well worth it. the ducks are basted and basted then cooked over a fruit wood fire until crispy golden brown on the outside, and mouth wateringly tender on the inside. Then the chef shaves the duck meat off for you and you wrap it up in mini crepes, add some veggies and sauce and you are good to go. It was a great meal and took me until 130 to finish it. After satisfying my need for duck I went ack to the hostel to get my bag and head out to the airport. Since I still had some time to kill I bought some postcards and wrote them up to be sent to some family back home. At 3 I left forthe airport and was checked in for my flight by 430, which left at 610. Once on the plane I realized I had randomly been moved up to business class and that I had so much more leg room than the people riding coach. totally awesome. For the flight I watched Happy Gilmore on my mp3 player, and before I knew it we were landing in Seoul at 845. I quickly grabbed up my bag and headed for the subway to get home and cal it a day. Home by 11 I shot off a couple phone calls to let everyone know I was still alive, then spent some quality time with Goah who was all over me for attention.

Well there you have it. A trip to Beijing that I would recommend to anyone.

A Quiet Week

Sept 13-17, 2010

This post only covers the weekdays because I want to get all of the trip to come in one post.
This week in general was a pretty quiet one, as well as lonely given the recent departure of Lauren. Work was work, I went through the motions with my classes, and had a few words with some co-teachers who felt I needed to do more to make sure the kids understand the homework. Well to that I say, "If they don't know whats going on then they should ask, and if they don't ask I can't help, and ultimately don't care." But we'll see how it goes over the coming weeks as the kids get used to my teaching style versus Mike's.
I did have the chance this week to get out and ride my bike to work a couple of times, and everything seemed fine, so I'll have to start making more use of it. After work both Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I came right home and watched replays of the football games, and just took it easy. On Wednesday night I also called my grandma since I hadn't talked to her since I came back to Korea, and Ash had told me she was waiting to hear from me. It was nice to talk to her and reminded me that I need to get on the ball and make some calls to the rest of my family before too long.
I got up Thursday and called my dad just to touch base before I took of to China, and then got ready and headed to work. On my way to work I stopped at the bank and realized I was missing my Alien registration Card, which is vital to traveling in and out of the country. I had a bit of a freak out, and when I got to work my boss called the travel agent who I last remembered having it out around and confirmed that she did indeed still have it for paperwork purposes. After work on Thursday I met Blake at my subway stop and showed him the way to my house so that he could switch up Goah's food while I was gone, and before he went on his trip to Japan. After that we walked down to Seouldae Station and grabbed a couple beers with Junk, who I hadn't seen in forever. We stayed out until around 130 then called it a night.
Waking up early on Friday, I went to the travel agency to pick up my visa before coming home to get ready for work. Again I rode my bike to work and spent most of my time between classes printing out flight details and other planned events that I had been working on throughout the week, including my stay on the Great Wall and a couple of shows. Then with about an hour left in the day the bombshell that I didn't have to work on the Saturday after Chuseok was dropped, and I had a bit of a problem with that. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to be getting the Monday off, but to fly back from China for one work day when I could have had a 9 day vacation was a little irritating. You win some you loose some I guess. After work I rode straight home to pack my bags for my trip and get some sleep before I had to leave at 9am.

Well it's a short week, but the one to come promises to be entertaining.

Some Good-byes Are Just Not Fair

Sept 6-12, 2010

Well once again it was a pretty rainy week all around. Waking up Monday, I just hung out inside to stay out of the rain before work, putting together my lunch that I made Sunday night and listening to music. At work, I had lots to do since I now have a full schedule of my own. I taught a few classes and spent the rest of my time looking over other material and making vacation plans for Chuseok. After work I met up with Lauren at my place and we just chilled out and talked about how much trouble she was having packing, and booking tickets online for her Euro vacation. We tried everything we could to get the bus company to take several Visas, but to no avail. Eventually we called it a night and she will deal wit hit when she gets there.

