Death by Cherry blossoms!

So its spring and all the cherries are all out in pink all over town, oh and the cherry blossoms too. Its a good time of the year, im not wearing 5 layers of clothes anymore and the heat of summer is a distant concern. Ive been out everywhere checking out the blossoms, Yeouido, Dongjak cemetery, and today I walked the mountain near where I stay. Its also the campus of Seoul National University. Oh and I appeared in a newspaper article, my co-teacher showed me. It was for the trip i took to see Bekje cultural heritage sites. The article also features a barcode, not sure if this is possible in South Africa, but I doubt it. You use your smartphone to scan the bar-code and then it will show you a video on your phone about the article. Well, I was featured in that video too. I sound like an idiot but hey at least not too many people will see it. The barcode thing is quite nifty though, I see it everywhere here on posters etc. So if you want extra info you just take a picture of it with your phone. I like the innovation here in Korea, little things always surprise me here. For example you get energy drink flavored gum, useful for when you missed your cup of coffee in the morning. I went to a mall called Time-square, beautiful futuristic looking place. They have a 4D cinema with the biggest screen in the world. A 4d cinema makes use of 3D movies with moving seats and other effects and even smell. I cant wait to try that. I joined a boxing gym, its just round the corner from me and a great way to get fit and learn a skill. I guess thats about all I can report today, im gonna go to bed, my legs need rest.

In seach of Baekje culture

Last weekend I went to watch a soccer game at the world cup stadium in Seoul. FC Seoul beat another team 3-1. Was an entertaining game, played at high pace and lots of shots at goal. Certainly much more exciting than any soccer I have seen in South Africa. After that we went to eat at Tacobell which was pretty cool. Then we went off to a metal gig in an abandoned building in Hongdae, the club district. Was really low key affair. The place didnt even have its own bar, but since you can buy liquor at 7-11, everyone just went next door to buy and took it inside the "club". A bunch of expats were performing: a death metal outfit with a really odd sense of humor. It was good fun. After that I went to a upmarket club in Apgujejeong, the Beverly hills of Seoul. We were on the vip list so didnt have to pay but the drinks were pretty pricy. About R60 a beer. DJ Sasha was performing there, an international DJ, apparently very popular but not that I would know. I had fun. The next day I went walking around Gangnam, a business area that reminds me a bit of walking in NYC, got a little lost, I got tired of walking and went back home to prepare for the week ahead. This weekend I decided to do the cultural thing. I went with a co-teacher of mine on a tour of Ancient Bekje culture. Bekje was an empire in Korea, part of the Three Kingdoms, and had a lifespan from 18BC-935AD. Its the lesser known of the Three Kingdoms, the more understated of the three but I was interested to go and see this part of Korean history. We went to Maae to see a trinity of Buddhas carved out of granite. As a lecturer was explaining the history of Bekje culture in Korean, all I could do was to do a little people watching. I was thinking to myself, if the audience was a bunch of expats half the group would have been missing, sitting in the bus, looking for a coffee shop, taking a smoke break or scrambling up the rocks in search of more sculptures, but the Koreans were all taking notes as the lecturer was speaking, lol. The statues are famous for the subtle smile of the Buddha which is unique to Bekje culture. I loved the scenery in the mountains. Still winter, but you could see the blossoms are coming out and spring time is only about 3 days away. This is when the country side will be transformed into beautiful color. The next stop was the ruins of an old temple, destroyed by the Joseon dynasty, the empire that tried to stamp out Buddhism from Korea in favor of Confucianism. We then went for a really great lunch near the temple of the open heart, Gaesinsa, made from the freshest veggies. Then we took a tour of the Gaesinsa temple, a temple dating from about the 9th century AD. The tour was running late, probably part to me talking so many photos and arriving last on the bus to go to the next stop, and so we had a very short time at the fortress of Haemieupseong, a huge structure build in defense of Japanese invasion probably round about the 15th century. I scrambled up and down the ramparts and expected the grounds as if I was commanding my own army of humans and elves against an army of orcs outside the walls. My imagination was interrupted by a journalist and a cameraman asking me if they could have a quick interview. Before I could say yes and swallow my bubble gum they were asking me what I thought of the fortress to which I replied "Its amazing" duh. How about giving me a heads up next time! Next stop, another temple with stone carvings of Buddha. I met another foreigner from the UK there, he had hiked up the mountain. Anyway, it was a long but interesting day and I arrived back exhausted from all the scrambling up mountains and fortress walls. Good day!

