Halloween Hat (Ultimate Frisbee Tournament)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!! While Koreans don't celebrate Halloween the way we do back home, Jean-Marc and I got our costume on last weekend. Back in September, we'd signed up to play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament the weekend of October 27th in Daejeon. This was the 9th annual Halloween Hat tournament and it was so much fun!!

The tournament disc. We all got one!

A hat tournament means that everyone's names get put into a hat and then pulled out to make teams. This way all the abilities and people are spread out to make relatively even teams. And you get to know lots of new people because you don't usually know too many people on your team.

The tournament started Saturday morning at 10am and went until about 5:30pm that night. Then continued all day Sunday for playoffs. Needless to say, getting out of bed on Monday morning was rough.

The fields in Daejeon. Day 2 - the rain had stopped! JM is in the blue and red shirt.

Saturday morning was pouring rain and the fields quickly became mud/swamp pits. No one was dry or clean by the end of the day. There was an on field costume contest, which was hilarious. Lots of people running around wearing ridiculous outfits. Jean-Marc was on pod 'K' and I was on pod 'M'. Twice we beat JM's team to put us in the finals of the playoffs. Sadly, we didn't win the championship. JM's team placed 3rd and mine came 2nd. Not bad though for our first tournament ever!

My third pair of socks on Saturday.

Uncle Sam

Batman! Yes .. that is his chest hair.

Pods AM .. 2nd place!

Saturday night there was a costume party at a local bar. Jean-Marc and I decided to do a pairs costume. He dressed up as a cute little piglet ... and I was a dirty French butcher who wanted to turn him into bacon. It was disturbing and amazing at the same time. We got so many compliments on our duo and even won a prize! Even after talking to me, some people didn't know who I was. I looked that disgusting. he he. 

At the bar.

Our prize!

At home when we were practicing our characters.

 

hon hon hon.

All in all the tournament was sooo much fun and I cannot wait to be a part of more tourneys here in Korea.

Trick or treat everyone,

Jennika

The Inexplicable World of Korea, 2

Well, it took only a few hours from writing that first post to arrive at my second. It is common custom in Korea (or at least at my school) that if you get married, buy a car, or your baby turns 1 year old, you bring a small gift to everyone at the school. Kind of like sharing the joy and celebrating the achievements with your co-workers. Generously enough, the Korean teachers have included the natives in this tradition and I have to date received various beverages, hand towels, and cake.

Another fun fact about Korea is that they don't often use chocolate in their desserts. Instead red bean paste (which is sort of sweet, but not like chocolate) is used in many things, like pastries and ice cream. Finding chocolate cake is not as common here as back home. And the brownies I've tried (all except 1) have all been meh. For those of you who know me ... I'm a chocoholic!!!!

So when this girl who got married last weekend came to our office with a tray of cupcakes, I was delighted!! They looked sooo good. When asked which one I wanted, I promptly responded: 'whichever one has chocolate!!' And so, I was handed the brown one. I told the English teacher in my office (who is Korean) how delicious it looked and how excited I was. Then, through her laughter, she informed me that in fact it wasn't a cupcake .. but a brown hand towel wrapped up to look like a cupcake. I should have known Terry Bakery meant Terry Cloth Towel. FRIG! I will never understand this country.



Couldn't you just eat me up?

The Inexplicable World of Korea

As a foreigner, it's really easy to get caught up saying 'this would never happen back home' or making comparisons. But is it really fair to compare?

We grew up in a free country, where women's rights, multiculturalism, and yes, even the gay movement have made grounds. Koreans, however, had their country occupied by Japan for over 30 years in the early 1900s. Then, after they gained freedom, there was a civil war, fueled by the Russians and the Americans (communism vs. capitalism). They haven't really had time to develop all their individual rights or move into the 21st century, until now. This country was poorer than some African countries after the Korean War in the 50s. They have few natural resources and thus, have pushed their human resources. Now, South Korea is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, especially for technology (Samsung, Hyundai, LG, or Kia anyone?). Here in Korea, things can seem a little backward. There is this hierarchy that you cannot break. Foreigners, aka non-Koreans, are looked down upon. And being different, like being gay or marrying a non-Korean, is also not common. Preserving the Korean heritage is a big deal.

