Pierre's Korean Adventure 

China Day 4: August 25

This was our last day in Beijing. We had breakfast, checked out of our rooms, and then went to Tiantan Park and the Temple of Heaven.

Tiantan park is very large. It was the exclusive park of the Ming emperor's. Now people from all walks of life enjoy it. As a student of it myself, I was especially fascinated by people I saw practicing Tai Chi.


Ladies practicing with dragon sticks in Chun Dan Park



I also saw men writing chinese characters on the walkway. They used large calligraphy brushes dipped in water. My friend told me that they do this as a form of exercise. I suppose it could be compared to Tai Chi which is often described as moving meditation. Same idea.


Temple of Heaven




Imperial door. The 9 rows of decorative rivets are symbolic of the emperor.


The gang

The last thing we did in Beijing before heading to the airport was to go for lunch at a North Korean restaurant. The food was good. I finished eating well before most of my travel mates, so I went outside to wait for them, and just took in the scene one last time.

Beijing was truly wonderful! The city was beautiful and much cleaner than I expected. I was also surprised by how many service people speak English. Even more surprising to me was the number of people I encountered who spoke Korean as well as English. What was the best thing about the trip? The city was great, but my new friends, the Korean people who were my traveling companions, and our guide really made it an enjoyable experience.

After returning from China I had planned to spend 5 days at Heinsa temple, however, I unfortunately lost my ATM card somewhere between here and Beijing and so had no access to funds. I returned from the trip with just enough money to pay the bus fare home. But, once I arrived in Masan after 10pm I really had my heart set on taking a cab to Chilwon. It would cost about $20, but it was worth it...I was hot and very tired. Since I didn't have enough money on me I had the cabbie take me to the nearest ATM machine, and that's when I found out that I had lost my card. Back to plan 'A' - the bus.

Since it was late Friday night and the bank wouldn't be open till Monday, going to Heinsa was not possible, so I'm using my last few days of vacation to rest, write to my blog and to prepare for when classes resume on Friday.

I will definitely go to Heinsa and spend some time there, but it'll have to wait for a long weekend in September or October.

China Day 3: August 24

As usual we headed out right after breakfast at about 7:30am. This would be another very full day. First, we went to a traditional Chinese clinic where I sat in front of a doctor who held both my wrists and looked into my eyes to determine the state of my Chi. As I understand it, the whole point of Chinese medicine is to promote the free flow of Chi throughout the body. It certainly doesn't take a doctor to tell me that my body runs pretty hot. The doctor said this was the case because I have a fat liver and my Chi isn't flowing freely because of it. He said the problem isn't very serious and prescribed an herbal tea which cost me $80 for a 3 month supply. He said the tea would also promote weight loss. Why not?

The next stop on our itinerary was "The Summer Palace". The original "Summer Palace" was built by The Qing-Dynasty Emperor Qianlong ( Ruled 1736AD - 1796AD). It is located North-West of Beijing and served as the Emperors' Summer Retreat. This first "Summer Palace" enclosed a multitude of buildings and a very large Garden known in chinese as the Yuanmingyuan or Garden of Perfect Purity.


Summer palace


Lake and summer palace


Friends


The kind of boat we rode around the lake


Summer palace from the lake

After lunch we went for a tour of a silk factory. The Korean guide had arranged for me to have a private tour with a guide who spoke English. It was fascinating to learn about how silk is made. So much work! So many poor silkworms! I saw all the stages of the silkworms which lives for only 45 days. Silk of course comes from the cocoons that they weave around themselves while they morph into moths. The cocoons with the larvae inside are first soaked in hot water to soften them and then a worker skillfully grasps a single strand and winds it on a spindle. 1 strand alone doesn't have enough strength, so the strands from 8 cocoons are wound together to form a single silk thread. The silkworms inside die of course, but they are not wasted. They are used for cosmetics and sometimes roasted and eaten.

I couldn't help myself and bought a beautiful silk quilt with an even more beautiful silk cover. There is no way this could be bought anywhere for less. It only cost about $150. I'm sure the same thing would cost five times more in Canada. The quilt and cover together required many hours of work and the lives of over 100,000 silkworms.


Beautiful runway model at the silk factory (Beijing Tianhou Silk Co. Ltd.)

Before leaving the silk factory we were treated to a fashion show. Then, we went to a theatre and watched a martial arts show. It was a stage production about the history of Kung Fu.

The absolute highlight of this day was our tour of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City, also called the Palace Museum, the Purple Forbidden City or Gugong Museum in Chinese, is located in the center of Beijing, China. The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420 during the Ming Dynasty. It had been the imperial home of 24 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. From their throne in the Forbidden City, they governed the country by holding court sessions with their ministers, issuing imperial edicts and initiating military expeditions. For 500 years common people were not allowed to enter the city, hence its name.