Orientation week in Daejeon

So I'm off to Daejeon for a week of teacher training, im on the bus, listening to accents and hear a loud South African behind me, suddenly the guy next to me starts speaking to him and he has a South African accent too. I'm thinking to myself, oh its so cool to be sitting next to fellow South Africans. Well turns out the guy behind me is a rather obnoxious childish guy that cant stop swearing and the guy next to me is a little nuts to say the least. Way to hold our South African reputation high! Well turns out this guy next to me is a bible freak, more correctly, he is a nut that hides under a thin vale of religious justification, he thinks that God speaks directly to him, and has given him a prophetic gift, I call that a schizoid. I should have seen the warning signs when I asked him if he had taught before and he responded "only the gospel". Later on the bus he responded to my story of how I got in a bike accident in Taiwan by saying that I probably hugged a girl and got turned on by it and that it was Gods way of punishing me. He told me that I must not be lead into temptation by the Korean woman. At that point i started to stare out of the window to avoid anymore conversation with this guy. But unfortunately as we got to the orientation location and we were about to check into our rooms he said to me, why dont we share and against my better judgment I accepted. Well as for the orientation itself, i really did learn a lot and I made some good connections. It was the best orientation program I have attended and I must thank the EPIK staff for an awesome time. We had a competition for best lesson plan presentation and my team, 2 other teachers from the US won our class' prize, W10 000 call cards. Thats nice, but I would prefer the cash since I can skype family and friends for free anyway. Well, so more about my roommate from hell. Firstly, he does not eat during the day at all cause he says he is fasting, the guy is really skinny and kinda scary looking. He never attended classes, not sure what he did all day, he talks to himself, he recites verses from the bible to himself and starts praying out of the blue, even in the middle of the night when i'm trying to sleep, that freaked me out. He complains non-stop and is particularly anti-American. I could just feel the negativity as I entered the room, i could feel this guy is bad news. He woke up at 2am to brush his teeth, floss and clear his throat. He doesn't do it quietly, he makes a lot of noise. I was furious with him for keeping me awake at night either by loudly clearing his throat or talking loudly to himself. Absolutely no consideration. He left his garbage scattered in the room after we checked out which just shows how inconsiderate he is, and he is like a leach, there he was keeping a seat for me next to him, for the journey back to Seoul. I wonder why it seems I seem to attract the freaks at orientation. Same thing happened to me at orientation in Taiwan when I also had to room with another bible nut. Anyway I feel sorry for the school he has to teach at. I cringe when I think of all the decent and good teachers from South Africa who's reputation will be dragged down by a few negative kooks that should not be here. Anyway I had a good time on the field trip out on a farm in the country side. I find the country side really beautiful and I can see that this country is really a stunning place for hiking. Its still winter but starting to change into spring so I hope to do some hiking soon. It was good to be back at my school today although i was a bit under prepared for my lessons. I picked up some really useful stuff at orientation that I cant wait to use. Tonight Im just going to take it easy, have a beer and relax and finally get a decent nights rest. Saw this really pretty girl today in the elevator of my apartment building. She smiled and greeted me in Korean as she got off. Wow, I wish I can speak Korean now. I seriously got to get a tutor. That made my day. Tomorrow im off to watch a local soccer game and then off to Hongdae (the club area) to see some rock bands. Should be a ball.