Puppies!

Vietnam

Preface Vietnam was fantastic. Christa agrees that it was even better than our Japan trip, and that was pretty damn great, too. We spent the first day in Hanoi, then rode the overnight train west to Sapa, where we stayed an all-too-short couple of days, then back to Hanoi, before going all the way to Halong Bay on the East Coast. The week before we left, I bought a brand new 2 gigabyte memory card at Yongsan electronics market in Seoul. On Wednesday evening, shortly after taking my 750th photo, the card froze up. The son of a bitch wouldn't let me take any more pictures, or review any that I had already taken. Naming Error. Naming Error. Naming Error. I'm still semi-hopeful that I'll be able to recover them (while Christa is in flat-out denial at the idea that they may be lost) but need a bit of technical wizardry which I've not been able to lay my hands on yet. Christa took some photos, of course, but not that many, as generally she relies on me, seeing as my camera is better, and she knows that whatever she takes a picture of, I'm just gonna take 5 more of from different angles anyway. With all this in mind, I'm gonna start from the end and work backwards, with the hope that I'll have had some luck with the photos by the time I get back to Wednesday. So, without further ado. Sunday We arrived back at the Village at about 8:30am yesterday morning. There's only a 2 hour time difference between here and Vietnam, but our flight had left at 0:45am, and I can never really get comfortable another to sleep for long in the tiny aeroplane seats, so I was pretty shattered. I was actually getting a little giddy from exhaustion when we did arrive home, and didn't think I'd need to sleep for long. Planning to get up again for lunch, I went to bed at 9am. I woke up again at 8:08pm feeling refreshed and slightly confused. Saturday After lunch we left the tranquillity of Halong Bay for the chaos of Hanoi once more. The traffic around the Old Quarter where most of the tourism is based is crazy. Everybody and their Grandmother travels by motorcycle, and it's not at all unusual to see three or four people on one bike. Our guidebook testifies to somebody witnessing seven passengers on one bike, and I totally believe it. Traffic lights and pedestrian crossings are rare, so crossing the street requires a definite strategy. Ours was to walk slowly enough that any oncoming traffic could avoid us, rather than the other way around. Panic and try to run across and you're toast. We had five hours to kill before we were due to leave for the airport, and since this was to be our third stint in the city, there wasn't all that much left that we wanted to do, so after a final bit of souvenir shopping, we decided to partake in our favourite pastime, that which we were doing, oh, about 97% of the time last week: we went for something to eat. Hanh (almost pronounced 'Hi') - our guide,at Halong Bay - had recommended two dishes that we were not to leave Hanoi without trying. Indeed, if we didn't try them, then we hadn't really been to Vietnam at all (at least so says the New York Times Hanh was quoting). The restaurant gave us the menu: We decided to go with the fish. With only the one dish on the menu, I expected they'd make a good job of it, and they certainly did. I'd love to defend Korean food, and there many dishes I love and will miss when I leave, but it can't really hold a candle to that of its neighbours. Vietnamese food is so fresh and varied, whereas Korean is usually pickled or fermented, and tends to rely on the same few core ingredients (pepper paste, soybean paste, pork, kimchi). I don't think I've seen a fresh herb since coming to Korea. Also, not that I'm endorsing French Colonialism, but it did leave the Vietnamese with a sound understanding of how to bake, unlike the Koreans, whose best efforts at bread and cakes mostly come out of the oven already tasting two weeks old. Anyway, the fish, with peanuts, fish oil, butter, and a handful of different herbs, was delicious. The place was so popular that we were practically being ushered out of the door to make room for the next guests while I was still drinking my beer. Stuffed as we were, we still had one item left on our list: Bún Chả. Hanh had said it was untranslatable into English, while our waitress' best attempt to describe it was 'green pork'. Put in such seductive terms, how could we say no? It was plainly just meatballs with dill (those people really love their dill), and we actually had eaten it a few days before, only we hadn't learned the Vietnamese name for it. And it was good, though far from the best we ate that week. I may write to the NY Times and tell them to get out more. The banana smoothie I drank with the meal was far more memorable! And sadly, with that final meal inside us, we waddled back to the hotel to await our taxi, and homeward bound we were.