After the republican revolution in 1911, the youngest and last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, then still a child, abdicated the next year. But he, his family and their entire entourage were allowed to stay in the palaces. They were finally expelled by republican troops in 1924. This was the basis for the movie "The Last Emperor" which was filmed here.

The "Forbidden City" has been known to the public as the Palace Museum since 1950. It is one of the largest and best-preserved palace complexes in the world. There are over a million rare and valuable objects in the Museum. The Imperial Palace Grounds are located directly to the north of Tiananmen Square and are accessible from the square via Tiananmen Gate. It is surrounded by a large area called the Imperial City.

Although no longer occupied by royalty, the Forbidden City remains a symbol of Chinese sovereignty and the image of Tiananmen, the entrance to the Imperial City, appears on the seal of the People's Republic of China. The Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Recently, the site has been under much renovation which has limited visitors to the main courtyards and a few gardens.


Scholar tree where last Ming emperor hanged himself in 1644




Lotus Flower


Maria, Lisa, Stephanie and James




Imperial Lion bedroom guard. This is a sign of power. The right paw of the male lion is usually raised and the lion has a pomegranate, also a sign of power.


Forbidden City (Palace Museum)


In the Forbidden City.


Friends

We exited the Forbidden City through the North Gate and found ourselves in Tiananmen Square. As I looked behind me after coming through the gate there was that famous picture of Mao Tse Tung on the wall over the entrance. This was another one of those 'pinch me' moments.


Mao and me


Tiananmen Square


The usual spot where just about every Chinese person has their picture taken at some point

We walked through the square for a while to meet our bus. Then, we went for supper. After returning to the hotel I really wanted to scratch the itch I had for a couple of "Coronas", so I went to the hotel bar. I chatted for a while with a man from Florida. After the man and his friends left I was the only customer in the bar, so I challenged the bartender to a game of pool. We ended up playing three games; he won them all.

Time for bed.

China Day 2: August 23

Wakeup call...6:00am. Breakfast at 6:30. I ate the same thing for breakfast at the hotel each day...bacon, pancakes, sausages, watermelon, orange juice and coffee. Boring I know, but these things are all hard to come by where I live. We were on our way by 7:30.

It was a beautiful day as we drove 50km on the Badaling expressway to the Ming Tombs. This is the general name given to the underground mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). The mausoleums have been perfectly preserved, as has the necropolis of each of the many emperors. Because of its long history, palatial and integrated architecture, the site has a high cultural and historic value. The layout and arrangement of all thirteen mausoleums are very similar but vary in size as well as in the complexity of their structures.

It was originally built only for Changling, the tomb of Emperor Zhu Di and his empresses. This is the most magnificent of the tombs. The succeeding twelve emperors had their tombs built around Changling.


Entrance to the Ming Tombs




Intricately carved baluster caps like this one appear throughout in the Forbidden City, as well as at the other Ming monuments in and around Beijing.


Imperial guard


Coffins of the Emperor and 2 Empresses





We spent a little over one hour in the tombs, then it was off to a jade carving factory. There were some spectacular pieces there.

After lunch and more shopping we were off to what was for me one of the highlights of the trip...The Great Wall. It was early afternoon and it had gotten quite hot. The climb wasn't easy...in some places the Wall is extreemely steep and you find yourself walking at a very odd angle. This was something I could now cross off my 'lifetime todo list' ...I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. At the summit of the wall at Badaling there is a little kiosk where you can buy a photo of yourself and have it mounted on a certificate that in Chinese says you have successfully climbed. I probably would have bought one of those, but I had left my money in the bus.


The Great Wall at Badaling


The Wall summit












I was really there!

After reassembling at the point where we began our ascent, we boarded the bus and were off to "Dragon's Gorge". Its actual name is "Longqing Gorge." It is a natural Scenic Area is located 10 kilometers northeast of the county seat of Yanqing. Known as "Lesser Lijiang river outside the Great wall" and "The Small Three gorges of China," it is one of Beijing's top 16 tourist sites. Longqing Gorge covers an area of 119 square kilometers. The main scenic spots include the largest dam in Northern China-a concrete dam more than 70 meters high. Here tourists can see waterfalls in summer and icefalls in winter.

We walked along the gorge for 20 minutes to the dam, and then took the 258-meter escalator to the top of the dam. The escalator was built in 1996. Since it is shaped like a dragon, it is named the "Soaring Dragon" Escalator, and it is included in the Guinness Book Of Records for its length.


