Sunday, January 20, 2008

a weekend in gimhae..

this past weekend was spent with jessie and justin in the little town (at least, compared to busan) of gimhae. arriving in the afternoon on saturday, we spent little time sitting around at their house; they already had an awesome night planned out for becky and i. we started out going to this cool chinese food restaurant (not quite the same as back home) and we had supper. my ability to read korean has reached a point where i can usually identify at least one word in a description of the food, but choosing a meal is still like pointing at the menu with your eyes closed. luckily, the menu at this place was all pictures so it was much easier to order than at most other restaurants.
jessie and justin picked their dishes (fried tofu with veggies), and beck picked her's (mixed stirfried veggies surrounded with tofu), and then i chose a chicken dish. when reading the description of my order i guess i didn't pay too much attention. i saw the word dalk which usually means chicken. i seemed to overlook the word beside it too in my rush to order- the word bal (which means "feet"). sigh... when i received my plate of deep fried chicken feet i kind of regretted not paying closer attention to the order. the texture was terrible, but the taste was pretty good - like a spicy lemon chicken...
from that place we walked to a restaurant called muse. it was pretty fun- there was a live band playing the whole time we were there (two lead vocals, a guitar player and some electronic synthesized background accompaniment. it was there where we met up with jessie and justin's friend, ju. he spoke enough english to communicate with us, and he helped us order food and drinks too.
the last place we went to was another live music place, but more of a bar than the last one. we ordered what we thought would be a pitcher of stout, but it turned out that the bartender just mixed a bottle of dark beer in with the pitcher of light beer - it was still good though. it was a great place. on the stage there was a lone guitarist playing with electronic accompaniment, singing as the smoke machine gave the place a kind of 'hall-o-weeny' feel. in the middle of our time at this bar this random korean guy came up to our table and asked me where i was from. he then shook all of our hands and proceeded to buy us beer on his way out. not even to share a drink with us, but on his way out. i'm not sure if we look like celebrities, or perhaps the older korean men really want us to feel welcome while away from home, but having people buy us drinks after merely looking at us is becoming a common occurrence here. as we reached the end of our night at the bar, our new friend, ju was the one who got up and paid for our pitcher. what a generous culture! in so many cases that i've encountered here, the eldest male usually will make an attempt to pay for the food or drink. i like that this tradition still lives on... and that i am usually one of the younger ones at the table.
today was spent sleeping in and hanging out at coffee shops playing uno together. we capped the weekend off watching this video that justin and jessie rented from the library, called miss potter. set in the early 20th century, the story is about how the struggling artist beatrix potter makes a stand for something she believes in as the creater of the children's books starring peter rabbit. i won't go into the movie or how i was affected by it because this blog is already longer than i was intending. however, i do hope to write other blogs this week inspired by this movie, or maybe just by the thoughts that this movie has led me to.
if you could only map your train of thought... i wonder if it would make sense to anyone else who looked at it?..

Thursday, January 10, 2008

stop reading this blog - go on a hike!

the word addiction makes me think of cigarettes, or maybe alcohol or something of that nature. something that you continue to be involved in, to the extent that it is actually really hard to pull yourself away from.
in south korea, the most "wired country in the world", the addictions that many concern about are none other than cell phone usage, and computer gaming. south korea is said to be "the forefront of gaming culture", where nerds are glorified as tremendous athletes. the addiction to computer gaming has become such an issue here that the bbc actually did a special report, using south korea as a warning to the rest of the world.
there are about 28,000 "pc bangs" (or internet cafes) in korea. these dimly lit, smoke filled rooms could easily compare to the neighborhood tavern, only, there is no age restriction. kids will come to these pc rooms and sit down and play these multi player role playing games, instead of hitting the soccer field, heading off to bike with friends. the instant gratification of the virtual world is a very easy choice for kids who's childhood has been so jam packed full of schooling.
i don't blame the kids, for i think they are conditioned to act this way. many kids attend academies (like the one i teach at) after their regular school day, and don't get home to do their homework until late. these are the same kids who are learning how to speak english at the same time they are learning how to speak korean. they are bred into a culture that pushes kids so hard that many hardly get a chance to sleep in between their school work. so the free time they do get has to go somewhere (and it's not going to be sleep..)
if i turn on my tv at any time of the day or night, it's easy to find some internet game to watch. like, when i used to sit and wait for my turn to play halo in ben and jer's room at ssu watching halo, i didn't think much of it. i was soon to be playing. i guess maybe it could be the same thing, except the viewer is always, the viewer. these tv shows are where the real gamers shine. professional gamers are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars playing for packed audiences in studios that broadcast the games. they are the elite, and just like any other "elite" athlete, they have fans who adore them. you should really check out this bbc podcast - it's funny while at the same time, really sad.
some of the funny things about this gaming culture:
-there is a game where the main premise is to control the virtual characters to clean their house as fast as possible. perhaps these sims would rather be outside doing something else rather than cleaning the house? or, maybe they are just working toward some free time so they can hit up the pc bong.
- there is a training center that people go to, to strengthen their hands and their wrists while they aren't playing the.
-the fans will shower their respective "e-sports athlete" with snacks: candy, chocolate, and other sweets. i'm sure it helps them stay in the zone for longer periods of time.
- "the players arrive carrying their own mice and keyboard." just... a different world here i guess..
the sad part is (not that the above isn't sad, but is sad in a different way..) that this addiction has actually claimed lives. the bbc speaks of a 17 year old boy who went without food or sleep for two days. there was no interruptions with cell phones, or getting a drink, or even going to the washroom. some of the kids just go on their chairs while playing... ugh.... the kid died in the internet cafe. our material bodies just can not support us living in the virtual world.
i started out listening to this report almost laughing at its absurdity, but ended up feeling unsure of how to feel about it. there is a rehab clinic for kids becoming 'unhooked' from the virtual world, where they are forced to go on hikes, feel sunlight and communicate with others.
in my english classes i ask my kids what they want to be when they grow up, and the majority of the boys answer "a pro gamer". such a sad state of affairs..
the bbc report is here

