tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41201772011-04-21T12:11:41.578-07:00Short stories and sometimes musings about my life with the Koreans. It is a blog desperately in need of an editorial thread.Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comBlogger461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1098198764981713322004-10-19T07:35:00.000-07:002004-10-19T08:12:44.983-07:00

I'm not normally one to toot my own horn. Although that's probably a reflection of not having much to toot more than anything else. The following though, I think is tootable. If only because it is ridiculous and it is Korean. Newspapers fan belief in urban myth Thanks to those who've added links to this blog from theirs, even with me not updating for well over a month. The writing at

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1095085780670886922004-09-13T07:14:00.000-07:002004-09-13T07:31:20.353-07:00

I've started teaching three English classes a week at an all-girls high school near my place in Sincheon. It's kind of like being a rock star really, and it's funny because I don't ever remember large groups of teenage girls squealing at me with delight back in Winnipeg. I guess I just wasn't paying close enough attention. I thought I'd share with the few people who actually read this blog a

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1093690337181601622004-08-28T03:33:00.000-07:002004-08-28T04:04:49.056-07:00

More proof that Koreans are from not a different country, but a different planet. If you've spent any amount of time in Korea the contents of the article linked below probably won't be much of a surprise. And depending on how well-adjusted you are psychologically, you may or may not spend much of the time reading it cringing painfully. If you've never been to Korea, the article may leave you

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1092929354214537582004-08-19T08:18:00.000-07:002004-08-19T08:37:31.953-07:00

The ban is over and my blogging procrastination has gone beyond ridiculous. The heat wave is not even an excuse anymore. But that’s good, the constant film of sweat enveloping my entire body was getting to be a bit much. ********* Drunk and in Itaewon last week, I was waiting for a taxi by the road. Hearing shrieking somewhere behind me, I turned to see a Korean guy attempting to yank an

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1089738828030303632004-07-13T09:48:00.000-07:002004-07-14T22:50:10.110-07:00

STILL unable to view blogspot blogs in Korea. It would be very unlike me but I'm considering investing the time and work required to move my entire damn site. With that said. One of the things that immediately struck me upon arrival in Malaysia, aside from the humidity and the Koreans trying to rush ahead of me in the customs line, was the level of enthusiam Malays have for football. European

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1089083826449221972004-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:002004-07-05T20:30:06.246-07:00

The MIC's ban is still in full effect, which means from Korea I am unable to view my own blog. My feeble number of daily hits has been halved, and with no end for the ban in sight, the Big Electric Kurva dies a slow death. Please sign the petition on the post below. Thank-you. A friend of mine sent me this article a couple days ago. It made me feel pretty good about myself, especially the

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1088942421405352772004-07-04T04:41:00.000-07:002004-07-04T05:00:21.406-07:00

I returned to Korea yesterday morning after 10 lovely sun-filled days in Malaysia to find myself unable to view my own blog. As part of beheading mania the Korean Ministry of Information and Culture (MIC) has banned access to many blog services (blogspot included) out of fear Koreans would access the handful of Web sites that had the Kim Seon-il video available for download. It’s a good thing

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1087888241055948252004-06-22T00:06:00.000-07:002004-06-22T21:17:24.286-07:00

I'm not sure that this is entirely necessary, the regular readership of my blog being what it is: almost non-existent. But nevertheless.... Off to Malaysia as of today. A nice 10-day holiday whose main purpose will be to see an old friend, lie on the beach drinking beer, and get my new work visa. Assuming immigration allows the likes of me back in the country, I'll be in Korea on July the 3rd

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1087036317573452422004-06-12T03:18:00.000-07:002004-06-12T03:55:03.833-07:00

Keeping with the random nature of my blog posts I give you the following. Any way I swing it I can't seem to find a Korean connection. This is absolutely brilliant: It's OK to smoke dope, England fans told Quote of the article goes to Eindhoven police spokesman Johann Beelan, who describing how pot was a positive influence on public order at Euro 2000, said: "Cannabis ... was part of the

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1086625972513360712004-06-07T09:27:00.000-07:002004-06-08T17:12:05.496-07:00

I was showing my friend Min-gu, who lives in the same boarding house, my spanking new daily-wear contacts this afternoon. He almost went into cardiac arrest when he saw the -8.5 prescription printed on the side of the box. Apparently my eyesight is actually bad enough to get me out of Korean military service. This is assuming I was Korean, which is quite a jump. In my alternative Korean life,

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1085418354354909582004-05-24T09:54:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:22:12.863-07:00

Time for some very shameful self-promotion. This is an article I wrote for the JoongAng Daily, where I'm currently working as a copy-editor. It is a fairly ridiculous problem we seem to have here in Korea. And one that should not be that hard to rectify. Unfortunately I don't have my fingers crossed.... Goto article

