This One's For The Family And Friends Back Home

The result of a double-dog-dare:What's Cathy doing?? What... oh wait, she's contemplating a spoonful of blood-chunk-soup. Yep, on my spoon is a congealed, cooked hunk of blood (and some onions). Is she actually going to eat it????
Of course she is!!! Cathy's no wimp. Alex and myself went out to a Samgyupsal place on Friday, and were served a steaming bowl full of blood soup while we waited for our meal to arrive. So, of course, we decide to take pictures of eachother eating it. It actually doesn't taste all that bad; just strange. Then Alex went into this big long story about how the blood is gathered; I'm not convinced that this is true, but apparently the blood is left to drip from a dead animal of some sort, congeal, then is cut up and put in the soup. Masshiket Juseyo! (Enjoy your meal!).

Wolchulsan Again

On Saturday Stu, Alex, Monique and myself met up at 11am to climb wolchulsan... again. This time though, Stu suggested the "goat trail", which meant that it was much more difficult. We found ourselves jumping over huge rocks, hanging from old ropes over sheer cliffs, and slipping along loose gravel on the rocks. It was a lot of fun. These are our "Korea Phighting" poses. This was at the beginning when we still had lots of energy, and were ready to "kick the mountain's ass". This is one of our many stops on the way to the top (which we could just barely see in the distance). At the top of this particular mountain there was lots of holes in the rock. This was a particularly stagnant pool of water we found. (That's alex resting nearby).

At varios stages on a big fat rock. The nice thing about the "goat trail" is that we were pretty much the only people on it. Once we went down the mountain on the regular path it was really crowded. Waiting in line to walk sucks.
Here's the view from the top (as Stu eats some chips on the right).

Thanks Beeridget!!

I just got your package at work!! Customs opened it in Seoul, but I'm pretty sure all they did was put in some bubble wrap for the rest of the journey through Korea! Thanks dude!! I can't wait to eat some tacos!! My co-teacher Mrs. Lee thought all of the items you sent were so cute she wanted to take a picture!!

Written Apology

I was just having an msn conversation with Alex and felt compelled to say sorry after ten minutes of "your mom" jokes. I'm sorry Alex's mom, for what I've said, and I'm sorry to my mom, for what Alex has said. Hahahahahahahahahahaha... but apparently Alex thinks you're a hot mom, so that's always good!! Hahahahaha, the best part: I've just written this on my blog, and now you're going to be printing it out (for other readers, my mom prints off all my entries)!

In other news, Mom, I got your Easter pictures and letter. I especially liked the fake smiles as the siblings did the dishes. Muahahahahahahahaha. Marcia was telling me she wished I'd been there to deflect some of the abuse, so it's nice to know I'm missed, even if it's only as a potential target!!

And now, to totally switch topics again: I felt that I was long overdue for some Naju English Town pictures. I've always been meaning to add some but it just never happened. I would just like to show everyone that I work in a cartoon:

Yep, that's an actual car, sans engine.

I didn't Almost Have a Freak-out This Time!

Don't get me wrong, my extra class was still a little crazy, and the Evil Ringleader just as inattentive as usual, but I played some games!! You want your class to all the sudden think you're a good teacher? Play a game!! The game I planned was ridiculously simple: I gave three groups little pieces of paper with each month, and the numbers one to thirty. Then I would say a random day (like January 23rd) and whoever found the right months and numbers first, won a point. They went crazy for it; they were screaming and fighting and generally acting like hooligans over it.

The Final Countdown... (da na na nuh... da na na na nuh...)