Waking up to a overcast sky on Tuesday, Lauren and I went to the store by my place so she could pick up some vacuum seal bags to pack her stuff in, and I got some groceries so I could make my lunch. We also checked out a couple of stores to see if she could find a travel scale to weigh her bags but had no luck. Back to my place we went so i could make a lunch and get ready for school. Heading to school just before 2, Lauren walked with me so she could go to the bank and tie up all her loose ends before she left. After work I hadn't planned on going out, but was invited to dinner with Lauren and her friend Michael in Gangnam and decided it was better than grilled cheese. We went out for Dak-galbi, and then a drink at Woodstock before hitting the last subway to get home by 130. On our walk to the subway we did happen upon a drunk Korean college student who was also trying to make it to the last subway. He was weaving his way down the street in a large staggering weave, and every so often he would stop and do a little boogie to his mp3 player, which made our night. Luckily he did make the subway. I know this because he got on a car ahead of us and promptly passed out on the bench seats.

I digress. Once in for the night, Lauren double checked to make sure she had all her things for her departure in the morning, and then it was bed time. The problem was, that I had taken a ton of Allegra-D and was unable to sleep. I was feeling stuffed up during the day and had gone to the pharmacy to get some medication. The pharmacist thought I was stuffed up from allergies and gave me the wrong stuff. Since the first two pills weren't working, I decided to take two more, putting me in the unable to sleep predicament. Fuse that with being nervous about missing the airport bus in the morning and I barely slept for more than an hour all night. Before i knew it the alarm was going off at 8am and it was time to get a move on. We walked down to the bus stop at 9 and waited for the bus to come. Saying our good-byes, Lauren got on the bus around 940 and headed off to the airport. I went home and watched some more Aqua Teen Hunger Force while trying to figure out how to purchase and watch the online NFL package for the 2010-2011 season, which Matei and I are splitting. It turned out that it is only compatible with 32-bit internet systems, and I was trying to run it on my 64-bit Firefox and Internet Explorer programs. Eventually I figured it out and learned that I have to run it on my 32-bit Explorer, and everything was on the up and up from their. I traded texts with Lauren while she was riding the bus, and then she had to end her service at the airport. After that I was able to catch a little nap before heading to work on my bike for the first time since I crashed it a few weeks ago. After work I went out with Mike, Jean, and Chrissy for some dinner, then came home and went right to sleep.

Thursday I woke up feeling better and decided that it was due time for me to book my Chuseok vacation before tickets were gone and all my planning was for nothing. For a few months I have been thinking about taking off to Beijing since it is close and relatively cheap. On top of that, Blake was going to go with me until his school changed his vacation dates. Either way I had been looking and following tickets online, waiting to make up my mind. I finally settled on a ticket, and wrote it all down so when I got to work I could book it. I got ready for work and left home a bit early so that I would have some time at work before I got too busy to book my flight. Flight taken care of I settled in for my day at work and watched the rain outside hoping it would stop so that Blake and I could follow through with our dinner plans in Sillim. Unfortunately it didn't and we canceled on account of not wanting to get soaked, and after work I went straight home, watched a movie and went to bed.

Friday I got up early and headed to the Chinese consulate to get a travel visa before my trip. Little did I know that the consulate/embassy no longer give out visas for travelers. You actually have to apply for a visa through a travel agency. So there I was outside the consulate and being told I would have to find a travel agent, and thinking to myself "How am I going to do this?" But, as it turned out, there were several travel agents who just hang around waiting for people like me, so I went with one of them, filled in the paperwork, and everything seemed good to go. Other than that it was just another day at the office, still rainy so it was a straight to work kind of day. After work I wanted to keep it local, so Jean, Chrissy, and I went out for some fried chicken and a couple beers, after which I grabbed a couple more cans and came home to watch the NFL season opener replay. It was a good quiet way to spend a Friday, and it was nice to watch some football for once. I went to bed feeling alright, but woke up Saturday feeling under the weather, and spent most of the day lazing around my apartment. Eventually I talked with Blake and we met up for diner near his place so he could tell me about his epic running somersault in the rain from the night before that left his arm sore and slightly immobilized. After dinner we went back to hang out at his place for a couple of hours before heading to meet the group in Cheonho at 10pm for a late diner and some drinks. We met with Matei, James, Alex and Louise, Brady and SoHyun, and Frank and had some delicious BBQ, then continued onto Rodeo St. for some drinks. Blake and I called it a night and taxied home around 3am, while the others stayed out later.

Sunday was another day of cleaning, laundry and cooking so that I wouldn't have to do it during the coming week while I would be trying to plan out my Beijing trip. I started with washing the floor, then did up my dishes, got groceries, and then dirties the dishes I just did. In between all those things I took some time to read through a book on Beijing Emily left for me, and get a game plan for my vacation there.

That's it another week down. Speak to you all next week.

