Holidays

ah, the wonderful word that brings music to my ears, warmth to my heart, and sanity to my brain. I have 6 days of holidays that started on Wednesday. In those 6 days, I have some things to do - go into work and prep for the month of May, clean my apartment, go see a Beethoven concert tonight (SO excited), go to Japan.

I'm excited for the concert tonight. It's called Beethoven No. 3, so they're playing:

• Overture to "Leonore" No.3 in C major op.72 b
• Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor op. 37
• Symphony No. 3 in Eb major "Eroica" Op. 55

Notice all the No. 3s. I saw the symphony played in Hamilton one year with my sister Melissa, she brought me as a gift, so it will be fun to hear it again. Plus, I studied the symphony in first year.

What else. Ah, Korean class is still good, it is getting difficult. We just learned future tense (which is alright, as long as I can memorise my verbs), and also how to say 'before I ______' and 'after I _________'. The goal is to be able to say something like "After I study, I will go." I think that one is this 공부한후에 저는 갈꺼에요. (Gohng boo han hway jahnun kal koiyo).

Just some practice there. Well, like I said, I am going to go into work and do some things for a few hours. I hope everyone is well at home.

Oh, speaking of health, the Swine Flu has maybe reached South Korea - as of yesterday, there was 1 suspected case, and today there are 5. So, it's spreading. It hasn't reached the same numbers as in North America though.

To everyone in Canada (and whoever else may read this blog), please be careful! Wash your hands every time you pass a sink! Carry One Step hand sanitiser with you!! If you've been out in public, don't touch your face afterwards if you haven't washed your hands. If you work in a school, or hospital or with lots of people in a small space, wash wash wash wash.

Alright, that's just my paranoia coming out for everyone to see! lol. I'm kind of worried, I hope this whole thing goes away. I usually dismiss the outbreaks as being unimportant to me, because they usually target different age ranges, but this one targets people who are perfectly healthy and between 20-45ish!

And I'm sure you know this already, but you can't get the disease from eating pork, so everyone keep eating pork because our poor farmers are freaking out because of the name "swine flu". They think it's bad for business. I think it's bad for the people dying from it, but that's just me. Alright, I should go.

Goodbye everyone, I will see if I can update once more before Japan on Saturday, but if I don't I will update when I get back!

Happy May everyone!

End of April

Well, it's the end of April and I'm happy. I'm happy because we are getting a vacation that starts on Wednesday and goes until the following Tuesday! I'm really excited!

So, on the Saturday I'm heading to Japan and I'll be there until the Tuesday. I'm really excited. I have only been to Japan once before, and that was to the airport for only about 2 hours. One might say I didn't really have the chance to experience the culture!

Anyway, I am going to sit down on Wednesday and figure out what I'm going to do when I get there. Should be fun.

Right now I'm procrastinating - I'm supposed to be typing up report cards, but I really don't want to do any more. I only have 5 left to do, but right now I'd rather watch Planet Earth (it's playing in the background... )

Well, this is a short update, but I thought I should write something!

Alright, bye everyone!

Departures

Well, today's good-bye wasn't as dramatically hard as I thought it would be. I was expecting a scene from the movies. You know, the one where you cry all the way home, with sad music in the background and stand in the rain alone for a few hours.

Actually, it is raining, but the rest of the story is the opposite. I smiled all the way home. I thought to myself - how privilaged I feel to have parents that can take the time (and $$$!) out of their lives to come and visit me a 24 hour trip away from home, in a place where they had no desire to go until I got here!

They said many times that they had a great trip, and I'm really happy they liked it. I think the best part for me was just to show them where I've been living for the last 5 months. This week flew by in a heartbeat. Just goes to show that time flies when you're having fun! I remember last week at this time thinking to myself - my parents are coming tomorrow. It seemed unreal, like it couldn't actually happen. (I'm not sure why...)

Anyway, just as fast as they came, they've gone.

It was really a fantastic visit, and I'm really glad they liked it here.

I have a new laptop (well, new to me - it's my Dad's old one), so I will be able to update much more frequently again. (I hope everyone saw the last 2 posts, they're updates about what I"ve been up to with my parents and a little update about a new and delicious food... NOT).

Until next time

Sannakji video

Well, on the Sunday before my parents came, I had the most interesting (and disgusting) meal I've had so far in Korea. It was called Sannakji (or live octopus)! You can read about it on that link (wikipedia article), or you can just read my experience here.

We ordered it from a restaurant that had many fish tanks out front. The fish tanks had octopus, fish, squid, and these weird tubey things that didn't have eyes, and shouldn't be allowed to live. They were outrageously nasty looking.

Anyway, after we ordered the Sannakji, the guy came out from the restaurant, grabbed the octopus from the tank with his hands, and brought it inside. Less than 30 seconds later we had moving, crawling, writhing, live octopus in front of us on a plate.

I tried a couple of pieces, and surprisingly it wasn't terrible, although it's no steak and potato dinner. Trying to pick a few good pieces to eat, the pieces would grab on to my chopsticks and not let go if I tried to put them down. It was pretty gross, but an experience nonetheless.

The best part? There's a video of us eating it.

Korea's Got Seoul

I couldn't have a blog from Korea without using that title at least once.

Anyway, we've had a busy few days. Thursday, we visited Chinatown in Incheon. It was pretty fun. There is a nice park there on the top of a mountain which was full of blooming cherry blossoms. Friday, we went to Aiin's world. I love how realistic everything is there!

