The Lotus Lantern Festival

Earlier in my travels, my folks and I had been to a temple stay at Myogaksa temple in Seoul (which was back in mid February for the first weekend we were in South Korea.) It was a pretty cool experience to see how Buddhism works and what Buddhist Nuns/Monks or 'Sunim' as the Buddhist leader who oversaw our stay called themselves. Anyway, when we were leaving, the temple staff had mentioned a Lotus festival that I should look into (as I would be staying here for a year) and decided to do so when it was held on April 26, 2014.

Originally, the Lotus festival was suppose to be a very symbolic event where Buddhist temples from all over South Korea, Japan, and even Taiwan come and attend dancing, signing, and a lot of ceremonial stuff. However, due to the Sewol sinking prior the event, a lot of festivals, concerts, ceremonies and even field trips have been postponed, or even cancelled due to the tragedy. The Lotus festival was no different, what once was planned to be a festive time to bring in the Spring Season, putting positive energy into the air with singing and dancing, turned into a mourning festival with prayer of protection and peace for those departed.

The starting point for the festival was at Dongguk University, we settled into the open air stadium and sat around for a couple of hours as we heard prayers on the massive TV's set up and the head priests chanting and praying for those who had left us.

As you can see, this isn't just a small celebration; this was a massive gathering. Buddhist followers from all over the Asia's had come to participate, it was an amazing spectacle to see all the people, colors, and groups of many different temples in one place, but all still spoke the same prayers and all came for the same reason; to mourn those who had passed in the tragedy and, in prayer, put their spirits to rest and safe passage to the other world.

 There were a few foreigners with me as well, some from the states, others from the UK, and even some from South Africa, all coming to celebrate the Lotus festival, even with a slightly more seldom tone of sadness. Despite that, we were still ready to go through the Latern festival, and when I arrived, I was met with the priestess who had taken care of myself and my folks when we arrived there, Sunim Yeoeun. She sat me down beside her and even gave me water and Gimbap (Korean Sushi, which is quite good actually). While we waited for the ceremonies, we had to write wishes down on yellow ribbons; I took the liberty of writing two; one for me, one for my family.

Once we had that, I was given a golden robe to wear, as everyone else there from Myogaksa was dressed in traditional garb (i just had a robe). Now, this wasn't exactly what I expected for a Lotus festival to turn into a Lantern festival, I expected lotus flowers to be everywhere, but what actually goes on is a massive parade where we all hold stalks with two lanterns attached to it. Upon those stalks, we tie our wishes that we wrote on those ribbons.

Lanterns anyone?

Wishes for myself and my family

We would begin our long parade march through downtown Seoul all the way from Dongguk University to Jonggak Station, which was a big distance to go (2 hours) but it was well worth it, seeing the sites of downtown, the lights, and of course, all the lanterns, people from all different walks of life and even religions stepping forward with these beautiful lanterns to give peace to the spirits of passing and bring in a warm and happy Spring to follow. 

We started with the sun having already set and the lanterns (many using electronic lights but I don't think it mattered) began to glow quite vibrantly, so many colors and shapes floating about with so many people carrying them. It was definitely something I was excited to be a part in, and that was only the tip of what we were going to see as we walked through the closed streets.

As the night wore on, more and more people began to gather, along the street onlookers watched, prayed, even waved at us as we kept seeing so many colors, lights, and even floats that came our way.

 A few of the buildings we past were brilliant in the lights as the fading sun light began to darken the sky around us. It was surreal, thousands of people walking with lanterns, each dangling one or two wish ribbons hoping for peace, tranquility, safe passing of those departed and many more. As the dusk settled on the parade, brilliant floats joined us; each one a different symbol of Buddhism, each one beuaitufl and bright in their design and spectacle (we got behind a Pagoda one with a Buddha wanting peace, was pretty neat.)

Eventually, we arrive at Jongakk, our final destination, pulling to the side as we rested, putting aside our lanterns and returning our robes from the temple. Even as we sat rested, the parade was still going on, and was said to go at least several more blocks (going until 10:30 from what I was told) and we spent a moment just watching the people walking by, lanterns and all, it was truly magical, and something really special to be part of.

