ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED!!!!

At this time I will attempt to answer all of the questions that people have left me in the comment sections over the last month!!! I will publish a post like this every month or so because I feel that it is the best way that I can reach out to all my loyal blog readers and include them in the bloging process. I also pinky swear that I will answer the questions with "the truth and noting but the truth, so help me God"!!! I will go at any length to answer a question if you post it but remember to ask your questions wisely. Don't ask questions that you don't want answered truthfully!!! This is like having me hooked up to a lie detector... well kind of.

There seem to been many questions about food and the crazy shit I have eaten so far (YES I HAVE EATEN CRAZY SHIT IN KOREA) but I will address all of these questions in an upcoming blog.... ooooooooo.....I'm leaving you in suspense!!!

O.K. here it goes...

Garret asked....
"How's the weather and food?"

It just so happens that Daegu is the hottest city in the summer and the coldest city in the winter. When I arrived in Daegu, the first 2 weeks can only be described as bone crushing hot (not that the heat can actually crush bones.... actually it can be described in many ways and I don't exactly know why I chose "bone crushing hot"). My buddy from Boston used a very appropriate expression "It's hot as fuckin Balls". The temperature for these 2 weeks are what Koreans refer to as "tropical". The mornings were not even cool and the humidity stayed at 100% for 2 weeks. It rained almost every night and the cloud cover would clear in the afternoon just so you could fry in the sun during the hottest time of the day. It was above 30 C everyday plus the humidity that made it seem like 40 C!!! As soon as Sept 1 hit, everything turned rainy and a little cooler. Apparently, typhoon San-San was right on the coast, between Korea and Japan! During the next 2 weeks there was maybe 3 days where I actually saw the sun. The temperatures were mid to low 20s but the humidity was still there. The past few weeks have been absolutely beautiful. Sunny everyday, temperatures in low to mid 20s in the daytime and mid teens at night. I think I might own the only pair of sunglasses in Chilgok... nobody wears them! The clean air from the mountains is a treat for the lungs and great for marathon training. And all the leaves are still green and on the trees. At night I wear a light jacket because I am not use to the feeling of the cool, humid air that kinda kicks off from the mountains and ocean.
Koreans keep telling me that fall is by far the most beautiful season.

remember ... I'm leaving you in suspense about the food (good luck sleeping)

Joleen asked...
"What is teaching like in Korea?"

It's pretty easy for foreign teachers to teach, really anybody can do it, you just have to be foreign.... I really don't think a degree is necessary although all teaching positions require it.

I teach at the prison from 1:30pm-3:00 (10 min break in between).

Then cab to Cambridge Institute (ooooooo... Ivy League!!!) and teach younger elementary students form 3:30 t0 3:50.

Then on Tues and Thursdays I will teach 3 more older elementary school classes (about 30 to 40 min classes) and a 1 hour and 30 min free conversation (free speaking) class to 15/16 year olds on Tues and Thurs.

On Mon/Wed/Fri I teach straight through until 8:00 Pm with 5 to 20 min breaks between each class.

The classes are simple because you just follow the curriculum in the books and make it as fun as possible for the kids! You are mostly responsible for pronunciation because the amazing Korean- English teachers take care of most of the other stuff.

It's the lowest amount of stress I have ever experienced at a job (not that I ever really get stressed out at work). You would almost have to kill a kid or light the building on fire before they would even consider firing you!

Tyler asked....
"I need you to explain to me in detail exactly how you actually have a shower with your wall faucet thing. Do you have to have "sponge baths" for an entire year? Do you just turn on the water and soak the entire bathroom?"

Many people have inquired about the crazy wall shower so I will explain the process in great detail....

Step 1: Press the "Hot Water Button"

This electronic, red button in my bed room controls all the hot water in the whole suite (the kitchen faucet, and washing machine water too). Sometimes I think that damn red button is trying to control me.... In many ways it is like the talking red button from "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Step 2: Turn on the bathroom facet and wait until the water gets hot

It only takes a few seconds for that miraculous red button to work its hot water magic!!!

Step 3: Turn small metal knob located on the facet

This knob is a valve that directs the water to the "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerhead". Once the knob is turned the water just sprays freely all over the floor of the entire wash room (I think this is really therapeutic for the water- to finally be free after all that time waiting in the hot water pipes beneath my apartment).

Step 4: Unrobe

Step 5: Stand directly in the stream of water emitting from the "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerhead"

Step 6: Wash

I like to shampoo first, rinse, then condition, soap, then rinse but I'm sure if you switched the order up a little it would still work out O.K. .... I guess!?!

