Now Broadcasting in Video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the only one I had. It's of a class practicing their performance of "Old Macdonald" while their teacher lays down a drum & bass beat behind it with his feet & claps. I was impressed.... the kids got rythm!!!

All Good Things...

So this is where Korea and I part ways for the time being. It has been a wonderful month, made some good friends, had some good times and made some good money. As I sit here looking at my stack of 2 Million Won ($2000 USD) I feel extremely grateful to this place. The last week was very bitter sweet, it's funny how much you can bond with people over a short period of time. On the last 2 days there was a lot of crying by teachers, workers and kids. None of my kids cried though... ungrateful little shits. Just kidding, I love my kids even if they don't care enough to cry at our farewell.

On the last two days we had our completion ceremony where the kids did the performances that we prepared with them. My first class did the original play that I wrote for them entitled 'The Amazing Transformation Machine', once I get the video I will post it online for you all to enjoy.

The basic story is about a Mad Scientist who builds a machine that transforms people into different shapes and sizes and other objects too. So he pays this dude a million dollars to get into the machine; he then changes into a girl and gives the scientist his money back to transform him back into himself. We then go through the whole class having their turn of coming out of the machine and saying something like "now I'm too short, try again!" and getting progressively angry at the scientist. The kids loved to get to yell and push the funny fat kid who was the scientist. Then at the end the original kid gets out and pushes the scientist into the machine, then after the machine beeps and does it's thing the whole class runs out from the machine making lots of noise and takes a bow. Genius. I thought I should have got some sort of screenwriting award, but apparently only the kids get awards here. It's all politics man.

My other kids sang the Rudolph song. Their singing wasn't great but when you make little kids wear antlers and give them little red noses they are so cute noone cares what they do. I wish it didn't have to end so soon, but perhaps if I stayed much longer I wouldn't love it as much. It was also sad saying goodbye to our coworkers, they are a good group of girls and it was fun working with them. Especially one in particular who I have a not so secret crush on, but she is spoken for by her boyfriend and Jesus... stiff competition. So it's not to be right now, but after all the good things that have happened here I'm sure I'll come back one day... not soon but definately one day; so all is not lost.

It has been very nice to be settled in one spot for a while, it's given me the time to do the things I like to do. Downloaded some new music; been digging the new Wolfmother & Maddonna albums. That Jacques Lu Cont production is killer. So is the new Gilles Peterson cd; its all live recordings of the guests he gets on his radio one show, needless to say some amazing artists. Also been reading Harry Potter 5 which is entertaining. Also bought some cool Korean films. They have an incredibly strong movie industry cause there is a local content rule that means that more than half of the films at the cinema are Korean made. The films are all melo-dramatic, stylistic and have an element of tragedy to them. The coolest one I've seen is called 'Old Boy' about a guy who gets kidnapped/imprisoned for 15 years and doesn't know who or why it was done. The film real twisted and some hardcore stuff goes down, it is very well made and if you can find it check it out.

Tonight it's club night in Hong Dae where you pay a cover at one club and you can club hop into all of them. One last hurrah before heading to Japan tomorrow, I've got my fake Bathing Ape sneakers so I should fit in just fine, but I do feel foolish heading to the most expensive city in the world with no job and no place to stay. But I have confidence that it will all work out. Wish me luck my people and write to me with your trials and tribulations, I would like to hear from home.

Reuben, Rod & Leena at the war museum

A very graphic model of a high school that was attacked by the North during the civil war. The locals fought them back till replacements were sent and annialated them. Great bravery though.

The Canadians standing in front of the flags of the U.N. coalition that was sent during the Korean war.

Which included the Australians. Patriotism is cool.

This is how they sleep in the navy. Just like the Village People.

A paratrooper in the museum. It was closing so the lights were turned off.

Me & Leena, a teacher at the camp and a top-notch lady.

Reuben throwing around one of my kids.

Me & the lovely Grace. The best thing about Korea.

2 of my little reindeers.

They don't come much cuter.

Bye kiddies! I'll miss you all!

One of my other classes.

And another one.

