Gwanngan Bridge against the city

Pusan

This weekend I traveled south on the KTX Bullet train three and a half hours to Pusan. Pusan is the second largest city in Korea, a mere 3 million. Set on the edge of the southern coast it is a bit of what I imagine Miami to be like except with Koreans. This means no bikinis, people wearing jeans and shirts in the water. I actually have no idea what Miami is like, maybe they wear jeans instead of trunks. Anyway the water was lovely.
I was able to visit my friends Remco and Kim Delmeijer. It was good to see them before they head back to Canada in a few weeks. They were good company as we checked out some of the night lights, ate Wei (raw fish) and hung out on the beach. I played some Volleyball on which has burned up my muscles in my legs and turned them into smoldering firewood instead of working appendages. (its been a while).
The bridge in Pusan was one of the highlights. A giant snaking span across the bay of the Gwang-Alli beach front. I was able to ride across it three times. Remco parked illegally and the car was towed so we had to cab over the bridge to get it and then back over. quite a lovely scene.
anyway I am back at school and need to get ready to teach.

friday ok maybe that was a little heavy

Its friday. I have one more class to teach. The kids will write a test and then if theyre done early we will play scrabble. I used to play scrabble at home and hated it because Mom and Rueben would kick my ass. I hated it because of course I only ever play to win. Just kidding. But I thought that I was terrible and kind of stupid. Then I played other people besides them and i realized that I was not that terrible. That either means Im as stupid as evryone else or my Mom and Rueben are genius'. Anyway I am talking about people at college not my 10 year old students who speak english as a second language. But I sure can kick ass in those games. ah teaching is such a great ego trip.
today my kinderkids were all singing this song that is about loving kimchi but they changed the words to be that they loved me. its a bit much so I will leave here today and shave my head and wear sackcloth and ashes to humble myself. Actually Im going to find a corner store and buy a beer and sit on the stoop and people watch till im really hungry.

A look in the pool

So its been a while since I wrote any sort of reflective piece thus the title. I got a strong gut reaction just now reading Asher's out of Africa blog and am thinking about all the differences in the world that we find are selves in. The other night I was out in Apgujeong-dong meeting a friend. The street is lined with the world's finest fashion houses and with beautiful people and their beautiful clothes all bought at a highstreet price. Korean people are naturally very beautiful but this neighborhood has a huge amount of plastic surgery clinics. People actually can get tax breaks for getting plastic surgery. THe most popular are eye skin tucks and colligen shots but it ranges to jaw reductions a process where the actually file down your jaw bone and adjust where the bone meets your skull. (suprisingly this is apparently very common.) the other is of course breast implants (the other option here being the water bra, a noticably common enhancment and serious disapointment Im sure. The most extreme, considering the infatuation with height, is leg lengthening. A six month procedure where the legs are broken seperated and allowed to grow and fill the fracture. The process is repeated to a gain of as much as three inches. All of this Narcissism behind closed doors does pour onto the street where the young twenty somthing women speed past "the Galleria" in their Mazaratti's going to the clubs. Those who have seen both say that this high flying Seoul is wilder then Manhattan. Coming into the world Fore at this time in history gives it a strange science fiction edge.
This is of course a discription of a crust of Korean society but it happens to be the part of the pie I am surrounded by these are the streets I walk home from work or when I go to do yoga or have a beer with friends.
I am sure that if some of my Korean co-workers read what I wrote they would be embarassed at my impressions that I send home. And that is fair. Because I don't speak the language I can't talk to anyone unless they speak english and so my impressions are from the rich who by and large speak english. It is kind of scary in Apgujeong how many young people will tell you a place in North America where they are from, usually playing up that accent and acting as if they lived there for more then the three or four years of college. These of course are the ones driving the bentley's.
So it gives me a feeling of unease to look at a schools red Roof in Sierra Leone and to stare across the street and see the giant flashing neon panasonic sign or Johnny Walker or Mercedes or whatever.....
Today we had a class birthday Party for Gemini he is 7, korean age that means 6 back home, and every kid got a box of cookies and ate enough cake to make horse sick, all provided by young Gemini's family, who I was told by my co teacher "were showing that they cared a lot".(I almosted pasted the guy on the spot, as if big cakes and presents ever made up for a good time with loved ones.) And despite the affluence of it all here was just a normal little boy having his birthday party with his friends. sure the cake was bigger then most, sure the presents cost more. But he still likes "baby beluga" and playing musical chairs and cries when he loses. it's his party, he can if he wants to. And it makes me think that much of our understanding of self and wealth is like the air we breathe. it comes like our skin. We only see it from another perspective if we get a chance to breathe someone elses air or have a skin transplant. And few 6 year olds are self aware let alone globally aware. it seems a little to much to ask on a birthday.
How much is to much? I can't say that I know the line but its a few turns before you get to the broken leg stretch exit Im pretty sure. "Of those to whom much is given, much is required. " I am gonna go in tommorow and donate a few inches between my knee and my ankle. It seems there's people who need it more then me. or at least they need something................

