sunday strolls

today was our first day off since we arrived.  we slept in late, watched a movie in bed and then scraped ourselves from the warmth of our rooms to brave our first foot-bound adventure.  we took a beautiful walk through the snow-laden paths of our surrounding town ... down the hill from our school, through the small restaurant district,

discovered a frozen dam and wondered its 3km circumference, popped into the GS25 convenience store and found a festive little french-styled coffee house called the old musica club.

the coffee cabin reminded me of t-bear's mother's doll house.  it was double-volume, furnished with individual antique pieces, quirky lamp shades and old-school french cafe soundtracks.  we ascended a petite staircase to the attic, overlooking a snowy street.  we ordered two americana coffees which arrived watered-down and with the bill.

R84 a cup.  but i don't want to talk about it.

on the way home, we explored small lanes and paths, discovering things that were wonderful, and some things that were ... well, just plain strange.

the frozen dam

inner-city driving range: four-floors overlooking a gauze bottom which slopes downwards - so that all balls roll back into a trough and are ready to be whacked out again.  smart hey?

the blue ocean  ship-shaped restaurant (Fathead sugar-coats his opinion thereof).

all around the dam's promenade, they've placed gym stations.        i'm not kidding.

and people actually use these for a quick work out.  they walk for a few km's around  dam, stop and do 10 bicep curls,  then resume their stroll as if it's completely normal behaviour.

odd, odd, odd.

week 1 ends

the weekly teaching shifts run from monday - friday, or tuesday - saturday.  since we've been here, we've worked the latter and will continue to do so for the rest of the month.  when we started, we were told the saturday shift is "fun" and "easy" as the day is filled with games.

that the day's programme is based on playful activites, is true.  to use words like "fun" and "easy" to describe it, is nothing short of a misrepresentation of the truth.

yesterday we discovered the true meaning of anarchy. 

in the morning shift i ran the jumping rope class. i recall the ropes we used when i was knee-high to a grasshopper. they were thin and fluffy twists of thread. here, however, we used a maritime rope - wiry and thick as your wrist, this cable of death was one of the most frightening things i've seen a child swing around a room.

post lunch, i learnt that 30 children in a classroom playing balloon volleyball is not a game.  it's a warzone.  by the end of the day, i was proud as a peacock of my injury record - managing to keep it at a low average count of 6 per class.

Fathead managed the "egg" (read polystyrene ball) and spoon race station - and then for his sins, "around the world ping pong".  by the time we sat in the prize-giving ceremony that evening, his blood-shot eyes were glazed with fear-induced tears.  he looked like a broken man, and i knew exactly how he felt.

in celebration of the end to a long and hard week, we hopped into a taxi and joined the rest of the teachers at a korean restaurant in seohyeon.  whilst it goes against all standards i have back home (usually refusing to eat anywhere that has pictures on the menu), we were only too relieved to be able to order our meals by pointing to a photo.  we ordered what looked like a chicken stew, which turned out to be pork, however it was absolutely outstanding.  as we devoured the best meal we've had since we've been here, tears of joy began a-sprouting.

it was fabulous. 

the meals were mostly communal - with everything arriving in super-size-it portions ... even the beverages.

   

that pitcher held about 5 lts of hite (a local beer)

the dishes are enormous, and are brought to your table with a single gas burner, where you participate in the cooking process.  this dish (though not particularly aesthetically appealing) was really delicious too.

trying to wrap our minds around prices is proving rather challenging.  last night's feast cost each of us 10,000kw (which is a laughable R70).  then today, we wondered into a gorgeous little coffee shop, and paid 12,000kw for two cups of crappy coffee. 

go figure.

anyway, i digress.  post-dinner we strolled through the streets to a really characterful (is that a real word?  my spell check is on korean) pub, which was filled with ex-pats.  we drank, we played pool (badly), got to know our colleagues on a more intellectual level (instead of the usual "have you seen my crayons?" conversation).         and we laughed.       alot.