The class fat kid. He ate 5 pieces of pizza that day. Be careful buddy, gastro-surgery is expensive!

Two of my stalkers. 15 years old, only 3 years to go. (Joke)

They called me 'handsum teecha' here. My ego has inflated a little since I got here. Even though the compliments are from little kids I still enjoy it I'm not gonna lie. Feel free to leave a comment about how I'm a tosser.

Korea Pt. 2

I've just past the halfway point of my stay in Korea and I'm already sad at the thought of leaving. It's been really good here; Korea has treated me well. Its very nice to not have to move every few days. My Canadian buddy has been showing me around town and there is plenty to see. I've been sharing a room with his brother who is a real funny dude. The other teachers here are cool, we get along well and have a good time together. The Korean staff members are all friendly and good fun and of course most of the kids are fantastic.

The initial phase of getting use to teaching classes and getting to know the kids has passed. Now I know the kids pretty well. I had to bust some balls recently though to set the ground rules for my classroom. Being firm with the kids definately did not come naturally; it had to be done though cause it only takes a couple of kids to disrupt the classroom and make things difficult for you. I didn't like it, but it really starts to piss you off when kids don't pay attention. I made a little girl cry the other day which is a horrible feeling. The image of her looking at me as her little eyes welled up with tears is burned into my memory... I didn't do anything too bad, just some stern talking cause she refused to do the class activity. But I think she thought we were good buddies and that I would let her do whatever she wanted to. So when I laid down the law she was a little shocked.

Otherwise everything has been wonderful. The kids like me, I like them. Teaching is easy and fun too. We all have a great time together but I don''t know how much they are actually learning. But I think that at this age range (8-12) it's more important for them to have a good time so that they will want to continue learning. I don't think I am the favourite teacher here, but I am the only teacher with groupies! I can't walk through the halls without bunches of little girls staring and giggling at me. They try to conversate in broken English which is pretty funny: 'You so handsome teacher! '.

I hit up the shopping district for some warm clothes which was quite an experience in itself. The girls that work in the stores are a lot like the school girls. 'You handsome. I love you!' is about all they know of the english language. Out the front of the department stores they all have these stages with massive sound systems, usually blasting jiggy Rn'B. But on busy nights they have other entertainment; I saw breakdancers, a dating game show and a rock band who were rocking out unconvincingly in turtlenecks and with beautifully conditioned hair. Hilarious.

The nightlife has been cool so far. We only have one day off a week, so realistically we can only get drunk once a week and go sightseeing once a week too. On the first week the staff here took all the teachers out for Korean barbeque and drinks. It's a great way to spend the early evening, leisurely cooking food at your table and getting wasted on Soju (Korean rice wine). I got a little too loose for the first outing with work colleagues, now some of the camp assistants call me 'crazy man'.

But the real story started after we got back to the dorms and Reuben just lost it. I don't think he drinks a lot but when he gets drunk he turns into a looney tune; rolling around on the ground rambling and such. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to spray him with the fire extinguisher to calm him down; which was very silly cause instead of the cloud of gas I was expecting a whole lot of pink powder came out and made a big mess. To make things worse I went to switch it for an unused extinguisher downstairs and I set off the alarm that goes off when you go into the girls dorms. Then they came into our room and confiscated our alcohol which completed the breaking of every rule they have here. Our liason had to sort out the resulting mess with the security people so we didn't get kicked out.

One thing I have learned quickly is that Soju = trouble. This weekend we went to an all you can eat & drink place for $22USD, which was great fun. We went with some of Rick's Korean friends, a coworkers and her husband. All was going well until we hit the batting cages near the restaurant where we demolished the bottles of Soju we took from the serve-yourself fridge. From that point on things went wrong. Reuben wasn't allowed into the club cause he was so drunk, which is unheard of here. So I hit up the club with Rick and his friend Nicole... and it was off the hook!!! Granted I was very drunk, but there was an insane amount of cute girls bumping and grinding just like they do in filmclips. They totally worship the whole jiggy vibe... and I like it! It was like a booty paradise, I had great fun until I lost Rick and the girl I was dancing/kissing with. So I had to drag myself home without a jacket (cause it was in someones bag) in the bitter cold Korean winter. Trapesing around freezing cold, missing train transfers cause I was asleep, alone in an unfamiliar place... it was real shitty.