The little people I spend most of my time with.

These are my M/W/F afterschool kids, Henry looks like I think he feels about being in a class of all girls but me. Most of these kids have spent time abroad and have a great grip on english already. right now we're reading a drastically abridged version of "The Nutcracker"
These kids shouldn't be in school at the time I teach them they should be tearing around, building forts, riding bikes, swimming and fighting; not sitting in desks learning another language at 4:30pm. As a result they rarely listen. They still surprise me with how much they do pick up.
Irene (and Steve in the background) brilliant, both of them. We have great classes in which I can talk at a very sophisticated level of English and they still understand (with the help of the dictionary.) Wendy also in the class took the day off (no photo)
This is Will hes going to be a Ninja when he grows up. He may already be a Ninja. He is one of the smallest fiestiest kids I've ever met. Him and Adrian Vanwoerden would get on famously. I teach him art, that is to say I put paint and a brush near him and see how long he's entertained for. I don't teach the kid "standing" next to him; thank the Lord. Today in this class on kid pee'd his pants another drew a penis on a picture of him self and Will here threw lots of paint on the floor and walls. Education; that's what its all about.
These are my Kindergarten kids. 5 days a week for 5 hours I hang out with these kids. We read good books and sing raffi songs, and draw, paint and play in the sand box, we write in our journals and listen to sweet music like Modest Mouse, Niel Young and Sigur Ros
This is Lola, I want to learn Korean because they say this girl has the driest sense of humor, she apparently is continually cracking lines at me that I can't catch.
That is John in my chair. As you can see I surround myself with quality art. Note also the "Where the Wild things are Masks" on the wall. That was a fun class. Alex is the fuzzy guy in front but you'll see him later.
Here they all are.. somewhat. this is from a set of 3 funny progression photos which Ill post later.
This is the school at 1:30 with all the K kids about to get on the buses. My classroom is in the window by the top of red "S" on the sign.
Alex and Tulip madly chopping away.
Julia, drama queen and someone whose humor I understand.
Alex: Very creative, possibly a few candles short of a cathedral.
Gemini and Soo Yeon, two of the sweetest kids. Gemini (the Boy) has the softest heart and is most likely to burst tears of all my students. Soo Yeon's favorite word is Belly button and she is continually sneaking around and poking other peoples. That leaves no mention of Andy, Danny, Rose or Taylor. I will have to get them in later

The land of the rising sun in technicolor.

I know you all want to see the kids so thats what I will start with. I don't have a picture of all of them together but its a taste anyway.


Julia at snack time


Jinny at snack Time

John and Alex eating
and then whispering to each other. There are 9 others who I will get photos of soon. These were taken the day before I left.
I had to select from 365 photos for the few to post here.
The view from the mountain outside of Nara The building in the trees houses the largest Buddah in Japan and I think the world (now that the Taliban did their damage). And Below is a street view in a rainstorm.
This is a prayer ceremony happening in a temple in Osaka the camera looks like its on the floor because it is. I was being sneaky.
One of the best reasons for a young man to go to Japan. Kyri. This is the Osaka Castle great from the outside but a bore inside except for the amazing samurai gear. There are also Ninjas with weed wackers all over the castle grounds; watch out!
Which came first the man or the lantern sign?
I can't load anymore pictures without killing the computer so I will leave it at that. I hope to post them on a photo share site.