Muse!

Were awesome. You really can't tell in the following videos, but they were. In fact, all you can really hear is the crowd singing and clapping (it took me ages to figure out the rhythm we were supposed to be clapping in the last video because I was messing with my camera instead of paying attention to Matt!) but the sound was excellent. They deserve all of their many awards. My seat wasn't the best, I was kinda far back (but Chamsil gymnasium isn't huge so it didn't really matter) and I was worried that I was gonna stiffen up since I arrived an hour before the band was due to start and they didn't appear until another 45 minutes after that, but once they did come on I was totally unaware of time passing, I could've stayed there for hours... They rocked. The energy! The music! The noise!

Goop.

This is what we've been doing in science class for the past week and a half - it's goop (or oobleck if anyone's interested in the science). It's a non-Newtonian fluid named from a Dr Seuss book, and is fun to squelch in your hands.

New Year's festivities

Sae-hae bok mani badeuseyo! (the meaning is left as an exercise for the reader) This New Year's Eve definitely ranks as one of my better ones. We started out with a heap of sushi in Suyu - and it was actually good sushi, especially compared to the half-frozen mostly chewy slop we choked down last time. Unfortunately, to get the decent stuff we did have to sell out and go to California Roll - previously we were being snobby about it and refusing to go, as some of the varieties they sell - like their salmon and cream cheese roll - barely qualifies as sushi at all - but after a recommendation from Vanessa, we checked it out, and it was indeed pretty good (though in fact we were not keen on the cream cheese one we ended up with). We followed this up with a trip to Dragon Bar, where we're fast becoming regulars, though in was in fact totally dead. Me and Christa were the only ones there until Tony, Robbie and Carla turned up a little while later. After winning and then losing to them at darts (drinks for the winners being the prize) we headed to the City Hall area for the main event. Despite the ten thousand (or was it a hundred thousand?) people expected there last night, we still managed to bump into the other half of the SEV teachers that were out last night (and where did we happen to see them but right by the beverage section of the convenience store that we had all descended on to buy beer). It was a crazy sight to behold. There was a stage with (I'm sure) some famous Korean pop acts performing, but, though we tried our best to sing along, we really didn't know who or what we were listening to. Meanwhile, traditional Korean musical troupes wove their way through the crowds, dancing and banging their drums and cymbals in time, but the real spectacle was the never ending hail of fireworks that went on from the moment we arrived to the time we left two hours later. Street traders were wandering through the square with bundles of Roman candles for sale. A lifetimes' worth of correct firework protocol instantly forgotten, we were soon twirling the firecrackers around our heads as the Koreans were. Children barely taller than the candles were long were flailing them around like we might a sparkler back home! Quite amazing, yet as far as I know nobody got hurt. Try and spot the cute little boy jumping for joy at the tail end of the video... At midnight, the old Boshingak bell tolled 33 times, and what felt like a million fireworks were simultaneously set off - I'm sure it was quite a sight, but my eyes filled with ash and sulphur as they were, it was hard to tell. Suddenly Tony and his umbrella didn't look quite so ridiculous. After this the crowd very swiftly dissipated, and we followed suit. The rest of the night reads much like a typical night out in Seoul - many more drinks were had back at the Dragon Bar, there was lots of bad singing, and we finally made it home just two hours shy of sunrise - it's apparently a Korean tradition to get to watch the first one of a new year, but it was never gonna happen. Maybe next year.