Anyway the night was great fun and completely worth it. Wish I could stay longer but my visa runs out straight after the camp. So I'm looking at hitting up Japan at the end of the month to see my homeboy and wreck havoc. I'm a bit busy but I'll try to post again soon. Enjoy the photos.

Some of our co-workers who took us out for dinner.

Another crowd shot.

The man-made lake they built going through Seoul.

Part of the palace.

Another lake shot.

And of course the kiddies.

Her English name is Angel. Ohhh.

Two of my favourite cuties.

Me & Teddy. What a legend.

My boys!

In da club.

The 63 floor building. Awesome views.

A cool viewing box on the 60th floor.

Another one... Nice expression

Pimpin out in da club, rockin' my new clothes.

Place was off the hook! At least I think it was, pretty wasted.

Reuben in the batting cages, before he lost a 50000 won bet to his brother ($50 USD).

It's cool just meeting people in the street. We're going out with them later this week.

Pretty lights all over the place. These stairs were way cool.

2 Big teddy bears.

Rockin out in turtlenecks. Had the girls going nutso with the phone cameras.

Street shot.

These people were going crazy over the fashion designer (Andre Kim) who made a street appearance. Apparently he's one of the most famous people in Korea. I thought he looked silly and took photos of the crowd instead.

Sightseeing near the Palace.

This guy was protesting the naming of a new port. Good luck champ!

12 statues for each lunar sign. This one is for the year of the monkey.

Hello South Korea!!!

So after my week in Saigon and I had my visa in my hand I departed for Seoul in South Korea for my first experience trying to teach little kiddies some English. Reunited with my Canadian buddy Rick and his also his older brother Reubin which is cool, cause most friends met through travelling will inevitably disappear forever. I've been in Korea for five days now and so far I've had a great time working with kids. It's pretty f**king cold here though, the first few days were shite arriving in thongs and with minimal warm clothes and fatigued from travelling as well. But I have adjusted to it now so it's okay.

NYE was average. Saturday is a work day for a lot of Koreans and the vibe in the city wasn't anything to write home about (even though I just did). I expected more atmosphere than there was. Could be that lunar new year (Chinese new year) is bigger over here. We hit up one of the club districts but were too cheap to pay to get into the clubs so we went to one of the bars and then downed some cheap Soju from the convenience store. After harassing the people in the street for a while we called it a night and retreated after a somewhat uneventful new years'. But whatever, it's just another night really, sometimes it's memorable, sometimes not.

Teaching has been the real story. I was nervous about being put at the front of a room full of kids and being responsible for their educational experience. After my first week though it all seems to be falling into place. Most of the kids are angels which makes it real easy. All the camp workers are super-nice and we have these cute Korean assistants to help us (hopefully they will assist us with dinner and a movie). It really great being with kids (8-12 years old) all day; the job is stressless, not difficult and even fun! Which is a phenomenal concept to me! Work that's fun and makes you feel good. Crazy. I'll put up some photos of my kiddies next post... asians are super-cute when they're little.

The kids like me because I don't punish them. We just have a good time together during class, playing games and stuff. There are a group of little girls who follow me around in between class. Today they followed me into the elevator which was a weird experience. Being in an enclosed space with my non-english speaking 10 year old fans. I mean what do you say to them? Even though they are little kids I can't help but feel good about having girls chase me around and scream when I wave. It's just like Beatlemania! I know its sad but I take whatever compliments I get. It's like that 'beggars can't be choosers' thing.

So it looks like it should be a great month here. I have high hopes and very much look forward to seeing the sights, and hitting up the clubbing and shopping districts. Should be a great experience and the best part is that is was totally out of the blue. This is the benefit of having no commitments people. Why don't you think about that for a while? Hmmmmmm.

Until next time "ANNYEONG HASEAYO" (later).

Light snacks.

Ricks bro: Reubin

This bar has a mural of Snoop behind the bar. A mural!

Rick passed out in the cab home, early 2006.