Lotus Lantern Festival

A pretty sweet lantern festival in Seoul. The pictures are from hanging lanters in the city and a parade. The lanters are a way to celebrate Buddha's birthday, I'm not sure how, but somehow they do.

Going to China next weekend. Gonna see mom and dad next weekend too. I want next weekend to be here now!

Kev

Playing Favourites

This is Jenny and Amy. They laugh at everything. Which makes me laugh too. They have this great ability to just brighten my day.

Harvard Class Picture

Harvard Class Picture
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Went on a nice little field trip today. I took my class out for a little side hike to this tomb and was able to get a class picture in front of it.

The most amazing part from my perspective is that they stayed still long enough for me to organize them, take a few steps back and snap this shot.

Statue Man

Statue Man
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

My kids ran to this statue in a huge blazing pack of red only to be disinterested in 5 seconds later.

Kids are hillarious

Kindy's at the Can

Kindy's at the Can
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

And they do the same thing at the bathroom!

Little Daisy

Little Daisy
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

This is Daisy, she is a nice polite girl that takes forever to do everything. She is always the last one to eat her lunch by about 20 minutes and has thrown up a few times in the last month.

I like Daisy

Eddie 2

Eddie 2
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

When this little one said his name the first time I had to laugh. He was a new student of mine in February.

His name was Eddie, and brought back memories of the original Eddie.

Unbelievable

The Real ED

The Real ED
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Now this was the original Eddie, he will never be forgotten (even though he moved in October), just a classic, but the look is a little far to close to be true.

My Deer in the Headlights

My Deer in the Headlights
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Alice is another kindergartener who always has the, "I'm sorry, was someone talking to me" look.

Weekend Pics

This weekend consisted doing a bunch of little things around town such as visa applications, dentist visits, booking things for family visits and such, but it was in the midst of this that I was able to go pirate boating and hiking.

The pirate boat does need an explanation, here it is, in the form of a Kevin and Dan conversation.

At about 4:00 p.m. (Kev is downtown, Dan is at home)

Dan: Kev............Cam and I are going on a boat cruise of the Han River tonight at 8:30, do you want to come?

Kev: Sure, sounds great, I'll meet you around 8.

Dan: OK, see you then.

At about 6:00 p.m. (Kev is home, Dan is at Youido, just off the Han River here in Seoul)

Dan: OK Kev, I bought our tickets, and I asked for 8:30 and the woman assured me that this was 8:30, but the ticket clearly says 21:30. So why don't we shoot for 9:00.

Kev: Aight, sounds good, see you at 9.

9:15 p.m. (Kev, Dan and Cam have met at Youido and are now talking in person)

Dan: Welp, the boat should be here in a few minutes, we should go line up.

Kev: Sounds good, because that boat looks like it's some sort of pirate cruise.

Dan: Yeah, the woman told me there was a cafe on ours, so we're probably not on that one.

Kev: Sweet.

Dan goes outside to see where the line queue is.

Dan: Welp, were going on the pirate boat!

That's how and why we got on the thing. It was still fun, as there was a S. American band playing, the night was clear and the city lights were nice, but the pirate atmosphere wasn't exactly what we were looking for.

Oh well, we were able to make a good time out of it anyway.

The hiking was amazing as we went on one of the clearest days I have had here in the city and we could see the entire city all from the trail and mountain here in our Nowon area neighborhood.

Oh, how I look forward to getting back outdoors in BC!!!!

My Work Pants

"Pants always beats no pants" - Jerry Seinfeld

I brought three pairs of work pants when I came out here. The dress code as I understood it before I arrived was essentially no jeans, and a nice shirt. T-Shirts were even fine, as long as they aren't derogative in any way. Can do, khakies it is!

I also heard (from a foreign teacher I contacted at a school I turned down) that you would have no problems buying clothes out here, even though my 6'2" (actually just under 6'2", but males have to round up don't we!) frame tends to be a few inches above most Koreans.

We'll, this may be the case for some people, but for a westerner who doesn't speak the language nor am one to dress like the natives, this has been incredibly difficult, often not worth the effort or hastle considering their are other things I would rather do.