Temple Stay

This weekend, me and Christa participated in a Buddhist Temple Stay at Lotus Lantern International Meditation Center near On Soo Ree (a couple of hours West of us). It's a 24-hour program which took us from lunchtime on Saturday to lunchtime Sunday, during which we were taught about various Buddhist practices by the monks there. There were 13 participants this weekend: 2 Canadians, 3 Irish (Northern I think, with accents so thick Christa thought they were talking another language), 1 English (just me, as usual), I think just 1 American, 1 Swiss dude, a couple of Germans and 2 Korean girls. Ok, that's just 12...maybe there were two from Switzerland. The monks were a diverse bunch too: one each from Russia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Korea (the Abbott). Although 46.5% of the South Korean population (according to Wikipedia) express no religious preference, Buddhism is the most widely practised religion in South Korea, so we figured we should learn something about it while we are here. Saturday was mainly taken up with a series of talks by the monks and our guide (I forget her name, but she spoke excellent English) introducing us to the concepts of mediation, mantras, meal offerings and so on, that we would be practising on the Sunday. We also did a little 'community work' in the temple garden, picking flowers until our fingers went numb with cold. They use them to make a rather pleasant tasting tea that we would try later. After dozing through the 'Introduction to Korean Buddhism' DVD they put on for us in the evening, we were sent to bed at around 9:15pm. Early but understandable, as we were to be woken for pre-dawn chanting at 3:45am 'the next day'. Surprisingly I didn't have any problems getting up so early - all these late mornings must've topped up my sleep-reserves. Learning from the previous day's mistakes, I put on my jeans under the training-suit pants that I had been relying on the day before, and an extra pair of socks. Although it was to be a beautiful clear day later, I don't think it ever got above a couple of degrees, so we were very cold in the temple (though most of the other buildings were heated). Obviously we couldn't go around taking too many pictures, but the inside of the temple looked not unlike this. Just picture the air foggy with our breath and you're there. So, 4am chanting and prostrations. We'd been given a Sanskrit mantra to memorise the night before ("Om Amogha vairocana mahamudra manipadma jvala Pravarttaya Hum"; the meaning is apparently irrelevant as it's merely used to focus the mind) but we hadn't really had time to practise so most of us just listened and bowed when signaled to. For the bows, I guess we really we need a demonstration...hang on... To show respect to the Buddha, this has to be done each time you enter the temple and isn't such a big deal. But now imagine doing this at 4am, in the freezing cold. Ok? Now, imagine doing that one hundred and eight times non-stop. Not easy. I think by the final few I was just letting myself fall to the floor... After these and much not-entirely-unpleasant chanting from the monks we moved to a thankfully warmer room to mediate for 20 minutes. We were instructed to just try and count ten breaths in and out without allowing any other thoughts to enter our heads. I don't think I made it beyond 'two' without some stray thought about what breakfast might be, or what I would do in class tomorrow, or how I really really should've gone to the toilet a couple of hours ago when I got up...Failure aside, I did appreciate the possible benefits of the mediations, so will be trying again. All meals were supposed to be consumed in silence, but Sunday's breakfast involved a (simplified) version of the complex Buddhist meal offering rituals. We had been instructed in the methods the night before by our guide, but being a newbie, it seems she'd made a few errors, so the Russian monk talked us through it. The bowl set comprises four bowls, one each for rice, soup (or in our case, gruel), side dishes and water. The set is initially wrapped up in a long cloth, with the bowls all neatly fitting inside each other like Russian dolls. The bowls must be unwrapped and placed on the table in a strict order. Each of us had a certain responsibility - serving gruel, water, etc. After eating, a pan of hot water is brought round; some is poured into the largest bowl, which you must clean out with a small piece of kimchi. The water is then passed in order through the three others and the process is repeated. Then you eat the kimchi and drink the water, so that not a scrap of food is wasted. After drinking the dishwater, cold water is brought around to rinse, but thankfully, you don't have to drink this (unless it's dirty and the abbot thinks you have wasted too much food). Finally, the set is carefully wrapped up again with a pretty bow. Actually, the final thing is unwrapping it all and washing the bowls properly in the sink, although I thought mine was clean enough actually... As the sun was rising we were lead on a walk around the local farm land while meditating on the beauty of nature. In any case, it was a really beautiful time to be out and about so was not at all resentful that on a normal weekend (or any day really) I would still be wrapped in bed for several more hours. We even got a souvenir of the experience (not that we're shallow and can't appreciate the deeper significance blah blah blah, but me and Christa do like a freebie) as next on the agenda was a lesson in Chinese calligraphy using brush and ink: I think it's really pretty, even though I'm sure it's quite eligible. To see just how bad I am at this, take a closer look at the first three columns - they're supposed to be identical. I don't know what it means (again, doesn't really matter, but copying the characters takes all your attention so helps clear your mind), other than it's a sutra - a Buddhist scripture regarded as a record of the oral teachings of Gautama Buddha. Mid-day chanting was at 11, but before that we had time for a special tea ceremony and (translation-assisted) Q&A with the abbot. After that, lunch (all meals strictly veggie by the way, and quite decent fare, too) before being swiftly driven (for once I was grateful for the Korean tendency to drive through red lights) back to the bus stop just in time for the hourly bus home. All in all, a very peaceful and enlightening weekend.