Chang-Dong and Yongsan

As some of you may know, I'm currently looking to get a pet lizard for my time here. Being a rather nerdy individual, a reptile pet was something I've wanted to have for awhile, and with an opportunity to raise one here being so easy to consider, jumping at the opportunity was little more than finding where I could actually buy one. One such a place is an online, and physical store known as MowgliPet, an online store that deals in reptiles, insects and various other creepy crawlies. You can order the pets and all the necessities online from this store, but I didn't want to do that; I wanted to see for myself what I was getting and what I needed to purchase for it.

The actual store was located some distance North of me, in the upper regions of Seoul in an area called Chang-Dong. It was an hour and several minutes ride from Yatap, but I was willing to go the distance to check the store, so, at 10:00am on a Saturday morning, I set off. The train ride was comforting, reading a book and listening to music hastened my time on the train until I arrived (through transfers, mind you) at my destination.


Chang-Dong, a rather quaint, quiet part of Northern Seoul, one of which I was bound to search about as the day would go on. I had been fortunate that one of my Korean Native Co-teachers could help me translate the store's address and plot directions for me, so it was just a matter of following the directions through a few side streets and one long back alley before I arrived at my destination.

Now, this was around 11:30 or so when I got there, so I'm feeling quite glad my trip was almost at its end, low and behold however, I am met with disappointment; the store was closed. A sign on the door had read "Open 1:00pm". So, here was my predicament, what do I do for an hour and a half until the store opens?

Best answer, explore and shop!

Chang-Dong, like most other places in Seoul, has a diverse section of shopping goods; small stores litter the sides of streets and food, clothing and merchandise is bought, sold, and bartered. I had the fortune of finding my first outdoor Spice and Grain shop, knowing one of my fellow foregin teachers had spoke of seeking one, the appeal of this I guess is the grains and spice are fresh, but it's always uneasy for me to see food exposed. Still, it looked nice, and I'm sure it'd be great for an awesome deal if you're looking for that sort of thing.

When you see it...

Chang-dong itself is a very small place, there wasn't too much to see around there, but many shops littered the area I was venturing in. A few places did catch my attention but a lot of stores and shops were closed, beyond that, most were of clothing or other forms of retail I had no interest in, and many things seemed to look quite similar to Yatap, so there wasn't too much to go on.

The matter of also being hungry came to mind. Since it's still Passover, my food options were limited, but considering I had went the Sephardi route for keeping kosher here, rice was still a viable option. One such a place was something called Go-Bok, not sure if the spelling is right there, but it's pretty much two rice paddies squeezing together filling of fish, egg, cheese, anything you could choose from a menu. Once you get your sandwich, a hefty press on the packaging and you're good to go for this succulent little treat.

Now, with my stomach full and the time winding down to 1pm, I decided to go once more to the store and check if it was open. A hop, skip and jump later, and I arrived outside the building once again with 10 minutes to spare. I again go inside and find the room where the store is, only to see the door is still locked. I waited for awhile until 1pm came around but found nothing. I waited another 10 minutes before I figured something was wrong and called the owners number which was plastered on the same piece of paper that read the store opening time.
I get a response, asking why the store wasn't open, and the response I get was "Store open at 2."

That was it, I was done. I wasn't interested in wandering around for ANOTHER hour when this guy is being lackadaisical and taking his sweet time. When you post a time your store opens, you OPEN your store at THAT time... no exceptions! I worked in retail enough to know that you commit to your hours. I was fed up tbh, and quite let down as I was interested in sorting the requirements for buying my reptile, but I guess it will have to wait another day when I know now to come in earlier in the afternoon.


I packed my stuff up and headed back to the subway, not wanting to wait around, I began my venture to my second stop on my list. Yongsan, and one of the best shopping places to venture to; I-park Mall. It consisted of a whole perimeter of seven level shops surrounding the Yongsan station, which was both a subway and train station, which can be confusing sometimes if you're not too sure where you have to go.

It may look nice from outside,
but this neighbor store to I-park is rather silent.

