POINT OF INTEREST: NATION ADDICTED TO…COMPUTER GAMES

Recreational and hardcore drugs are very rare in Korea and punishments for their use and possession are extremely harsh. Instead, many of the nations youth appear to be addicted to computer games. The overwhelming array of computer-game oriented stores and boutiques as well as TV shows is evidence enough. Whether this is a healthier alternative to light recreational drugs is quite debatable. It seems as though numerous hours sitting at a desk, eyes glued to the computer screen, would have both negative mental and physical effects….it certainly makes for uninspiring conversation with such addicts!

An outing to Gumi City

Michael left for Seoul early on Saturday because of a family emergency. I stayed behind and met up with Michael’s mother’s friend’s son, Seoung, and his friend. Seoung and his friend both go to Daegu University and are studying Computer Science. I asked them what they did for fun on the weekend: “drink and play computer games”.

We got into Seoung's car and after talking about things to do, headed into Gumi City towards Gumi's one ice-skating rink. The ice was quite rough and the skates were sharpened unevenly…I ended up cutting up my elbow on the ice, but then paid 2000 won (1000 won approximately equals 1 dollar) extra for a pair of speed-skates. I fared much better on the speed skates. After skating we went back into the heart of the city to play billiards. There were two floors –one with regular pocket pool and one with pocket-less tables on which you play a game called Three Cushions. It was interesting to see that only girls were playing pocket pool while the Three Cushion pool floor was entirely occupied by boys. I asked about this and they told me it was because Three Cushions pool is much harder. We played a few rounds and left to eat lunch at a Japanese restaurant.

The two boys thought that Gumi was small and boring, but to me it was as urban as any medium-sized city in the US.

May 15th: 20 years (old)!

Today was my 20th birthday. Ailey taught our Thursday classes how to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and around 200 kids in total sang happy birthday to me.

performed a ritual that happens at the school every time someone has a birthday. After classes we organized a party at the school for the teachers. I held a globe and walked around a table with the months spread in a circle on it and a plastic model baby lying on the month of May. Every time I completed a circle and came to may it would signify a year going by. I circled 20 times and one of the teachers gave a sort of narrative about growing up.

We ate some food we had ordered and had beer and a birthday cake.

I was still feeling ill so I headed to bed early.

Wednesday the 14th: Parent's Day Pt. II

Today was Parent’s Day part II. We had to get up and speak in front of the teachers again. After the main part of the day was over, I was assigned 3 children to privately teach after school. They were new to the school and needed to catch-up in terms of their English abilities. This proved to be a bit of a disaster because I was still extremely ill and the kids were, well, extremely uncooperative. One of them refused to talk and started crying for her mother. One of the others seemed much more intent on throwing ‘Aa’ ‘Bb’ ‘Cc’ cards across the room than on learning to pronounce them. We eventually learned 'A-B-C' and '1-2-3'.

May 11th: Coming down with a Korean Cold

SUNDAY the 11th
I woke up feeling Ill and spent most of the day in bed.

MONDAY
I felt sicker than Sunday –hadn’t felt this sick in a couple of years.
Luckily today was the birthday of the Buddha and school was out so I didn’t have to teach. Spent the day sleeping/waking in a sweat.

TUESDAY
Still felt extremely ill but went to teach English at the school. Today was Parent’s Day. The few English teachers were made to go in front of the parents and talk a little –presumably to show our English proficiency and general demeanor. I had to talk with a hoarse voice and also had to blow my nose a number of times, but I think I came off well nonetheless.

I went home and slept fitfully all evening.

POINT OF INTEREST: KOREAN TELEVISION

Korean television is like no other I have seen, at least in channel diversity. Aside from having several English, Chinese, and Japanese Channels, there are 3 channels dedicated, 24/7, to computer gaming –almost exclusively to Starcraft, a 1998 real-time strategy game. There are bound to be even more "gaming" shows on a premium cable TV connection -we have only around 40 channels on our apartment's television. There also appears to be a very small population of TV stars...when surfing the channels I could identify the same 3 or 4 celebrities on several different shows around the clock.