after a few hours, the rest of the team decided it was far too civilised and dragged us to two really cheesy korean night clubs - the one, neither of us can recall the name of. the other was  the lost angel - filled with half-naked american GI's dancing like the village people to k-pop hits.

eventually around 3am, we called it a night. 

a really great night.

eyes wide shut

something i thought i'd share:

yesterday i shouted at a boy for sleeping in my class.
he looked behind him to see who i was talking to.
he was not sleeping.
he was wide awake.


note to self:
it is impolite to not notice the difference between asian eyes and those that are tightly shut.

ramblings from afar

i've been thinking about a particular group of individuals within our circle back home.  you know the one's that won't eat mushrooms, tomatoes and anything that comes in a sauce?  the one's who think a salad is lettuce, cucumber and tomato -  and any additions are considered completely inappropriate? y'know who you are ...

well, if you were here with us (crowder and holman: this one's for you) - you'd die of malnutrition within the next few days. 

the food in the canteen is supposed to be korean  - but i'm pretty sure it's the canteen-version thereof.  from all the rave reviews korean food gets there's no way they are referring to the stuff we get served. take the national dish, for instance.

allow me to introduce you to kim chee.  this is their national staple dish - which is nothing short of utterly disgusting.
to make matters more bizzare, they eat it with breakfast.
they eat it with lunch.
and yes, dear friends - they eat it with supper.

every korean smells of it, wherever you go.   it's boiled cabbage that they pickle in chilli powder and serve cold.  it's kind of like eating spicy kelp ... three times a day.

in terms of culinary trends - this place's style is all about odd. i mean, it's snowing right?  and all their veg dishes (of which there are many at every meal) are ICE cold.  weird i tell you.

we've not been into town to eat yet, as there's been no time.  which sucks.  fortunately tomorrow night we have a double-birthday dinner at a jen-you-ine korean restaurant, which apparently is really festive.

we'll also try to get into the markets asap - i really want to try the food from the street vendors - as that's the best, most authentic and freshest (or so we've been told). 

Fathead did manage to buy a few of the ingredients that would normally contribute to something homely, like a bolognaise. to treat ourselves for the (almost complete) week, we decided to whip up a little ditty that smelt and felt like home.  unfortunately, all the ingredients that make my bolognaise sauce worth writing home about, were not at our disposal.

                                                    so in short, tonight's meal was not, in fact, worth writing home about.

that said, enough about the culture shock my taste buds are experiencing ...

it's really difficult getting up in the morning - the sun sets so early here, once you leave class it's "night time" and then you wake up in pitch darkness and it's freezing outside.  but once you're up and in class, it's cool again.

it's incredible how much energy these kids have, and how much they can take out of you.

i suddenly find myself with new admiration for all the teachers i've had (and tortured) in my life. it's not a job to be laughed at (and "neither is being a parent" mom).

the kids range from 8 - 16 years old.  the little ones are great, as they listen to everything you say and do pretty much everything you ask them to.  the older they get, the more full of kak they are.  they all have the usual teenage-hangups.

the boys and girls HATE eachother - getting them to even sit next to the opposite sex is like asking them to hold a rabid dog.

Fathead lost his cool with one little boy yesterday, who apparently wouldn't do anything he told him to.  eventually he just snapped and yelled in the class - which i happen to think is hilarious. can you imagine what went through that little boy's pip as this giant white neanderthal of a man bellowed down at him, like baloo?

the little girls here are all fascinated by Fathead. they keep asking to see his arm hair (asian's not being very hairy people, they've never seen as man like him).

much like me, they do adore him though.

i was told by one girl that she's very "proud" of me, because  "i have yellow hair".  they are very sweet with the way that they use the language.  my name also blows their minds ...  so they say it all the time. they call everyone by their name, and then the title "teacher".  so i am "cat-teacher". 