This blasted cold is still causing me angst, but apart from that, life in Cathy land is tranquil. It's still hard to believe that in just over four months I'll be back in Canada, dealing with reality. It doesn't feel like I've been here eight months at all!! There are still lots of things I'd like to do before I head back! A list:

- Wolchulsan one more time (going this weekend).
- Jirisan, another famous mountain, but I have no idea where it is.
- Jeju island. I think I'll just take a ferry from Mokpo one weekend when I've got nothing planned.
- Spend a weekend in Busan (Korea's second largest city)
- Go back to Seoul to shop (which of course I have already done, but there are always more tourist items to buy!!
- Visit the DMZ. I had a few opportunities to go, but it never happened. Apparently North and South Korean military spend their entire day staring at eachother in anger. Some guards stand half behind buildings in case the other side attacks etc. etc. But then it's also a huge tourist destination because it's the only country in the world to be divided by a huge strip of wilderness with landmines buried everywhere.
- Visit another country (I've still got two weeks of vacation left!). After thinking about my plans for Canada: somewhere cheap, preferably.

All of those things are very do-able.

So What Could This Dream Mean?

So, I had no classes today, and it's becoming surprising and a little scary how easily I can while away an entire day sitting at my desk. For some reason I keep on thinking about this dream I had a while back. It started with me in Korea, except that there were people there that I'd known in Canada there as well of course. I was with this big group of people and we'd just finished school (as in, we were all students at a school?? Makes no sense), so we were walking down these back alleys. The entire dream had this post-apocalyptic, Tim Burton-esque backdrop. The sky was gloomy with an ugly redish tinge, the buildings old and derelict.

So we're walking along, all wearing backpacks, until, in the distance we see a mountain, and it's this twisted, ugly-bizarre looking Mt. Fuji (which is in Japan... again, the dream isn't making a lot of sense). All of the sudden we're at the foot of the mountain, which is this immense, monstrous, gothic looking thing; so we start climbing. But we're not walking along the ground, we're walking along a HUGE vine suspended over the ground that is anchored to the peak of the mountain. The vine gets thinner and thinner as we ascend, but we never stop for a break or get tired. Eventually it's a straight-up climb, but no one slows down. Now I'm basically pulling myself up using my arms more than anything.

Mt. Fuji is a huge mountain, and is often viewed with an ample snow covering at the top. The top of the mountain was white in my dream, but it wasn't snow, it was more like styrofoam. And the actual peak of the mountain was only big enough for one person to stand on the "top" at once. Weird!! So we all get to the top, but it's really crowded and since only one person could sit down on the top of the mountain we're all clinging to crags ("those craggy bits!") in the styrofoam and dangling from the vine. Just as I was starting to try to appreciate the view, I woke up. Waking up sucks sometimes... well, all the time.

The Day Kesi Teacher Spazzed

Had my extra afternoon class today. Came perilously close to freaking out on a student. It kills me that half of the class is SO GOOD, and so willing to try; if only I could just weed out the kids who are only there because their parents make them go!! So I'm trying to teach them about the country and the city (super-fun topic eh?) and there's this one boy, of whom I will name "Evil Ringleader" who will never speak English at all (in any way, even just repeating back to me). Then he's got his buddies "Crony 1", "Crony 2", and "Crony 3" that do his every bidding, just to make things extra fun. So they were running around the class, doing nothing, refusing to even open their books or participate. Just as I was about to scream and rage (or adversely to burst into tears) one of my nice students who hardly ever says a word, said "Kesi angry?" and made devil horns with her fingers. Of course I started laughing and said "Yes. Kesi very mad."

So I gave stickers to all of the kids who actually did something. Mom, all of the stickers you just sent me are already gone (I've got some more from Bridget on reserve though)! I said "two stickers each", which the students took to mean "two pages of stickers each". By that point I just wanted everyone gone though, so I dismissed the class.

Sometimes it's just so frustrating that I can't yell at them in Korean! There are so many ways I could get them in trouble if only I could actually talk to them without hearing "mulaiyo" (I don't understand). AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! There, now I feel better.

Kesi the Whiner Takes a Moment

So I'm sick again. I spent the entire weekend in my apartment watching "Six Feet Under" as I stuffed my nostrils with kleenex (a charming visual, I'm sure). I didn't speak to a single person from Friday at work until Sunday night when mom called. It was pretty great, or it would've been if I hadn't felt so sick.