The Only Rainbow During a Typhoon Is In Gangnam

Aug 30 - Sept 5, 2010

Well as the weekend came to a close and another week started, my leg was beginning to show great signs of improvement. And that was a god thing because our new semester started midweek and I actually got some classes to teach. Still it was too rainy to get back out on the bike, which is probably a good thing.
Having chewed up most of Lauren's free time lately, I went down to Yatap after work on Monday to help her pack since she had to move out of her place to make way for the new teacher on Wednesday. Like a tornado with trash bags I was throwing out all the piles of stuff she had sorted through, but were still blocking progress. She had already taken a trip to her friend Shauna's house where she was gong to keep her things for the last week that she was in the country and was hoping to only have to make one more. She was throwing away a lot of things that I could tell she did not want to, but due to weight restrictions when flying to certain places she had no choice. By about 2am we had it pretty much all taken care of, and I scored a sweet set of speakers that she didn't want to leave for her replacement.
Work on Tuesday was my last official day of sitting around, so I took advantage and did a few extra crosswords and listened to music while I looked over some of the new books I will be teaching from. After work on Tuesday, the whole school went out courtesy of the owner to say good-bye to Rebbecca, a Korean teacher who was leaving, and welcome to Chrissy and June, two new Korean teachers. We went to a Korean BBQ place close to work and ate an incredible amount of food, including dwaegi galbi then bulgogi (pork then beef), the later being mostly eaten by me as the rest of the people at my table had bigger eyes than they did stomachs. Be it my luck, the owner decided to sit at my table right across from me, and since he doesn't speak much English it made communication a little hard. Luckily Jean sat with us and translated. Either way, the language of drink was on the table and he made sure that we were all getting enough beer and having a great time. The party wrapped up around midnight since everyone had to be at work the next day. Still in a productive mood, I came home to have a couple more beers and type up a topic list for my discussion class that I will be starting this semester, then called it a night around 2am when Lauren came by after being out with some friends.
On Wednesday I got up and went to meet Blake and his brother Grant and girlfriend Michelle for lunch by Blake's house. They were going to be leaving that afternoon, so I thought it would be nice to have one more lunch with them before they left. After lunch I came home to get ready for lunch and bring Lauren some halls because she was coming down with a cold from all the rain and stress of moving out lately. I went off to work and got ready for my first day of the new semester, which wasn't anything too different from the few classes I have been teaching. After work I headed towards Gangnam to have one last round of drinks with Dave and Kate at Rainbow before they left. Blake, Brady and Sohyun were all there and Lauren even joined on her way back from a get together with some of her friends. We kept it pretty laid back, had a few beers and smoked some shisha before calling it a night around 130. The problem after we decided to leave was that it was Gangnam, and on a good night it is impossible it get a cab there, but it just happened to be pouring out making it a herculean task. We managed to find cabs for all but Blake, Lauren, and I quicker that we had thought, but then had to stand out in the rain sharing umbrellas for several minutes. Eventually we got one and got out of there, dropping Blake off then heading home.
By the time we arrived in Bongcheon the storm had really taken form and was pounding us with rain. Later I found out it was the end a typhoon that had come up from the south and had really done a number on the city of night and into the morning. The storm actually knocked out the power to my apartment for a few hours throughout the night, but I hardly noticed since I use my cell phone as an alarm. The black skies were deceiving however, and every time I woke up I thought I had more time than I actually did to get to work and ended up sleeping later than I should have. Waking up at 130 I had to hustle to get ready and get out the door so I wouldn't be too late for work. Work was work, and then after work it was time to have an easy night. I just came home and worked on some blogs, then talked to Adam on skype before calling it a night around 2am.
