almost done..

It's been 15 months since I first arrived on the land of the morning calm and my time here is just about up. Becky and I have been trying to figure out all the things we want to do and see before we leave here - but I think we've pretty much check all the "to do's" off the list. Now all that seems to be left is selling some stuff off, and packing up.
There's been some highlights and lowlights in the Korean experience, and in this blog I want to share those with you. In the spirit of "Top Five's", here it is.
The top five's about my Korean experience (in no particular order). The good news, or the bad news first? .. lets start with the bad (save the best for last).

The Top Five Negatives About My Korean Experience
1. Turns out that Korean food is... well it's not what I expected it to be. I thought "yeah, Thai food is awesome, so is Malaysian food, and Chinese food, and Japanese food..." My mom might say, "when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me." .. i like that one.

2. Living 10 minutes from the beach isn't what I first thought it would be like. I imagined morning runs on the beach (in slow motion), and surfing lots on weekends. Turns out that even though Korea is surrounded by ocean, the waves suck! The surfing contest turned into a paddling contest this year.

(I would have put that my apartment was a negative, but... I moved to a much sweeter place, so it heads for the positive)

3. The distance between us all. Busan isn't a big city, but it is a thick city. I imagined all of us 'former ssuers' living in a kind of community (I don't mean living in a big yellow building, but you know..), or at least close to each other where we could see each other often. We were at opposite corners of the city, and Jessie and Justin were not even in town! Those potluck weekends, or those night's out just didn't happen as much as I had wanted, or hoped.

4. My goal about learning Korea has come to a crashing disappointment. I studied for the first month or two - even had a language exchange with a Korean friend - but I gave up soon after I realized that I would probably never use it again after I leave Korea.

5. Just as I'm about to cash in my last two paychecks, and my bonus month paycheck, the Korean won has fallen the lowest it has in 10 years against the dollar. This means that I'm making thousands of dollars less than I would have if it had stayed constant from the time I arrived here. I don't want to add it all up because it is just too painful.

Top Five Positives About My Korean Experience
1. I survived a year in a culture that I couldn't communicate with. Not only was I able to get by, but I made some good Korean friends along the way (the English speaking ones). I feel accomplished in being able to navigate my way around the city with only using a tourist map - unable to ask people questions about direction, food or drink (it might sound like a lame accomplishment, but it makes me feel like I find my way around here, I'll never feel lost anywhere else.)

2. The tickets for professional sports events are super cheap! I got to see a basketball game, soccer game, and like, 5 baseball games, all for what it would cost to get half a ticket back home. And although the soccer and basketball might not be the caliber as back home, the baseball has got to be - these guys won the Olympics.

3. I was able to save; the expenses are minimal. I got a free apartment, and free flights here. The food is just as cheap to eat out, as it is to cook for myself. The stuff I bought, I can sell to another foreigner for almost the same price. I moved out of a small dump with one window that faced a brick wall, to a two room apartment with a view of the harbor (sure, it's the ship building harbor, but so what? I can see water..). The living conditions are pretty sweet in terms of my expenses toward them.

4. The travel. I was able to buy a motorcycle and travel around a bunch of South Korea. Camping on beautiful islands and driving through paddy fields surrounded by mountains - it was awesome! I got to check out Japan, and spend some time in Vietnam. The experience alone would be worth it even if I hadn't saved money. (well... then again... all that debt?...)

5. The experience with the magazine The Korea Sun. I was invited to be a staff writer for the magazine several months back, and that gave me a bunch of experience with what it's like to be an actual journalist. I don't know what I want to do career-wise, but photo-journalism is an option. With the writer/photographer job I also got a media pass- this was the coolest part. With this pass I got to go backstage at nearly every event, and sit with the press. I got to go ring side for the muay thai competition, and on top of the halfpipe at the TreX-Games. I got to sit with the other photographers (who have lenses about 50x bigger than mine), and watch the baseball game on the field (in 'high-fiving range' of the ball players). Also, writing the Korean history column every month has really helped me get to know, and respect Korea's history and culture. I first suggested this article because I felt that foreigners were living here with no idea about the cool past that this country has. I wanted to share it with them - and it's great that it all seemed to work out.