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1085069516569821342004-05-20T09:08:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:23:13.576-07:00

There have been some stories recently in the Korean media describing something called "birth tours". Which are not so much tours per se, but a Korean mother travelling to Canada, the US, New Zealand, or wherever, in order to have her child. The supposed advantages are several; the kid gets citizenship of the country that he or she is born in. That means they can later study there for a lot

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1083432905132663562004-05-01T10:35:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:23:59.453-07:00

A fellow expat and friend wound up in a Korean hospital recently. He had too much to drink one night and crashed down a flight of stairs in a subway station. This has left him immobile, and he lies in bed patiently waiting for the bone in his ankle to heal. I went to visit him last week, and to relieve him from the ordeal of Korean hospital food, I brought along some muffins and yoghurt. A

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1082505719661227042004-04-20T17:01:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:29:57.566-07:00

The National Assembly elections were finally held in Korea last week. As expected, the party supporting impeached president Roh Mu-hyun charged to victory. Korean politics has taken a swing to the left. The self-described liberals in the Uri party now have a slim majority in the Assembly, while the Democratic Labour Party, progressive enough to call themselves progressive, got a nice little

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1082043820321015612004-04-15T08:43:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:31:05.663-07:00

I know foreigners who've been in Korea as long as I have, and do not speak a word of Korean. Well maybe some words, but not too many. I used to look down my nose at these sorts. But I've increasingly come to the opinion that there may be a quiet dignity in having not tried. Lets take this past Tuesday as an example. I was frantically searching my room, looking for an envelope containing the

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1081143862049147112004-04-04T22:44:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:31:58.886-07:00

Every Friday morning at 7:30am I teach English for one hour to a group of civil servants. There are 13 of them, and they all work for the Ministry of Education. They range from young, attractive and female, to old, cranky and male. Perhaps the only thing they all have in common is that they don't want to be there. What they want doesn't matter however, because in Korea, what the boss says

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1080285773166808652004-03-25T23:22:00.000-08:002004-06-01T08:28:48.950-07:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a documentary about foreigners experiencing traditional Korean culture. Six others and myself were hauled down to a small farming village in the middle of nowhere, and filmed doing a bunch of stuff most Koreans don't bother with anymore. This including wearing big, baggy pants, labouring out in the fields, as well as mixing, kneading,

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1079542112927238472004-03-17T08:48:00.000-08:002004-06-01T08:27:41.973-07:00

The president of Korea was impeached last Friday. To those of you reading this who are outside of Korea that may mean very little. It may mean very little even if you are inside Korea. The fact I was working in a newsroom here when it happened made it a lot more exciting for me. Since my job was to make sure the Koreans described it in grammatically correct English, I acquired more than a

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1077429775351038592004-02-21T22:02:00.000-08:002004-02-23T19:38:49.733-08:00

Time for a bit of an update on what's going on with me, the man behind the blog. I had alluded before to certain 'events' at the hagwon I was working at. I still want to document the silliness in blog-form, but to make a long story short, I was canned. We all knew the school would close soon. The signs were everywhere, from students and their inflated tuition dropping like flies, to the boss

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1075949602953025732004-02-04T18:53:00.000-08:002004-06-01T08:26:51.726-07:00

An old friend of mine commented recently that it was rather difficult to get any serious writing done here, surrounded by "moola". Safe to assume he was referring more to his gig as a hagwon teacher than to the Koreans in general, but the point was not lost. The word pronounced "moola" is the most informal and personal way of saying "I don't know" in the Korean language. Most teachers of English

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1073283872607235052004-01-04T22:24:00.000-08:002004-01-09T22:18:58.280-08:00

Well here we are again, coming up on one month since my last posting. If ever there was a New Year's resolution that needs making, it involves the frequency that I post to this thing. I suppose I do have a bit of an excuse this time. I've just returned from a pilgrimage to the motherland. It was my first Holiday season spent in Winnipeg in three years. The voyage home often signifies the end

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1070711790809473372003-12-06T03:56:00.000-08:002003-12-06T04:28:15.983-08:00

I celebrated my twenty-sixth birthday on this past December 3rd. Nothing special by any description. Simply a few drinks at a pub just around the corner from my place. Or that was the plan. I'd like to start describing how a wild night ensued out of nothing and maybe ended with my pants hanging on an historically significant statue come dawn. But we really did just stay at the pub. Myself,

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1068613203540922792003-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:002003-11-11T21:00:29.496-08:00

I had been thinking a lot about how my life is rather precarious these days. A glorified baby-sitter with a worrying lack of prospects of being anything else. This thought crossed my mind more than once as I gazed at the sharply dressed Koreans chatting throughout the room, many of them female, young and attractive. My gig as a staff writer for the Seoul Times once again opened doors that