in a cruel twist of language, the korean's have the same symbol for "R" and "L" ... so it's quite difficult to understand them when they speak engrish.  but we're getting there!  i've started reading a guide on how to learn korean quickly - so am trying to wrap my mind around their symbols at lighting pace.

this'll help with figuring out where the busses / subways / taxi's are going. and,  i suspect, will also prevent us from purchasing minced dog.

sum ting wong

okay so i know it's a little weird ... but the thing about going to an new country and all, is that you find weird shit to fascinate yourself with.

take, for example these little specimens:

exhibit a:  corn-on-the-cob ice cream.  purchased by a fellow teacher of ours, as a gift, we've yet to open and taste it (being 30cm deep in snow, i'm sure you can appreciate the delay!)

exhibit b:  a local beer which can only be described as a delicate taste, something close to a combination of half-water-half-cat's-piss, with just a splash of hops.  i fear that given time, and sheer desperation, we shall come to acquire a liking for said specimen.

please note the slogan "sound of vitality".  really people? really? your beer has a sound? and it's one of health?  really?

oh, and by the way, they also use the under 18 pop group (with a fan base of 16yr-olds and below) to be the promotional front for this noisy beverage.  that's right.  they use children, who are admired by other children, to sell an adult product to adults.  now that people, is marketing.

as i type, i'm attempting my first load of laundry.  there are washers and dryers, and they each take 2 x 500won coins.  I only had 4 coins in total, which is pure luck really.  knowing that the washers only take liquid detergent, i sent Fathead out on a reconnaissance mission to purchase such detergent.  (implied in this instruction, was naturally some kind of softening agent, as all of the female readers would have already assumed).

Fathead did no such assuming, and so instead of both washing liquid and softener, we are now the proud owners of two humongous bottles of detergent.  what's really rad is i have no idea what the detergent does (ie: it may be bleach, it may be carpet cleaner).   i also have no way of finding out - i present you with exhibit c:

luckily we have enough of it to do the laundry for the entire hostel until december, so eventually i'm bound to work out how to use it.

more NB to note at this point is that apparently, 85% of our clothing carries a "do not tumble dry" label.

it is -19.5 degrees.  do you think i wouldn't tumble dry? umm ... excuse me, but seriously: what choices are we presented with here?!

so i'm doing it. as i type.  that's right people.  4 flights down from where i sit, a big industrial-sized tumbler is shrinking most of Fathead's shirts.  if i don't post on this blog again, you know what happened, and you know who pulled the trigger. 

something else you probably didn't know about the craziness over here: nothing comes in singular quantities.  you want soap? 
here-  buy an enormous pack of 10 bars. 
looking for toothpaste? 
well today's your lucky day - take home this pack, and you'll not be back until 2012.

one thing i will give them - they've cracked something that the rest of the human race didn't know it always wanted.

check this out:

this, friends, is a toilet roll holder.  "pah, we have those too!" they cried.

wrong.  you see those two arms on the left and the right (instead of an annoying bar that jumps and pounces all over the bathroom floor)?

spring loaded, buddy.  you pull roll up, they flap up, they get to hole in middle of roll, they pop down. roll on poll. done. you want to change, you pull down, they flap down.  out with old roll, in with new roll.

it's a toilet roll holder designed so simply that even a man can now change the bog roll!

let's hear it for south korea's logical approach to an age old household dilemma.
can i get a hoot hoot?

Snowstorm in Seoul heaviest since 1937

read this little gem if you have a mo ...

CHINA VIEW: Snowstorm blasts Seoul

we awoke to snowfall

when we arrived here we were grinning from ear-to-ear about the few cm's of snow that lined the streets. the locals thought we were a little narner - seen as it's by no means a phenomenon for them.  however, as we explained, us south african's have never had the chance to really experience real snow.