The whole place was closed inside
Shops empty, litter everywhere

Speaking of lost, I had heard there was a pretty good airsoft store nearby; I had to call one of my friends on Kakow to get directions, and after a few uncertain turns along with a walk through a rather sparse and closed mall beside I-park, I was able to make my way over to Vega Tech Airsoft. Along the way however, I found even MORE tech shops; cell phone stores, RC stores, DVD shops and Kiosks. It's quite delighted to know that there's an electronic district here known as Yongsan Electronic Market, right outside the mall I was in. Maybe later if I need tech for anything, I'll venture here.

 After learning the location of VEGA Airsoft (Which I will return to next month) I went back to I-park Mall to do some more serious shopping. I-park mall is indeed one of the largest mall's I've seen so far in Seoul,seven floors of shops ranging from clothing to electronics; sadly my phone was on the verge of dying so I was unable to take pictures of much of the store front I had wanted to, but never fear, I shall be here once again and take more pictures, especially of Gundam Base, the 7th floor Hobby store that has everything and anything of Gunpla.

Despite the loss of camera, I was quite delighted to have had a chance to see such an awesome spectacle of hobby and modeling. I'll certainly take time to return there once more and bring with me a working camera!

Mt. Surisan Airsoft Meet Video

Sorry for not posting these sooner; this video was shots of me at Sirsan Mountain Airsoft meet. Should give you guys a taste of what we do; sorry if the imagery is rather dull; this was also a test of the Go Pro's capabilities in action as my prior attempts at my local Paintball store back in Toronto often didn't go so well.

Mt. Surisan was a large field then where I had fought before. It was almost 'horse-shoe' in shape as one of my buddies mentioned to me. Prior to our engagements, I went on a very short tour and found that the map was indeed like a horseshoe. I don't know if I can describe it exactly so, but each team starts on opposite sides of a small hill. This hill, which actually is quite a trek upwards, divides both flat ground the bases occupy for both sides. Its almost suicide to cross over that hill to the other side, but hiking around and up often leads to good vantage points for sniping (shame I only had a P90.)

The second round thereafter wasn't as good, the enemy had speed and range on us, but it was still fun. After that however, my go pro died, so no more footage, but tons of good fun there after.

The field was quite fun to play on, despite being a bit of a trek out from Yatap, I wouldn't mind going there again.

Eating in or Take Out?

Food

It's one of the most important factors of living, we need to eat to survive and we also need to know how, what and even where we can get and prepare food to sustain our very hungry bodies. My experience in Korea has shown me a very diverse menu of things I can eat, but buying food seems like a whole different scheme than what I was used to back home. I'll certainly have to go into detail about this here, especially for those who plan on coming here in the future.

One of the biggest things to note, and this was something I was trying to figure out before I arrived, is it cheaper to eat out or buy your own food and cook at home? It's a tough question to answer, but the long and short is that both can be feasible; sure, it can be cheaper to eat out, but it's also a good idea to eat at home sometimes, let's say during the cold of winter of heat of summer that just wants you to stay inside. Buying food, depending, can either be cost effective or often overpriced; fruit, vegetables, and a few things like cereal and milk are a bit pricey, coming a bit close to what we pay at home if not a bit more. Things like cheese and butter however are outrageously priced; a large brick of butter costs 8 bucks where it would cost that much for four of them, and cheese can be upwards of 6~8 bucks a pack. Beyond that, everything else you can buy is fairly well priced. Purchasing food, say for a month, if you did it all in one shopping go, would come to almost 100 ~ 150, which sounds reasonable, purchasing things like cereal, milk, eggs, some fruit and veggies, bread, snacks, rice and anything else that might tickle your fancy.

I'm not sure what it is, but expiration in South Korea seem a tad too...close...to the time of purchase and some things even last only a week before going 'bad' (which they don't often do from experience.) Many times, because South Korea often doesn't have preservatives in many of their food stuffs, a lot of time it can only last a few days, maybe a week before going 'past the best before date.' Now, I've had some things a few days after the expiration date and haven't an issue with them at all; I've gone as far as having some milk a week after expiration date, it smelled fine, looked fine, so I drank it and was fine. Other items, as well as how long it's still around should be thrown out, but it still bothers me food doesn't last long enough to hold a decent amount of time, especially the things like Milk.

