Christmas in korea

Well......I made it through my first christmas away from home. I am just happy its over LOL

I added some funny pics........the gorilla...ummm.......ya know..........this is at a st8 bar oddly enough.........near a university.....the korean explaination as to why I get the special treatment " well they could not do that to a girl ! " perfect logic isn't it?? lol

This is my best friend in korea lookin sexy korean style ( korean girls like to take self pics of themselves and we are not sure why )

This is my fav class this semester, its a class of all boys........they are so hyper and full of energy..........so much fun teaching them.

Lastly this is Sung-Jik...........I am dating him.......its going well..........but I can assure its not that easy for either of us............but hopefully it will be worth it! I like him. My first real korean friend.......am happy about that.

Aquarium + DQ

Hey Y'all

I wanted to put up some pics from my trip to the aquarium.....we went to see the shark feed, it was pretty kewl. I was hanging out with an american korean this weekend, he was so much fun. I also just recently made friends with a korean who lives close to my house, so hopefully that will work out. Check out these pics :) I also stumbled upon a dairy queen on my travels, they have red and blue dilly bars hehehhee.

My Munchkins!

as promised :)

I have a crush on this korean guy, but he has a boyfriend lol.

PEACE

I have not chatted in a while........I have been out and about here and very sick with food poisoning a couple of times since I have been on here last. supposedly my body is still adjusting to the new type of food. This week is my last week with the kids I have had since september so I will take some pictures with them and post, I actually will miss them heehehehehe, even though I will probably still see them around school. Here are some pictures, last nite I got a really good pictures of probably my best friend here in Korea, sunny. Cheri is one of my closest friends here and I have a picture of her with her japanese friend Rina.

so I did some shopping today and I think you guys will not recognize my new fashion style when I go home. some of my friends are fashion design majors from new zealand.........clothes are so cheap here and there are mountains of different styles and looks. I am off to seoul next weekend to spend time with my korean friend Shain, it should be fun. I hope everyone is doing well. sending out lots of love!!

oh one more pic, these little kids were playing peak a boo with us at the restaurant last nite, they were so cute!!!

funny things about korea!

ok.......first off a disclaimer........I am not trashing koreans in this next part cause I do love'em, their cute and funny.......but I thought it would be fun to tell you some of the odd ( to a western ) things they do.

ok.......since I have been here.......I have seen

dead pig heads outside restaurant markets as a way of advertising they sell pork I am assuming. I have seen a man take a squid out of his truck and take it to the side where there is a cutting board and slice and dice it , stick it in a bag for a happy customer all in less than 2 minutes. I watched a women trying to stick a live crab into a styrofoam container at the supermarket. Outside of stores, they sometimes have dancing girls on a small platform to get people to come. At my gym, there are ashtrays in the bathroom and they are used lol.

It takes 20minutes to get a burger at macdonalds.........they would rather sit on the floor than a chair. They say handsome and delicious all the time. Korean st8 men are more gay than me ( I know you find it hard to believe ) they hold hands on the street and the fathers will often grab their sons penises on the subway as a way of bonding perhaps? Everyone rides scooters and motorbikes, with no helmets on the sidewalks and streets and many drive really fast. I have already seen a crash.........somehow the guy was ok, he drove right into the side of a car lol. Middle age women where visors that cover their entire face and u cannot find bronzer for your skin, only bleach. Its almost like koreans are scared of the sun, they go to the beach with jeans and long sleeve shirt on lol. They go hiking after midnite, I am going on thursday, hopefully there will be some lights lol

don't know is this accurate, but I heard today from a friend that when we eat something we say " oh this tastes fuckin great " the korean equivalent is " oh this has great cock taste to it" lol. It seems that koreans like extremes, it is probably the most conservative asian country, however cheap sex is EVERYWHERE and dirt cheap lol.

Stuff I still wanna do............go meet a taoist guy, I wanna go fishing on the ocean, I wanna scuba dive( actually you can swim with sharks for 60bucks ) and do more hiking to temples.

Ok I feel bad now, I want to tell you why I LOVE KOREA. Many of the people are kind and caring. The food is to die for and I love the freedom of the service industry...........its always open, like my gym is open until 2am. I love the history here, it has had such a profound impact on the people and I love my neighbourhood, its just like vancouver, and if I want korea, its a subway ride away. I am excited to see how the young koreans of tomorrow will transform their country. I love the land, there are mountains around the city and the beach and the seafood. people know how to have fun here. Its shocking how shy some koreans can be, but I am sure that once u get to know them better, they could make really great friends. Oh and I definitely have caught yellow fever, thank god I am not a size queen.

LOVE YOU ALL..........keep in touch

P.S - I ate live octopus, getting the pic off a teacher friend, will post soon.