So where has this left me in terms of clothes that I should wear 5 days a week.................10 months later, I am down to one pair of "go to pants" and another two that don't fit as well as they did when they arrived, nor look as good as my "go to's". The thing is, the button on my "go to" pants are one bad washing machine experience away from no longer being effective. Never mind the marker and pen stains that I have gained from little kindergarteners.

This has simply left me hoping that my 3 pant rotation can hold another few months before I can retire them from my repitoir. I'm getting nervous..................

............................

This is just one example of the things I think and daydream about when I'm in my 10th month of sitting in front of a computer evaluating little Korean children.

Back to work.

A Weekend To Remember

Back at the Circus

This past weekend began what will be a "gong show" (for lack of a better term), next few weeks and this is how it went.

A few members of the Olson clan arrived (dad, brother and uncle), and if you know the family, you would think that would be just it wouldn't you! But no, it was great to see them, as it always is great to see people from home over here. The real adventure began with our Korean friend and weekend tour guide Ssang-dong. He is a friend of both Dan and myself from Briercrest. A great guy, but yet in typical Korean fashion, a bit of a loose cannon with a few things.

Dan mentioned that we were planning on heading up to the mountains for the weekend and he was invited so he thought he would take us to a time share condo and rent a van for all of us. Which sounded great, particularly for me as I am able to drive in this country, so I got behind the wheel for a bit. But the adventure was just as frequent as Ssang-dong's ability to slam on the brakes. Every chance he could he would. Dan and I were both oblivious having spent plenty of time here and getting used to it, but this wasn't the case for our recent guests, who let us know that he wasn't the smoothest ride.

Not only that, every five minutes (maybe even less) he would roll down the window and yell (literally) at the car beside us to ask directions. He would then forget 30 seconds later and do it again. It was hilarious, although I think my limited ability to read Korean would have gotten us to our destination a little quicker, courtesy of the well signed road, which I'm not sure Ssang-dong even realized existed.

Needless to say, it was quite and adventure and just another reminded of how life is different in Korea than in N. America.

The next few weeks consist of evaluations, evaluations, evaluations, phone tests, monthly guides, a visit to the dentist and a weekend in Beijing with mom and dad, followed by a weekend in Seoul with mom and dad. It'll be great! Yet chaotic.............

Kev

Father and Son

Father and Son
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Reunited!

This is the only picture I got of these two together, Dan will have better ones posted on his blog I'm sure.

Anybody Else Like Long Walks On The Beach?

Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Jonny (Dan's brother) out for a stroll on a concrete pier down by the ocean.

Anybody Else Up For A Long Walk On The Beach?

Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Jonny (Dan's brother) out for a casual stroll down a concrete pier by the ocean.

The Beach

The Beach
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

Nothing says nice sandy beach quite like barbed wire doesn't it.

It's actually a preventative against things the North has done in the past, which really takes away from how nice it was.

Now I'm In The Mountains

Now I'm In The Mountains
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

I took a picture of some guy by this bear for him, so he saw my camera and asked to take a picture of me, so I let him.

A real team play on his part.

On The East Sea

On The East Sea
Originally uploaded by kevdu.

And posing for another pic.

Woman With "Live" Gun Chases Foreign Male

SEOUL - Yesterday afternoon, at 1:30 p.m. (KST) a 23 year old male entered a bank in an effort to pay his bills. When it appeared as though the male was satisfied that the appropriate transaction had taken place he left the bank to a nod and some very broken English.

10 minutes later after he stopped for some mandu (dumplings) and was making his way to a Red Mango store to purchase a fruit juice, he noticed a woman approach from a distance. She appeared to be in a hurry and made her way towards the foreign male.

At this point the male had already ordered his orange drink and was waiting for his beverage when the woman made gestures for the bills that the male had previously paid. Noting the gun that she had on her the male gave into her demands. However he waited to follow her until his drink was finished at which point he made his way back to the bank.

It turns out the woman who chased him was the bank security guard who in typical Korean fashion was just trying to be helpful, as the male has yet to learn how to properly pay his bills at the Korean bank. That's why they keep calling him!

No charges have been laid.

....................................

You sure can turn any situation out here on it's head to make it sound like more than it actually is.

The woman was just a bank security guard, who was wanting to be helpful. But she did follow me across and into a local shop to make sure that we got this right, as everytime I think I pay my bills, the bank manages to call the school telling me I screwed it up, again!