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1066880917098251792003-10-22T20:48:00.000-07:002003-10-22T20:53:23.000-07:00

We were sitting in a Korean restaurant, on the floor as you often are. Pork sizzled on an open grill in front of us while smoke and the clatter of Korean conversation wafted through the air around us. Across the table from me was Joseph, the editor of the "newspaper" I tell people I write for these days and a man I'm simply going to call 'The Artist'. I do this because I have absolutely no

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1064357828379687392003-09-23T15:57:00.000-07:002003-09-26T09:34:20.270-07:00

Last Sunday was rolling along at a lazy pace when the doorbell rang unexpectedly. I answered it to find a middle-aged Korean woman standing in front of me. A completely shocked middle-aged Korean woman. The fact a non-Korean person answered the door had literally rendered her unable to move. She let out a short gasp and struggled to find some proper words. Trying the helpful approach I said

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1063267182332327102003-09-11T00:59:00.000-07:002004-06-01T10:01:58.780-07:00

I have now appeared three times on Korean network television. Shopping network television of course. The product I am shamelessly promoting is known as 'Crazy English'. This product comes via a Chinese man called Li Yang who has accurately observed that many of the 3 billion people living in Asia are very interested in learning the English language. Enter the Korean market. And enter it he

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1061391587242290802003-08-20T07:59:00.000-07:002003-09-11T01:29:39.080-07:00

Well, this isn’t going to be “The Infomerical Part II”. I’ve been trying to write a decent posting about it but getting nowhere. In fact as is always the case with me, the more time I have the more I procrastinate. I had been making a semi-regular contribution to a website entitled The Seoul Times - but even that has been left to slide for the past two weeks. I’ve since moved into my new

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1059837451382669572003-08-02T08:17:00.000-07:002004-06-01T10:15:02.056-07:00

Put it in the books. I am now officially the first citizen of Selkirk, Manitoba to appear in a Korean infomercial. This will accompany my previous recognition of being the first citizen of Selkirk to have dated two girls called So-Young. They originally started handing these things out when I became the first citizen to date anybody called So-Young. So I'm keeping them on their toes. The

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1058283400028401362003-07-15T08:36:00.000-07:002003-07-15T08:36:40.003-07:00

And now for something on the lighter side. We had just finished eating. Rio’s father leaned back, stretched his neck a little and let out a drawn-out, easy riding, low rumbling, Sunday drive by the river piece of Evening Thunder. Time momentarily stood still as I cringed and waited for him to bring his emission to a merciful ending. Apparently the sound produced by a ‘fart’ depends primarily

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-1057379684782706332003-07-04T21:34:00.000-07:002004-06-01T09:00:54.540-07:00

A Kurva’s note: In order to avoid confusion it should be noted that Rio is my Korean friend. He invited me to stay at his family’s home when I came back to Seoul. At the said arrival I found out that Rio had in fact moved out of his home and I was now to be staying with his parents – who cannot speak English – and his older sister, who teaches English to Koreans but won’t speak it with me.

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-957880252003-06-18T05:30:00.000-07:002003-06-21T02:20:57.000-07:00

I apologize for continually writing about the Korean family I'm staying with. It's just that I've only been back in Seoul a little while, I don't have that many friends and I don't have a job so I hang out at home a fair bit. Then you also have to take into account the fact that the whole situation is simply rather ridiculous. My Korean mother walked over to the kitchen two days ago, bent over

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-955461402003-06-11T05:36:00.000-07:002003-06-11T05:39:42.000-07:00

Hello. I don't know how many people actually read this blog on a regular basis. I like to claim a readership of about 8 people but I think even that is cooking the books a little bit. I know my friends come from time to time. I imagine there's a bit of traffic generated by the Pusan Writing Web link. But other than that I think this is still a rather anonymous web site. Perhaps if I

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-950910872003-05-30T11:32:00.000-07:002003-05-30T11:35:11.000-07:00

I am now two days away from leaving Winnipeg and starting again in Korea. I'm not sure how much fun I had but the time certainly did fly. I'd like to say that after 17 months in Asia I'm filled with profound insight about the cultural gap with the West, but the fact is I'm not. I told people I had reverse culture shock to make myself sound interesting, but really it was pretty smooth sailing.

