-Kife in Korea-: December 2005

Christmas in Korea passed like almost any other weekend.....without family and turkey, it's just not the same experience.....however, good times were had by all and scandals ensued as per directed.....

in Korea, Christmas is practised by most people, and by all people who have money.....it has caught on as a trendy market-oriented holiday, much like Western nations.....but when asked about Santa and presents, children here do not get greedy for some reason....when asked, they each wanted something amounting to a book or a bag or a particular video game.....and that was all.....wanting a personal island with a castle and a dragon that shoots flames at enemies while completing all one's English homework and eating the teacher was not mentioned.....this may have been different asking Western children

i found myself down in Ilsan recently, a suburb of Seoul sporting approximately 500,000 people.....this city was planned, right down to the artificial rocks that create a scenic landscape down by the river.....however, Ilsan has all of the right things in all of the right spots......as a city goes, it's planning was impeccable.....which is distinctly unlike home, where several parking lots are planned thrice, built wrong twice, and then finally removed to make room for poorly-built subdivisions that have no access to major roadways (yay Ancaster) or else back onto a brick wall

and so teaching fast approaches once again.....having new curriculum to prepare and a scandalous amount of prep needed to organize an entire 2 months of class, i set to maximize my potential and am once again assailed by powerful hints to forsake school and get myself out to some cultural events.....and although my sense of responsibility could kick in at any time, i ensure that it is remitted to a small dark cave where it can pretend to be useful and live out its remaining few days in silence.....hahahahaha, once again, a sublime victory for Groove Holmes, champion of virtue, truth and the scandalous maximization of time

yellow goodness - Beyond the Sea

idol-worshipping

Groove Holmes + DJ Hyde = total sweetness

sceptre of ultimate power

Out of the box down to see Carl Cox

My ticket read, "King is Back".....i was excited just reading the improper grammar peppered all over it.....the Walker Hill Sheraton is one of the classier venues in Seoul, and has a renovated basement larger than many concert halls.....we were shuttled by taxi there by approximately 11:30pm.....i remembered that odd sense of anticipation, when you can just barely hear the bass vibrating through the walls, knowing that within 10 minutes your brains are going to be knocked out of your skull by cleverly orchestrated electronic loops of sound.....the sound system uses about the same amount of energy as a volcano on evil drugs being hit with a meteor made of plutonium

Despite a large congregation of Westerners and presumably many military personnel, there was a decent vibe inside the hotel.....although not as intimate as other jams, the 'corporate jam vibe' was nevertheless positive.....inexplicably after about 4 hours, my wallet imploded and gave up on me, deciding to be empty.....i nimbly regrouped and decided to dance, preferring repetitive motion to financial erosion

Sunday marked itself in the usual way by allowing me to arise by the maddeningly early hour of 2pm.....i managed to shuffle my way down to an artistic district somewhere in the vicinity of Jongno by mid-afternoon and perused various wares, toured an art gallery, bought some knick-knacks and explored the one place in Seoul where there is some relative cultural diversity.....many Korean university students throng this area, and there are flyers for art shows, local crafts shows and musical street performers.....this area is a radical change from the industrious business format that most of Seoul is otherwise preoccupied with.....and after remaining there for most of the day, i suddenly found myself at home, having been completely unprepared for the abrupt end to the weekend.....i felt ready to teach in the way that grand pianos are ready to fly

wicked jam

Carl Cox (the chameleon, camouflaged)

a friend?

kife in the klassroom

cheaters R us

Seoraksan and Sokcho

work Friday ended as it usually does, with that instant relief and short intake of breath that lets you know that you have once again achieved freedom through tenacity and skill, thrown almost effortlessly at unsuspecting Korean children for five days in a row.....and so there was a bus to catch at 10:55pm.....one with the heat cranked to 'melt and ooze into the floor' temperatures.....4 hours later, a swift, biting wind ushered us from the bus into the cold starry night of Sokcho beach.....we ambled down several nearly empty streets until a middle-aged Korean woman got our attention and pulled us into a hotel room.....it ended up being enormous and overlooked the ocean.....it also cost $30 for three of us to stay the night

we awoke in the morning to sunlight and seagulls.....that turned out to be pigeons.....found a city bus that for 90 cents (like all city buses) ushered us into Seoraksan National Park.....the view from the base of the mountains was incredible.....a cable car brought us to the summit of a central mountain.....many Korean men clammered up some rocks and cliff faces and shouted, gesticulating wildly into the open air.....i through out my usual 'anniyong haseyo' and wandered out to some further cliffs.....bored with the volume of people at this peak, i decided to design a trail of my own up to other cliffs and peaks, clearly indicated by the metal pipe fences and 'no trail'/'do not trespass' signs.....from there, fewer voices were heard, and many unmarked areas were available to explore.....only when the sun ducked behind the mountains and the ominous 'last call' for the tram down forced a premature end to the mission.....we were late.....almost 45 minutes late, but the tram driver waited

back in Sokcho we toured several hofs and found our way to a local dive, away from youth and Americanized establishments.....here, there were authentic raw dead things consumed, and the owner attempted to show Groove Holmes how to fight properly.....mistakingly punching Groove Holmes in the face, he apologized, and showed him some extra shifty moves in compensation.....the night/morning somehow ended at a nuraebang, singing at the top of our lungs into echoey microphones for no particular reason at all, other than hey, we're in a nuraebang..........late morning arrived, one last hazy, lethargic trip to the beach and then a six hour 'operation: pass-out' bus ride back into Seoul, and ready to teach