Hilary Meets the Land of the Morning Calm

So what is Christmas in Korea? Whatever you want to make of it, essentially. Unfortunately, I lost my "big" vacation, due to the closing of my school during our swine flu outbreak. So instead of having both Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve Day off, I only got the latter. (Same will apply to New Years as well).

I haven't talked too much about culture differences in Korea. Here are a few things that pop into mind:

• Out and about: Prepare to be pushed. Seoul is crowded. The sidewalks, stores, subways, u-name-it are always full of people going in all different directions. Add to this fact that Koreans' idea of the personal bubble space is much smaller than in the US/Canada, and you have the result: guaranteed physical contact. To a foreigner, this can seem rude, because it feels like you are getting bumped, pushed, shoved, and jostled from all sides by people who don't seem to notice you or apologize for the seemingly avoidable bumps. This can be quite aggravating on a bad day, but it is something you simply must get over if you don't want to be in a bad mood all the time.

It's that time of year again, and yes, it comes to Korea too. I have been singing Christmas songs with my kindergarteners and engaging them in detailed discussions about Santa Claus with my elementary-age students. Familiar pop Christmas songs are being pumped out of store speakers at full volume, and plastic Christmas trees are popping up like dandelions everywhere you look.

So I made one brilliant move last week, which was leaving my purse in a taxi. This happened after a big shopping adventure at our local Costco (it was pay day, so we splurged). My coworker and I were rushing to get everything out of the car so the taxi driver could leave, and it was dark and I guess I couldn't see my black bag in the shadows where I left it. Gone.

In the end I didn't lose too many important things, my cellphone and wallet were luckily both in my jacket, so I didn't need to call a million financial institutions. This being Seoul, home to a zillion different taxi companies, if you don't know which one you got in to, its nearly impossible to track down. Word to the wise, always take a mental note of the taxi company you get into, and always ask for a receipt, even when you pay in cash. Cab receipts have not only the name of the company, but also the cab driver's phone number so if you lose something, you can contact him directly.

It is time I write a post about the swine flu frenzy here. In fact, part of the reason I have been able to catch up on my blog is because my school has closed its doors, from Wednesday until next Monday in reaction to the swine flu epidemic.

My last blog post was October 5th, and here I am on November 5th writing my next one. No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth, actually, au contraire, I signed up for Intensive Korean lessons, everyday, Monday-Friday from 9-10:50AM before work. They took place about an hour's subway ride from work, which had me waking up usually around 6:30AM. Since I don't get off work until 7:30, and usually dinner and interneting consumes a few hours, plus studying means that I have been burning the wick at both ends so to speak.

Sasha and I made plans to meet up Sunday morning to climb Bukhansan mountain, which is in the North-East outskirts of Seoul city. It took me an hour and a half subway ride to get there, and I was not alone. Car after car, subway after subway became increasingly packed with middle-aged Koreans dressed head-to-toe in very professional (and colorful) hiking gear. It felt like I was at a volunteer photoshoot for some major hiking gear company like the Northface or EMS.

Thursday, my first day of Chuseok vacation, I went exploring. Originally on the search of a cultural theater that used to do special drum performances, I stumbled across this gate:

"Happy Chew-sock what?" Let me fill you in: Chuseok is essentially Korean Thanksgiving: a celebration of the harvest, celebrated every year according to the lunar calendar, near the Autumn Equinox. Just like holidays that you are familiar with, the holiday is centered around food, though not exactly turkey and gravy and pumpkin pie.

After doing the mass freeze at the COEX mall, Saeko and I met up with my other old roomate Sasha (two former roomates with me in Seoul: how lucky am I!!!) and we went to check out the aquarium, only a five minutes walk away. The highlights included seals, sharks (accompanied with an underwater tunnel through their water), penguins, a two-headed turtle, bats, and funky modern art involving fish. Pictures say it best so here you go:

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.

This morning, I awoke successfully to my alarm, so progress has been made. Two hours later my boss dropped off the 100+ page booklet I need to read through for tomorrow when she, Melissa and I meet at school (yes, on a Saturday!) to review it. This is going to be our "orientation" since we weren't allowed to attend our company's official training program. (They kept us in quarantine, away from the other foreigners who have already proved lack of swine flu through the test of time.)

Today I got off to a rather late start. Due to lack of alarm clock, I slept until noon, and woke up from my boss calling me on the hotel phone. She asked me to stay put until she dropped off a reading packet of training info for me to read before we meet Saturday, but two hours later she called saying she couldn't make it, so I was free to go exploring.

First thing I have to say is that Korean Air is awesome, I highly recommend. Especially the meal part. The flight went surprisingly fast, Quite typical of myself, I accidentally made getting from the airport to the meeting place with my employers much more time consuming and complicated than necessary, but I have arrived. The first night's shower, food and sleep was very much needed and appreciated.

Moving home from my apartment in QC went much more smoothly than I could have hoped. I did the majority of my packing Friday afternoon when I got out of work, and was worried when I realized that my packed boxes took up a good portion of the living room. I showed the mountain to Dad when he arrived but he seemed perfectly confident, so I stopped worrying.

I am down to the last full week in Lennoxville, Québec. It is funny to think of my fears a year ago, when I worried about what leaving dear Lennoxvegas would be like. I was convinced it would nearly break my heart to leave this town. The time I have spent here has had an enormous impact on my life. The 5ish years represent a truly happy time, full of so many memories and awesome people. I know once I leave, I can never come back to the way it is now. And I don't think I will ever live in this little corner of the world again.