Today (Saturday), we went to the changing of the guards ceremony at Deoksugung Palace. There, we tried on hanboks, and took pictures. My Dad was asked to bang the giant drum at the beginning of the ceremony which was really fun! There were tons of people watching, and he got to start of the ceremony by hitting the drum! He was in his hanbok too, and we got lots of great pictures!

From there, we went to this festival we found. It was an awareness type of affair for disabilities caused by accidents. We saw some interesting things. I got some pictures, and a baloon-sword.

After that, we went to Changdeokgung. That's the palace in Northern Seoul that has the secret garden. I've been there before, but it was nice to go again. While we were there, there was this guy in the tour who had like 10 body guards so we asked who he was. It turns out that he is the head commander general of the Phillipenes' army! Quite important apparently.

Lastly, we went to Insadong which was fun. We didn't spend too much time there, because we were hungry and wanted to find a restaurant. We did get to see dragon's beard being made, so that was fun.

Oh, last night we found a different lobster fishing machine (our regular one is broken), so we played it a bit. I think this machine is better... I got better vibes from it. Anyway, I probably don't have to say here that I will go back and do it again, because that should just be assumed! lol

That brings us to now, Saturday night. It's 7:40 and we've had a long day. As far as I know, we are planning to go to E-mart soon, and just look around. I'm not sure if we are going to go out for dinner or not. We tried the Bulgogi at some restaurant in Insadong, but it wasn't really that great. So we might be hungry again later.

Tomorrow we are going to go on a DMZ tour which will be really interesting I think. I have wanted to go to the tour since I got here, but I've never gotten around to doing it. It is supposed to be pretty intense.

Well, I've run out of things to say.

Buh bye!

Outside the Hyundai Dept. Store











Using chopsticks!











Getting our breakfast!











The park in Incheon's Chinatown











Soondubu!













Aiin's World!













The sun was in my eyes, and my face looks weird...













Mom & Dad in Times Square!













Dad banging the drum at the changing of the guards ceremony!













Mom & Dad at the Changdeokgung Palace!













Nice family pic!













This one is for Uncle Richard! The translation is literally this: "Point of death, accident, unauthorized crossing. Seoul Jongdo Police Station"

They're here

Well, my parents have arrived safely (I thought I should update, Aunt Karen!). They got in last night, and I met them after school. We went to the restaurant that is tradition to go to for everyone's first night in Korea. I was happy because they both liked the meal. After the dinner we went to a place we call Popingsu, which is a delicious shaved ice dessert type thing. I think I wrote about it before here.

I finally have the new laptop, which is great. I have to get my files from Sarah's computer and put them on my new computer so that I can update this blog like crazy, and also put my pictures on to facebook!

Today we are doing local things... we are going to Emart, Hyundai Dept. store, and The Mall. It should be fun.

Well, it's 8:13 in the morning, so I might rest my eyes for a little bit.

K bye

0 days

My countdown has been on since January 29th when I got an e-mail saying "we're booked", but after 4 months of counting down, the time has come! Tomorrow, at 7pm (ish), my parents are arriving in Korea! It is really exciting, and I can't wait even one more day. They have already left, in fact they left just over 4 hours ago I think. They will be here in roughly 17 hours. It is a long trip, and I hope it doesn't tire them out too much. It is really tiring though. If I remember, I think their longest flight is 16 hours and 5 minutes. I went crazy on my flight over and forgot how long I had been in the air, forgot what time it was and forgot how long I had to go. It was a weird feeling.

Anyway, like I said they will be here in 17 hours, and when they get here, they will be shown to my apartment. After I get off of work, we will meet and I will take them out for dinner. It is tradition to go to the restaurant we call "Calbi" for everyone's first meal in Korea. It is most delicious. I'm sure I will have pictures from this trip posted here once I get the new laptop (which functions properly).

When I get said new laptop, I will be putting up pictures from Everland, Aiin's world, and probably my parent's visit!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe that it's actually happening, but it is, and I think it will be great!

It will be not so fun saying good-bye... but, as someone once said "nothing is a good-bye unless you aren't to say 'hello' again".

An update

Hello everyone!

I haven't updated for ages because my computer has been going in and out of commission. It has been most annoying. However, in 6 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! My parents are coming and they are bringing me a laptop, so I can get back to updating on a weekly basis (at the least!). There are pictures from Everland that I want to put up here, (that seems like ages ago), and also pictures from Aiin's World (which was really really fun).

I thought I would tell everyone why I haven't been updating.

I have also been preparing like a crazy person for my classes, so that when my parents come, I will have very little preparing to do. It has been crazy, but it is worth it, because I want to spend as much time as possible with them while they are here.

Sarah's sister is here right now, and that has been fun. It is funny to see someone react to things that I don't even notice anymore! Like when you walk down the street and there is a tank with live squid, octopus and eels in it outside of a restaurant. That doesn't phase me, but to people who are new I suppose it would be shocking!

What else. OH, Korean class is starting again this weekend. I will have to miss it next weekend, because my parents will be here, but that is ok.

BIRTHDAYS - It was my Dad's birthday on the 2nd of April, and my sister Jill's birthday is today! Happy birthday to both of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you both had a great day! (Jill - today I told all of my classes that it was your birthday!)

The weather has been really nice lately. It still gets nippy at night, but during the day it has been really sunny and really nice. It hasn't really rained for a long time though. That's ok. On Friday it said on the weather network that it was supposed to be 24 degrees!!! That's pretty amazing for April!

Alright, well I'm just using the school's computer right now because I'm finished work for the day. I thought I would update on a computer that actually works, rather than risk having my computer freeze half way through the post.

I hope everyone is well!

Ian