"I got the style but not the grace, I got the clothes but not the face"

Well as far as culture shock goes that was quite the ride. I just spent an extended five day weekend in Osaka Japan. I felt like Frodo and Sam ( yes both of them at once) in the land of the elves. The country is so different only strains of common ground remain. I spent most of my time in the downtown hip area of Osaka called Namba, the clothes the food (except starbuck and Mc D's) so much variety and beauty. I was able to see the 17th century Osaka castle and go on a walk through a large area of shrines and temples. I also got into just stopping people on the street and taking there photo and trying to chat. I took a train through two mountains (literally through them) and went to the city of Nara where there are all these deer that are tame and wander around and nudge you for food. And I saw the biggest Buddah in the world....annd... and. I luckily brought my friend Jon's Camera. I have a lot of pictures and I will post them because I really can't describe it in words.

sweet weekend

So Asher in response to your comments as to Hollands "loss" against Korea on Saturday.... Jon Plantinga and I heard late Friday that the game was happening and so after a long afternoon walk around Olympic park and the river we grabbed the train for the hour ride to the World cup stadium avoided the mayhem of train lines by jumping cabs and taking backtrack routes to get ahead of the crowds. The river of red jerseys flowing out of the station was only interrupted by the odd flash of orange. We got $50 dollar seats for $30 off a scalper and bought a bunch of beer and Kimbop (korean sushi- kinda weird food to eat at a sports event) from a guy with a ice bin outside and headed up to our upper deck midfield seats. We were the only two white boys (jon in orange) in a sea of black hair and red jerseys. The game was excellent. It was an even match for the first half with the dutch avoiding a deficit on a penalty kick through an amazing diving save. Rafeal VanderVaart scored on a penalty kick with no wall because of an inner crease slidetackle by the Koreans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCYPy79WkY
And then got his second of the night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeD8hCHtnwQ&mode=related&search=

After that we started hoping the Koreans would score because 60 000 depressed Koreans is no fun. But the Dutch dominated from then on with Hanguk only turning it on for a couple chances in the final minutes.

All in all it was so sweet to be there.

On Sunday afternoon I headed out to Jamsil and watched the FiVB womens Beach Volleyball world tour Seoul Open Final match between China and Australia. Where the Aussies won. It was a scorching day and perfect for sitting in the sun in the sand.

Oh yeah the kids that you all want to hear about. They're great. This morning we did phonics and read "Mouse Soup;" I read one page and they read the next. They're brilliant. Then we did workbooks and studied the magic "E" which changes vowels.. you know cake instead of cak. And then we listened to The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" and coloured.

so it seems

"They" have been known to call this the wireless generation and I survived for all of it so far been neither wired to a phone nor unwired. But no more.... I am riding the wirless wave where the future is friendly and and. Anyway I am so jealous of my personal space I don't know that Ill even give the number out. The only reason I got the phone was the need to have a means to recconect with the random people you meet in a city this size and without being reachable many pass you by. I have little faith that my social life will swing into high gear on the basis of my phone.

Pirates etc.

Pirates of the Caribbean came out here a week before its N american release. Kind of nice to know we're ahead on a few things. Anyway I liked it but that is not the point of this short story. I went with two friends on a rainy Wednesday. We arrived five minutes late and so quietly had to slide into the theatre. Our seats were were right at the front and so at the slightest break in the opening scene I quickly shuffled up the empty third row. About a third of the way into my rush to my seat I was thrown off balance as I stepped on something sizable and then groaning on the floor. I was standing on the back of a very drunk old and passed out Korean man. I leapt off with an earnest apology before my hysterical laughter caught me and I fell back in my chair crying with laughter as the guy took the seat right next to me pretending as if nothing had happened.
Despite how funny my friends and I found the situation no one else laughed maybe they didn't hear my expletives and laughter or maybe they're Korean and so once again it just didn't happen. If something is too embarrassing it doesn't exist. funny that. Perhaps it was another case of lost in translation; funny things are not funny. Who knows, I do know that the movie was apparently mostly lost in translation I was often the only person laughing. As mom would attest to thats probably not just a Korean thing but me at movies. Maybe I have a low setting on my funny-shit-o-metre