Step 7: Turn the small metal knob to off position

Step 8: Turn off faucet

Step 9: Towel dry

I really hope that answered your question Tyler.

Jo asked...
"What are the prices for things"

As a general rule of thumb... everything Asian is cheap and everything Western is more expensive

This rule holds up pretty good...

Hear is a list of some of the shockers...

Delicious Medium Pizza from "Pizza Bingo".... $5.00

A pack of Malburo Reds (USA Smokes)... $3.00

A month of Yoga at a beautiful yoga studio called "Yoga World"... $65.00

A 2L bottle of Gadorade... $0.60

Living the easy life in Korea... Priceless

Garret said...
"so if you only have time to write 1 blog every 2 weeks....what are you doing the rest of the time.???? Manwhoring? "

I keep pretty busy during the week... my daily schedule is as follows...

9:00AM I wake up (I have only used an alarm clock once since I came to Korea, I usually wake up when my body feels like it had enough sleep- usually 7-8 hours of sleep).

9:00-10:00 I give myself a full body Reiki treatment (peace and love baby, peace and love).

10:00-12:00 Get ready, then go for a run along the edge of the suburb by the mountains.

12:00-1:00 Get ready for work. Everyday I make myself a Korean style breakfast at this time that usually consists of Rice, Gim (seafood wrap), eggs, green tea, and of course ... kimchi! I also take a shower (see above) and get dressed.

1:00 Cab to the prison.

1:30-8:00 (9:00 on tues/thurs) Teach.

9:00 Take the 15 min walk home (and enjoy it everytime).

9:15-10:15 Yoga in my tiny little apartment!!!

10:30- 11:00 Go out for supper and sometimes eat something completely, absolutely crazy (suspense!!!).

11:00-later Meet some other Foreign English Teachers at the GS 25. The GS, as we locals refer to it, is like the Canadian equlivant to the 7-11 but it sells booze and has tables and chairs out in front.

12:00 - 1 ish Usually go to sleep or go Manwhoring.... whatever!!!

Happy Birthday Garret!!!

I dedicate this blog to my brother; it's his birthday on Sept 22.

This week in one of my classes, one of the assignments was talking about family members. The assignment was that you had to draw a family tree of all immediate family members. They did not understand so I drew my family tree on the board (yes I included Ginger and Bief too). All the students were suprised that I had 2 dogs back home. They were also suprised that I had another sibling back in Canada. They asked "What name?" I replied "Garret"... and wrote it on the board.... immediately the whole class broke out in uncontrollable laughter.... I asked "why are you laughing" and they said the name is "so funny"... Next they asked "A boy or a girl?" .... At this point I was laughing.... so I took a poll. I asked "who things Garret is a girls name?"..... they all raised their hands... I asked the class "why".... they replied "It's a girl".... "that's why"... I said "No it's a boys name"..... once again the class interrupted with uncontrolled laughter. When they calmed down the girls in the class asked "is he handsome".... I replied "he's my brother... we come from the same mom and dad!".... the girls continued to drill questions about your looks ... "What color eyes?, "How tall?", "Skinny or Fat".... to this question I replied and gestured ... "Muscles!".... the girls replied "Korea thinks muscles are ugly!"

Sorry Garret.... I guess you just ain't the King of Korea... better stick to manwhoreing in Canada little brother... anyways have a happy birthday!!!

I got Lost in the Mountains!!!

Friday morning I got a crazy urge to to some mountain training for the marathon in Pusan on Oct 1st. Normally I don't bother with hill training in Regina. Who am I trying to kid, OK, there are no hills in Regina to train on, but I really don't know if there are any steep inclines or anything like that in Pusan. So initially I thought it was a good idea. I'm all geared up in my running gear and just giviner up this mountain (2 min walk away from my apartment, called Hamgi). All the Korean people are staring at me in disbelief. I'm sure they were saying in Korean"Hey Look! It's some giant white, sweaty dude and he's running up the mountain!!!" (remember I can only speculate because I don't know any Korean, but I'm sure they were saying something like that) I have never seen anyone in the 4 weeks I've been here run up the mountain... but for some strange reason i thought that it was a good idea!!!