Jade sculpture near entrance of Dragon's Gorge


Dragon escalotor to the top of the dam. Longest escalator in the world.


Friends...Maria, Lisa and Stephanie

We walked along a winding mountain path at the top of the dam and got a spectacular panoramic view of the lake. We boarded a ship toured the lake for about an hour.

We had done quite a bit of walking so far on this day and most of us were pretty beat. What better way to end such a day than with a full body massage expertly done by a beautiful masseuse. There were many rooms in this place and each room could accomodate about 10 clients. Male clients had masseuses, and females, masseurs.

Finally, we went for supper and were back in the hotel by about 8:30pm.

I had invited James, Maria, Stephanie and Lisa for a beer in the bar, but once they saw the prices they wouldn't let me do it and came up with a better idea. We walked to a little corner store not far from the hotel and bought some beer. It wasn't the "Corona" that I was craving, but it would do and it only cost $2.50 for 5 cans as opposed to almost $5.00 for a single "Corona". I bought the first 5 and my friends bought the 5 more. Then, we went to the room they shared and had a little party. We laughed, talked, drank the beer and ate some fruit.

I left around 11pm and went straight to bed.

China Day 1: August 22

I got up around 6:00am to give myself time to eat, and shower. Then, I walked down the street to catch a bus to the train station in Masan. There's a limousine bus company that runs a shuttle directly to Gimheh airport right beside the train station. The trip to the airport would take about one hour and only cost about $5.70. I arrived at the airport almost 3 hours early. After a while I met a tour representative who gave me a form to fill out, and a green rubber thing to put on my bag to identify me as being part of the tour. It said, "Mode Tour". I didn't meet any of the other tour members or the tour guide until I arrived in Beijing.

We arrived in Beijing at 5:30pm. The flight to Beijing was very smooth and only took about 2 hours. After I collected my baggage, and went through the usual security check and immigration, I stepped through the doors of the main terminal and to my left there was a small woman holding a sign that said, "Mode Tour" in Korean. She didn't do a particularly good job of concealing her surprise when I walked up and indicated that I was on the tour.

After all 19 people on the tour had been accounted for, we headed outside to board the bus. One curious thing....someone asked me where I was from and when I said, Canada they were surprised because they thought I was Russian. That's the second time in my life I've been mistaken for being Russian.

It took at least an hour to get from the airport to downtown Beijing. The very first thing we did was to go to an acrobatic show. It was spectacular!

After the show we went for dinner. A few of my Korean friends had told me that they hated Chinese food and found it too oily, but I honestly have to say that I loved the food. I suppose it was oilier than Korean food, but it was quite delicious. Among the many dishes on our table there was the one that Beijing is perhaps most famous for, Peking Duck. Delicious!

The remainder of the evening we spent browsing on a famous street in Beijing, Wang Fu Jing Street. Located pretty much in the center of the city, Wang Fu Jing is not just about shopping, it's a whole experience. Festivals and exhibitions often take place on the street. It turned out that my Korean companions were all elementary school teachers in Busan. They all had English names that they had chosen during their high school days or in church...Stephanie, Marie, Lisa and James.

We arrived at the hotel, the Jing-Guang New World Hotel. I stayed in room 1707. It was a typical hotel room with all the usual features... a mini-bar, kettle, a selection of coffee and teas, and television. One thing though - the carpet in the room, and in fact throughout the hotel was in bad shape.


Downtown Beijing


Acrobatic Show


On Wang Fu Jing Street


Room #1707

English Camp etc.

Well, I promised you pictures and pictures you will have! I finished up English Camp last Friday. Generally it was three weeks of fun. There were 4 classes per day. I was to teach the first 3 and a co-teacher taught the last one. Class started at 9:10 each morning and I was usually finished at 11:30 when a snack of bread and icecream arrived for everyone. At the end of the last class each day the students in typical Korean fashion cleaned up the classroom. During the regular school year during lunch hour a group of students clean up the whole school.

Each week I taught a different grade level from grade 4 to 6. Here are some pictures from each class...

Grade 4





Student holding a traditional Korean musical instrument.... a 'gayagum'.





Grade 5




Grade 6







Kids cleaning up after class


I started taking hapkido about 3 weeks ago. It's not easy. This old body isn't what it used to be, but it's coming along. The muscles still have some memory, and as some of you know, I can do the splits.

The hapkido school.

Last week the instructor presented me with this hapkido uniform. You can't see it, but my name is embroidered in gold thread at the bottom of the jacket. The name that's there is literally 'Pee taw' which is the closest most Koreans come to pronouncing it. I didn't realize that my name would be on it otherwise I would have told the instructor that a couple of months ago some grade 5 students gave me a Korean name, Kim Song Hun (pronounced Hoon). I like that name it's apparently the same as a famous Korean poet of long ago.