ASIAN BOYS - ANOTHER WORLD

Hey all, sorry about slacking on the blog. It is important to me, I guess I have been still busy getting to know more people. I am sometimes successful often not.............will just take some time. I wanted to tell you some things about cultural differences here. I have been hanging out with these boys the last little while, they don't speak much english, but honestly thats the least of our problems. Foreigners feel isolated from korean society for a million reasons. Xenophobia is RAMPANT here and for me lots of positive racism against me. When these people are in public, they are 100% different from when they are in my appartment. 3/4 of the gay boys still live with their parents ( even when their 30) and EVEN have a curfew lol. Their either wanna have sex with you once and never talk to you again cause they feel so ashamed or after your first encounter, they will wanna know when u wanna marry them and when you are going to buy them something. Sex roles are HUGE here, they will most likely ask if you are a top or bottom before they will wanna know your name. bottoms and tops have pre-defined roles in the relationship just like in the seventies back home. They won't talk to you in public, cause they are worried what complete strangers might think of their english. OUTSIDE image is everything in being successful here..........your clothes, hair, what car u drive, all that crap. The japanese boy was so intolerable while shopping that I ditched him at the subway. He had so much attitude and flat out was just a bitch, SO cold.

Many of the foreigner gay guys drink a ton and are completely bitter about being gay here. Actually many foreigners drink a ton, actually EVERYONE here drinks a ton lol . Cause the gay scene is so small and many people are fucked up and unhappy, it can get pretty competitive and caddy. I plan on telling people NOTHING in this scene. I am learning to rely on myself more for entertainment, cause no one can take better care of me than me :P Will I find love in Busan.........only time will tell. I will more than likely find it with some level headed foreigner more than an asian though at this point. I will admit I spent way too much money this month, but I mean I think its normal, trying to make friends and get stuff for your appt. This month i am going to budget. My mastercard is lost in the mail and my canadian bank card has stopped working. Luckily I get paid tomorrow.

On a more positive note, I am starting to meet some decent people. Generally speaking korean people are quite friendly and gentle and kind hearted. It is a super SAFE place to live and I respect where their society is at on positive social change based on their history. Give this place a decade and I am sure they will be way more international.

I have a kiwi friend ( new zealander ) who has a b/f...........we are pretty good friends and I have a new korean friend who teaches at my school and lives in my building, he is a st8 boy but studied in New York and had many gay friends there. There are a few girls I plan to get a bit closer with over the next little while. Nadines friend from high school is here and so I plan to meet up with her, another kiwi who seems like a perfect fag hag named Cindy lives close and a couple girls from PEI that seem pretty nice. This new persian friend who is close to busan, gay and cute and seems to have a great head on his shoulders. I plan on having a bit more of a routine now and will even get a gym membership. I wanna explore more hiking, taoism and some of the arts and movies. I also plan to start saving heavily so I can travel to some kewl destinations while I am out here. I am switching gears really.....I have experienced what most of the locals do here over the last month, now I wanna shape my own life as I do feel I am much more in control. I was really at other people's mercy when I first got here, but no more ! Ditching the japanese boy was so empowering..........I don't need his guidance or translation........made it home just fine :P

LOVE YOU ALL - I hope this gives u a better perspective of my life here, I know I have been short on details lately.

United Nations Memorial + climbing a mountain

Hey all.

Well I had a wonderful day trip on my own during a day off I had on wednesday. I paid my respects to the soldiers who fought in the Korean War for the UN. I have included some pictures. My mom said that my grandpa fought in this war, so it meant a lot to be there. From there I went to the Busan Museum, where I learned about the culture/politics/history of the area. Its an ANCIENT culture and I am starting to see first hand how what happens in the past effects the present. I love museums, not sure why........just think their a bundle of info that often can illuminate so much.

In the afternoon I took a bus up this exceptionally windy road up Mt. Geumgang. There is a fortress wall that was built in 1692 to defend themselves from chinese and japanese invasions. I have included some pics. Just beautiful. Older koreans seem to love hiking, they have special clothes and even metal walking sticks and they listen to portable radios :P I LOVED it up there, and it was really my first exposure to nature I have had since I came here with the exception of the ocean. Up on the mountain, they have all these little shanty shacks where u can get drunk and eat kimchi lol....... When I was looking for the cable car to bring me down, I bumped into this guy who brought me to his "restaurant" and we had this strong sweet milky liquour called "molaka" and kimchi ( pickled, spicy cabbage) I am quite impressed by how friendly some koreans are. They got out what little english they knew, total strangers.

On the cable car, I met some Pakistani guys that are here for a conference. I hung out with them for a bit in this really hip shopping district ( when I have money, I am so getting a new wardrobe! )

Than I met this gay bear american teacher and his two gay korean friends for supper and drinks. I had vietnamese pho soup, it was SO GOOD! The bear american teacher is probably going to be a new good friend, we get along very well.

LOVE YOU ALL !

more pics

check it out !

shawn leaves Haeundae ( aka - my ghetto )

Hey Y'all !

so today I visited another couple areas of Busan. A 40 minute subway ride ( quite love subways ) except for my start........a drunk man started yelling at me and at one point grabbed my foot " I yelled "don't touch me ! " than he kept yelling.....eventually keith called me on my cellie and I moved to the seniors section of the subway. A few koreans proceeded to tell him to shut up probably and a few stops later, he got off. I had a similar experience in japan with my friends at the photo shop.......we are unpopular with drunk ole asians lol.

