Sunday, April 29, 2007

Watch out Canada...

Apparently hockey is beginning to "take root" in Korea. According to this article in the Korea Herald, they are just as good as Canadians now, non-professionally that is.

Here's a more in depth article that says Koreans are even "occasionally engaging in character-building bouts of fisticuffs, challenging one another to compete - even using gloves as a net - is one that plays out in every small town and big city across Canada, minus the frozen pond of course."

Maybe the Habs will draft a few Koreans next year.

I bet they have more heart than some unnamed Soviets and Europeans.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Dream weaver...

Had a strange dream last night.

Varg Vikernes was released from prison and started using Facebook. I added him as my friend and he told me he was moving to South Korea to teach English. He thought he could remain annonymous in SK.

I go to his house and this British guy I know is there. Tom is his name. There's also some long-haired metal head who I know playing guitar but I can't remember who it was.

Anyway, Varg tells me he's self-releasing a DVD. He asks me if I want a free copy and of course I say yes.

He enthusiastically tells me about the special packaging, then goes to a room and comes back with a neon pink baseball cap. I look inside and there is a pocket containing the cd. The cd itself is wrapped in tinfoil.

I woke up before I had a chance to watch the DVD which sucks.

So all in all, that was a pretty awesome dream.

When I fell back asleep my next dream wasn't as enjoyable.

My toilet became clogged and there was shit pumping out of it and I had no plunger so I tried plunging with a broom. The effort was futile.

There was kinda like a big cabin-like thing out side of my building across a large field. I ran there to get a plunger but it was gone, and there was shit spewing from that toilet as well.

I wonder what it all means...

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

We care...

Stumbled through my first red light district tonight by total chance...

My buddy (a fellow Newf) had a Heineken with the neck cracked off and I was wearing a leather jacket it so we didn't get no shit...

It was like a movie...

One of those awesome movies from the 1970's...

But I didn't feel safe even looking through the windows at the girls picking their red panties outta their ass...

The nun walking around in front of us was kinda cool though...

Walking into each establishment giving them pamplets to help turn around their lives...

Catholics care...

Monday, April 23, 2007

Buddha tit...

I don't really know what this is but I know what it looks it. It was right outside some small temple I visited with a 1000 year old Buddha that I didn't get a picture of.

The third biggest city in Newfoundland...

If Fort Mac is the second biggest city in Newfoundland, I'm starting to think that Seoul is the third biggest.

Saturday was awesome in its strangeness.

Went to Hongdae with Jenn and Gavin. We're walking down the street and we bump into some random dude who I've seen around MUN before.

Then later we're at the bar above Club FF and Spence meets us there with some new teachers his school just hired. Three more Newfs.

I then run into one of the SMOE teachers I know and he comes over to me and is like "That girl over there is from Newfoundland." I got talking to her and tell her there's a bunch of Newf's over in the corner so she comes over with me. Turns our her and Jenn were in Harlow together, the MUN campus in England.

Shortly after this I'm near Gavin and he's like "I think that's Dave Skinner's sister" (whom I don't know) and sure enough it was, another Newf.

By this time I'm getting kinda drunk but I know there was more Newfs, or at least people who went to MUN.

Taking over the world, and like my PC self has said before, Newfs are like Jews without enemies... totally over represented where ever you go.

Friday, April 20, 2007

I'mma bust dat ass...

Rich says:
tellin' ya man.. bacdafucup is a classic hip hop album
Greg says:
I remember wanting to get it...order it from columbia house, but my mom wouldn't let me...I was like 11 or something.
Greg says:
12 maybe
Rich says:
haha
Rich says:
like 12 myself
Rich says:
I was going out with this girl
Rich says:
her dad owned the video store
Rich says:
I went there to order the cd
Rich says:
he said what band
Rich says:
I said "Onyx"
Rich says:
he said "whats the album name"
Rich says:
I was like... "um I dunno"
Rich says:
he said " i can't order it without an album name"
Rich says:
so I said "um... bacdafucup"
Rich says:
than I had to spell it for him
Rich says:
he's the coach of the deer lake red wings now
Rich says:
his daughter who I was going out with is married to Matt's older brother
Rich says:
small lil town i tell ya
Greg says:
holy crap!
Greg says:
that's crazy.
Greg says:
part of me is glad I never grew up in a small town...but part of me wishes I was...
Greg says:
for that kind of stuff

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This is Ricardo speaking...

Me and Daniel and Matt worked at a call centre called Infotell about five years back in St. Johns. Daniel began working there a week earlier than me and Matt, but we all quit, Daniel a day earlier than us.

On the second day Matt brought some scotch tape so he could tape down the little button on the phone and act like he was actually calling people and doing work.