Sorry for the stupid expression. I wasn't relaxed. I took this myself using the self-timer on the camera, but it only gives me 2 seconds after I press the button to get into position. As I get better I'll take the camera to the school sometime and have someone take pictures of me doing something or other.

The Trip To China Is ON!
Today a friend took me to the Hanatour Agency in Masan to finalize the arrangements for my trip to Beijing, China next week. I'll be going for 3 nights and 4 days. It's only going to cost about C$800 for everything. The hotel in the package has been upgraded from a 4 star to a 5. And because I booked early I'm getting a discount of about $70. The package includes all the usual things in Beijing....Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Mao's Tomb, and The Forbidden City.

Best of all the package includes a whole body massage at the hotel. That sounds great!!!!!

The temple stay? Next week I'm going to China and the week after I need to rest and prepare for when classes resume on September 1. So, that leaves this week, but I have to be back Friday afternoon in time to pick up my visa for China and pay the balance of the trip. So, I think I'll do the temple stay from Wednesday to Friday and leave sometime Friday afternoon to get to Masan for the visa. That's not as long as I would have liked, but that's the way it is.

In case you don't know on August 27th the planet Mars is going to be closer to us than it's been in at least 5,000 years. This should really be something to see. Apparently, on that night in particular, Mars will look about the same size as a full moon, only red. This won't happen again in any of our lifetimes for at least another 5, 000 years while some say it could be as long as 60,000. Pretty academic. I'm not gonna worry either way.

Talk to you all when I'm back from China.
Take Care
Pierre

Hapkido and Temple Stay

Last night I had my first Hapkido lesson. I did some stretching, and learned some falls and rolls. I'm still sore! At the end of the class we were supposed to do 70 pushups, but I could only manage 35 and then my arms went all noodly.

After class everyone pitches in to clean up the dojang.

Although I joined the "adult" class which goes from 9-10pm, none of the other students is over 16. In Korea kids commonly take some form of martial art training, but once they get to school most stop. The average high school student here just doesn't have time for much of anything besides school. Once they reach adulthood most Koreans rarely engage in such training. Adult Koreans seem to prefer activities such as hiking in the mountains, and playing volleyball or badminton.

The lessons cost $70/month, but that's for training 5 days/week. The club is open 24 hours/day for anyone who wants to workout.

I'm lucky because the owner/teacher (who everyone calls Kangjangnim) at this school in little old Chilwon is a relatively famous former national Hapkido champion. He's very nice and a very good teacher. When I first met him in February he brought me to his house to have supper with his family. I wanted to wait till I had lost some weight and was in better shape to begin training. And here we are.

The belts in Hapkdo...one starts off with #10 Gup and works their way down to 1. At that point you're ready to test for your first degree black belt (dan). Training 5 days/week it's definitely possible to go from beginner to first degree black belst in about a year.

Why did I choose Hapkido over Taekwondo? Taekwondo is a sport that relies almost entirely, and I think to its detriment, on extremely flashy kicks. They look very impressive and I admire the skill it takes to execute them, but to me it just doesn't make any sense to try to kick someone who's a foot away from you. Hands are much faster in closeup situations. Taekwondo relies on keeping your opponent away, at least kicking distance away, but what if your opponent gets through your defenses and puts you in a hold of some sort? And again, Taekwondo is a sport. Hapkido on the other is an art. It's a complete self-defense system that doesn't exclude any weapons, i.e. elbows, knees, locks, grabs, holds, joint control, kicks and punches. It has pretty much all the kicks of taekwondo, plus the close-up fighting you find in aikido or judo.

While I never have and don't feel the least bit threatened here, I wanted something that would help me get into really good shape, and this is it. The fact that it's also a very effective means of self-defense is just a bonus.

For those who are interested here's some history on Hapkido....

Hapkido is known as The Royal Korean Martial Art due to its main influences being those arts that were used to protect the royal families and significant religious figures of the Korean Dynasties.

One should understand that Hapkido was not created or invented by a single individual. It was developed over hundreds of years by thousands of people as part of the history of the Korean Peninsula.

This evolution of Korean martial arts dates back to 3 A.D. The era of the three kingdoms. During that time several different native Korean martial arts emerged. Each one specialised in a particular discipline in much the same way that Taekwondo focuses mainly on kicking today.

This evolution continued up until 1910 when it stopped until 1945. During this time Korea was occupied by Japan and all native Korean arts, particularly the martial arts were suppressed. Only Japanese arts were permitted to be practiced.