Oh, and here are the pictures to go with a previous post about my love of intrigue: this is the abandoned car near my house, and the beach toys in the back.

Think what you will...

Spring in the Land of Morning Calm

Assshhhh... I already had my entry written out, then I pressed a wrong button (my demands are all in Korean... it can be a little frustrating!!!). Now I'm feeling so apathetic that I don't want to do it again. Yes Alex, I know, I'm very emo (but never as emo as YOU). I'm going to abbreviate what I had originally written, which was articulate and interesting, I assure you:

- It's spring, and it's windy, and the wind is blowing dust from China into Korea.
- So obnoxious! China! We don't want your dust! It's making people over here sick!
- Makes my apartment dusty, the sky's a little yellow, but that's really all I've seen over here in the Naj. Apparently it's worse in Seoul.
- I just spent the afternoon watching a Korean movie called "The 200 Pound Beauty" and this is the only moral I could glean: If you're fat and ugly, get A LOT of surgery and you'll become famous and people will love you.
- Plastic surgery is on the rise in Korea. Big time. You can go into a 7-11 and buy these little oval shaped pieces of tape. Girls (and I guess some boys) put them on their eyes to give them the "western double eyelid". Whenever I watch t.v. it's easy to see which actors/actresses have had the double eyelid surgery.
- Kids are always pointing at my big white-girl nose. Some kids are instructed to pinch their nose often so that they will develop their bridge!
- Today Mrs. Kim (the mean co-teacher) said to me: soft drinks are for soft people (after encouraging me to drink the coke that's been in the fridge since winter camps).
- This led to general bitterness.

This is amonument near Geumsong Mountain. Yep, he's shooting a gun into the air. And in the previous picture is Kimbap Man, offering you some delicious kimbap like a weird cannibal! (kimbap usually involves veggies and rice wrapped in seaweed)

Please Teach Me English

This movie is so very excellent!! If you want to know how Koreans feel about learning english, how teachers feel teaching in a foreign country etc. etc., watch this movie!! I also love the fact that the ESL teacher's name is Cathy. This is only a part of the movie though; if you want to watch the rest, check out youtube.com. Just type in "Please Teach Me English", and the movie is cut into 11 parts (I think..).

Kristen's Birthday

On Saturday I headed out to Mokpo to pay Kristen a visit so I could say Happy Birthday and all that stuff. We started the evening with a traditional Korean singing/dancing/instrumental extravaganza. This is the only picture I took because we weren't supposed to use flash photograpy, and I thought I had turned off my flash, but I hadn't, and it went off in the middle of the performance. After that I felt bad so I didn't want to take any more . There was one really good performance involving four guys playing various traditional instruments. I was absolutely transfixed by one of the guys; he had really bad hair, but he was having a marvelous time banging on his little mini-gong insatrument.

Then we walked over to a restaurant called "China Food" whish was delicious.

And here's Hyun-joong about to bite Kristen. Eeeek!

Before I went to Mokpo Saturday afternoon, I decided to go for a nice walk on the mountain with the helicopter pad on top. I rarely see others on the trail, and I got there at around 9am, so I had wondrous visions of solitude. This vision was coming true until I spent too long at the top resting and was joined by a few students from my school. After the "Hello Kesi's!!!" were over, they made it known that they were with an entire class full of students on a field trip. Just my luck. So after about thirty more hellos, a photo opportunity with the waygook, and trying to assist the kids up the mountain ("Candy teacher!! Help me!! Help me!!") I got to leave. I can never escape!!!

I Love Intrigue

This is just a little story about how I like to over-think absolutely EVERYTHING. Near my apartment complex there is a really beautiful mountain range and I walk along the same streets/paths to get there everytime.
First I make my way through the shanty-town region of Naju, then walk along the river looking at the koi fish, then I walk under an overpass. Parked on the left side is a car. There's nothing strange about the car except it has been there for over seven months now. I saw it the first time I took a walk to my mountains when I moved here, and it's STILL THERE. It hasn't moved in all that time! It's gotten really dirty, someone ripped the licence plates off, and the same items that were sitting in the car are still there in the exact same place.
In the back seat there are two inflated beach toys, a blanket and some books. It looks like someones on their way to the beach, they're just running seven months late.