Emma's Leaving Party

She doesn't go home until Saturday next weekend, but we on Saturday we all went out to celebrate Emma's time here. We started with a salsa bar, Bahia, to put our occasional students through their paces; to help summon up some of that latino spirit, the bar supplied us with a small orchestra of instruments, including but not limited to: maracas, tamborines, some kind of drum which I will call a bongo, and my personal favourite, the cowbells. It is now my opinion that no song could suffer if there was just a little more cowbell. Here's Emma rockin' it up... And Melodie getting down with the 'bongo': And of course there was plenty of the dancing, especially for me, as the male/female ratio was rather low as usual! At one point I just dropped to my knees after finishing a dance with Vanessa, I was too exhausted to even walk back over to where we were sitting... With my favourite partner: The recently departed Shawn and Melody dancing their recently learned Bachata: We stayed until they pretty much kicked us out mid-Merengue at about 2am or so, but this being Emma's last big night out here, and her not yet having Nore Banged, most of us moved on. There are Nore bang joints (singing rooms) on every street corner in Seoul, so in fact we only had to go upstairs to find one that could accommodate us: And of course the night wouldn't be complete without an embarrassing video or two: You can view the full video playlist here, if you really must. Annyonghi kaseyo, Emma.

More Fun in the Park; Tandem Style

Fashion Show

Tonight's fashion show was my favourite so far, very glad I took my camera along. One of the key motifs of the night seems to have been facial hair, as we see here: Although I do think he was supposed to be a wizard. Another common theme is the the trashcan chic look - basically, how much newspaper and sellotape can we stick to one person and still allow him to walk and breathe? These guys came through pretty well in the end - they had to resort to rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be the model, but this kid totally rose to the challenge as you'll see: Next we have I think another wizard. There was also a boy who was forced to dress as a fairy/angel somewhere; I was planning to take a pic of him at the end but I was judging so had to write down the scores instead. Probably the design idea that occurs most often: dressing boys in dresses. Yesterday we had one in a wedding dress. I think maybe this kid was enjoying it just a little too much though, y'know? We mark the entrants on fashion, use of materials, and critically, on their walk down the catwalk. Through a fiendishly orchestrated tie in tonight's scoring, we had to resort to a 'walk off' for the final two contestants. Check out the kid at the back totally mincing it up for the crowd - he had us all in hysterics!

Groovin'

Purple Rain

Video of the week number three was going to be footage from a thunderstorm we had a few weeks ago, but blogger was playing up that day and wouldn't let me post the video. You can see the video here instead if you like. To be honest, though it was a very dramatic storm (two hours with at least one flash and bone-shaking peal of thunder every thirty seconds or so), it's pretty bog-standard cinematograohy, but I did apparently manage to catch a little discharge, as you can just about see on the left in this picture: Though I never ever noticed it until somebody commented on the video over at youtube. Here we are in the split second of a flash: And then a second later it's night again: If you didn't catch that that strike first time round, here we are again with a bit o'zooming: Pretty, but why is it purple?

Video of the Week: Singalong

The girl doing most of the singing here is Heidi (American), the other two are Kane and Eva (a couple from New Zealand). This was taken the other week when we attempted to climb the mountain the name of which I should really learn. Heidi is trying to teach us a few words of Korean. Do you recognise the song?

Video of the Week: My Apartment