This is one of the class I teach. The kids are so cute and try so hard. From left to right starting in the back, Angel, Kevin, Steve, New Kid, Adam, Amy, Lucy. Amy is tiny and was really soft spoken but I kept talking to her in class and now she yells my name from across the school. I didn't take any pictures of the older kids because they are useless. Well not useless they just don't want to be there and don't listen. Oh well.





Sunday November 12 2006.

Well yesterday was remembrance Day in Canada and in Korea that means Peppero day. Peppero is a pretzels company who thought it would be a great idea to market chocolate pretzels sticks on the 11 day of the 11 month because the sticks look like ones. The Korean people have embraced this holiday and it is actually a civic holiday and if it had been on a weekday we would have had the day off to eat chocolate pretzels.
Honestly what kind of holiday is that. I know many of you reading this will say "we have valentines day" yes we do and it is a corporate holiday but it is not a civic holiday and it is not based on pretzels sticks that resemble the number of the day and month. Oh well, at least the kids gave me chocolate pretzels but the last thing they need is more candy 11 days after Halloween.

I also got my first Korean hair cut. The guy doing it was a huge homo so at least I knew it would be a good cut. It was the longest haircut of my life. It actually last almost 35 minutes. He used a straight razor to cut my bangs, which mystified me and he never actually used sharp Scissors . All he used was the clippers and those thinning Scissors and the straight razor. He took so long to do the side of my head and he kept looking at his work from different angles and in different lights just to make sure. It was pretty incredible looking down and the floor covered in black hair and to see some yellow hair mixed in.
He did a great job of it and at the end he gave me a head massage. The best part was that it only cost me 7 bucks and they don't accept tips.

So today I went to costco and bought a bunch of stuff I needed, like a humidifier and some groceries. There are five costco's in Seoul and if you have a costco card at home then it works here. They have most of the same stuff as back home with the notable exception of octopus and squid in the meat section here. It is exactly the same layout and minimalist approach as back home, which is quite surprising here. Everything is based on appearance in Korea. It is all about looking good even if you aren't good. A supermarket like Loblaws would have between 200-300 employees working on a Saturday to ensure that every customer had help. They would all be dressed up very nicely or really sluty, depending on the department they worked in and will stand beside you and make sure everything is alright. There is no unemployment in this country because they don't have any immigrants, kids can't/won't get part time jobs so the hire people to stand on the street and welcome you are you park your car. Then there are people in the parking lots welcoming you and showing you were to park, then there are people in the store welcoming and showing were to shop. They all bow and pretend they love their work, blows my mind.

Well, I have been in Korea for just over a month now and so far everything has gone swimmingly. The trip to China was a blast and I am planning another trip to Bali for Christmas.

So I am not really sure where to start this because there is some great stuff that has happened but I will start with the most recent and incredible story.

So I have joined the Seoul Survivors RFC and played for them against a U.S airforce team on the 28th of October and watched them lose a hard fought game against a team from Beijing. The club seems like a lot of fun and it is a great group of guys who are all pretty good at rugby.

November 4th 2006. Well last night after the game we all went out for the beer up. I am out of money right now because I don't get paid until this Friday but I figured I would go out for a beer or two with the guys and show my face. Well little did I know that Seoul beer ups are all you can drink and eat for free if you are a club member. So the two beers I thought I was going to have turned into a very large amount that I couldn't keep track of because my glass never got empty.

So all this drinking started at 7:30 so by 11 pm when I had planned to go home so that I could still take the subway, I was bloody trashed. I managed to make it to the subway but got lost after the first transfer. I did not know I was lost and thought I was headed in the right direction until this Korean guy started talking to me. He asked me where I was going and I told him to Bucheon. He looked at me with a funny look and said "you are on the wrong train." To my surprise I was and by this point it was 11:45 and I was on the last train of the night. We were halfway across Seoul and I didn't have any money to get home. This guy, Kyu Chang says to me "don't worry you can come stay at my house." I am pissed, so I figure what the hell else am I going to do? So I say "sure."

So Kyu Chang tells me that his wife is pregnant and he has a 4 year old son named Matt. He is 42 years old and wants his son to go to Canada when he is older. He figured the best way to do this is to make friends with a Canadian. Well we get to his place and his wife is pissed off. She is not letting him in the house and I am standing in the hallway like a dummy. So he looks at me and says "lets go" so off we go to a local restaurant and get some fried chicken and beer. We shoot the shit for another hour and I tell him about Canada and he tells me hi is a freelance journalist.

So after an hour or so, I can't really remember he takes me to a hotel and pays for my room and gives me his card and asks if I will call him this week and speak English to his son. I say sure and he thanks me and leaves. I slept the night and woke up with no idea where I was and had a short panic attack and then realized everything was ok and hopped on the subway and headed home.

To be honest now that I think about it it seems so unbelievable that something like this would happen out of the blue like that. I mean I was in a bad position being on the other side of Seoul with no money and not really knowing how to get home and this guy just went completely out of his way to help me. He was a little drunk as well but still to do something like that is a testament to humanity and the kindness of strangers.

I think it is to bad that there are not more people like that but come to think of it I don't even think I am a person like that. I don't think anyone reading this is that type of person either. Just imagine you are on the subway and you speak a little Korean and you speak with a Korean and you find out he/she is lost. What would you do?

Oh well I think it is a pretty cool story and hopefully something like that will happen to you as well.