So naturally I've assumed the owner of the car has been murdered, the children sold to some sort of prostitution ring, or sold to wealthy celebrities who want to be like Angelina Jolie. But how come the Naju Police haven't had the car towed?? Why does no one know about the existence of the car? Maybe the car's from Seoul and someone stole it and ditched it in Naju? Or maybe I should get a life?

The Bamboo Forest

So yesterday we found out that we didn't have any class so we decided to go on a "business trip". After lots of official Naju English Town work in Gwang-ju (i.e. hanging out at Mrs. Kims place and going out for lunch), we went to Damyang (a city near Gwang-ju) that boasts the most bamboo in Korea. So here are a few pictures of us in the "Bamboo Forest".

This is Dong-gyu, Mrs Kim's older son; he's eying a strange statue that we found. Not a clue who he is. I'm pretty sure Dong-gyu had his suspicions though.

I got your package mom!! You are so awesome!!! But I owe you some money!! All those seasons of Six Feet Under must've been pretty expensive, and the Trailer Park Boys movie's going to be entertaining!!

So in the last five minutes (about 9:10 am) I found out that I have no class today, which is wonderful. So to get out of the office we're going to go on a fieldtrip!! Top ELT Bookstore in the morning, and Mudeungsan Mountain in the afternoon! Sweet!

I'll add to this post later!

Not Sure What To Make Of It...

So after class today one of the girls is trying to talk to me, and she motions to my hair and makes a "pulling out" motion, making it known that she wants a strand of hair. Thinking this was a little creepy, I pretended I didn't understand, but she wasn't satisfied with my "Ummm... mulaiyo" (I don't understand) so she pulled out a hair anyway. Then she showed it to her friends.

Keep the Waygook Happy

An example of how things can get lost in translation:

Supervisor Kim: (this is all in Korean, and of course not at all word for word) It's really difficult to find teachers who want to work in Jeollanamdo *the province I live in*. No foreigners want to work in the hick towns *such as Naju*, they'd rather live in Seoul or Busan etc. etc.

Cathy: What did she say?

Mrs. Lee: Supervisor Kim likes you and wants you to stay another year.

Hahahahahaahaha... sure she does.

Moon Walk!!!

Sometimes it's funny what information the mind retains. One of my students today could probably barely get out a "how are you?" but he was able to say "Moon walk!! Moon walk!!" as he did just that. Little weirdo.

The teacher of the class in English town today took all of his students and us teachers out to lunch at a "chinese" restaurant. We all had those noodles with the dark brown chunky sauce that looks like evil, but tastes delicious! Who knows what that's called in Korean?? English teachers?? It must have been pretty expensive for the teacher to feed 30+ people though!

Hmmmm... wow. I can't think of anything interesting that's happened to me recently, and I think that this is due in part to the fact that I've been living here so long nothing seems strange or unusual to me anymore!! In some ways I'm almost jaded: no when I see a temple I'm no longer impressed. I think to myself, "yep, that's a temple alright. Just like the one i saw... blah blah blah". Aren't I a jerk? And I just don't notice the staring anyomre. It definitely hasn't stopped, it just doesn't register in my mind unless it's REALLY blatant. On Saturday I went out with some friends to see a band play at the local waygookin bar. Afterwards we were all walking back to our hotel rooms a little inebriated and there was a group of Korean guys walking along beside us. After the usual hellos etc (drunken Koreans are very friendly!!... and so are sober ones... hahahahahaha), a waygook who shall not be named (ah, forget it, he'd be proud! It was Neal), decided it would be a good idea to "steal a Korean". This is a quote. So he picked one of the guys up and ran away, to the laughter of everyone, including the guy Neal tried to steal. Then the Korean guy tried to steal Neal later on etc etc. Is it just me, or is that REALLY funny? Maybe you had to be there...