Saturday the 10th

We went on a shopping trip to a Costco in Daegu city –about an hour away by car. The store was almost exactly like the Costco’s in North America –rows and rows of stacked wholesale crates- except the products were largely made by Korean companies. American brands such as Kraft and Kellogg’s were present though too. We bought an entire shopping cart full of food, cooking/cleaning supplies, and bedding. The price was similar to what one would have pain in North America.

We stopped for dinner at a Korean barbeque place on the way home. At a lot of restaurants in Korea you must sit on the floor –no chairs to be found and the table are about a foot off the ground. This is incredibly uncomfortable for me unless I can sit against a wall and stick my legs straight out under the table. This I do, but most others sit, more properly, on their knees or semi-cross-legged.

At home we unpacked our groceries and other supplies and found places to put them in our cramped apartment. We then watched Korean television for a bit before going to bed.

Jet Lag, Friday

I slept for much of the day but went out exploring the town with Michael. Later we unpacked our belongings and arranged our room. There isn’t a closet in the apartment so we put most of clothes –underwear and socks and such- in the large shoe closet in the entrance to our apartment. We hung our shirts and pants on the suspended drying bar in the laundry room. I decided to use my camera tripod as an impromptu laundry hamper...

The First Day

6:40 finally rolled around and I boarded the bus. I tried to stay awake to look at the s –mostly rolling hills- but dozed off several times. At around 10:45 we pulled into the Gumi buscenery terminal where I was met by my friend’s father. We threw my luggage in his car and drove 20 minutes to the kindergarten that he owned where I would be teaching English. As we drove to our destination outside of the city-center my friend’s dad explained to me that Gumi was the area’s “silicon valley”, and indeed we pasted many LG and Samsung offices and factories.

The part of Gumi we arrived in was surrounded by rolling green hills and was mostly residential. The main street on which we drove was lined with hundreds of similar looking shops -PC game centers, karaoke shops, convenience stores, and restaurants.

Once inside the kindergarten I was introduced, disheveled from 20 hours of traveling, to all the children and some of the teachers. I was greeted by around 300 hellos from Korean children before being driven to my apartment.

The 4th floor apartment was tiny: one main room about 13 feet square with a kitchenette, laundry room and small bathroom. My friend and I would be sharing the apartment. Almost no one sleeps on mattresses in this part of Korea: we each had a thin sleeping pad that was directly on the floor. I deposited my belongings and went back the kindergarten for lunch.

So my summer begins…

The check-in process was completely automated at Trudeau International Airport in Montreal. My one checked bag was apparently several kilos overweight so I removed a few pieces of clothing and a pair of sneakers and strapped them to my backpack.
The security was very tight for some reason: I was subjected to everything but a cavity search and the contents of my backpack were emptied onto an inspection table. The short hop to Toronto was over almost as soon as it had started. Security onto my next, international, flight in was surprisingly, almost unsettlingly, relaxed compared to the Canadian domestic security.

The 13-hour flight to Korea went by quickly in my un-cramped bulkhead seat. Incheon International airport was quiet at 2:30 in the morning. I withdrew some money and began waiting for my 6:40am bus to my southern destination: Gumi, Daegu. I bought some breakfast at a convenience store in the airport –some kimchi and barbeque chicken filled rice cakes and a bottle of green tea. After breakfast I shaved and brushed my teeth in the airport restroom.

Pre-departure Intro

On May 6th I will be flying out of Montreal, QC, transferring in Toronto, and setting out across the rest of Canada and then the Pacific Ocean. I will be arriving in the early hours (2-3a.m.) of May 7th at Incheon Airport in South Korea. I will then take a bus to my final destination south of the capital (Seoul), Taegu. I have circled it in blue on the map above. Here is the link to Taegu's wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taegu.