English phrases around town number 2

this bakery is pretty good, and specializes in something we all love:


when you drive your car speed and be happy:


I'd like to move into this appartment building (only a 15 minute walk from where I am living now), because the people who live here develop higher IQ's. There's stuff in the paint that is kind of like the opposite of led:


sometimes the kids sport down home country style:


This little girls' outfit educates us on the special capabilities of Korea's cows:

Wondong seasons #1: A walk through Wondong in early spring

This is a retrospective (i know that is probably a slightly wrong word, but you know what i mean) on my neighbourhood here. I've been fascinated with it since I got here, because it has all the conveniences of a modern city (minus a great night-live), and yet I am surrounded by rice, goju (red peppers), corn, many types of greens ect. + the people who grow them. I watch (half the size of the Korean's my age) sun-baked Koreans work in the fields every day as I walk to and from my work, and through the months I have watched everything grow. In the last few weeks the goju has been harvested (is still being harvested), and dried, the corn has also been harvested, as well as greens, and other plants, and they are now beginning to harvest, and process the rice. It is so interesting I want to stand and watch all these processes, but I also don't want to be rude, so I never stay as long as I would like to.

The first installment in this retrospective is spring. I'll take you on a walk through my neighbourhood.

From the park by my house through a tree:



About 15 minute walk from my house on the way to the woods. People working in the fields getting ready for the growing season.


I don't know what all the plastic is for, but systems here are very efficient and nothing is wasted (especially systems concerning use of space). As I watched the crops grow in Wondong I realised that in one plot of land every square inch was used (and not all for the same thing).


Up in the woods:


I've walked through a number of woods in Korea now, and even if you wack your way through (the woods by my house aren't really used by many people to walk in so you have to make your own path) you will always come across man-made clearing up on the top of hills, covered in graves. In general Korean's like to live in valley's, but when they die they always seem to move up into the hills. It's kind of nice, because there are many small graveyards tucked away in strange places. Really the opposite of how Korean's live (in apartment blocks, within large communities very close together). I find the graveyards here very peaceful.



Coming down from the forest, Looking through a field into Wondong:


A woman working in the field (about a 3 minute walk from my house). Notice the building block behind her. She is as small and old as she looks. Most of the people working in the fields are over 50, and under 5 feet tall.


I think this is what is left of the rice from last year (i'm not sure)


Because they turn it, and then it looks like this:


This house is an important image to me (i will include it in later pictures). It is a massive converted barn (I think, because it has hardly any windows, and the ones it does have are very small). The bottom of the house is a shed for all of the farm equipment), and the top is a house were people live. It looms over the small amount of farmland in Wondong. It is so huge, and so country, it looks completely out of place next to the apartment blocks, either like it once overlooked the ocean, but the ocean dried up, or like it used to be surrounded by an endless prairie landscape, and was quickly encroached upon by apartment blocks. I guess the later is more plausable, but when you see the house in all it's glory you will think the ocean dried up too.


to be continued........

Korean Camping Festival

Some time in April I was invited by one of the bluegrass “old boys” – Peter – to be a groupie at the bi-annual Korean camping festival. The festival was hosted by the Korean Camping association, an association with more than 40, 000 members that also hosts camping trips every single weekend of the year. Korea is not very big, and as far as I can see the Korean perspective on camping is very different than the Canadian perspective. I think the association itself (40, 000 members – trips every weekend) is a hint as to where the differences’ lie. They take the campground to a whole new level. Camping seems to be far more of a social event here. The tents are sometimes so close together you can’t get between them. It is definitely about family and community, and also about camping gear. It is hard for me to see how it is about camping, but then I’m not Korean. It was nice to experience Korean’s in a family environment, because the kids I teach are in such an institutional/ business environment (the private education system in Korea is a business before an education facility), and the Korean’s I see outside of school are usually in drinking environments (also not family oriented). When I arrived at the site I was reminded of a medium sized folk festival – hillside in the late 90’s. It didn’t look like camping to me, but I didn’t know what to expect, and I was happy with everything I saw.
tent city (actually not at it's full occupation):

The view:



The “old-boys” didn’t have room for me in the car (due to an acoustic base), so they gave me directions to take the train. I figured if I was with musicians in Korea I would be fed, so I came unprepared (having eaten only an ice-cream bar by 4pm, and hoping for the best). I was starving for the first couple hours, and felt really stupid for only eating ice cream, but once the dinner hour rolled around food began to arrive in abundance. I was fed that night on three separate occasions. First home cooked Korean style camping food (which means a full on meal cooked outside) from the Korean campers who were friends of the musicians, second: delicious Korean drinking food (which also could be a full meal, but Korean’s don’t see it like that), + good wine, soju, and beer while I was listening to the show (provided by the camping association for the friends of the musicians), and then the musicians “meal” which I ate with the “band” after they performed at about 9:30pm. I was quite proud of my role as groupie at that time.
Groupie food #2 (while the band was playing):


The performers that night where: First: 2 Korean’s who dressed up like traditional Dutch/Norwegian/Swiss highlanders, and played a mix of Norwegian (i think), and American old-time country music. Their instrumentation included upright base, guitar, vocals, and occasionally Alpine horn. Quite a lot to imagine. Imagine yodeling too. This band was pretty tight, and at times hilarious.