Once Korea was liberated the old arts started to re-emerge having been practiced in secret all those years.

It was then that the man who is commonly known as the founder of Hapkido returned to Korea from Japan where he had been taken during the occupation. His name was Choi Yong-Sool. There is much debate about Choi's life. Some say he was taken to Japan as a servant, others as a student, there are no records to support any one argument.

But what is known is that while in Japan he studied the art known today as Aikido.

On his return to Korea he noticed many similarities between Aikido and the native Korean martial arts. Choi then studied under many different Masters of the native Korean arts, remember each one being a different discipline. He gathered their techniques together.

He then combined these techniques into the art we know today as Hapkido. He decided on this name after first using several others.

Choi Yong-Sool had many students, more than some other Hapkido Grand Masters, outside Korea, would have us believe. Some even openly take credit for founding the art.

In Korean Hapkido has a similar meaning to Aikido in Japanese and many Japanese would claim that Choi just copied Aikido. The truth is that there are many elements in Hapkido that are not anywhere to be found in the Aikido syllabus.

Despite all the politics, claims and counter claims. Hapkido has flourished throughout the world. It is now one of the fastest growing and most practical self-defence martial arts in the world. It is versatile and offers the students a lot of variety in their training, it is adaptable and not bound by impractical rules.

For this reason it will continue to go from strength to strength in the future.

My temple stay? Unfortunately there is no temple stay program at TongDoSa temple for foreigners. However, a friend of mine found another temple that has a very flexible schedule. It's at a temple called Haeinsa near Daegu. It's about 2 hours from where I live. I'll do it after my trip to China, probably from August 28-30. It only costs about $10 per day.

Here's a couple of links...
Temple Stay

Recollections

My next article will contain some new photos - I promise.

Take care
Pierre

Typhoons and stuff

With the exception of one, this one, I love the Korean seasons. I hate summer here! I think I detest summer here more than I detest winter in Canada. While they can be extremely cold and snowy, Ottawa winters are redeemed by the occasional bright sunny Saturdays that are just perfect for horseback riding through the snow. Those days make me happy to be alive, happy to be Canadian and well, just happy.

Summer in Korea is not so much fun. It's hot, very humid and rains much of the time. A typhoon blew through here last week...Ewiniar. It's silly name belies the destruction and lives that were taken by this thing. I read on the internet that 35 people in China had been killed by landslides and such. A number of people in South Korea also lost their lives as heavy rain and strong winds lashed the country's west coast. Typhoon Ewiniar cut a northeast path across the country, dumping as much as 7.9 inches of rain where I live, in Gyongsangnam province.

A summer rain here isn't the same as back in Canada. In Canada after a rain, the temperature and humidty often fall pretty sharply and make things much fresher and more comfortable. Here, before a rain, it's very hot and humid and after the rain...it's very hot, humid and wet.

They tell me that the rainy season is almost over, but still I'm looking forward to fall.

As most people who read this know, Canada celebrated its 139th birthday on July 1st. As planned I went to Joyce's, the bar in Masan. I went with two female friends. But, it had been raining all day and not many people showed up to celebrate. We were there from about 9:00pm till midnight and there were never more than about a dozen people around. We drank some beers, played some pool and that was it.

A couple of weeks ago I started getting a toothache. Fortunately, I have full dental coverage here. It's a bit different here. They don't cover everything. Unfortunately they don't cover preventive or aesthetic dental treatments, i.e. cleaning, scaling, bridge work, dentures, caps etc.. On the up side, those things and everything else cost a fraction of what they do in Canada. Korean dentists make about the same as Canadian dentists, but they have to work a hell of a lot harder for it. A Canadian dentist might see 10 patients a day and make $100,000/year, but a Korean dentist will see an average of 30-40 patients a day.

The dental clinic looks very much like what I'm used to...there's a waiting room with old magazines, a couple of couches, a stand for those all important umbrellas, a couple of attractive young assitants, and a dentist. That's right, just one dentist.

There were no people waiting when I went so I was able to see the dentist right away. He looked at the tooth and determined that it needed a root canal. This has been coming for a while. It was due. He took an x-ray of the tooth. That was different too...he only x-rayed the one tooth. My dentist in Canada would have x-rayed the whole ball of wax. He didn't give me any lead vest to wear for the x-ray and he in fact came into the x-ray room with me and held the gun in place. He didn't wear a vest either.

Since a root canal doesn't fall under either aesthetic or preventive treatment, it's covered. I would have to pay something, but only about $50 total for everything. He did most of the work on the first appointment, but it took about 8 more very short appointments to get it all finished. The same thing would cost $1000 in Canada.

