A walk around my 'hood

As I've already mentioned on here, there's been a bit of a change in my surroundings recently - a change for the more urban to say the least. I've spent many a megabyte cataloging some of the more beautiful parts of korea on this blog, so I thought for this post, I'd show of one of the less scenic locations - Siheung City's Jeongwang-dong.

One of my colleagues, upon looking out of her 18th floor window at endless batteries of apartments, remarked that "It all looks like it's been copy-pasted." She was right too, and not just in Jeongwang, but all over Korea. One of the things that I enjoy about London is the diversity of its architecture. Korea of course doesn't have the advantage of historic buildings, being a very recently developed country, and having had almost everything historic flattened in the Korean war. Even so, modern buildings are not so much function over form, as built to be as ugly as possible, though this may be a cultural thing I'm missing.

However, looking into wider Korean culture it becomes clear how important image and appearance is here. I don't know if there's ever been a study done, but I'd be willing to bet that korea has one if the highest mirrors per person figures in the world, and you only need to pop into a korean restaurant to see how well food is presented here. Another confusing point is that most of my students are excellent and creative artists. Maybe it gets drummed out of them in architect school. Whatever happens, urban korea can be a pretty miserable place sometimes, and I wonder if it's urban centers have anything to do with the fact that South Korea often ranks among the unhappiest countries on earth. I'm sure that having some of the longest working hours on earth is a pretty big factor, but doing it in some of the least inspiring buildings on earth can't help either.

As a language teacher you come to learn that showing is often better than telling, so without further ado, I present a walk through Jeongwang-dong from my university to the subway station:

 We start with a walk through campus, past the 6-a-side pitch...

...and the climbing wall.

 Casting a glance back at the Techno Innovation 'Park' (TIP, where I live work, work out, shop, eat etc.). My room is on the right hand side of the top floor as you look at it in this photo.

There is an attempt to put some green on campus... 

...but the buildings are still pretty horrible.

Leaving university grounds, we head into the entertainments district. 

At night, this is all neon. 

Two staples of Korean urban nightlife, the barbecue restaurant... 

...and the chicken and beer shop. 

 See, this says 'pub' but I guarantee you'll rarely have been in less pub-like places.

My unofficial study suggests that there are three mobile phone stores for every person in Korea. 

Following his banning from the USA, Pororo fell on hard times.

 Looking back through the entertainment district.

 And around from on the bridge.

 Inspiring, huh?

 An attempt to tip the scales?

... 

... 

...

The local high school. 

 ...

And finally, the subway station.

The strange thing is, I'm feeling remarkably positive about my new living situation, and life in general. It's always tough changing teaching contexts, and getting used to new students, guidelines and routines, but I'm definitely feeling more like I've cracked it recently. My Korean's improving since I moved to the big city too - turns out there's more people to talk to here - who knew? I might also be flexing some old indie muscles occasionally: I'm going to see a story about a mythical North Korean punk rock icon performed by SK punk bands on Friday - I have no idea what to expect, but may try to report back sometime soon.

Until then,

A

University Life

Hello again,

At the end of my last post I promised to write again and share something of my new life at university. Here goes then.

The building that I live in is pretty amazing. It's an 18 floor orange monster that towers over pretty much everything around it, even in a society as keen on high-rise living as Korea. I actually live on the 18th floor, the penthouse if you like, and work on the 9th. Throw in the fact that the gym and the screen golf are on the 6th floor, a pool hall on the 3rd, a bunch of restaurants and cafes on the first two floors, along with a convenience store, a bookshop, a hairdressers, a laundrette and a doctor's surgery, and there's very little reason to leave. In fact, I managed to stay inside for 72 hours straight last week without ever really noticing. If this sounds unhealthy, I'd point out that going outside involves gulping down great lungfuls of industrial smog, and probably isn't really a good idea.

I'm very definitely going to get lazy living here. Not only can I get three meals a day cooked for me in the canteen for a minimal price if I want, I also just have to hang a sign on my door if my room's getting dirty, and a lady comes and cleans it. Plus, all my utilities including internet are thrown in. Not a bad deal really.

The area around the university really doesn't have that much to offer. We're essentially perched between two of the larger industrial estates in korea and a container port. There's the usual collection of fried chicken shops, barbecue restaurants, bars and singing rooms that will be depressingly familiar to anyone with exclusive of urban Korea. I am however in a golden triangle of E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus (Tesco), meaning that most of my ex-pat specific shopping needs can be quickly and easily taken care of.

Professionally things are going quite well so far. I teach 18 class hours a week (in actuality these are only 40 our 50 minutes each) to three classes of 20 students. In addition, there are up to 8 "cafe hours" a week, where students can come and have one on one conversation practice. The difference in teaching is huge here; I am able to do things that I am learning about on my MA course in the classroom, that I was unable to do with large public school classes because of student levels, motivation, our simply the dynamics of a class of 30 students. I'm able to follow a proper conversation driven methodology, and it's heartening to see most of my new students enjoying taking to each other in English. Let's hope it continues.

There's not a whole lot of news really. University starts again tomorrow - sociolinguistics, which doesn't greatly inspire me, but maybe will if I read enough. I've also found a football team to play for, which is definitely the most international I've ever played for. Current playing staff include Americans, Canadians, Guatemalans, Mexicans, a Spaniard, a Moroccan and a Korean who lived in Tunbridge Wells for a year. Mental.