Did I mention Baskin Robins is here too?

Pizza can range between 5 dollars to 25, depending.
Most of the big name brands charge more than
Pizza school

Eating out isn't too bad either; though there isn't a great deal of diversity were I am (Itawon, being more catered to foreigners has plenty) I have found a great success with Noodle Places, Pan Fry, and the occasional McD's. A lot of places have not only a great selection of food, but some even have English menu's and staff who are willing to help you if your Korean is lacking. Many times I've gone to places that have English on their menu and its quite easy to pick out some satisfying foods that they serve, and I for one am always willing to try new things especially since they open the door to great new tastes. Not only that, but prices are fairly inexpensive when you eat out; a bowl of Bim-Bap, which is rice in stone bowl with veggies and such can cost around 5 bucks (compared to the 12 dollar counterpart back home.) Likewise, many food places often rarely exceed 20 bucks for a decent meal; you can eat for two people for less than 40 bucks in a decent restaurant (fancy places I have yet to see, but we're talking for Expats who just want to go day by day.) Some of my personal spots for food often only break me at 18 bucks, but the food is often amazing and quite plentiful.

A lil non-kosher, Pan-fry serves a massive plate
of chicken tenders for less than 20 bucks including the fixings

So, which is better, eating out or in? The truth, it's difficult to really say; both ways are good, both ways are also a hassle, but in the end, there isn't really one answer; both work, and both can make due when you're either not in the mood to cook or not in the mood to go out.

Start of Spring with Zoo animals and Cherry Blossoms

Coming onto my second month teaching in South Korea has bit a tad bumpy; learning everything there is to teach different age groups of children is a near-never-ending cycle for the first while. I had hoped to handle everything by the end of the first month, but I can safely say there is still much I need to sort out, and most of it seems to rely on memory more than skill.

I'm not going to fudge anything about it, teaching is tough work; it requires not just dedication, but also time and patience to handle things. I looked online for information on being a better teacher and the biggest thing that comes up is Teachers are just that, teachers. We aren't friends, we are there to be guides and support staff to students who want to learn and do well. We are responsible for them as our charging and nothing more; we stick by the rules we set, the lessons we teach, and must always, ALWAYS keep to what we say. Its hard, certainly a different set of ethos and rules from my prior fields of industry, but something I want to master and something I know I can achieve.

Teaching children has always been, for a long time, something I've wanted to do; ever since High-school, I wanted to teach children, perhaps not the younger aged ones, but there isn't anything wrong with dealing with young and old students; and sometimes the younger one's tend to be a lot easier to handle (plus time-wise, it works a lot better if you want to go out and live life.) I still want to teach older kids, perhaps Middle School, but that can wait, and for now, I'm saddled with wonderful classes that I am quite glad to be teaching, and despite the rowdy kids that are present, the poor attitudes, even the slight annoyances, they are my children, they are my students, and I will make sure they get a good education through my class or die trying (not literally of course.)

Taking up the first week of April with a field trip to a zoo was something unexpected. It actually wasn't much of a Zoo, more or less something called an "animal School" which is like a zoo, only not as expansive towards animals and carries a wide range of other things to entertain; it reminds me of something from Zoo Tycoon, it had that feeling anyway.

The children were sent to a large building near the back of the "Park" (lets call it that) and there we were met by trainers who were going to exhibit live animals to the classes. It felt more like a petting zoo than anything, and since the organizer girl who talked to us spoke in Korea, everything she might have said that could have been important was lost on me. We did however know a few things; be gentle with the animals, no screaming or loud noses, and don't certainly try poking fingers into faces of the animals.

They were going to show four animals. First, to start things off, was a giant Albino rabbit. I've never seen an Albino rabbit, but let me tell you, white fur and red eyes is both awe-strucking and freaky at the same time.

Second to be introduced was a turtle of sorts. Not too sure what kind, but he was cute, definitely not the swimming kid and a bit of a far-cry from a turtle you might have as a pet. He was quite curious for one, and seemed to take a liking to my camera a few times.

Then there was one of my faves; a banana python; a bright yellow and pale python. Probably the chillest snake you might ever see, I took a liking to him/her (not sure gender) and found it to be quite an adorable little reptile, though owning one, not so much; they seem a tad too much to handle if they don't like you too much.

Finally, there was the monkey, not too sure which kind of Monkey, but
he was a small monkey, quite energetic, and loved to sit on people's heads. I had seen in pictures of prior field trips that the children have come to this place before, and it was a rightful thing to do. It certainly is a good experience for children to interact with animals. Mind you, some of these kinds of animals may not be the safest of creatures (the snake especially), but letting them experience animals up close and even touching them (let alone learning to be gentle) was always a rewarding experience, even reminiscing myself when I went to a petting zoo, though we had a lot softer types of animals like hedgehog and chinchilla's.

Suffice to say, the trip was pretty smooth, unlike CoCoMongo Eco Park, I didn't have to worry about tiring myself out. Once we finished with the animal's for the petting zoo, we went out in search of more; finding exactly what we wanted a few feet from the entrance of the 'show room' we were in. I'm not going to post pictures of the animals we saw, there were fennecs, cute desert foxes, some porcupines, horses, goats, meerkats, wallaroo's and sea otters; all of which were sleeping so it seemed moot to really do much about it. The real excitement came when we went to the 'ferocious' animal section. Now I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to name a section like that, but the first thing we saw coming in were elephants... yes...elephants. Big ol'gray elephants sleeping standing up. I really didn't expect to see those right there, but they were marked as such in that park, which seemed odd. A bit way down from the elephants, we ran into what really were ferocious animals; Lions, Tigers, Leopards and Jaguar's, most of which were not really doing anything but sleeping or prowling around their enclosure.


 The real downside however was that we didn't have a lot of time; apparently since we took the school's shuttle buses to the park, they had to be back before 1:30pm to pick up the afternoon kids from their homes. Shameful, but understandable, and the children had spent a good amount of time there so it wasn't a total loss. Easy day, easy weekend to follow.

Everywhere you go, no matter North America, Europe, or Asia, places all have their own beauty as the winter fades away for the sickly, gnarled mess of winter, and eventually turns into the warmth and beauty of the Spring in all it's greenery and colorful flora. One thing however that sets Asian countries apart (at least the one's I know of better than others) is that they carry a special sort of vegetation that both instills beauty, pride and a sense of awe; Cherry Blossoms.

Both lovely in design and fragile in appearance, Cherry Blossoms only last for a short period of time among many of the tree's littered around South Korea, and Seoul especially. A common occurrence in many Anime's I've watched is the gentle blowing of cherry blossoms pedals all around the protagonist as they ponder something great or small. Its symbolic in its beauty, the pedals draw many people out to watch and each time the pedals bloom, festivals are often had to draw more attention to the beautiful flowers along with exhibits, artists and companies showing off their products. This is a yearly thing, so each time it happens, festivals such as the one I had went to this Saturday near Han River Park was something worth seeing.

I met up with one of my Airsoft buddies, Eddie, and a few of his friends as we ventured down the main road along the Han river. It was breathtaking, even with the cloudy, windy conditions, the pedals from the blossoms would whip past us in a beautiful dance of nature. We walked a good while as we watched the cherry blossoms and took loads of pictures, eventually coming across the actual festival grounds.
(There was a Marithon at the same time, which was at the same place I had my SeoulESL meet a month

earlier.) It was a splendid display to see all the cherry blossoms along the street in full bloom, even with the bad weather we had (windy and slightly drizzly) we wandered along the path of white pink and green to the festival grounds, finding both families and couples dazzled by array's of spring flowers and advertisements for tv shows, movies, and lego toys.

I know it's not a lot to say, but picture's do a lot of justice. I had a very good weekend, enjoyed it with good company of friends and bought a few books too. We went to Itaewon afterwards, a very EXPAT friendly part of Seoul, so we were able to not only have awesome Mexican, but seeing so many foreigners was quite cool.