I've had a partial plate since I was about ten years old and one of my adult front teeth was knocked out by a girl whose heel connected with my mouth as I was annoying her and her friends while they were skipping. She jumped in, her feet came up, I jumped in and for some reason had my head down. The tooth was never seen again. True story and that's the tooth.

Anyway, I've had this partial plate a very, very long time. I'd love to get rid of it, but my dentist in Canada said it would cost me $5000 and that it wasn't covered at all since it was purely aestheitic. The same thing here will only cost me $1200. It's not covered either, but I think I'll go for it. If/when I come back here in January for a second year I'll have it done.

The adventure continues....it's July 18th and tonight I'm going to the Hapkido school to hopefully begin the process of beating up this old body. When I've done intensive martial arts training in the past I've lost a lot of weight. I expect the same will hold true now. That'll take care of fitness, well muscle toning, flexibility, strength, endurance etc. Taichi, which I practice at home each day helps with overall toning, balance, mental relaxation and memory. Then, next month I'll do the temple stay at Tong Do Sa temple. There I'll learn the fundamentals of Buddhism, and learn to meditate, to go within so I don't go without. Finally, in October I'll undergo the same process of intestinal irrigation and fasting that I did a while ago. The result I hope will be a new me, inside and out.

The kids start their summer holidays next week. That's about a month later than the kids in Canada. Korean kids get a month off in summer and a month off in winter, plus some national holidays here and there. The new school year begins in March, after winter vacation.

Next week Summer English Camp begins. Unlike the winter camp which was 4 weeks long, this one is only 3. Then, I'm off for 3 whole weeks. My trip to China is booked. But, there's chance it may not happen. I'm booked with a Korean tour company, and they need at least 8 people to book the trip or they won't go. So, far, as far as I know, I'm the first and only person on the tour. Tomorrow I'll find out if anyone else has registered. The total cost excluding souvenirs will be about $800. Last week my co-teacher kindly drove me to the immigration office in Masan to have my visa upgraded from a "single entry" to a "multiple entry". Sounds sexy, but it just means that now I can leave Korea and get back in without any trouble (hopefully!!) whereas before, I couldn't.

I'm not sure if I'll do the temple stay at Tong Do Sa before my trip to China or after. I think I'd prefer to do it after, but it depends on their schedule. I'll find out about that tomorrow too.

Well, that's it for this month. Sorry, no pictures this month. There'll definitely be some next month...English Camp, art exhibition, China, Tong Do Sa and whatever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!!!
Love
Dad

Let the rain fall down!

Last night I went to a bar in Masan called Joyce's. What a party!

I heard about his place last weekend and just had to check it out. I was told that lots of foreigners go there on Friday and Saturday night. I met my American friend, Ross and we took the bus to Masan together. We had lunch at McDonald's and then went to see the new 'X-Men' movie (not a very good movie by the way) and then we wandered around trying to find Joyce's. I knew what neighbourhood it was in, and thought it would be pretty easy to find, but no. We walked around for a while and then luckily bumped into a couple of foreigners who gave us directions.

I was told they had good finger food at this place and I was looking forward to having some buffalo wings, or nachos with a draft or 6. As we neared the bar we could here live music. What I wasn't told is that the place doesn't open really till about 7pm and that no one shows up till at least 10:00pm. But, the band was practicing and there were a couple of other people there, friends of peole in the band. They didn't mind us staying.

I really wanted to see this place when it was busy and wanted to see who would show up. Ross wasn't so keen, so we had a beer together, and then parted company.

The place is small but they have a band who call themselves the 'Kimchee Sojus'. For a while I was their only audience as they warmed up. I met all the band members, played pool with a guy named Chris from Ohio. Then, the owner of the bar, a guy named Matt, showed up. He's quite a character! Tall, shaved head, and fortyish. He still teaches English, but somehow finds time to own and run a bar and is in the process of opening a health club in Thailand. The guy must live on about 2 hours sleep a day.

Lots of people did show up...Canadians, Americans, a German guy, and lots of Koreans too. I spent most of the night talking to a guy named John, an X-ray technician from Toronto who was originally from Korea. He was back on vacation to visit family and watch World Cup games with his friends.

I stayed there till just after 1am and since the buses stop running around 11pm, I took a cab home. I had quite a few beers and a shot of something, but wasn't really drunk. I think it was because I was in this new place alone and wasn't sure how I was going to get home. I had never done this here before. When I've gone out drinking here it's always been with friends or at the local bar in Chilwon by myself for a draft or two.