Feeling well rested Friday I got up, got ready and went off to work. After work there wasn't too much going on with my friends and I had got an invite from Lauren to hang out with her and some of her friends at Rainbow again, so I went back to Gangnam. It was a little weird going into the bar not knowing where anyone was sitting and having to stand around awkwardly until someone saw me, but hey weird is my way it seems. After finding them ad meting her friends, I proceeded to unleash and give Lauren a glimpse of the rage-aholic that is Mark. We were sitting in a loft area of Rainbow, but with my leg being sore I had hung it over the edge because there was nobody sitting below us for it to interfere with. A little time passed and I didn't notice a group of Koreans move in below us, or else I would have moved my foot. Then out of nowhere.... SLAP... right in my sore ankle. Immediately I was in pain, but overriding that was my anger. looking over to see what the hell was going on, I saw a Korean face look up at me laugh then slap my foot again. At this I lost it, screaming a few obscenities and making for the railing in order to jump down and kick this person in the face, Lauren stopped me. I was fuming and being a very passive person she didn't really understand, and to her credit wouldn't just let me go down there. It took a little while to calm down and I'm sure Lauren was beside herself with my anger. Eventually I calmed down and went to get another beer, which was when I realized life could have gotten out of control if I had of jumped down in blind rage. It turned out that the person who slapped me was a girl, and if I had of kicked her it might have landed me in hotter water than if it was some guy. Either way it was over and we went back to having a good time, until all of Lauren's friends took of to make the last bus/subway since they all lived so far away. In the meantime Jean had showed up so we had a drink with him before calling it a night ourselves at 230. Once again trying to leave Gangnam was impossible, and we ended up walking down to Kyodae to get a cab and got home around 3am, where I proceeded to make up some food to fill the gap before morning.
Not waking up until just after noon hour on Saturday, Lauren and I killed some time before she had to go meet up with some friends and go the the stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They had the idea of dressing up as characters from the show, and in the end were the only few people that did. This is Korea you have to remember and people don't get into those things as much as westerners. I on the other hand had gone to COEX Mall to met up with some friends for the weekend wine buffet, but to our surprise it was booked solid, so we went to On The Boarder instead (also in the mall). It was my first time there, and other than being slightly more expensive than other places, it was a great meal with large drinks. After dinner we all decided to head to Kondae and do some bar hoping. As we were finishing our meal, Lauren was finishing with the show, which was also at COEX and since her friends were calling it a night she decided to come with us. She met up with us in her drag looking clothes and then changed once we got to Kondae. We started at Ireland Yuki Bar, then went to the Underground Lounge, before ending the night at Ho Bar where I had a drink called a Mexican Durango that was like drinking rubbing alcohol. it was so strong and bitter that James and Alex N both had to get one. By 2am Lauren and I had had enough and called it a night, taking a cab home and crashing out.
Sunday was another write off, as we spent most of the day in bed watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force and other stupid shows from my library. Eventually, I went out for groceries and Lauren headed over to Shawna's to get her things in order before meeting up with one of her friends for dinner. I spent the rest of the night cooking up food for the week and watching more silly videos until bed time.