Lotus lantern festival

For the first time I feel like I have seen something that words can't come close to touching. This week Thursday is the birthday of Buddha, and over the weekend there was a lantern parade. There were many cheesy weird lanterns with kitschy Buddha babies on them, but there were some hundred thousand really beautiful paper and wood lanterns; very ornate and painted. The street was filled with thousands of people usually grouped holding the same style lanterns. The temple grounds were covered in countless strings of lanterns all in uniform patterned rows close as a ceiling and all alight.
I thought about how Buddha's impact on the world in terms of number of followers is close to Jesus' but how his birth month being warmer makes his festival much different. There is a lot of photo op pomp and circumstance to the whole affair. But some real genuine beauty and sincere adoration, (from some). It isn't quite as heavily commercialized as Christmas. Jesus got the corner on the market there, but there is a lot of vendors selling cheap shit. Temple clearing time for sure! But just to be able to wander around the grounds of a temple that is hundreds of years old, surrounded by drums and dancing, and a million lanterns is quite amazing.
It is strange how religion when broken down to its main elements has many of the same elements. rituals involving light and water as metaphors for spiritual cleansing and uplifting. large imagery of the human who set the stage for the religion. Large houses of worship, robes, music, funny hats. I guess the comparison is closer to catholicism than to protestant Christianity.
Taday is warm and sunny and I am about to go for lunch. There is a pretty little street near hear called Garosu-gil meaning tree street or green maybe, due to the Gingko trees that line it. There are some great places to eat a wide variety of foods, while doing some of the worlds finest "people watching".
Anjeong Ha ga say yeo

I need to pass this along
thanks Justine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToEPFDIzhNA

Here is the invite to the LFAS Grad show if you're in langley check it out. Anyone recognize that torso? Its me painted by Nana.

Response to email on Silence

I have never before in my life realized the role that solitude and silence has always played in it. I have rarely if ever been afraid of silence and have often sought it out. Here in the eleventh largest city in the world with a culture of intense social structure and deep connectedness their is little room for solitude. The very idea is literally foreign to the culture. people never spend time alone. They have built in fail safes to prevent it. People never eat alone and if they are alone in transit their cellphones have solved the problem of solitude. People stare into the depths of their lcd phone screen as if they are luck charms to ward of the evil spirit of solitude. At all the Korean restaurants I have been at you cannot order a single serving of anything. They only come served for two. I have had to pack away more then my share on occasion. There is a guilty avoidance that surrounds me at times when I am eating alone. The Koreans around me feel sad for me that I am alone and so gravitate to fill the void and yet the language barrier keeps them away and so you feel extra alone. None of this however gets to the heart of the matter of solitude in Seoul. I crave my time alone. There are people and cars and exhaust and scooters and flashing neon signs everywhere. It literally fills you with its poison till your lungs can't clean it out and you get sick. I have had to work hard to find the tiniest scraps of solitude and I have never felt deeply fulfilled. Even on the small mountain parks in the city the sounds and smells fill you. I have had to use my Ipod as a mean to find some controllable space. It is not the deep silence that I long for. I will keep searching the city till I find it.
It occurred to me yesterday that certain cultures focus on different aspects of human longing some seek success some fine food some dress to impress. Here it seems that they strive to connect yet it is sadly strange that despite this deep search and the social structures it has made that Seoul has the highest rate of suicide of any major city.
I found the Changdukjung palace a few weeks ago it seems that the kings here may have been some of the only ones who understood the need to find solitude. They built their palaces with large spaces, quiet streams a botanical garden, a banzai house, ponds and a small forest. This is the only place so far where true solitude may be found that I have seen. Solitude is not a luxury to take for granted and it is not always possible. it may be the greatest luxury that we have in Canada.