Before I moved here I was told that there is a honeymoon phase, where everything is new and exciting. Then there is a bitter phase where suddenly nothing in Korea is good enough. I don't know if I've hit this phase, but I can say I've been uttering the words 'this would never happen in Canada' quite a lot lately.

So in my attempt to share (and perhaps lighten) my bitterness, I'm going to post things about the inexplicable world of Korea. Starting with something we 'stumbled' upon yesterday while walking to the grocery store. Luckily, JM looked down in time to avoid the manhole.

No signs, no pylons. Just a giant hole in the sidewalk.

That would have hurt.

Picture of the Week #1

Hi Everyone,

Sometimes we take pictures on our daily adventures, but they never get posted anywhere. We don't always blog about everything (although I'm trying to make a point of blogging more often), so some pictures never get shared! This is why I've decided to start posting pictures of the week.

Here is my favourite from the weekend. We went grocery shopping today and saw these Korean melon cakes that my friend from back in Canada told me about. She said they were really good so we thought we'd give them a try. I took a photo of JM holding up the package so I could show her what we bought. Doesn't he look enthused?

My beautiful boyfriend

Ultimate Frisbee in Cheonan

Both JM and I enjoy playing ultimate frisbee. In fact, playing pick up in Montreal and meeting that group of grad students is one of the fondest memories of my Masters. It really kept me sane knowing that every Tuesday and Thursday I could head out to the field and run off the frustrations of working in the lab and feeling like my research was going no where.

Discs of Tron - my champion indoor team, winter 2011

Multiple Scoregasms - one of my summer 2012 teams

Before moving to Korea, I joined the Korea Ultimate Players Association Facebook group to get involved. Unfortunately, KUPA is based mostly in Seoul and that's still a good chuck away from Cheonan. Two hours on the subway or train (in 1 direction!) just to play a game of ultimate is a little much. So JM and I decided to start a pick up group here in Cheonan. With everyone's work schedules being different, we opted to organize a weekend game. There is a huge soccer stadium just behind our apartment and it serves as the perfect venue.

Last weekend was our first attempt to organize pick up in Cheonan. I had heard that a guy tried to start a group awhile ago and it didn't take, so I was trying not to get my expectations too high. I posted the link to our event on three different FB groups: KUPA, Cheonan People and Flipside Fitness hoping to get anyone in this city who might be interested to come out. We ended up having 11 people show up (including JM and I) - six of us were from Bugil and the others were from elsewhere! Some people just saw our post and showed up, never even having played ultimate before. They are my favourite!! Brave souls that come out to learn a new sport and meet new people are the best. That's exactly how I started playing ultimate in Montreal and look how great that turned out!

We had a 30 minute warm up where JM practiced throwing a disc with the new players and taught them the rules. Then we set up the cones and got our game on. The level of play was perfect. No one was too hardcore and everyone seemed to have fun. I even took a disc to the face .. TWICE. It felt great to play again.

We are going to try and make this a weekly occurrence, alternating Saturdays and Sundays to give people who have weekly Saturday or Sunday commitments a chance to play. Already for this weekend we have 5 people signed up! Cheonan - see you on the field! :)

Learning to throw a flick

Whoops!

Warming up for the game

Teaching Neuroscience

When I moved to Korea, I was so excited to teach English and leave all the neuroscience behind. But when people find out I have a Masters in neuro, sometimes they ask if I'm bored teaching English. The fact is, I'm not! I love my job. It's so different from the experience I had in Montreal. But it doesn't mean I don't miss neuroscience. There is a reason I spent 7 years in university studying it.

Braaaaains!

A couple weeks ago a colleague of mine asked if I had heard of this international competition called the Brain Bee. Through my involvement with Brain Awareness Montreal, I know about this competition because BAM hosts the local Montreal Brain Bee every year. So I said yes, and he asked if I would give a series of after-school lectures to help 10 students at my school prepare for the Korean National competition. How could I say no? I love brains!!!

Me .. playing with a cow brain!