On a completely different topic... a little over a month ago my co-teacher at Chilwon Elementary told me that I'd be having an open class. At the time she said it was no big deal, and only an opportunity for other teachers to see how I teach and maybe learn something, and for me to benefit from their feedback. Nevertheless, I was nervous. Then, about a week before the big day she tells me "We have a problem!'' The head of Haman education would attend my open class...he had never come to Chilwon Elementary School before. All of a sudden it was a very big deal to a lot of people.

At the next staff meeting the principal told all the teachers to make themselves available to us, and to help us however they could to prepare for the open class.

My co-teacher, Jon Su Yong, did a lot of preparation for it. I picked the topic, came up with some ideas and wrote some dialogues. She fixed up the classroom, prepared the materials and helped me get the students primed for the big day - June 5.

I was nervous before the open class, even more so when I saw all the people at the back of the class, i.e. the head of Haman education, the chief shool inspector, their assistants, all 9 of my co-teachers and about 10 Chilwon teachers. But, once I focused on the students, I was fine.

I began by pulling out my guitar and singing "You are my sunshine" with the students. Suprisingly my fingers managed to find the chords and I sang okay I guess. Once I just focused on the kids and stopped seeing all the spectators, I was fine. At the end they all clapped. I did all right I guess...the principal, vice-principal, and chief inspector all said, "Very Good job!".

It's a relief to have that behind me!

The World Cup is again upon us. As you probably know soccer is a much bigger deal in Korea than it is in Canada. Hell, it's a bigger deal just everywhere else in the world than it is in Canada or the U.S. Korea beat Togo, and then tied France this Monday. Most of the matches are on here at 4:00am. I like soccer, but not enough to watch it at 4:00am. Surprising to me that many of my teacher friends and the kids got up at 4am to watch. I had dinner with one of my teacher friends and her family on Sunday night and the whole family was going to get up to watch. Geez!

Okay, here's my sports diatribe...for God's sake Canada let's give up baseball. It tops the list along with golf and bingo in the running for games of the dead and nearly dead. Let's face it, if you're playing bingo on a regular basis, you should really check your pulse. Baseball isn't far behind and it's largely an American thing. Canadians aren't particularly good at it, or into it, and our teams are mostly composed of American rejects. While we're at it we should also drop football. Although more exciting than baseball, it's also mostly an American thing that we do to try to keep up with them. Well, sort of, CFL football is somewhat different, but again most players on Canadian teams are American rejects.

Hockey? Stanley Cup playoffs that go into the middle of June! Holy crap! That's riduculous!! Let's go back to the original six teams, simplify, and get back to basics. Hockey is our game and we should stop pandering to American tastes. Most of the expansion teams should be dropped. Start by removing the teams from places that don't even get any snow in the winter. If something drastic isn't done soon our national game is done for and that would be a shame.

Finally, all the money saved by dropping football and baseball should be put into beefing up our soccer program. Now that's a game! It has worldwide appeal, is fast paced and requires an amazing level of fitness and skill.

I almost went horseback riding a couple of weekends ago. There's a private riding club about an hour from me. But, I think they do some renting. However, we didn't make an appointment and the owner wasn't there. They got in touch with him but he was reluctant to let us ride without him being there. Insurance issues, I guess? Or, he simply may have wanted to check us out before letting us go. Whatever. I'll go back but will call first. Because of the high temperatures and humidity at this time of year they generally only ride at night. I had expected the horses to be scrawny and maybe even not well taken care of, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it's a very clean place with some very beautiful animals who look very well taken care of.


Hey gorgeous!


Me brushing a very pregnant mare

We left the riding stable and went to a charming little traditional tea shop. It was just a little cottage type thing by a river. The owner, a middle aged woman also played guitar and sang some traditional Korean folk songs beautifully.


The little teashop



Our day ended with a wonderful lunch at a really nice restaurant. We ate something called 'Kalby' (ribs), and had just finished eating when I heard something fall in the wok on our table. I looked and it was a large millipede. It was reddish coloured and really kind of revolting. The women with me screamed and pushed themselves quickly away from the table. We called the waitress over and she was just as scared. So, I took the fly swatter from her and managed to get the little critter on it and put him outside. My friend told me that this thing was very poisonous.

The rainy season began here on June 14th. It'll last about a month. So far it hasn't rained that much, but apparently next week it's supposed to rain three days, be sunny for two and then rain for two more.

Many, perhaps most budhist temples are located in the mountains of Korea. And most, if not all temples are blessed with the best water you've ever tasted. Clear, clean and cold, pure mountain water.


Ancient temple drinking fountain

Did I mention that here instead of dialing 911 in an emergency, you're supposed to dial 119.

Finally, anybody ever wonder about the Korean flag. I love the design, and the meaning of it.


Perfect balance and harmony.

Well, that's it for this month. Take care y'all!