peace
Joshua

Sorry its just that there's 20million people worth of fun to be had

So this weekend was great I went out to Itaewon to check out the scene on Friday night and had a great time with Rebbecca from TO and Courtney from Buffalo they showed me all there favorite sights. Itaewon is the haven for foreigners in Seoul you feel like you enter this weird twilight zone. The influx of American Gi's makes it really suck on the street but so long as you stay out of the hip hop clubs and hooker bars its ok. Plus they get the Military police to clean them all out for their 11:00pm curfew. Sucks to be in the army. When you are seeing lots of GI's though there is an amazing multi-cultural ism to the place. Korea has harbored many African (especially Sudanese) refugees. There are great Turkish Hookah bars also.
On Saturday I went to the 1st Seoul World DJ fest. Though it took forever to find the place it was well worth it and I wasn't on my way home till about 5am with the dance party still going.
Last night I had my first Korean Gym experience. The gym was however a branch of the California Wow fitness clubs. But of course this one is Korea style. So it is as big as all Vancouver's fitness centers put together. The hot tubs and saunas were pretty sweet.
Any way I have to get to the rug rats who right now are have play time with Duskim my co teacher. I have finally gotten sick. Everyone told me it was coming and so its no surprise. The pollution and new germs just took three weeks to finally get to me. Ill live.

email that made for a good post (its kindof cheating I know)

HelloThings are going really well. Work has been hard the kids get better and then regress into madness. This morning was particularly draining. I have a student who seems to want to push me at every step. And the worst part is that he can't speak much English and so he talks back in Korean and the other kids laugh. It's quite frustrating. Anyway the afternoon went much better.
last night I hung out with Chunghee Lee, Kenny Lee's cousin. He's a really neat guy we went for an amazing dinner and then wandered around Gungnam O, he showed me a lot of cool places my favorite being the batting range on top of a store parking lot. we were cracking balls in a batting cage while people are getting into there cars five feet below. Only in Korea.
There is just so much to see and hear and do. Getting food has been the hardest thing. I can see why being in a place is the fastest way to learn a language. there is so much that is necessary and ordinary that I can't accomplish with ease. However the food, when it comes, is amazing. Last night we ate a Beef sum Gap salle (spelled horribly) . There's a little bbq and coals in the middle of the table and a long tray of different greens. You fry the thinly sliced beef marinated in a garlic sauce and then wrap it with greens and Kimchi and a soy paste and garlic clove and other unknown things and then stuff the big package into your face. it is great social eating. We also had some Soju Plum wine which was delicious. After dinner we cleared our palettes with cold noodle soup, not my favorite.
I think I am going to use some of this on my blog I just don't feel like having to write about it all again. Anyway things are good I do miss being at home. I miss you and I am sorry that I can't be there to hang out with Rue and Asia. I miss the quiet and the clean air. And quiet glasses of wine and books, and newspapers that I can read.
I will talk to you Soon. I can't get a phone until I have my papers and I can't get my papers until I go to japan and I can't go to Japan until Dordt sends me a new transcript that has an official seal over the flap. I told them to put a wax seal on it next time...chuckle headed honkies.
anyway. I am going to watch the Hockey game tonight so don't tell me the score. In Fact NEVER TELL ME THE SCORE. Or talk about the score or make reference to the score. we watch the Canucks games about 24 hrs after they happen.
I love you and will write soon
Love Joshua