We walked out after lunch and returned two weeks later to get out checks.

The point is that I was a pretty good at selling "British Business Directories" for one of two reasons. The first possibility is that my phone name was Ricardo because someone named Richard already worked there so I had to choose a new name.

The second possibility is that I decided to imitate the voice of my junior high school principal who we referred to as "Radical Ralph." He had a very relaxed, comforting tone and his intonation always seemed to decline, even when it shouldn't.

We called that place Infohell.

The manager was gay.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Down with the King...

We also visited a museum and a palace on the grade four field trip. I didn't get many pictures because I've been at the palace before, and the museum was kinda boring.
Most of the grade fours are still absolutely amazed and impressed by me so they get super excited when they see me, even if they've already seen me ten times already that day.
I spent most of my day with class 4-1 but the other six classes were never far. I think the tour guides were getting a little pissed because if I'd walk by the kids would stop listening to the guide and start saying "hi" to me instead.

Not much to say really, just that this was way better than teaching all day.

Here are some pics of the kids.


Prison break...

I went on a field trip with the grade four students today. We went to that prison place that I went to on Saturday with Matt and Jenn.

Remember I said that the place was pretty brutal? Well, a couple of the kids were scared shitless and didn't wanna go down and see those crazy displays of life-like statues getting tortured and killed.
I can't blame them. They're in grade four!?

I volunteered to wait outside with a couple of the kids because I was there four days ago anyway. While we were waiting a few girls from another school came out crying.
The kids are learning about the Japanese Occupation of Korea in class these days which is fine, but I think they're just a tad young to be checking out this prison turned museum. We had a tour guide who was explaining all of the different buildings and their purposes. I didn't understand him but I had a brochure so I knew what the deal was with each building (prison, execution building, corpse tunnel, etc.).

My co-teacher and I had a good conversation on our way to the prison and I told her I thought it was a bad idea. My concern was that you're gonna make these kids hate the Japanese for something that happened long before they were born.

When we arrived, the guide explained that the bricks on the walkways had Japanese letters and a lot the children began violently stamping on the letters. On the way back to the bus, one kid who speaks really good English told me that when he gets "big," he wants to "fly missiles to Japan and kill all Japanese people."

Another girl who speaks great English asked me who I thought was better, Japanese or Koreans. I told her (and the kid who wants to blow the place up) about World War II and asked if she knew about the terrible things the Germans did. They both said they knew so I explained how the German people today aren't evil, and I don't think the Japanese people today are evil. These things happened a long time ago.

The girl agreed and said she doesn't hate Japanese people but they were "bad before" but the boy still said "I want to kill them" and then he stuck up both of his middle fingers at the prison before we boarded the bus.

But to answer her question, I suppose the Japanese are "better" because they almost took over all of Asia, the crazy bastards! And they gave the Americans a short run for their money as well.

I was talking to my co-teacher later and she heard the conversation I had with the kids and pointed out one difference between Germany and Japan. Germany have shame, remorse, and regret about the things they did in World War II but Japan refuses to apologize for many things.

Most people know that Japan took thousands (some estimate 200,000) of Korean and Chinese women and used them as prostitutes for their soldiers, known as "comfort women." Japan refuses to acknowledge the direct involvement in this even today.

On 2 March 2007, the issue was raised again by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, in which he denied that the military had forced women into sexual slavery during World War II in an orchestrated way. He stated, "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion." [from Wikipedia]

Whatever dude.

Regardless of what the Japanese admit and deny, I still don't think eleven year old kids should be going to this museum.

Just wait until they're a few years older.
Here's the kid who's gonna get
those Japs when he gets older.

Peace!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Look's like trouble...

I knew the middle east was kinda nuts but this shows me that it's really nuts.

Happy Easter y'all...

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Pictures...

Added my pictures from Thailand. The link is on the right.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Then, you must be lesbians?

Yesterday was a great day.

I met up with Matt and Jenn and we went to this museum which is an old prison. The Japanese used this prison to torture and kill Koreans who were against the Japanese Occupation of Korea. It was really graphic and they didn't hold anything back in the displays.

Take a look.


Everything was life-size and some of the exhibits moved and had accompanying sound. I can't understand Korean but I can definitely understand the screams.

It was kinda brutal but I think all the years I spent listening to metal prepared me well.

There were about half a dozen buildings to explore such as the prisons, the execution building, the torture building, etc.

They also had some "interactive" displays such as the picture below.

When you'd sit on the seat, a soundtrack would play of people yelling and then the seat would suddenly drop a couple of inches. Matt sat on it first and it nearly scared the shit of him when it dropped.