"enjoy it while it lasts, we're not likely to see much more snow from now" they said.   they were so wrong.

this morning, Fathead came bolting into the room - grabbed me by the scruff of my sheep-skin hoody, and dragged me out to the balcony.

snow had fallen all night, and was still softly floating down. 

outside, the two of us were like kids in disneyland.  the snow fell all around us, and our feet sunk deep into the 20-odd cm's of white powder.   it's surprisingly "warm" outside.  probably only about -7degrees, which is weird to think.

it's absolutely beautiful here. as an added bonus we get to spend the day playing about in the snow, as we were supposed to go into town for our medical clearance tests but all cars and roads are snowed in.  a moo ha ha.

the kids arrive today - but have only been able to be brought up to the school in small batches.  we are due to start with classes tomorrow - but no news as yet to whether we will be allowed to work without our medical's done yet.    in the meantime, we'll cuddle under blankies and watch a few episodes of top gear and maybe the odd movie Fathead brought along on his media player (obviously gadget-boy packed in a toy or two!)

polling results

with a number of the polls now closed, i thought i'd draw up a quick summary / update on them - before they are removed from the site.

with regards to the travel insurance poll, we took the majority's advice, and went with OVC. thanks for those who contributed to this all important info-sharing exercise.

in terms of the leaving date game, a surprising 80% correctly guessed that it would be "sometime between now and when they arrive in SK?".

and lastly, an appalling lack of faith shown amongst most (71%) of you out there, voting for my luggage to weigh in at "more than the boeing 747 she leaves on". 

har-har-har ... you're all too funny.
that was a trick question, by the way - and your your information, it came in an impressive 15kg (2 kg's lighter than my average handbag).

take it. and go.

first impressions

it's probably worth mentioning, at this point, that if you're planning to "pop" over to SK, best you be aware of the the trip ahead of you.  if like us, you go via jhb, expect to be travelling for 24hrs until you reach a place to rest your baggage.  but all in all, apart from a small incident in hong kong which almost had us missing our connecting flight, it was a pretty easy, smooth journey.

so our bags arrived safely on the other side - easily identified by their signature steri stumpie ambassador embroidered patches (thanks to t-bear, dr danger and hamish for their impeccable sewing skills!)

we were met by hans, (the first korean we interacteed with on this side).  by 5pm, the sun has set and it's pitch dark over here.  we arrived at around 18h30 - but our view of the entire trip home was chokker-block neon lighting.  quite exquisite, actually.

it seems that over here, they're quite proud of their architecture, with every stunning bridge's structure illuminated by ever-changing coloured lights.  the ride home made us feel like ants climbing up your christmas tree. 

pretty. but pretty overboard.

so in a nutshell:

this is the new chateau du fathead (revamped to maximise space, as before it looked like a pack house)

here, the view from our room ... yes that's snow. it's pretty fakken freezy i'll have you know, so both of us are rather relieved we spent enough to own shares in cape union mart.

delirius with jetlag we decided to throw ourselves into the deep end, and joined the other teachers for a tipple in town.  they seem to like to trek miles to go anywhere here - something we'll definately not be making a habit of our own.  we walked about a km down the icy hill to the bottom of the school, then caught a taxi into town, where we decended into the underground to catch the subway - getting off the one track and then onto another, then ascended to the streets of seoul only to walk another km to a place called the rainbow lounge.

think grungy bohemia meets rafiki's ... with shoe-less patrons padding about in their socks, squatting on the floor beneath a ceiling smoke, created by the hubbly-bubblies upon every table.  the group next to us comprised of about 10 young american-korean girls ... one strumming a guitar, another on a bongo, and the rest belting out off-tune US top 40 pop hits in pseudo hollywood twangs.  hellovathing.

as they left, our group moved to their spot ... and predictably, the american's amongst us, grabbed the guitar and drum and started their own version of this.

unbelievably, this is one of the most expensive bars in seoul (which is quite a good thing to know, seen as the prices there were pretty steep).

