No doubt the highlight for me, as always, is spending so much time (work, play, home) with my stunning wife. In Korea, we spend every second together with the exception of a few teaching hours a day. I will truly miss having that much time each day. I am hooked on her like a user on heroine (or Edward on Bella if you prefer). Everything is possible because of her. Thank you Erin.

Also thank you to all our friends in Korea for this year, and to the 3 people who actually read this thing….  your comments give us the energy and desire to keep this thing up and out there doing the things that inspire its content.  Lets hope the hiatus isn’t for too long. Photos of our time in Canada will continue to be posted on photo sets… look for those. So long for now.

“One whole year… goes by in a blink”

(Some photo credits to Jorkat)

Lets start with a meat often overlooked by foreigners here – duck. It usually comes smoked but you can get it raw too. The smoked stuff tastes just like ham (it even comes with honey mustard sauce) so it’s important to get both if not entirely the latter.

One of the most popular meats in Korea is samgyeopsal (삼겹살). The cut of meat we know as bacon, but thicker and uncured (something we found out the hard way our first week here in 2006). Essentially, it’s pork belly; meat and a whole lot of fat. Most places fry it in a greasy heap with assorted sides, and since our bacon(less) heartbreak of that first week, we haven’t eaten much of it.

That is until we found this place that lets us cook it over hot coals. Oh, and the side kimchi, bibim neng myun (spicy cold noodles with veggies), and dwenjang jjigae (soybean paste soup) are top notch.

It’s time for the piece de resistance, live octopus. Well ‘live’ is a bit subjective.. I mean, at which point is it really dead? Is it the instant it is cut up, when it ceases to move, or somewhere in between? Here is the deal… a baby octopus is sliced up and brought to your table less than 15 seconds later (for maximum freshness). The entire plate is moving. The life threatening danger? The suction cups are still working fine and grasping at anything they touch. If one of those clutches your throat you have a rather sticky choking hazard that claims the lives of approximately 6 Koreans every year.  So potential diners, CHEW CHEW CHEW! Thanks to our co-contributor Ken for his guest spot.

One of the sides is a popular snack of silk worm pupae (literally cocoons) called bundaeggi (번대기)…  Since I was already pushing the envelope here and riding on liquid courage (thanks soju), I went for it. Would you eat it?

Our dear friend Muny owns and runs an amazing restaurant down the block from our house. His soup and seafood pancake were featured in Korean Food Part 1. As a friend, proprieter and dispenser of reasonably priced beers, we find ourselves at his place more often than we’d like to admit. After many annoying inquiries about the ingredients and production of his famous pajeon (파전 or Korean traditional panckake) by yours truly, Muny suggested I make one myself at my own risk (the grill is incredibly hot). Being the sly business man that he is, the only catch was “even if you make it, you have to pay for it”. I didn’t mind the teasing, especially since he took us all out for an awesome meal at another restaurant last weekend to thank us and say goodbye.

The verdict?

Korean restaurants can be categorized into 2 different genres. Those with draft beer, and those with bottled only. The ones with draft beers are usually various types of Korean style pubs or fried chicken restaurants. The draft beers range from $2-2.50 a pint, a stark contrast to the $14+ food dishes on the menu, which frankly, are mostly pretty terrible. For years we have happily sat in these establishments, ordered a few rounds, and left. It was our Korean friend Muny who finally told us that beers are so cheap because we are expected to order food. In fact it is extremely bad taste not to order food. Since we are foreign, and Koreans are incredibly hospitable and kind, we simply never knew. Now we do and the guilt compels us to order the cheapest thing on the menu – often nogari (노가리)… dried fish and dipping sauce :

Surprise! This will not be our last post. Mystery post to follow…

First, a stop at Seoul’s oldest market, Gwangjang Shijang. It was such a cool place that we are obligated to add some other photos and video that may not be entirely related to food.  Anyway, when we got off the subway we noticed a new interactive map. Check it out – we have a lot to learn in Canada about public transit….

Okay, to the market. Some of these stalls have been around for over 100 years and judging by the weathered look on the faces of the old women working there, it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. Erin and I, fresh off Korean Food Part 1, and only weeks from leaving Korea, were determined to have a little of everything. Here we are walking around getting first impressions and deciding what to try first:

 Making decisions where to eat and be tricky, especially when they the stalls in one area all look the same. Finally I saw an old dude with a good looking soup and we sat. We pointed to his soup and in decent Korean (Erin’s) we figured the order was taken care of. Not sure how the miscommunication happened but instead of soup she starts making some noodle dish that we weren’t really seeking, but of course had to eat. It ended up being a nice serving of bibim neng myun (cold noodles with spicy vinegar and vegetables).