These are the top fives of both the positive and the negative aspects of my Korean experience. Funny, it's all about expectations. I suppose that if I had none coming into Korea I might have less to call negative in the end... But I think, even if I expected the Won to fall so much, I would still feel gypped.

happy birthday

Happy Birthday Andy!!

soon we'll be living in cities called "Wal-martville" or "McDonald'ston"

Since when did the brand become bigger than the place? Naomi Klein would break down and cry if she came to Korea..
I tell the children I teach that I'm going to see a baseball game between the Giants and the Tigers. The look at me with blank faces. "I'm going to see the Busan Giants, you know, the baseball team?" Still with the blank faces. One of the kids quietly says "Lotte?", and then the others catch on what I was trying to say to them. "Ohhh, LO-tte!"
The sports teams out here are named after their sponsors - they are known ONLY by their sponsors. The basketball team is the "KTF (cell phone company) Magicwings", the soccer team is know as "Ipark" (I think it's a similar company to green park, or some other building company), and then the "Lotte Giants".

Should I be bothered by this?... mm yes. I think so. Over here, this is normal - no one would question it, or even think of it being weird. But i cant help but think of this brand worshiping crossing over the pacific, and reaching Canadian shores. Has it already happened? We go to watch hockey games at the "Air Canada Center", and while we cheer on the Leafs, we still watch them skate around the advertisement haven, skating over the Reebok owned blue lines.

Pretty soon will we be cheering on the Tim Horton's Leafs? Will we be rooting for the Microsoft Jays, and the Nike Raptors? Little kids will be screaming "GOO NIKEEE!!" and chanting the brand (just like here).

We should know better. We are losing our teams, our buildings, and all of our sacred space to the corporate names. We need to get back to the good old days where these giants are still thought of the heartless corporations that run local business under, rather than these iconic sports teams that portray superhero-like attributes.

Some things i dont get..

Just outside my school, about once a week, the community center fogs the streets to help contain the outbreak of mosquitoes. I'm not sure why, but whenever mosquitoes are around, the Korean people are instantly aware of their presence. There seems to be a fear of them, like others might fear killer bees. There are tons of different methods to get rid of the pests, my favorite being the 'electric tennis racket'. This device is exactly as it sounds: a tennis racket sized frame with an electric mesh that shocks its prey with 1.5 volts of power (it feels like more though..).
Anyways, It always amazes me how the parents just stand by and watch their kids running through the insecticides when they fog here. The sprayers move from doorway to alley way, even to food stalls, spraying their killer gas. I've asked my co-teachers and they swear it's safe, and even endorse the school kids going out to play in it. Being kind of new to this tactic of getting rid of mosquitoes, I'm a little shocked. Do they do this in Canada or the States? And if they do, do kids treat the insecticide like a sprinkler?

I guess it's just another one of those things that I don't get, and probably wont get.

a wake up call.

I'm disgusted. I woke up this morning, turned on the tv to watch BBC world news and the first story I heard was .. surprise.. about how the cost of oil has been shaping our standard of living. Ford Motor Company announced an $8.7 billion loss in the second quarter of this year, so they have decided to make 'smaller' cars. Yes, instead of investing in research that might keep their company afloat 10 -20 years from now, they've decided to take the easy route and make cars that drain the worlds resources in a slower manner - still completely unsustainable. The company is striving to once again be amongst the leaders in the car world, but they are going about it with the 'now or never attitude'. They know that there is a problem with the culture's practice of oil consumption, but instead of stepping up and being leaders in their field, they continue on that same path, giving them a bit of time before they are forced to change. The consumers are equally responsible, for it is our way of living that drives these giant companies to do what they do. There needs to be a leader out there in the automobile industry who has balls to turn towards something sustainable and move away from the dead end road of petrol.

So they've found oil and natural gas in the Arctic - apparently it's enough to meet the world's demand for the next three years. THREE years. "According to the survey, the Arctic holds about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20% of the undiscovered natural gas liquids." It's great that we found some back up to aid us in our change over from fossil fuels, but there is a worry about how the drilling will effect the permanent sea ice, or even the habitat of endangered species. "Exploration companies believe the recent rapid ice melt in the Arctic may make it easier to get reserves out of the region." It seems to me that we are so quick to move in, pillage what we can, and then move on to the next place. Glaciers are receding at an unprecedented rate. Yet, this will only aid us in the exploitation of the area? This whole issue should be a wake up call for us to move away from our addiction to oil, but I fear that it will only be the next step in our quest to drain the world of it's resources, and leave nothing in our path.