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-944159712003-05-15T15:52:00.000-07:002003-05-15T15:52:18.983-07:00

My ticket has been reserved and if it wasn't going to be printed electronically it would simply be a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the i's. I will be returning to Korea on June 3rd. The meantime will find me saying my goodbyes once again, as well as indulging in that great Canadian camping tradition known as May Long Weekend. And knowing the company I will be keeping I can think of no

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-940015452003-05-08T10:31:00.000-07:002004-06-01T08:58:32.830-07:00

Back from St. Louis in one piece, after sleeping off a sore-throat caught somewhere in the middle of America I signed into Blogger and let my mind wander. Being 25 and not having a clear direction in life can be very discerning. Now that I am visiting at home it’s something I deal with almost on a daily basis. People often ask me about plans, usually long-term ones. I’ve developed various

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-935254942003-04-30T04:54:00.000-07:002003-04-30T04:54:32.846-07:00

I am getting on a bus this morning. There’s nothing strange in that of itself. Except that I’m in Canada at the moment. My general experience has been that most people don’t ride buses in Canada. And I don’t suppose that’s much different in the US. I don’t recall ever riding a bus in North America, so a new experience it will be. I’m sort of curious what type of people actually ride buses?

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-928989752003-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:002003-04-19T12:07:59.233-07:00

It¡¯s been two weeks since landing back on Canadian soil. The place I am currently calling home is the same one I did when I lived with my parents. Just like I do now. That¡¯s alright though. It¡¯s only for a short time and everybody is still happy to see everybody so far. So myself and the other Winnipeger I lived with in Seoul decided to try and track down a Korean restaurant in our fair

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-912227682003-03-23T05:47:00.000-08:002003-03-23T05:47:07.263-08:00

My god. It has been over a month since I've been here. My Korean final exams came and went without a lot of fanfare. I ended up doing pretty well on the grammar sections but got absolutely shit-hammered on my speaking and listening. I assume the main reason for this is that Koreans teach Korean like they do English. Now I understand why my students of last year could read English novels but

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-900967412003-03-03T21:59:00.000-08:002003-03-03T22:03:16.000-08:00

I have just received word that a working link to my blog is now up and running on the Pusan Writing Web. In light of this I thought it would be wise to ensure all the links are working properly and that there are no glaring errors in any of my titles. What jumped at me immediately was that the quote at the top of the screen told readers that "Life 'IF' far too important to be taken seriously".

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-894856622003-02-21T00:10:00.000-08:002003-02-21T00:15:32.000-08:00

The past two days have seen my confidence somewhat crushed in the face of superior competition. I have been and still am pretty keen on learning Korean. However I've come to realize that Korean is a little different than other languages. Part of my motivation came from the fact that even speaking a little Korean to the Koreans themselves earns one a shower of praise. Most of the foreigners in

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-892279502003-02-16T23:47:00.000-08:002003-02-16T23:47:19.113-08:00

I am now about 45 days away from leaving Korea. This has been causing me a certain amount of stress. At times like these you take heart in the silly things life throws your way. Actually I usually take heart in those things but sometimes when they get especially silly, you are allowed more heart. I stood in the Yonsei cafeteria this afteroon scanning my lunch options. These are presented to

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-884652412003-02-03T02:07:00.000-08:002003-02-03T02:20:00.000-08:00

Korean Men. I used to teach an adult class at the school I was working. I remember it rather fondly as a welcome change from screaming children and insolent teenagers. One thing I can say the experience taught me is that while men may discuss the same things everywhere (sports, politics, women), the manner in which they discuss them can differ drastically. There was Manager, a successful

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-878299352003-01-21T23:47:00.000-08:002003-01-21T23:51:14.000-08:00

Korean Television. This past week I had the tube on, watching only half-assed what appeared to be some sort of variety show. A segment came on about Susan Smith, the American woman who murdered her children a few years back. I couldn't really understand the Korean, but they were showing a lot of news footage. Then out of nowhere they cut to a recreation scene. Now one has to realize that

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-876638242003-01-18T19:38:00.000-08:002003-01-18T19:38:15.156-08:00

This Blog is a rather continual work in progress. It looks rather lame at the moment. But one day in the not to distant future I hope that lameness will disappear. Maybe even forever! At the moment I am simply too busy to do much more than write stuff on it. Luckily for me there's really nobody reading it. Of course it's not even one week old. So hopefully I can be forgiven at least

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-876204142003-01-17T18:35:00.000-08:002004-06-01T08:57:11.803-07:00

Yogi. This is like the first Korean word I learned. It means here and you pronounce it just like Yogi the Bear. The kids I taught were always yelling it all over the place and the word 'here' is pretty functional in any language so it was a natural to be my first in Korean. I went like 2 months only knowing Yogi and just talking to Koreans with it. Korean bus driver: (in Korean) "You can't use

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4120177.post-876203042003-01-17T18:32:00.000-08:002003-01-17T18:32:22.313-08:00

One week. I've been yogiing the course for one week now. (The word 'yogi' and it's various uses will have to be the subject for a another post) My class consists of 2 girls from China, one of whom I think is being paid to take this course by the company she works for here in Seoul. There are 4 Japanese students, 3 guys and one girl. Over the past week I'd been blabbering to anyone who'd listen

Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155439718572754652noreply@blogger.com0