Oh joy! She offered us a free side (or in Korean “Service-uh”) blood sausage. Korean’s love their sausages but this is the only truly authentic one that I have seen in traditional restaurants. Being a market type place we saw tons of freshly made “logs’ of the stuff enjoying the 30 degree heat as much as we were. Food poisoning? Soju will tame that beast… But as for the taste:

What the market is most famous for is bindaedeok, essentially a mung bean and sprout pancake. In restaurants and bars, you can find varieties made with kimchi, onions, sprouts, pork, seafood, etc. The ones at the market were all onions and sprouts. The best part is the pancake batter is made from crushed beans. Delicious and nutricious!

Time to eat – and while we’re at it let’s get some soju to kill the bacteria I just injested with those blood sausages.

And a quick shout-out to our new favourite ajjumas…

Since we are already on the topic of the market (and have nowhere else to blog about this), let’s chat briefly about the vintage market on the 2nd floor. Well, most of the market was Hanbok tailors (Korea’s traditional garments), with an annex devoted to assorted vintage goods. Though everything was much to small for these authors, it was cool to look around. All was not lost, I picked up a bitchin’ leather crossover bag for $20. It’s so sweet. I look like Indiana Jones without the hat, or the whip. Damn! I should have got a whip.

Mysteries of the universe, solved! Where Doc Martens go to die…

And here is the sweetass bag…

How did we stray so far from food? It happens when you are feeling sentimental in your final days.  Korean Food Part 3 to follow and it’s all about food and drunk strangers. We saved the best for last – potentially lethal food that kills about 6ish Koreans a year, perhaps the most exotic cuisine yet. What is it? What does it taste like? Stay tuned to find out.

Why so much passion about food? Well, to sum it up…

It’s really damn important.

(Note “JLS” is the name of our evening English Academy)

(Note – these are as we find them and unedited)

“I have a friend. He is a bird. His name is Mango. Mango lives in cage. Today I take Mango out cage for play. My mother is not like Mango. And today when Mango is out he is attack mother’s cell phone charm. Mother is so angry. ‘Already she no like you’ I tell Mango. ‘Mango, why you do this?’ I ask. ‘Beep beep’ says the Mango. ‘Really Mango, why you do this? Mother so angry,’ I say. ‘Beep beep’ says the Mango. Mango’s answer is always the same.”

“Today is Tuesday. My dream is police, stewardess, and government official.  I want first dream is stewardess. Because beautiful is uniform. I want have stewardess uniform. My second dream is government official. Because government official very handsome and thrill.”

“Today I plant kidney been in flower pot. I gave name it ‘Hang Kong’. I think it is good name. ‘Hang Kong! Please grow up well!” I said like this. To my kidney bean.”

“Today, Jim went to the Phillipines. I’m very, very unhappy. I thought, ‘Please, please not get sick and I hope your English is very good job”. Ah…. my only friend is Jim. Ah…. I like Jim. I’m unhappy.”

“I have a quarrel. I’m sad. I’m said, “I’m so sorry.” Thereupon, my friend said “me too… I’m sorry.” So, we held and hands random together for school. I love my friend.”

“I love monday. Because my school life is happy and funny. And monday is look at the my likes boy. I don’t like saturday and sunday. Because don’t look at the he!”

“Title: BANANA

I eat banana! I like banana! Banana is yellow! And banana is Yummy! I family likes banana! Do you like banana? Banana is fruit! Banana is nutrion food! I like BANANA!”

“I wanted do my homework with Sun-woo. So I called him. “Hello, may I speak to Sun-woo?” “He is not in. I did it by myself. I was strained.”

“Ha…Im very sad. I wanna die. Because my father throw my lovely Parrot Cheese. I hate my father. Why my Cheese throw! I can’t understand. Cheese is sleeping now. Im sorry, Cheese. Really Really I wanna die. Bye… Sorry Cheese!”

“We went to a marriage ceremony. There was no place to sit. We sat at a table in the corner. I was hungry like a horse. I helped myself to everything I liked.”

“My class had a tadpole. One tadpole is grow up to frog. Im so happy. But few days my friend shook a fishing pot. Frog death under the loosened rocks. I so sad.”

“Today we see a classical concert. Sound was refreshingness and fantastic. I’m see classic concert a long time. I’m felt very tired. So I’m slept. Another people see a me. I’m very ashamed.”

“Today Jessica and my sister fun playing with toys and playing house. My favorite game is to play with a toys because all work and no play will do you harm some fun with the other kids. I’ve come partly on business and partly for pleasure. Bye.”

“I have lots of hobbies. I like reading and painting. Listening to music is another hobby. I want to learn dancing. I guess I am greedy.”

“I’m today go to school. At lunch time is boys and girls fighting. Then, school teacher is we’re get into a room. My think girls are bad. Girls is boys hitting and a hair catching. I’m next is kills all girls.”

“Today I was happy. Today’s morning I was happy because……….? And Im going to the school. We’re change seats. I’m seat with my best friend!!!!  Im happy……. Today is very beautiful day. Suddenly I thought classmates are very pretty and beautiful. Its very novelty.”