Pierre

Tong Do Sa

This is a busy month here...it's family month. Children's day was on May 5th, parents day was May 8, teacher's day is on the 15, and there's also "couple's day" which is coming soon. Parent's day used to be called 'Mother's day', but it was changed to include father's too. But, that was only for optics, the day is still mostly for mothers. This year Buddha's birthday fell on Chldren's day and we lost a holiday. Normally Buddha's Birthday, which celebrates the date when he achieved enlightenment, is also a national holiday.

A couple of friends were kind enough to take me along with them to Korea's second most famous temple, Tong Do Sa. It was beautiful! Here's the website for the temple: http://english.tongdosa.or.kr

Tong Do Sa has a temple stay program during the summer where foreigners can stay for 4 or 5 days, learn about buddhism and experience life as a monk. That's where I plan to go in August.

While Tong Do Sa is the largest, oldest and most magnificent temple for many miles, it is surrounded by about 30 smaller temples called 'Am Ja' which are beautiful in their own right. As I waited as my friends attended a buddhist ceremony I sat on a hill in the woods just taking in the beauty and peace.

Below are pictures from Tong Do Sa and a couple of the smaller temples we visited.




Latern Festival at Tong Do Sa






Buddha's sari and surplice are stored in this structure. This area of the temple is considered very holy and is only open on Buddha's birthday.
















A walk in the woods




Each stone in these piles represents a wish someone has made.


"Fantasy Land" Theme Park not far away from Tong Do Sa temple.

Apparently Gimchi made the news not too long ago. Yes, according to the New York Times, Korea's favourite, fermented cabbage dish made the list of the world's top health foods. Here's the list :

- Olive oil from Spain
- Soy from Japan
- Yogourt from Greece
- Lentils from India
- Gimchi from Korea

I've started using a traditional Korean wooden pillow. It's helped a lot with a problem I had with my neck. I don't use it everyday, but now and then I'll lie on the floor with the pillow behind my neck and rest. I learned about the wooden pillow from Wonjangnim (not her name, just a respectful way of saying 'owner'), the 70 year old lady oriental doctor that's been treating me.


My wooden pillow

So far, so good! Last weekend I bought a pair of jeans and a couple of t-shirts here. I never thought I'd be able to fit into the clothes here! The jeans I bought are size 36...it's been about 8 or 9 years since I've been able to wear that size. I'm aiming for size 30 or 32. Only two more treatments to go, then it's up to me. Almost ready for Hapkido training.

On a cultural note...Korean's don't use the word 'my'. Everything is 'our', i.e.our school, our country. In conversation they even refer to their husband or wife as 'our husband' or 'our wife'. They really mean 'my husband' and 'my wife', but still I find it interesting. Culturally I guess they put the collective before the individual, while we tend to do the opposite.

There is one more holiday this month, national election day, on May 31. However, I pointed out to a couple of my friends that if your L's sound like R's, then it's probably safer to you call election day, voting day instead. If you know what I mean?

Speaking of politics...I really have to find out about Korean political system. I have very little idea of how it works other than I think they vote for parties and not people. But, at the same time there are independent candidates, so....I don't know. Also, they have both a president and a prime minitster. And I thought we had it rough!

Take Care
pae

Da Som

In one of the first classes I taught when I came here, there was a girl sitting in the front row. I noticed her because she sat with her head down the whole class and didn't make a sound. When I approached her to speak she wouldn't, and many of the kids in the class said I shouldn't talk to her because she was dirty. If that was true it was because she had so much to do at home that she didn't have time to wash or because her family was very poor and didn't have much running water.

I felt sorry for this girl who I found out was called Da Som which means 'painful love'. I made a point of inviting her to eat with me in the cafeteria so that the other kids would see. I thought that maybe if they saw I valued her, they would change their ways and not treat her so badly. Later, I arranged with my co-teacher for this girl to come to my apartment after school on Saturdays and use my shower. When my co-teacher called, I would leave the apartment, leaving the door unlocked and they would come over. I really didn't think she would do it, but she welcomed the chance. I believe she thought the apartment belonged to my female co-teacher and so had no problem with the arrangement. It didn't matter, it wasn't enough. As far as I know she left Chilwon Elementary in February still an outcast among her classmates.

She went on to middle school where according to, Ross, a collegue of mine, she flourished. There were teachers at her new school who helped her and let her use a shower. She had friends, and I think had found some happiness. I had never seen it, but Ross told me she had even found her smile.

Last Friday, April 28 she was tragically struck and killed by a truck.

Da Som, I wish I had known you longer!

Small, frail and poor.
Too soon a life is ended.
No time for goodbye.

pae