The mountain trails were longer then I had estimated and soon I was getting really exhausted but still determined as ever to reach the top.... I ran and ran and ran...
but with about 10% of the climb left I ran out of gas... not only did I run out of gas... I ran out of fumes too... I felt like I was going to blackout... I got really dizzy and I had no water...
So, I stopped for a few minutes then decided that I should probably walk down the mountain at this point... so I accepted defeat and walked disorientingly down the mountain...

I soon realized that there were many pathways on Hamgi. I guess I was really "in the zone" and failed to realize this when I ran up. So I just followed some people in front of me for a while.... but then I got the feeling that I'm should be going a different way so I spilt up with them... MISTAKE...

... After a while I realized that I was lost!!! Well actually the path that I was taking started to take me up instead of down... THIS WAS NOT A GOOD SIGN!!!
What was I to do.... so I followed the path for a while until it reached a look out point where there were other people... Out of Breath and exhausted I went up to an older Korean Man and pointed and said "Chilgok?, Unamgi?" (the name of my hood and the name of the entrance to the park)... to my surprise the older Korean Man replied... "Go straight, then right" CHA-CHA-CHA-CHING!!! He spoke English!!! Yes!!!

I followed his directions and I guess I was not as lost as I thought because it only took me about 10 minutes to get back!!!

Next time... remember the path you take!!!
Next time... don't get lost!!!
Next time... at least get to the top!!!

Free Booze in Korea!!!!

Point 1: a bottle (mickey 20% alcohol) of souju, Korean rice wine, only costs $1.oo !!! Shit that's like giving it away!!!

Point 2: You can get beer (which goes for about 90 cent for a tall boy) and souju anywhere and you can consume it anywhere (under there...... underwear!?!)

Point 3: Old Korean men see an out of place, towering, white dude and grab you by the arm and demand that you do souju shots with them ( these men are unrelenting, crazy old men that don't understand the english words "NO THANKS").

Point 4: NEVER ACCEPT FREE SOUJU SHOTS FROM OLD KOREAN MEN!!! They will feed you shot, after shot, after shot, until you actually start to believe that you are an old Korean Man......................... UNRELENTING!!!!

Point 5: New restaurants give out FREE, ALL YOU CAN DRINK BEER on their grand opening days!!! I know....... Free................................... FREE..............................................................................
It's really hard to fathom coming from a country where advertising free beer at a licensed establishment is so completely illegal (even if it was legal it would probably draw a crazy, unruly mob of millions and millions of people that would engulf the whole restaurant and result in what can only be described as.... )

Anyways, I know they give out free beer. It's not just a rumor ... how do I know this...
because I spent the last 2 nights at a 2 day grand opening of a restaurant and, yes, they give out free, all you can drink beer!!!

I Changed the user settings!!!

Now everyone can leave a comment without logging in a zillion times...

because of my lack of computer hacking skills, I didn't catch on to this problem... sorry!

Let me know if it works alright.

I have internet in my apartment so prepare for more bloggies!

If anyone wants to send me some goodies I'll give you the address to my school...

Cambridge English School
4th floor, 931-3
Dongcheon-dong
Buk-gu, Daegu city
South Korea.
Tel. 053-326-5114
Postal Code: 702-886

You need to write everything as above including the phone #.

Blog you later!

Location, Location, Location

Although my apartment is insanely small by Canadian standards it is in a sweat location! YES!!!

Many of you may know that most large cities in Asia tend to smell quite bad (By quite bad I mean they smell worse than Brooks, Alberta)! It is my understanding that the Cities of Korea are not exempt from the gutwrenching stink. Seul's got a smell to it, so does Daegu!
I live and teach in a suburb called Chilgo! No smell, clean air, and a mountain about 3 blocks away from my house! It has its pros and cons!
Pro: see above
Con: your kind of cut off from the rest of the city
Pro: things are cheaper in Chilgo!
Con: all the really cool stuff is downtown
Pro: I have almost any amenity imaginable within a 10 minute walk. Many parks, a market, many convince stores, restaurants, a gym, a yoga studio, bars, coffee shops....
Con: there is no night life in Chilgo.
Pro: the nights are peaceful, there is no vandalism and little crime, and the sidewalks are not crowded (even during the busiest times, on the busiest blocks, there's tones of room to walk, run, or ride a bike)
Con: there are only about 40 or so foreigners in Chilgo, a suburb of 300,000 people!
Pro: Special treatment because you are only one of the 40 or so foreigners in Chilgo (well sometimes)

You get the picture!
I think I enjoy the slower pace of Chilgo and downtown is only a $1500 ($1.80 CAN) bus ride away!!!
and I don't have to smell the smelly smells!