So today I gave my first of nine lectures ... and it went well! I'm supposed to cover two chapters every lecture, but tonight I just wanted to give an introduction. Tell them about the parts of the nervous system and major divisions of the brain. Talk about the neuron and how there are billions of them connected in our brains. I wanted to get them interested in the brain. While most of the material was over their head, they have a few months to learn it. I know I cannot teach them everything in nine classes. My goal is to give them a basic knowledge of neuroscience, so that when they do further reading in preparation for the competition, they will understand.

I think I was meant to be a teacher. I just love this feeling of inspiring young minds!

Brain Bee Logo

Shopping in the Dongdaemun Market

Hello folks,

Our last hoorah in Seoul came in the form of a shopping spree. The goal was to get some bedding for the increasingly cold nights in Cheonan. While Jennika had found a nice duck down duvet on Gmarket (a Korean Amazon.ca), we thought we would try anyhow.

We made it down via the subway and passed by the Cheonggyecheon river. This river used to be covered by a highway, but the city decided to restore it a few years ago, a project that we support. The whole area was beautiful!

Well we didn't find any suitable bedding in the plethora of shops. They sure do like wild patterns and hello kitty here. The shopping style is very different in the market stores. There are many booths/kiosks with eager retailers vying for your business. Once you try something on, good luck walking away without purchasing it. On the other hand if you are the first sale of the day it is considered bad luck not to get you to buy something. Jennika used this to haggle her new jacket from a price of 120,000 won to 80,000 won. While we walked away the shop keeper was shaking her head in disbelief that she let us go with such a great deal.

Due to the diet change, I've lost some weight and I can now fit into some tight Korean pants and other accoutrement. Time for a new wardrobe! We had a great time playing dress up.

My new sports jacket.

A nicer view of the detail.

popping that booty. modelling a bag

Some tight Korean pants that I did not buy because you could see my junk. There was no room to hide.

One of the new shirts and tight Korean dress pants that I did buy.
These were also our bunk-bed accommodations at the Kpop Guesthouse near Seoul Station.

Jennika also found some dressier shoes, a cute spring/fall jacket, a new fancy headband, and a long shirt with leggings.

Cheers, JaM's

Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Hello everyone,

On the holiday Monday (October 1st), Jean-Marc and I decided to explore some traditional Korean culture. We had heard that over Chuseok, it was common for the palaces and museums to host activities. Our first stop was the Bukchon Hanok Village, a little neighbourhood with traditional Korean houses.

The Bukchon Visitors Center

A Korean door. I love these! Traditional Korean houses have many rooms off a common courtyard. 

They also don't have yards, but gardens inside the grounds of the house.

Next we walked over to the National Folk Museum, which is located just inside the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Right away we saw people in costumes and a dance starting. One of the drummers came up to us and let us take pictures with his drum. It was very heavy and sort of like a bronze pot.

The Dancers

They had cool things on their heads!

Here is a video I took of some dancing. I love the things they have on the top of their hats. I don't understand the turtle part of the story, but we have seen this dragon turtle figure in a few places. Also, beware. The sound is very scratchy. It was much better in person.

There were many activities going on at the folk museum, including artistic booths. Jean-Marc decided to make traditional clothing origami ... along with all the children. It was so cute. He was the only foreigner and the only person at the workshop over 12 years of age. The father of the girl next to him kept leaning over and fixing all the errors JM was making. It was hilarious! Clearly he wanted to make origami too.

Some of the model designs

Jean-Marc with all the children.

Making the frame.

Showing JM how to fold the pants.

HAHA! The hands of the infamous father who always wanted to help.

All done and looking mighty proud!

Finally, we walked through Gyeongbokgung Palace. This palace was part of the Joseon dynasty and used to be the residence of the king. After Korea's many invasions and wars, the palace had been destroyed. When the Japanese occupied their country in the 1900s, they tore down buildings and erected their own offices on the palace grounds. Since 1995, there was a massive restoration project and to date, 25% of the palace has been restored to its former glory. Jean-Marc and I both agree that when they finally get it done, they should have it operate like how the palace used to be .. to give visitors a sense of what it was like back in the Joseon dynasty, with real servants and community members. As it stands right now, it's hard to know what happened in each building and who lived where. The palace grounds, however, are beautiful, and the details on the buildings are stunning. I would love to have a house like this one day.

The Front Gates of Gyeongbokgung Palace

For all our pictures of Gyeongbokgung, check out the album:



Take care,

Jennika