Saturday, September 6, 2008

Seoul's Soul



Hello again all,

Well, a week into teaching, and we're already exploring the country. The first week of school went well--I have a few problem kids/classes, but nothing that won't work itself out with time, discipline, and a little bit of ingenuity in creating fun activities. My Grade 5 Senior 4 class is a bit rowdy, but they're getting better. My Grade 8s, meanwhile, refuse to talk overmuch in class, so I've got to keep finding ways to keep them interested.

So. The week ends, we go out for a pint and a pizza at a Western-themed Korean bar. I kid you not on that one... it's got British fare and pub signs everywhere, and it is a microbrewery, so the pilsner was quite good! The company was great as well, since I got a chance to meet and greet most of the teachers in a non-working environment... definitely less stress involved after-hours.

We then went out to a nightclub/martini bar (best way to describe it) for darts, a couple of flaming shots called Cherry Bombs, and a behind-the-bar dance routine by the Korean staff. There was juggling, flames, and a choreographed routine set to the latest K-Pop song.

I admit, I got my ass handed to me in darts, but that's no surprise.

Then, Saturday, Jen, myself, Daniel and Oliver (two other teachers) went off to Seoul, the capital, accompanied by David, one of the veteran teachers. We got on the bus in Suwon, near Kyung-Hee University, and rode it for about 20-25 minutes into the outskirts of downtown Seoul.




Now, I say the "outskirts" of downtown Seoul rather tentatively. Seoul, proper, is 10-odd million people. The city stretches for several dozen kilometres in every direction from the downtown area near Insadong, and we only arrived Gangnam subway station, which is a good, say, 30 minutes on the tube to Insadong and Seoul's bustling heart near Namdaemoon. Of course, there's dozens of burroughs, much like New York City or London, dozens of mini-communities that have their own flavour and feeling and personality.

Insadong has dozens of shops, at least two palaces, and a host of other amazing features, including the arts & crafts "villa," for lack of a better term, where we stopped and shopped for taffy and grabbed a lunch of stone-bowl bibimbap with bulgogi. Daniel was brave and had octopus bibimbap (cooked), and David had what was essentially the same thing, but with Kimchi and Cheese. I guess it's like a Mac-And-Cheese but Korean. Kind of.



I even got a chance to try my hand at helping hammer the toffee into softness. Anything's better than having to do telemarketing back home, right?




From Insadong, we walked downtown towards the centre of Seoul itself:




There are dozens of major streets throughout the city, including one leading up towards the old palaces that have since been restored following the Korean and Second World Wars (not much survived the rather bloody fighting in this part of the peninsula).





There's also the recently restored canal running, literally, through the heart of downtown Seoul. What used to be an apparently filthy segment of town was recently gentrified and restored to its older form. There must have been well over a thousand Koreans wandering the canal, although not so many that we could not find a little tranquility to rest, as well.




We wandered around some more downtown, into several shops and into what has to have been the largest bloody bookstore I've ever seen in my life. It was probably the size of a Montreal mall's entire first floor, for example, like the Eaton Centre, except one store.

Back topside, we also got a cool picture of Admiral Yi's statue--the man who saved Korea from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion following his victory in Japan during the Sengoku Jidai (Age of the Country at War) in the 1500s. Considering he had about 6 turtleboats (the first ironclad vessels in the world) against hundreds of Japanese ships, that's something to be able to brag about. I'm therefore not at all surprised to see him get a statue figuratively guarding the approach to the palace.

From Insadong and the northern end of downtown, we walked south towards Namdaemoon market. If Insadong is the cultural and political soul of Seoul, then Namdaemoon market is its beating, bustling heart. En route, though, we stopped to watch the changing of the guard at one of the many palaces and gates within the downtown district. Notice, of course, that the palace is right across the street from a Dunkin' Donuts. After all, the King must have his snacks, no?
From there, we soldiered on towards Namdaemoon. I include the the following picture so that others may know the harrowing size and speed of the streets in downtown Seoul. And, by the way, this is actually a small street for the city.
We arrived in Namdaemoon and Myungdong district to do some shopping--Daniel needed a shoulder bag to hold all the stuff he was carrying in his pockets, and managed to bargain down the shopkeeper from 22,000 Won (22$) to 20,000. I picked up a Korean Red Devils football jersey--something I'd promised myself I'd do. Now I just have to find the right time to wear it in class.
Finally, in Myungdong, below, we looked around the bustling streets for more shopping and to find our way south to the subway station back to Gangnam and from there, back to Suwon.
After returning home at about 7:45, Daniel split off to head back to his place, while Oliver, Jen, and I went out for Pizza Hut. After all that, we felt the need for some North American cuisine, and, deciding against the Squid, Potato, Shrimp, or Mayonaisse and BBQ Chicken pizza, we settled on an old standard: Peperoni (deliberately mispelled as per the translation in the restaurant).
A fun day, although we're all quite exhausted. I've just finished marking my papers as of 11 AM Sunday morning, or 10 PM Saturday Toronto/Montreal-time (recall that this entire adventure took place from 12PM - 8 PM Saturday morning Korean time, 11PM - 7 AM EST).
Just cleaning the apartment for tonight, when we'll have some friends over for some Settlers of Catan, Risk, Soju, and relaxation.
Cheers, all,
Chris
--Still looking for a good PC Bang to check out and post about, as well as a Dojang. I'll find one yet, or just head over to the University... they're famous for giving degrees (like BAH, MA, PhD) in Tae Kwon Do, so I'm sure they'll let me train with them.--
Remember to check out Jen's website at http://careerandjobsearchinghelp.blogspot.com for more interesting pictures and stories, as well.

No comments: