Hijacked

Doing a blog from Korea is a wonderful thing, unless you want to view the website. Yes, after mere months of blogging, I have been censored. Well, not just me. Everyone on blogspot.com has been censored from view in South (and probably North) Korea. I haven't been able to view my own website for the past 5 days or so and now I know why. The Ministry of Information and Communication has blocked all blogspot sites from being viewed in Korea.

The reasoning is that, in the wake of Kim Sun-Il's death, they do not want people in Korea viewing the video of his execution. Since some (a few people) had the video on blogspot, blogspot got the ax. That means sweeping censorship included my humble site. (Queue Music) "Don't cry for me Argentina..." I can still post, but can not view the full glory of my blog, so I may move websites.... again.

I will keep you "posted"... get it... posted. Anyways... is this thing on?

Hmmmm....

Here in the basement of Namdaemun market you can find all manner of imported good. Here I am with the kiosk offering all kinds of spirits from all corners of the earth. I bought a very large Hershey bar (with almonds).

Joe Teacher

Joe working!? It has happened on occasion. Here I am looking over some materials for class. What a professional!

A Night Out

Here are some friends at our local watering hole. I debated whether to put this picture up as it is evidence that I am a hipocrite. I hate when the kids, well, when everyone puts their fingers up for pictures, effectively ruining otherwise fine photographs. I am just as bad it would seem.

Insadong Walking

Carrie and Lynn walking and shopping in Insadong... can you spot them???? 

Inwang Hike

Joe and Nick on Inwang Mountain 

Samgip-Soju

Nick and Matt at JJ Don Don's. Soju and Samgipsal anyone? 

GyeongBok Palace

Gyeongbokgung Palace. Say that three times fast! 

Family Mart

There's nothing like a hot Seoul night out hanging out at the Family Mart and drinking a few beers with old friends and new. This was after the soccer game and was an excellent time.

World Cup Stadium

This is Seoul's World Cup stadium. We watch Taegu battle Seoul in an excellent match. This place was rocking with only 4,000 people. I couldn't imagine 60,000.

Rooftop Picnic

Here we are on the top of our building enjoying a little picnic and a great view of the neighbourhood. You can see the Hyundae Apartment buildings and Inwang Mountain behind us.

Celebrity... I Mean Commodity

Here in Korea being a foreigner is being a celebrity. Now, I am not the handsomest of fellows, and Carrie is probably the one to talk to on this issue, but I get my fair share of celebrity status. After all, I am a Mel Gibson look-alike.

A common Korean passtime is to take a foreigner and find their celebrity look-alike (Sheila, your brother is Nicholas Cage). But all this doting isn't all smiles and sunshine. For a long time, I enjoyed the shock on children's faces when I turned the corner, or the shouts of "foreigner, foreigner" and pointing a finger in my face (I almost broke it off), but now I am getting a little tired of it. I guess sometimes it is still fun, but the point is celebrities live shitty lives and now I understand why.

When people don't view you as like themselves, they don't view you as human. I recall the words of my director on the subject of my place in the school: "you are not really here to teach, you are just... well... the 'face' of the school." Ahhhh, that's much better, I thought for a second there you were insulting me.

So, celebrity and commodity are not so different here in Korea, and I guess not in Canada either. Think if you saw a celebrity on the street in Canada, and asked, "can I take your picture?" Is that a compliment, or are you using that person. I guess the real difference lies here. Real celebrities make a lot of money. Fake celebrities, like me, make very little. Both get jaded, but I would rather have the money too.

Insadong Art

Last week in Insadong, we got paintings of ourselves, then we headed to the brightlights of Jongno. It was a great night! 

The Mansion

This was the amazing spread we were invited to when my Tae Kwon Do master bought a new home. It was named a "mansion" and was anything but. This dining room doubled as the bedroom.

What a Week!

This past week we had visitors and it was a great week. I felt like a tourist again and enjoyed the little vacation. Time went by fast, but we packed a lot in. We started the week off with a great sunburn from the roof of our place and a hike up Inwang Mountain. We learned that the police have a presence at the top since the president's house is visible from top and there was an assassination attempt in the 80s. That hike plus no sunscreen turned me into Burnt Backerat... is this thing on?

Anyways, the rest of the week was jam-packed full of drinking (Poyo Pop), eating (Poyo Pop) and shopping (Poyo Pop). Did I mention Poyo Pop? Poyo Pop (or Poyo Pop Feverrrrr in its entirety) is a Doctor Mario- type games that is as addictive and more dream-invading. For nights, visions of coloured bubbles falling down to make 3, 4, even 5 chains were all my dreams consisted of. Don't worry though; all that video game playing was not in vain. Think, you are reading the very words of the undisputed Poyo Pop champion of my world. (Carrie is now giving me a run for my money.)

Weather is warming up now... in the 30s last week and getting hotter again. No air conditioning should be interesting.

Korean Christianity

I think we are going to take our chances. 

Greetings from Cuba!

Greetings from Cuba! My big Bro sent me this cannon from Cuba. It went to good use. A big thanks and Congratulations to Ryan and Sue