The bluegrass guys I knew came with went on next. Although there was one Korean in the group they were really the foreign content. They played the kind of bluegrass you would hear on the radio (with tight harmonies), and fast clear lines. It was the same atmosphere as a hippie folk festival, only everyone was Korean, and no one was dancing, including the kids (it was 8pm – there where lots of kids not dancing). I couldn’t help myself. I got up and danced to their music. Some little kids stared at me in awe (or disgust – it’s sometimes hard for a foreigner to tell these things). During one song a Korean man wearing a cowboy hat came up and danced with me. That was fun, and a little awkward. Fortunately I think this inspired courage in the 2 sideline kids who came up for a little brief (but victorious – for me if not for them) spontaneous, and childishly free dance along side us. Before the next song they had regained their Korean composure.
The "band": Mississippi Dave, Peter (Pan), Qu-Ha (for Korean content)


While we ate dinner some all-Korean bands came on, and played classic American rock songs moderately badly (moderately badly for classic rock is actually very bad, because very bad would actually be more interesting to listen to). After listening to my table make fun of the band for a while I suggested we go off to the cabins and make our own music.

The jam session included the “band” + Roger (the enthusiastic banjo player), Yvon (the craigslist contact who put me in touch with everyone), and 2 of Qu-Ha’s students (we were all the groupies). One of Qu-ha’s students was a drummer, and one was a mandolin player. The drummer played pots and pans from the cabin fantastically, and the guitarist fell in love with my little red ukulele, and played it sincerely and beautifully (and a whole lot better than me) within five minutes of it being in his hands. I wish I had a picture of this love affair.

After the jam bed assignment was a bit of an ordeal. Qu-ha, Mississippi Dave (the mandolin player), Roger, Qu-ha’s students, and myself were all in one cabin with a small bedroom (one double bed), and a pull out couch in the main area. There were also Korean style sleeping mats in the cabin. It was tight, but it shouldn’t have been a problem. However, the Korean tradition of classifying things hierarchically went head to head with plain old selfishness for awhile before a solution was reached. Earlier in the evening Mississippi Dave (a 60 year old man who is actually from Winnipeg claimed the bedroom because he was “in the band”). I thought “that’s fair I guess. Qu-ha is also “In the band”, but I he’s younger.” It seemed to me like it made the most sense for people to share the beds, but it wasn’t up to me, and Dave seemed pretty determined to sleep by himself. When it was actually time for bed Dave was on a walk. Qu-ha just started assigning sleeping places. He put me in the bedroom (because I was the only girl), Roger and Dave on the pull out double (because they were the oldest), and everyone else on the floor mats. Roger and I mentioned to Qu-ha that Dave had claimed the bedroom, but he seemed to think that was a ridiculous idea so I chuckled at my good fortune, and made ready to go to bed. However when Dave came back he wouldn’t have any of it. He felt so entitled to sleep by himself in the bedroom that Qu-ha’s ideas of gender segregation didn’t stand a chance. So Qu-ha took the next best option, and put me on the pull-out double, by myself! Yes! I was so happy to be the only girl there. I felt a little bad when there were 5 people sleeping on the floor instead of 3 (there weren’t even enough floor mats, so some people were sleeping on blankets), but at the same time I didn’t really have a choice. I would have had to turn it into a humanist/feminist debate in order to take a spot on the floor so that 2 people could have a spot on the bed. It was late. I was happy for my undeserved spot in the bed.
The cabin we stayed in (Roger and Yvon):


In the morning all the kids (the ones who didn’t dance the night before) were rounded up for kids games and activities. There was a whole army of them. It seemed like so many more kids than I had imagined were at the festival suddenly appeared. In my mind I compared it to the craft tent or some other kid themed tent at Hillside festival, and the number of kids that would have showed up there (also the way they would have participated in the activities – maybe start making a tambourine, and not finish it, get their face painted like a cat, and then run off meowing ect.). The kids here were on vacation. They were free to do whatever they wanted. It seemed funny to me that they wouldn’t just want to mess around by the river, or pile stones by a tree, or watch ants, or something. They all seemed to WANT to be marched around in organized kid activities. It seemed very strange and out of place to me. It really sent home the fact that Korean kids are raised in a significantly different way than Canadian kids are.
the kids being assembled:


We had another jam in the morning,
Me and Roger are facing you. Peter, and Yvon have their backs to you.

A Korean man in a cowboy hat buys a cd at the morning jam session. Another Korean man in the background is "Qualified" and also supports Snoopy and Newyork:

while a cute little girl blows bubbles:
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+ her twin sister!

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and I took the train home with Roger in the early afternoon.
Roger and I at the train station ineffectively pretending to be Korean:



My summary of the Korean camping association: Families, community, weekend getaway, and lots of camping gear.
Serious about gear:


and the pet tents too


And here is a video of a tune from the morning jam. it wasn't a particularly happening one, but it gives you a sense of the mood of the morning + i fuck up the chords in the middle, and uncross my legs, and it looks like the camera man is hoping for a bit of a better view. After that is my solo. it seems like maybe the mistake woke me up a little.