I went to go get my alien card from immigration today, bit of a money scam, but its a card from the government that says u will be here for a while.........so I can get a cell phone plan, rent movies all that sorta stuff.

Keith came with me, than we went to this old 1970 tower and got a good aerial view of a part of busan, I included some pics. than we walked around some of the shops and than had a good chat at the Paris Baquette.

Korea is interesting, strongly influenced by american business I find, but the culture has its own flare too. I am a bit lonely but also find having to rely on not many people other than myself a little empowering, after having chatted with nadine and a canadian korean teacher friend at my school. The culture shock sorta hit me earlier in the week, but I have a plan and truly believe it is only temporary. One of the teachers is taking me to grocery shop on friday, oddly enough, I am really looking forward to it, have not been eating a lot :(

The teaching is going well, the elementary kids are a bit of challenge when it comes to behaviour, but I am quickly picking up control tactics from the other teachers. I am going to start korean lessons probably next week to better integrate with other koreans. Toodles, miss everyone unbelievably .........I find the foreigners quite shallow and too americanish, and you all know how much I like that. I am sure I will bump into more my kinda folk at some point.

The whole gay thing is a bit weird at work, because I guess I am a bit paranoid that the korean staff will find out and than judge me ( I kinda did not have a great plan getting into this ..eeeeek.....guess I will just ride the rollercoaster ride )

LOVE YOU !

JAPAN

WOW,

That was the shortest vacation I have ever taken, less than 48 hours lol. I did my visa run with some other teachers and just got back into busan tonite. We found a beer garden ( their on the roof of high rises and its all you can eat and drink for about 40 bucks canadian :P We definitely got our moneys worth. We then went to a western bar called Happy cock. it was a wednesday nite so nothing too much was happening but we made it into our own little party. general impressions of japan...........more stylish, better food selection, and a more liberal culture than korea. there was a bit of cockiness I found though too. its quite expensive. I would love to go back though and explore it more. the taxi doors automatically open and close on their own :P lots of people dye their hair blonde but end up with an odd copper coloured hair. The teachers I had done training with so I already knew them, they were super fun and without them, I so would have never survived lol. The weird guy in the picture is just some random teacher who met us on the street and than we couldn't shake him. The ferry clocks about 80km an hour hydroplanning above the water, was pretty kewl, but easy to feel sick to your stomach.

BACK online !

Hey everyone.

well I am plugged back in, have the net in my appartment, so I am sure I will see all of you on msn as some point, best time to catch me is around 7 or 8pm your time, as it is aroun 9 or 10 my time and I am just waking up.

Life is good here, my school gave me a much larger signing bonus than what was in my contract which was a pleasant surpise. The weather has been awesome, sunny and around 30 and I have been at the beach most of the weekend. I went to the gay bars last nite with an american........wild, we sang like a virgin by madonna, the korean gay boys loved it lol.

I finished my first week of classes and I quite enjoy it actually........sometimes its hard to get the kids to speak cause they are zoned out ( most go to school for upwards of 14hours a day) or too shy to speak...........but their good kids.

I had an awesome day today. I hung out with a gay korean boy named Keith and we walked along the coast on this trail they have. We ate korean take out in my appartment and he is a total sweetheart, I can't wait to spend more time with him again.

I go on my japan visa run on wednesday which I am looking forward too.

I am putting up some photos, keith and I and the gay kareoke bar.......some of the "friends" we met there :P I put it in quotations cause the scene is SUPER small.........so everyone just becomes linked I think. We met the queen bee last nite I think, an american-korean from the deep south...........international cities are so much fun lol.

I hope all is well for everyone. I am settling in here nicely, I can't wait to talk to you!
lots of love

MORE PICS

Royal Palace

Well, Pavlos and I really made sunday count. We visited the Palace and a couple of museums, toured many parts of the city by subway. I got my workout for the day, thats for sure!

I started my training today in Seoul and met a whole bunch of other teachers, we out for korean style BBQ, which is quite delicious. There is a section with all the western staples, starbucks, macdics, BK, KFC, and of course STRIPPERS lol. We looked for the gay bar but were unsuccessful, it was a sunday however..........still 10million people, you would think there would be something lol. The city is MASSIVE jungle of concrete, everyone keeps telling me I will love Busan comparatively. I met a nice couple from cape breton and another that just came back from peace corps in Kryzigstan. LOVE ya all !

First couple of days in Korea

well, well, well.

fun times in downtown seoul !!
I saw korean ninjas guarding an american compound to girls taking snapshots with their cameraphone sans flash so as to trick the naive canadian. little school kids shouting out on the street, HELLO, HELLO......to almost being run over on the sidewalk by guys smoking cigarettes with no helmet on their scooters. LOL

wild times. Still trying to adjust to the 13 hour time difference. going to check out some museums today with my military attache Pavlos hehehehe ( can't wait to see him in his fatigues :P )

will check back in soon, I think everyone can write messages off this site. Use it, great way to keep in touch

lots of love,
shawn