I should spend more time down there, it'd be a blast!

What has my first month taught me - reviewing the past.

So, with the first month of my teaching career coming to a close, I've decided to note on a few things I've found out from my adventures teaching and just general hanging around Bundang and the outer and inner parts of Seoul. I decided that as I go into the Month of April, there are a few thing's I've learned from being in South Korea and how it's different but also similar in how life goes on back home in North America.

Traffic: 

Probably one of the most notable things to speak of, traffic in Korea certainly holds it's own charm in comparison to traffic back home. For starters, a lot of rules seem to be different than what I remember. As a driver, I have experience driving back home first hand in all the good, bad and ugly, but in Korea, there seems to be a whole different mentality to drivers here. For the most part, the traffic lights differ in their access, where back home we would have both ways of one direction of traffic (East/West and North/South) at one time along with turning where available, Korea has it that only ONE way gets to go. So you have going one East and Left turns, then one of North and Left turns, then West, then South. It takes a little bit longer to cross the street or go through the intersection, but it's one reason things are a bit safer and it keeps grid-lock to a low level when you know your turn is coming up.

An interesting thing I've noticed is that there aren't any accidents (hardly I've seen any or heard of any). People may not always pay attention, but there have rarely been any serious collisions since my arrival here. Honking seems to be quite popular though, not just to notify people about not paying attention, but it's all drivers really do here. I've heard enough hocking shenanigans to simply put the idea that people really don't look all the time, and though they honk, they hardly get aggressive like people back home. One other thing I've found both odd and slightly cool is the use of hazard lights. A common occurrence is a driver flicking on their hazards, but unlike in North America, they often use them a lot more frequently for situations that may require them. Hazard's here mean "caution" for those around the driver, and often are employed when a driver is backing up, pulling in or out of the curb, or just general carefulness to let other's know the driver is doing something. Its weird to see it at first, but once its realized to why, it makes a bit more sense.

Public Transit is another interesting thing to discuss, Seoul's subway is one of the best and already I've been using it to get around Seoul to stores and shops and meet ups, but I've heard their bus system is quite expansive too, and to a point, sometimes confusing. I had the pleasure of taking an easy route on Sunday to my airsoft meet through a bus, it wasn't so bad, but other routes are quite complex. What's more, while the Subway system here has many wonderful apps, there are hardly any for the bus systems, which is a surprise as foreigners would benefit from it. One real downside with buses though is, as stated in a prior post, they don't often obey the rules of the road like everyone else. Sometimes they will creep into the intersection on a red light or make a sharp turn without signalling or just go through red lights without a care in the world. It's scary, but perhaps it's just a difference in mentality; I mean, do you really want to challenge a bus?

They also don't have bike lanes on the major streets, though people often drive gas-scooters and bikes among the cars, there is no dedicated lane for it; they have turning, straight/turning lanes, and bus lanes, but aside from that, its pretty much at the own risk of the scooter/motorcyclist, so it's often a bother to see people driving on the sidewalk or side-streets car's don't often go in scooters and motorcycles.

It safe to say that the road rules here are different, but there are still things the same here too; most notably, they drive on the same side of the road's as we do back in Canada, so if I ever do decide to rent a car or something, it won't be too difficult to settle into driving.


Shopping:
Like other Westernized countries, shopping is a major staple in South Korea, stores litter the major cities, from massive department store complex's to little mom-and-pop shops that sell any number of goods, from food, to school supplies, electronics to even cars and motorcycles. A mixture of the chic and hip with some of South Korea's own flare of design, and street vendors peddling things like socks, belts and wallets for a cheaper deal then some of the name-brand department stores. In fact, there are often entire sections in Seoul dedicated to shopping, from streets that sell singular items like Chungmuro "Pet Street", a place that sells small dogs and cat, which are quite popular in South Korea. There is also Seungjin Toy Palace located on the famous Changsin-dong 'Toy Street', a location even I wish to venture to in the near future. There are also clothing shops, jewelry, even cosmetics, everything you'd expect to find back home is here, if not for its own flare of Asian/Korean culture and cheaper prices for stuff you'd find. However, a radical difference is how many people actually go; shops can be excessively busy with customers, to a point where it's almost impossible to move. 

