Hilary Meets the Land of the Morning Calm

For those of you who have never heard of a Flash Mob, or Mass Freeze, whose popularity is often credited to Improv Everywhere , let me fill you in. First, a Flash Mob is when a large group of people come together suddenly in a crowded place, do a synchronized unusual action for short period of time, and then quickly leave the scene, all the while staying 'in character.' Lately the popular manifestation of this is Mass Freeze, in which as large a group of people converge at a crowded location and at a specified time, freeze in the middle of whatever they were doing: drinking coffee, talking on the phone, scratching their head, picking up something they dropped, ect. They stay frozen for exactly 5 minutes, and then they all unfreeze simultaneously continue whatever they were doing as if nothing had happened.

Under recommendation of a work colleague, Thursday night after work Saeko and I sprinted to Itaewon in search of the Green Turtle. I was told that the owner, Michel, was a flamboyant hairdresser, who had a good taste in style and spoke fluent English.

Back in January 2005, I was a freshman at Bishop's University in Québec. I signed up for a double dorm room, and shared it with a girl named Saeko Ochiai, from Tokyo. She quickly became one of my best friends, becoming very much like an older sister for me. I had to say goodbye to her when she left Canada a year later, but we kept in pretty good contact with skype. As I planned for what to do after school, Saeko was a big supporter of my application for JET in Japan, and later, teaching in Korea. When I told her I had secured a job and would be a mere 3 hour's flight from her, she immediately made plans to come visit me.

As Sasha was walking me from her place back to the subway stop one night, we had an amazing discovery: there is a Un Lion d'Or in Seoul! It is located near exit 3 of Jamsil subway station. May there be golden lions where ever you go...

Last week Sasha proposed that we check out a pro-baseball game this weekend. Having never been to a pro-anything game and never personally been a lover of baseball, I didn't really understand why she was so keen on doing this, but I went along with it.

500 points to whoever has the best interpretation of this poster:


Sasha and I came across it in a subway station. Click on the picture to see it enlarged, and post your answer in comments for this post.

One of my favorite things about going to other countries is that I often end up doing things that I would have never done back home. Like getting on TV for instance. My initial recruiter, Jason Cresswell from ASK Now sent me an invite to a filming of Superstar K. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I knew it was some sort of televised show, and it was it free, so I was going.

I have a home again! Tuesday night, after work, my boss and one of our school managers picked me up in a car and helped me move all my big heavy suitcases and bags from the love motel to my new apartment. I now live three subway stops from work, (a 15 minute commute) and only a two minute walk away from the Kkatchisan station on line 5 and 2.

First and second day of teaching are now (thankfully!) under my belt, and I have now moved into my new home, so I am going to take time to catch up. I will summarize as best as I can my job as a teacher so far.