Monday, January 7, 2008

the name game..

so, for the last couple of months of being here, i have been wondering more and more about this family name i have. the name "seto" has asian decent, but no one in the family has been able to pinpoint from where or how this name got to canada.
the search thus far has taken me to fukuoka, japan where this woman showed me the family name seto or sato, in Kanji (the japanese characters).

it looks like this:

i actually bought a stamp that had this name on it, and it has helped me on this search. but just this morning, i received a letter from my great aunt explaining how at least part of the family is from hong kong. now, there wasn't as many details as I would have liked, but this is a start. good ol' wikipedia suggested that the name sito is a very common name in china,
it's characters looking like this:


so where does this lead me? well, my great aunt mentioned some names that might lead me to find out a bit more, but right now i'm a bit stuck.
fortunately on my mother's side, the name bryson has been traced back and found its place of origin in strabane, ireland.
....
I wonder though, as time goes on, and as people become even further removed from their one particular heritage because of our multiculturalism, will there be any concern over one's history? would anyone say "oh yeah? well my great, great, great, great, great, great, great uncle was originally from china, and was the famous war hero... i think.."? one hundred years from now how will we view lineage? what about two hundred years from now? what about five hundred?
if you were to ask a korean about his family tree, i'd be willing to bet that they could trace it back way farther than the average north american (just what it seems like from here). is it good or bad that we can't trace our family's footsteps? i don't know, but i do think it would be cool if i could.
i'm going to continue to search around for the footsteps of my ancestors on my dad's side. i don't know what i'll find, if anything, but i'll be sure to post it here when and if anything comes up.


Friday, January 4, 2008

Top 5 year long goals - resolutions..

i think that a new years resolution should be to write in this thing more.
i was going to write this blog about how i spent new years going to a turkish restaurant with becky and some of her co-workers, but i think i'll spare you of that since this current sentence says pretty much all you need to know. i had falafels - they were delicious..
instead maybe i'll write a few more new years resolutions..

5. i want to start writing in this more. communicating to friends and family, i'm finding, is really important. so if i can keep up to date in this blog, maybe my lack of email sending wont be noticed.. heh heh...

4. learn the language! learn the history! learn the philosophy! i want to learn how this place managed to hold on to their own individual identity even after their country was occupied by the japanese. who are these koreans, and what makes them distinctly different than the colossal countries that surround them?

3. traveling! good thing my number two goal is to make money, because if this resolution closer to number one i'd have lots of memories and little cash-ola. it seems to me that traveling around korea is pretty cheap. seoul is the furthest i'd probably go, yet it is only a 25,000 won ($25) bus ride (i think). so, anywhere closer is only about 5,000 to 15,000 won - so why not explore!? becky and i want to travel once a month (if possible) and check out the amazing sites that korea has to offer. it would be such a shame to come back from korea a couple of hundreds of dollars richer, but with only the memories of my school and my tiny apartment.


2. make a budget and stick to it! my main purpose to be out here in korea is to make the cash that i owe the government. not that I don't like the traveling part (it's great!), but the ultimate goal is showing me the money! these past three months here i have ended up spending more than i thought, and am now questioning just how good i am at saving. this year should prove to educate me in the ways of going dutch (is that politically correct? [no offense intended]).

1. make a decision as to what direction i would like to go school-wise. i have been thinking about so many options that i have, and some that i do not have (but could have if i worked at it..) and still have not come up with any sort of "plan" about what to do when I return from this land of the morning calm.. currently (doug would say "oh yeah, it's tuesday, so you must be leaning towards this..") i am thinking of going into some sort of design program with my sights set on entering a city planning course a few years down the road. what school do i attend? when do i enroll? how do i get those high school math credits? hopefully this resolution thing will help me answer these questions... at least, to satisfy the year knowing that they might change next year. ugh.