In response however to the big businesses the exist in South Korea, every other Sunday, large chain stores like E-mart, Home Plus, and Kim's club (which are the large chain industries similar to Highland Farms or Metro) have to close to allow smaller, local businesses a chance to sell their product to help make profit and develop their economical value; a super idea if you ask me. 

The only downside to shopping is things that would often be cheap back home are expensive here, notably fruit, shaving products, and even toiletries for basic needs. Guess it's good I brought a year's supply of everything to handle myself here.

Cellphones/Smartphones:

Okay, just because South Korea is home to two of the largest phone companies, LG and Samsung, doesn't mean its crazy popular right? Well...it is... it's all OVER the place, everyone uses either a Samsung Phone or an LG of sorts, and the market for it is HUGE. You will find people on their phones, playing games, talking or using the easily accessible and highly common communicating Instant Messaging service Kakow Talk, which is free for all phones and is quite similar to Skype. Using the very lucrative data plans that South Korea phone companies offer. In fact, so good is the Data Plans (often going as far as unlimited data) offered by SK-Telecom and Olleh, the two major phone providers, that many people often use Data-based services more than actually calling them over the phone system. What's more, Wireless capability by these two companies (Olleh and SK) is so predominate and wide-spread, that you can always find a hot spot....even in the SUBWAY! (Yes, they did it, they have wireless internet on the subway!)

The only real draw-back for foreigners is without a SIM card from one of the two SK phone companies, you can't really access the wireless potential, however, once the access has been given (and you will need an ARC to get it to begin with) you can easily get on any wireless point offered by your phone company and use it without charges. 

I can't really say its much different than from back home, sure the providers are better, the plan's are sweeter and access is easy and wide-spread, I can certainly say people back home should get on these ideas; it would be quite beneficial, but alas, would absorb us further into the technological matrix that we've created.

Restaurants/Foodie-shops:
Eating out is actually quite cheap, and the diversity of foods between South Korea/Asian and Western/European is easily noticeable as many places serve either or, sometimes mixing the two, and you can eat for a fairly decent price all over Seoul. For instance, the simplest of food like Noodle Bowl or Bim-bap, the bowl of rice and veggies can be anywhere from 3-5,000 won (3-5 bucks). In fact, most foods for a single person will cost you somewhere between 5-10,000 Won. A medium sized pizza from Pizza School costs around 5,000 Won to make a normal cheese or pepperoni pizza, which is not only filling, but quite stratifying and easy on the wallet (considering the major chains like Pizza Hut or Dominos charge upwards pf 18-20,000 Won per Pizza.) 
One thing to be wary though, spicy stuff seems to be quite a common thing here, and Korean's really like to pack on spice (not the kind that controls the Universe). Kim Chi, the staple of Korea diet, is naturally prepared spicy

(its either cabbage or greens dipped in a spice red seasoning and Koreans serve it as a side with their foods.)

Fish is also quite popular, stores all over Seoul will have tanks of their daily catch to display, including some more exotic types like crab, lobster, even squid and octopus! Vegan's beware, this isn't for the faint of heart! Even with the slimely things, you can still find places that serve calmer fish dishes, bar's also serve an assortment of good food, and if you're able to find a Forgeiner's bar (Like Travelers Bar) Then you're going to have a good evening with fellow Expats and some great grub and drink.


Educational Culture:
Despite coming from a melting pot of culture back in Toronto, Seoul has its own unique culture, a mixture of Asian and American ideals and ethos coming together to forge something unique in on itself. Korean's from my experience are very active and open people, despite their rare conversations with foreigners, I've met enough kind Korean's willing to help me figure things out to even helping carry heavy loads to my room. They are very disciplined people, easily seen with their driving method, and they are also quite patient. 