a few local beers later (sorry SAB) and that was our night.

today was more of the same diving into the deep-end, head first.  Fathead and i tried our hand at finding a way around the city of seongnam-si (which is the city "just down the road" from us). 

we went to a 4-floor supermarket, in search of a few left-behind essentials ... towels, toiletpaper and deoderant, to name a few.

it would appear that the men here don't use normal anti-perspirant deo ... and in a flustered shopping decision, old uncle inks purchased a can of "lime green flavoured gatsby powder".

the food hall was daunting, especially considering we'd not eaten since lunch the day before, and it was now 3pm.  all food labels are in the korea symbols, so you have no idea what the packaging contains.  meats are intriguing and scary all at the same time.  you kind of want to study them in morbid fascination - but it's a fine art in cutting this examination time just short enough to avoid your stomach turning in the realisation of what it may be.

we went the safe route - being virginal shoppers - and bought a bag of citrus fruit (what i assumed to be mandarins or the korean version of a naaa-tchie), the worlds largest apples - which we've yet to taste, a bag of corn chips and a box of trail mix. 

the booze section brought interesting news:

good - that you can buy it on sundays.
bad - that it's fakken expensive, unless you're adventurous enough to try their local brews ... like "caption Q wiskie".

well i must tell you - the mandarins are not, in fact, mandarins.  they do, however, taste exactly like apples.  i suppose had we known this, we really could have saved ourselves from shlepping the giant apples all the way back home.  a 2-in-1 fruit! how genuis.

the corn chips are chilli-flavoured, which was a nice surprise.

first bite: spicy.
aftertaste: sweet 'n sour pork.

yup, things are just packed with surprises over here.

so we've decided to eat in the canteen from now on. okay, we haven't actually eaten there yet, but it's most likely to be the safest way to experience korean food without having to try and source it inthe markets, ourselves. 

we've already made a number of comittments to ourselves, actually. 

from now on, we do things our way:

• none of this taxi-subway-taxi-subway-walk-walk-taxi kak.  it's a really clever way to deplete your moola, and besides, once you're wearing the full winter range from cape union, you're fine to walk.
• meals in the canteen.
• learn to convert currency faster (it's rather taxing on the brain: dividing by 1000k, then times by 7 (to get rands) and then times by 6ish to get dollars.
• learn to read korean signage. 
• learn to speak it without sounding like a western dipshit.

but we're not going to be too hard on ourselves -
it's only been a day, and already we managed to direct the taxi driver home, not be ripped off at the rate and have survived our first solo day in SK.

if you're ever in town, and you'd like to pop in - tell the driver "say mal young Sue-On yong oh mal" and he'll bring you right to our snowy door step.

leaving on a jetplane

we've finally arrived!  you'll forgive us for the lack of updates, i'm sure.  it's been (what some like to call) a fokken maltyd trying to tie up the last bits of our lives in SA.  but it's done, and that's what's most important.

leaving lovely, sunny SA was hard.  we had a team of movers burst in and whisk all our worldly belongings away to a storage unit somewhere.  i must recommend to any of you looking for a company to move / store you - go with these guys (britannia).  they were fab.  hassle free, friendly, careful and quick.  best of all their rates were well below any of the other grumpy mo-fo's we contacted.

in the heat of the 1st of Jan, with heads a-pounding  a result of our new years celebration with the special ones ...

we peeled ourselves off beds (while some reluctant boyfriends were also dragged off their places of slumber), to begin the journey to the airport.  dearest friends escorted as there, ensuring that we actually made the flight on time.  rather a good thing, i suspect.    in return, Fathead and i entertained them by bickering all through our bloody mary brunch - leaving them tickled with the prospect of the two of us spending the next 24hrs confined, side-by-side to our flight seats.

then it was time for one last sad goodbye

okay, they don't look tearful there but i swear there were much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

unt den, Fathead and i were off to start the very adventure, for which this here blog was created.