Some of the cells in the prison were open and you could go get a feel of what it'd be like to be imprisoned there.

I think it would feel a lot like this.

We left the "museum" at about 4:00 and headed to a part of town called Haewha. I've never been there before but a friend of mine recommended the area. He said it's the part of town where "the arts" are really big. A lot of theaters, universities, and street performers (in the summer) are around here, but there aren't many foreigners.

I like going out sometimes and not seeing many foreigners because, well, it actually feels like you're in Korea. Hongdae, and especially Itaewon, and loaded with "whites" on the weekend.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm white and I do like white people, but it's also nice to go out and not see any white people. And we all know what white people are like.

It's also cool to go to a restaurant and have a server who's English isn't very good and it's a struggle to get some salsa. Feels like you're in Asia.

So we ate at TGI Fridays and I had one of the greasiest burgers I've ever come across. Then we headed to the back alleys and side streets checking out some bars. It was only 6 or 7:00 by now so all of the places we went were dead.

Went to some tiny blues bar, a dingy rock n roll bar that felt like I was in a cabin back in Newfoundland, then checked out a nice HOF and drank some soju. Here's a before and after picture of Jenn.

Before soju

After soju

Somewhere during the night we went to the batting cages. This is a really popular thing to do when out drinking and it's a laugh.

We all sucked ass at batting, but we kicked some ass in the various kicking and punching games they had there. I don't know how many pictures we took there but we took a lot, all trying to get the ultimate "action shot."

We got a few good ones, but not the ultimate one.

I also kicked some ass in the basketball game, eclipsing the high score by 12 points. All the Koreans were excitedly watching the dumb white guy in anticipation that I come up short, but I didn't. Little did they know, I was the runner up in two Provincial free throw championships back in junior high (and I would have won the first one if my mom didn't forget to wash my lucky Chip and Pepper shirt, and I would have won the second one if the jerk rebounding didn't throw me a bad pass and make me move my feet to retrieve the ball, thus losing my "sweet spot" and rhythm. He was an asshole.)

We eventually ended up in a Noraebang, AKA karaoke room. We didn't really try to go here. Our intention was to check out a bar called Chicago so we walked down the stairs to get to the bar and went in the wrong door. We said "to hell with it" and got a room. Matt and Jenn quickly ran to a store and picked up some beer and then we went singing for the next hour.

The dude who worked there caught me drinking a beer but he let me finish it before he took the can. You can't drink in some noraebangs but everyone does anyway, I think.

The next stop was some dance bar which was the best part of the night. I can't remember the name of the place. They were having a "free whiskey party" and with the $10 cover you could drink all the whiskey you wanted. This seemed to good to be true and it kinda was. Yes, they had free whiskey, but you couldn't get a glass of whiskey. What you could get was a shot glass with about a cm of whiskey and the rest filled with mix, either coke or orange juice.

They had a constant line of about 20 shot glasses that they always kept full and there was no line up of people to get at them. I'm almost glad that I couldn't get free highballs because the night could've been another one of those black outs. Fortunately, I remember everything last night, even the taxi ride home.

I had the perfect amount to drink last night. Not too much to get sick and forget the night, but enough to not really give a shit what I was doing and have a great time being a bit of a bold jerk, but all within reason.

So we were at that dance bar for a long long time. The place was small and it had a really cool vibe. There were no American soldiers and no annoying white people (besides us and maybe a handful of others). I spent most of my night either dancing or harassing these two girls at the bar.

Those two girls just sat at the bar all night in front of the free whiskey and refused to dance. I made it my mission to convince them to dance to just one song but the effort was futile. There was a dude from Nepal there who told me those girls come to this place every weekend and always sit in that same spot and drink.

I was having fun teasing them and they were having fun with me making fun of them. The funniest moment is when I asked them if they were lesbians and they became really animated trying to convince me they weren't. I'm not really convinced.

One of the girls told me that if I go back there next Saturday she'll dance with me for one song, but I don't believe her.

And it's a long way to go to have one dance with a lesbian.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I'll be back...

I'm gonna start writing frequently here again soon. I've just been too busy at school to write there, and I've been going for a jog about every second night... Or going out for beers... Balance, it's all about balance.

I've also been watching a movie a night. A lot old movies that I've never seen but feel obligated to see. Something like that. Movies such as Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Dirty Harry, and a bunch of other films from the 60's to the 80's.

The school finally hired a new co-teacher for me and she's alright. She's a year older than me and her English is decent. That's all I really want, because my grade 5 co-teacher has a terrible grasp of English and it makes life kinda difficult.

Anyway, I'll be back on this thing with a vengence soon enough.

Peace out.