OK Maybe Seeing The Doc Is A Good Idea

Aug 23-29

With my leg still swollen from my crash last week, work was a bit of a chore this week. Not so much from the classes, which I didn't have, but from the having to sit in the office for 8 hours with no real good place to put my leg up to keep the swelling down. That coupled with the fact that we don't have a fridge/freezer so I also didn't have ice to put on it made sitting around pretty crappy. The bruising however was starting to come out nicely and my leg was beginning to look jaundiced from the knee down, except for around the initial injury site which was a little red.
Not being one to let an injury slow him down. After work Monday I headed down to Yatap for my Eddy Izzard education hour. For those of you know don't know, Eddy Izzard is a British comedian who many find hilarious. Lauren and some of her friends were getting together to have a Izzard marathon, so I thought I should give him a try. Turns out that he is kind of funny, but a lot of the British style humour is lost on North Americans so some of it I found humourous but not comical. Not a bad night either way, but a little more activity than I needed for my leg. I woke up Tuesday and my leg was the sorest it had been yet and the redness was spreading as well as the bruising. I came home and limped back to work for another day of sitting around, though the pain was evident and my coworkers were really persistent about me going to the doctors. I told them I would go Wednesday morning if it was still bad.
Waking up Wednesday morning after having come home from work and put my leg up with some ice, the swelling and soreness was much better. It was still sore however, and I thought a visit to the docs couldn't hurt. I called Jean who had said he would help me translate if needed and we went down to a local clinic just a few minutes from where we live. It turned out that the doc spoke perfect English and had studied in the U.S. Right away he took a look at my leg and was pretty sure I was going to die. That's the thing about Koreans, they always give over the top diagnoses. For the littlest thing they won't hesitate to put you in a splint or a cast and give you wicked strong meds. So after his initial freak out to which I had to tell him to relax or I was going to leave, he checked me out using a sonogram, saw that nothing was broken, and that it was just a bunch of mashed up tissue in my leg. He was quite worried about infection so he aspirated my leg to see what was in the lump, seeing it was just blood he gave me some antibiotics and pain killers, then asked me to come back in a couple days for a check up.
After work Wednesday I came home again and took it easy trying to get the swelling down and pain to subside. It was strange though, because most of the pain and tightness wasn't around the main injury but around my calf where the swelling was probably pulling the most, and from the limping I'm sure; and was spreading to the ankle. By the time I got up Thursday and had made a call home to dad I was feeling much better and things were looking much better, so I got ready and headed off to work. After work Thursday I headed back down to Yatap to hang out with Lauren and some of her friends for a few drinks in Seohyun. It was the day of the week when the bar offers good deals so it was quite full, mostly of foreigners, and was a pretty good time.
Friday was just another day at the office, though I did have a few classes to teach and that helped relieve my boredom. After work I had planned on meeting up with Blake, because his brother Grant and his girlfriend Michelle had flown in to finish up a 5 week Asian vacation. However, very last minute a group of teachers decided they wanted to go out to have drinks as a teachers only good-bye party for Rebecca, who is leaving the school at the end of the semester to go to Ireland. I couldn't very well say no, so I had to cancel on Blake and go out with the school. It was still a great time. We started at SeoulDae (Seoul National University) with some drinks and food for a couple hours before moving to Ho Bar in Sillim for a few more drinks. We called it a night around 2am, and I shared a cab back to my area with a couple teachers then came in and went to bed.
Getting up Saturday around 10am, my leg was feeling much better but the meds I was on were making me sleepy, I'm sure mixing them with alcohol wasn't helping but whatever. I got up and cleaned up a bit then had a nap then got up again around 1 to head to Itaewon for a hair appointment. I was given the name of a hair shop that did dreads and had finally gotten around to making a much needed appointment for 2pm. I got on the subway and made my way there, trying to be a little early so that I could find the place, which backfired when I walked the wrong way and ended up having to back track and was 15 minutes late anyways. I went in and they sat me down and a lady started working on my dreads, twisting and hooking and putting wax in them. I didn't particularly want wax, because it gets all over your clothes, so I asked her to not wax it and just hook them. This was very opposite of what they were used to doing and it took a little explaining on how I liked it done, but in the end it worked out. It's not as good a job as when I go to Creative Trends back home, but for the situation I'm in it's not bad. After getting my hair done for a reasonable $60, I went and put money on my phone, grabbed some kebabs and headed home on the subway for another nap.
Waking up from another 2 hour nap I had another shower and got ready for Saturday nights going away party for Dave and Kate. The plan was to meet at 9pm in Gangnam for diner, then have a few drinks there before heading to the inevitable Gold Bar. We gathered around exit 6 in Gangnam while we waited for the group to come together (Dave & Kate, Alex & Louise, Thomas & Jeanne, Frank, myself, James, Blake, and Grant & Michelle), then walked down to a Korean BBQ place under Woodstock Bar for dinner. After dinner we stopped at Castle Praha for a few beers, and Brady and SoHyun showed up. We stayed until about 1230 then got going to Gold Bar. Before we left though, there was a guy in a shirt that said 'Free Hugs', so we Rock/Scissors/Paper'ed for who had to hug him and I lost, so I walked up behind him and hugged which totally freaked him out until he realized what his shirt said. Getting in cabs, we all got to Gold Bar quickly and tried to stay out of the rain that had been plaguing us all week. Once in, it became a typical night at Gold Bar, but this time I was not the one getting out of control. In fact, I was trying to watch my consumption because of the medication I was on, so was not drinking too much at first. It was inevitable that someone would cross the line between sober and too drunk sooner or later, and Thomas became the first casualty of the night. He was hanging out with Brady, but I quickly stepped in and took him outside where he got some of it our of his system. I hung out with him outside while he drank some water, then helped Jeanne get him into a cab and on their way home. Before I knew it I was back at Gold Bar helping Blake's brother Grant up the stairs for the same reason. He was in a bit better shape than Thomas, but still needed to be outside for a while. Michelle and I forced him to drink some water after puking on the street while Blake went to find him a motel to stay in instead of trying to get him home. Blake returned after several minutes and we helped Grant to the motel, but en route we lost Michelle to a convenience store and Blake had to go find her before we all got too separated. Getting them into the room and having Grant puking in the garbage can was our cue to head out and get some McDonald's. Blake and I got some breakfast which we ate in the cab back to his place, and then I continued on to my place, where I met Lauren who had been out with Candace and had come to crash at my place. By now it was 730 in the morning and I was in much need of sleep.
I didn't get up until 3 in the afternoon on Sunday, and then spent the entire day laying around in bed watching movies. I had thought about going out with Blake and company for some dinner but decided that I didn't really want to leave my place.