Korean parents especially are very caring for their children, always wanting them at their best, to a point that they don't realize just what level their child is. Hear me out and I don't mean to be rude, but sometimes people often over or even underestimate someone else's capabilities. I've seen in many classes children who are quite capable of doing so much more, but they often either don't go with it or refuse to accept it. Sometimes children who preform advance in one level will inspire their parents to push them to the next, which isn't often a level they can handle not by the child's intelligence, but their personality and character.

It also differs from Canada because a lot of the times, parents don't always follow their students progress closely. I can safely say my folks did and I turned out alright because of them, but here, it adds a whole new meaning, and its not just Korea. Japan and China all want their children to be successful, so the competition between students in class is always serious.

Personally for me, giving the students some freedom in class has turned to unexpected results; its better to be much stricter with these students as their parents want them to perform, coming from someone whose always use to be nice and kind, its a bit of a difficult face to turn from becoming Mr Hyde from Dr. Jekyll. I'll certainly have to put a whole new game face on for this one, but the kids are good and deep down I can see they have a lot of potential and a lot of respect even if they don't act like it all the time.

Though I shouldn't be going on this as the main evidence of my findings, it's just what I gathered thus far. Things can change just as anyone else can as time goes on.

Pastimes/Vices:
Alright, I can sum up a large amount of what I see people do in terms of pastimes and vices, so let me be brief. Hiking comes in first, just because you have people who go out all day, hike the many mountains of South Korea, and then go to a bar to drink. Its one heck of an impressive life-style, and people of all ages seem to do it (not always with the bar part in the end). Hiking and physical activities such as it work well for Korea as it's a very hilly land and there is so much to see when you walk around Seoul that it's no surprise people tend to be ready to do it often.

Second we have Drinking and Smoking; since both items here are quite cheap in comparison to the US and Canada, its no surprise people are often times drinking and/or smoking.  Soju, the national drink, is only 1,300 Won in most stores (a buck and 30 cents) so you can figure how easy it is (when they are actually sold in convince stores too) to get drinks. Smoking is big too, cigarettes are cheap, coming in at almost 3 dollars a pack, certainly less expensive than those back in the states, but quantity size-wise you won't find anything larger than a standard pack. E-cigs are also common, so its quite a selection for anyone who smokes; and the brands are also ones that aren't very common in the US, like Lucky Strikes for instance.

Lastly, there is Airsoft and Scooters, I say both because one is very hush-hush, the other is wide-spread to the point that almost everywhere you go, you will see people on Scooters. Not only that, since most restaurants, especially big chains like McDonald actually DELIVER, its no surprise you can see fleets of McD's scooters parked near their restaurants.

Airsoft is another big thing, though not looked highly upon by most for being to 'realistic', many people, especially those with prior or even current military service (as well as law and other fields) have chosen to immerse themselves into the game to such a degree you can see a wide assortment of arms in a single game of airsoft. Despite being double the price for blaster's here than in US/Canada, many Korea's rely on shipping their blaster's in parts from Hong Kong, which is a common method and an easy one to avoid being stopped in Customs. Even so, boys and men of ages 16 and above will often partake in the sport, and with field teams all over Seoul, its no wonder why so many get involved in their many events and games.
(except when things are getting heated due to political situations.)

Flora:

A few days after settling in, a walk-way near my school

Same walkway, a month later

Lastly, I want to talk about one more important thing; the foliage. Being in a different place, continent and country means you'll come across different flower's and tree's than you'd see at home, and I certainly didn't want to waste chances to see what there was to offer from the greenery of South Korea. Having arrived here during the end of the Winter, I was met with the gnarled mess of dead and decay that had been left by the frozen chill of the winter, slowly to be exposed to the blooming delight of Spring and Summer. 


As you can see with these two pictures, the forest is slowly blooming and green is returning to Seoul, in fact, even at my airsoft meet, we found pretty pink flowers all over the field. Quite pretty little things, and let's not forget that one important tree everyone knows about.

Cherry Blossoms.

Cherry Blossoms bloom not just in Japan, but also in Korea, and with the coming time of the cherry Blossom festival, I hope to report to you all the best I can when I experience it.

For now, stay warm my friends and enjoy the coming Summer!