Seoul Weekend

I spent the weekend discovering the city and my neighborhood. There is a bar called the Rocky Mountain tavern where I can watch the Canucks games They play them the day after so if you've seen the final scores don't tell me without asking if I've seen it. I watched the game there on friday and then went out with a bunch of people that I met there. then I watched the dissaster of a game there last night. I will be there to watch it on tuesday night. On saturday I had quite the experience I had to get groceries. The format of the store is familiar but nothing on the shelves is. IT took me about two hours not because it was hard but because I really enjoyed wandering and loking at all of the weird things for sale. so many odd veggies and strange meats and animals. Yesterday was earthday I think and I watched barbra walters talking about the rape of the oceans. This is in evidence here. tanks loaded with all kinds of live fish. and clams, crabs and everything else you can think of. It is scary to think of the quantities disappearing everynight on Seoul dinner tables.
Anyway on another note I went guitar shopping. I guy told me about this place that is built over a street in Jung no sam ga where they sell guitars. The place was three stories high and filled with about 300 hundred musical instrument vendors. all kinds of instruments and thousands of guitars. Some really cheap and others fairly normally priced. But the sheer scale that they do things on here was astounding. I didn't end up buying a guitar, but will soon.
Saturday night I went with Reuben and scot and their wives out to this club where their friends were playing. It was a recording studio/ club two bands played the one was a Krazy Korean rock band full of whats becoming typical antics for Koreans which is nutty by american standards more on that later. The other band was a great folk band. the players were all americans that have lived here and speak fluent Korean their lead singer was a Korean girl named Sonny. since everything was in Korean it was hard to follow the lyrics. We all went out after to a wings place. It was great lots of Korean to talk to. Then there were two strange personal connections. The First was that Jon Plantinga came to hang out with his girl friend we had a great time hanging out and catching up I don't think Ive seen him since I was 15. The other was that this girl sitting next to me told me that she knew about Dordt college. She is Korean but grew up in LA. She knew Grace Yoon really sweet Girl that went to Dordt who I went to a conference in Seattle with. It was very bizarre and cool.
Anyway this is an excessive blog. Who reads this much
no camera = no pictures
Ill get one fear not

Day Two

So I have a class of Kindergarteners all morning. From 9:30 till 2:30. There are eight children in the class and only one of them speaks english at all. I spend my day singing songs like "head and shoulders" and "I had a little Turtle, his name was tiny tim" They particularly enjoy the part about the bubbles because bubble sounds like some other word in Korean which they are unable to explain to me. They are very cute and loaded with energy. Yesterday was a day spent laying out the classroom ground rules. They were aweful. Students yelling and jumping on tables. After I yelled they decided they liked happy Mr Joshua better and were mostly good for the last five minutes of the day. It is very difficult to get ideas across and so I do a lot of song and dance explaining with hand gestures. They are at least entertained for a few minutes. But it requires a lot of short activities.
Today went very well the seemed to come in with a desire to only see happy mr. Joshua. They were almost good all day. After lunch they have liquid sugar for blood and it is hard to get their heart rates down. One child is a bit of a mad man and gets a look in his eyes every once and a while and stands up and sits down making crazy faces. we will have to work on that.
They have made beautiful pictures of turtles and fish.
Anyway Korea is crazy besides the crazy kids. Yesterday evening I walked around my neighborhood. Everynight the place is crawling with people dressed to the nines driving swanky cars and drinking Soju. There are massive neon signs everywhere and livliness that is not found in much of North America. People work all night it seems. Not just people like architects who put in long hours. But mechanics have there shops open late and handymen can be seen putting up awnings at 11 o'clock at night. It is totally bizarre.
Anyway I will post pictures when I get a camera and give you more of a taste.
I love it.

Wet Feet

So Im here
I now reside in a city of many milions of people that stretches as far as the eye can see, if it could see for the smog. Actually I have not found the air that bad, though there are a lot of people around wearing masks. I have a beautiful sunny classroom in a quaint school in the wealthiest area of seoul known as Gangnam. I am overwhelmed by all the new and strange experiences. I feel powerless as a language minority and look forward to learning to speak it. Dinner was my first experience with Kim Chi. I loved it.
I will get some pictures and more posts soon

Korea

about time!!!

sheesh that took me a while

so if word has not leeked your way let it be known officially that I am moving to Korea. It thoughted to mi self, self yer a goo teahcer go an teahc those Koreens sum englishing.

I am leaving on saturday morning and will be there for a year. Its all happening a little fast but thats the way i like to do things. anyway never fear there will be many more posts coming so stay in touch, and remember Jesus is alive here he is on sunday in Sanfransisco taking out the garbage. My brother Rueben took the photo. feels kinda like the sasquatch photo.