Another week down and another lesson unlearned :)

W-W-W-Wipe Out

Aug 16-22, 2010

Well this week took an unexpected turn, not so much for the worse, but for the painful. So lets get through the boring parts first then on to the good stuff. Weather wise, it was pretty nice this week. The heat had subsided a bit and the rain seemed to hold off. Work wise, I was still not very busy. In fact, it was the last week of having my conversation classes, which means in the coming weeks before the new semester starts, I will be back to doing nothing for 8hrs a day.
Outside of work life was a bit of a chaotic blur this week. Monday night to be honest I can't even remember what I got up to. I may have gone down to hang out with Lauren in Yatap, or I might have just hung out at home. Your guess is as good as mind. From there the rest of the week is more memorable. Tuesday after work I headed to Gangnam to meet up with Blake Nathan, and Emily for Emily's last night out in Gangnam. Before getting on the subway however, Blake called me and had me pop home to check a stock he had been watching that had gone way up throughout the course of the day. When I got to Gangnam, I let him know that it was still up and then we got to having a few beers. We didn't stay out too late, and by 2am we were calling it a night. Seeing Emily into a cab, Blake and I (Nate stuck around Woodstock for a bit longer) headed back to his place to see how his stock was doing. He had come to the decision that if it was still up he was going to sell for a pretty hansom profit, and I was there for moral support and to celebrate with him if it was the case. As it turned out it was still up and he sold, then we went to the bar next to his place, which we have given the name Yugi-Ohs for a beer and bite. I ended up staying at his place for the night, as it was 330 by the time we were done.
Waking up on Blake's couch Wednesday morning, I took the subway home and then decided to ride my motorcycle to work since it was a nice day, and since I was a little late. It felt nice to ride to work, but as my luck would have it, after only being at work for a couple hours it started to rain. Not wanting to ride it later in the rain, I had high hopes that it would quit and dry up before he end of the night. I got my wish and it did stop and dry up. My next dilemma, which was the one that sealed my fate for the evening, was whether or not to drive it to Bundang after work. The reason I was going down to Bundang was to have some drinks with Dave and Kate, Thomas and Jean, Blake, and Lauren was going to join us, for Kate's birthday. Though we had gone out on the weekend for her birthday, Blake and I had promised that we would come down for a more subdued night. To put it in perspective, Bundang is about an hour ride from where I work, I have never ridden that way, and didn't even know the way other than for what I had been looking at on maps all day. Having several coworkers tell me that I shouldn't all day wasn't my confidence, but then at the end of the day Jean pulled through with some encouragement, and I decided to go for it. BAD CHOICE.
I got on my bike outside of work, and took off without any problems, and for the first 20 minutes everything was cool. I was watching the traffic around me, going with the flow, and then it happened..... Korean driving snuck up and bit me in the ass. As I was slowing at a red light near Seocho, about 1/3 of the way into my trip, a truck decided to jump into my lane and slam on his brakes. Not wanting to hit him, but having no room to stop safely, I spiked the brakes and laid my bike down to the right. Since I was going just under 10kmp, I didn't slide, but just toppled over with my bike landing on my right leg because I couldn't get it out of the way fast enough. So there I was laying on the road with a bike on me and nobody seemed to care. Full of rage, I held the bike up off of myself, stood up, then pushed it to the side of the road. The guy in the truck never even noticed it happened, and before I could kick in his windows the light turned green and he took off. Taking a quick look at myself, I realized I had skinned my elbow pretty good and where the bike had landed on me I already had a baseball size lump with a few surface wounds, which made me even angrier because I knew how much it was going to hurt later when I wasn't full of adrenaline. As it was, being to stupid to call it quits, i got back on my bike and fired it up. I roe for about another 20 minutes to Daechi before I had completely forgotten where I was supposed to be going, and my leg hurt enough that I felt the need to get off my bike. I parked my bike a Daechi station, made some calls to let everyone know I was a bit behind, but was still coming, then jumped in a cab to get through the last 1/3 of the venture.