Will try to post some nice pictures of something next time. Until then...

A

Leaving

Hi again,

This is the first blog post that I've written from my new home. Most of you know this already, but I've moved from my little town and little schools in the mountains of Gangwon-do, to the industrial suburbs south-west of Seoul to teach at a university here.

This of course, meant saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that I've made over the past two years in my little town, which was of course a tremendously sad, and incredibly drunken experience. It all started with an overnight teacher trip down the east coast of Korean, visiting caves, fish museums, and finishing up in a crab restaurant with a lot of soju and a whole crab each.

If you're wondering, this is a rock formation in the cave. 

Note the pretend microphone fashioned from two soju bottles and a pair of spoons. Classy. 

Following this was a "little" party back in Jinbu, at the marvellous Bar Cello. I have to say thanks to everyone (foreign and Korean) who came and made it an unforgettable night, that is at the same time very difficult to remember. Possibly the strangest part was fancy dress gear appearing at about 2am, as evidenced below. It wound up with an 8.30am walk home, and perhaps the worst Monday I have ever experienced. Worth it though.

After I stopped alternately shivering and sweating, began to be able to eat again, and the endless looping of Take A Look Around by Limp Bizkit in my head subsided a little (this was about Wednesday) I decided to get drunk again. Well, I say I decided; in actual fact my friends decided for me my inviting me to a barbecue in a carpenter's workshop. This did afford me one of those uniquely Korean experiences though - cleaning a barbecue using meat and booze. The procedure is as follows: light the charcoal (with a blowtorch, of course), and then put the grill top on. Once it gets nice and hot, choose some fatty bits of meat, and rub them all over the top of it, until you have a nice paste of dirt and hot fat. Then, throw a bottle of the local spirit over the top to wash this paste off and sterilize the grill. If you're lucky, you'll get a nice lungful or two of boozy steam as well (nb. I'm almost certain that this is not good for you). Korea, I think you should be worried when your national beverage is cheap and strong enough to be used as barbecue cleaner. Just saying.

Cleaning in process.

After we'd cooked the meat, we then engaged in some proper man cooking - making fried rice. This involves throwing rice, any leftover meat, and pretty much anything else that's lying around on the grill and mashing it all up (using what looked suspiciously like a plastering tool). It actually turned out surprisingly well, too.

Men at work. 

And then, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to my apartment, which while a little bit tatty, will be by far the biggest place I will have to myself for a while. It's also been the scene of a lot of happy memories - I'll always remember 성원APT 1동 1002호, it's name will always send shivers down my spine.

On the way out :(

Still, on to bigger and, err, smaller things. As with most jobs in Korea, my new one provides accommodation, though this time it's in the dormitory. Still, I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. It's about 18 feet by 9 feet, and is well enough designed to squeeze in a bed, desk, dressing table, sofa, a wardrobe and large cupboard as well as a bathroom. All of my stuff fits comfortably in (although I threw a lot out before I left). I've also gone up in the world, moving from the 10th to the 18th floor.

Night view. 

Day view. 

 View from the door.

Bathroom. 

Sofa, bed, and as yet undisposed of moving boxes.

Dresser. 

Desk.

Right, that's all for now. I'll write another post about teaching and work fairly soon. Until then...

A

Wind Farms

Hi all,

Finally, I am a free and unworried man again. Yup, yesterday I emailed in both of the masters assignments I have been working towards for (some of) the last five months, and I can look forward to a month off before it all starts again for the third time. I'm not entirely sure how I've done on this set - grammar and phonology. You're asked to achieve an awful lot in 3,000 words each (I ended up a combined 18 words shy of a 6,600 word limit) and there's no way you can talk about all you need to in the detail that I would have liked. Anyway, I know I've done enough to at least pass this module, but I'd really like an A. Results won't be out for a month, so I'm not going to worry for a bit.

All this leaves me with a degree of freedom for the next couple of weeks. I have to go to school for the mornings, but the students are still on holiday, so I won't be teaching at all. I'm determined not to waste the time though - I still have some books to read, and I feel like I should be leafing through some journals while I have access (ATHENS is a wonderful, wonderful resource). I also want to put a bit of time into some Korean study - I'm resolved to get much better this year. Finally, I'll probably be wandering around my little town a bit trying to visit everywhere one last time, as after these two weeks I'll be headed to my new home and job. Exciting times, but for a blog once I actually get there.

In the meantime, these are some photos I've been meaning to post for a while. They were taken in December, in the hills around Hoenggye, the next town over from me and where the 2018 Winter Olympics will be centred. I've always been rather fond of wind farms, and I've never really understood the argument that they spoil the countryside, I think the photos below show that they can often enhance it.

I really love the colours in this photo - it really was this colour when we were there. The blue was vivid enough to be slightly surreal.

 Before (above) and after (below)

 I wasn't really dressed for this kind of adventure.

 This is the ear-popping 800m descent to Gangneung on the eastern coast, with some amazing clouds.

 Stacy doesn't think she looks very good in this photo.

She might be right, I think she looks much better here.

Having written the above, I'm now off to hide somewhere until she calms down. Will post more, perhaps from a secret location, very soon.

A