Getting down to Dave and Kate's neighbourhood of Jukjeon by 12, about 30 minutes later than expected i met up with Lauren at the subway statoin then limped to where the group was. Upon arrival everyone was in awe about my leg, but being foreigners didn't freak out poured me a beers and got me some ice. We hung out until 3ish before calling a night and going back to Lauren's to clean up my wounds and get some Band-aids. By the morning, the swelling had gone way down from the baseball it was to a large lump with swelling encompassing a good portion of my lower left leg. Knowing that my bike was in the middle of nowhere, and with the towing trouble I had with it already, I headed back to Daechi station to get it and ride it home. I was less nervous than one probably should be getting back on it, but as we've all been taught 'if you fall off, you have to pick yourself up and get back on'. The ride from Daechi took longer than i had hoped and was a little riskier given the midday traffic, but I got to work just fine and only 30 minutes late. Still having blood on my pants i went into my directors office and explained what had happened and asked if I could head home to change my pants and wash up. Shocked that I hadn't seen a doctor yet and that all I was worried about was changing my pants, my director gave me leave to get changed and asked me if I wanted someone at work to take me to the hospital. I told her that it was O.K. because I knew nothing was broken and that the bleeding had stopped so there was no need to go. I walked home, though I should have rode my bike just to get it home, changed my pants and new bandages, then returned to work to sit around for the day. Luckily the pain was pretty minimal and I got a good kick out of all my coworkers freaking out, like my leg was going to fall of throughout the day.
After work Thursday, I had to ride my bike home, which was fine except Lauren had come through to check home I was doing so I had to stop at the subway station and wait for her before riding home while she walked. She walked up the hill as I rode up then walked down to meet her, then we came back to hang out at my place where I made her and myself some Kraft Dinner and put my foot up for the night. Friday brought with it more concern from my teachers, and more sitting around at work with my leg up, telling everyone not to worry and that I wasn't going to die. After work on Friday, I took my coworker Jean to Sillim where we were gong to meet Blake
for kal-magi-sal (marinated pork strip BBQ) dinner and some drinks. To our surprise, Mike our other coworker came out. Not that Mike is a dud, but he was unsure about other plans and couldn't give us a definite answer earlier in the day. We ate and had some beers, then switched it up to get some drinks at a bar. We weren't sure where we wanted to drink since non of us planned on staying out too late, and randomly we stumbled on a new Ho Bar (weird name but popular in Seoul) where we set up shop for a few Jack and Cokes before calling it a night around 130. Mike had already left to meet up with some other friends, so Jean, Blake and I shared a cab as far as Bongcheon, where Jean and I got out and the headed home.
Not being hung over, i got up Saturday and cleaned my apartment in between bouts of putting my leg up to keep the swelling at bay. I got my dishes done, laundry washed, and even washed my floor. In the late afternoon, I grabbed a nap before getting up and getting ready to head to my briefly lived neighbourhood of Pyeongchon for Emily's good-bye party. We weren't actually staying in Pyeongchon, but one stop over in Beomgyae for dinner and drinks. I got there a little late after missing one of my trains, limp related, but made it for dinner at a Mexican place where I gave Blake and Dave an update on my condition (Kate couldn't make it due to a wisdom tooth removal Friday morning) and letting Emily in on the whole story. After dinner we headed to India bar for a couple drinks and some darts, then to Habidus for some more drinks and pool. I wasn't sure how late the party was going to go, but was quickly brought back to reality when I realized it was a going away party and that someone had brought up the idea of going to Slang, the local night club. I was down for whatever, but wasn't looking forward o the standing aspect of the club. Either way, we rolled in and kept the party going and eventually I was intoxicated enough to believe some dancing wasn't such a bad idea. Around 230 or 3 we had all had enough and left to catch cabs. After saying our final good-byes to Emily, Dave, Blake, and I shared a cab back to Seoul where I got out at my place and Dave and Blake rounded out the trip to Blake's where Dave stayed the night.
Waking up around noon on Sunday, I spent a good portion of the day just hanging out at home with Goah, watching movies and making food for the coming work week. Then around 8pm I went to meet Blake and SaeJin for some dinner in Blake's area. We had some lamb barbecue, which was delicious. From there we headed over to a little bar for a few drinks, where Lauren joined us after she was finished her Han River cruise. Together we chatted until just after 11 then got on the last subway so that we wouldn't have to take a cab to my place.

And so another week comes to an end. Hope you are all doing well.