“Ah…. Im so tired. I can play? Its dream…  I can watch TV? Its dream to..ha. Im so so so x100000 tired and sleepy. Who make test? I want kill them —-!! And, I can’t JLS homework, too. Sorry, Annie,,,,  But you understand my heart, and thank you! Good night!”

“Yesterday and today I ate barbecue. Barbecue is very hot but very delicious. Go to outside mosquitos attack me I hard attack mosquitos is Died.”

“I looked final test yesterday. I thought I will can get good score. And that’s go real. I got score about all one hundred. So I was happy. But girls hit me. I don’t know girls mind. But I was happy.”

“Today is July 1^st, so today change class seat. I seat is back but A/C wind came me so Im cool. At lunch time I’m play soccer and teacher on A/C. So I’m very very very cool. I think my class is Antarctica. Ahhhhhhhh!!!”

“Today I saw the earthworm. Earthworm is very good to people. Because earthworm is good to has to a soil. They eat the fallen. The excrements is good to a soil. Be they go only the front. They entertain.”

(Note: Symbol for ghost/death is that little sperm-like looking thing rising from the head of the dead baby hedgehog. See photo.)

“Yesterday my friend’s hedgehog had the baby. Her name is “goggam” But today it died. I was so sad. Im cry. Its not mine but she loves her. She said to me “The mom will picked her splinter and it died” and so her little sister said “goggam will go to the hell” her mom said “The goggam was not do want to do that. Just splinter picked her so blood come out and she’s dead” We have die out. We saw her eyes. It was so cute and I think – I think its not dead but,” It likes a really lived hedgehog. I want to her to not her put in the ground.”

“The mom is bye. I was stealthily ate noodle. Lucky, I ate very much. My sister like noodle too. So she ate very much too. Noodles very yummy and white. But mom come back soon. Hide bowl. But Im ate very much. So lucky.”

“Today my word test is blank. Was mistaken 4. Got frightened out to mother. I don’t like vocabulary test. Vocabulary test is very hardship. I want to play.”

“Lets my friends play the game. Its funny. Tag it me! One, two, three, four…. Play game!  Where is the my friends?  Mmmm…. here? No. here? No. Not here.  Oh!! Here Chang-mu, you’re tagged!!”

“I have new friend (boy). He name is Lee Gwang. He is very scary. Because he beat a boys. But he don’t beat a girls. He is gentle.”

“My School test score travel down. Because sometimes Im study. But very hard study. Im think about who says “No Studying, Never! Never more study” Who say? – I’ve very wanted say. But Amazing works. Then unavoidable, Im study very hard. Study!”

“Why Earth People love study? Why? And… Who invention learn and study? Study invention people very very so much hateful! But finally, unavoidable, Im very very hard study!!. That’s problem!!”

“I got a prize statement. I like reading books. After reading I write a book review. We can have vicarious experiences through books. I was happy to receive a compliment.”

“Yesterday and today I ate Kimbap. My mom made Kimbap. Yesterday breakfast, lunch and dinner were Kimbap. Today breakfast, lunch and dinner were Kimbap too. But Im okay. I think I like Kimbap.”

(Note: There is a picture attached. No, I do not have an Adidas shirt. Yes I wear Birks. in class)

“My English teacher Sean. He is very fun. He looks like Robinsun Courso. He has the biggest feet. He has soft hair. I don’t believe he is old. His class fun.”

“Mother, sister and brother go Homeplus. In sit the Homeplus shopping cart. And pushed sister for me. And Im fell the watermelon. And broken the watermelon. And I’m sustained bruise. I’m hurt.”

“I’m busy. Because I’m going to institute. And my teacher with me in house. I’m busy. And I’m difficult. So, today have nosebleed. Blood is strong red.”

“Today, I play with my dog. Everyday I didn’t play with my dog because I’m very busy from school, academy and homework. So, I don’t’ play with my dog everyday. Everyday I think I want to play with my dog. Because he is very cute and funny. But I’m okay, because I sleep with my dog everyday. I throw away the ball. My dog fetch it. When he excrete the dung, I give the snack to my dog. I love him very much. He is my best friend in the world.”

“Today I went to JLS class. There are lots of things happened in JLS. We did ‘hammer game’. When I won the game I have to hit other person. The other person was Sarah! Oh No! Sarah is my favorite friend. But I have to hit Sarah. I hit Sarah very very hard. I was sorry about that. But Lucy hit me. Suddenly, Mary cried. (Mary was very sad). I want everyone smile in class. ”

“I was bitten by mosquitos. My eyes itched. I rubbed my eyes. My eyes were puffy. I can’t see things that are close. I was embarrassed.”

“Today I heard a bad news. My Grandmother sister is kick the bucket. My grandmother cried. I look my Grandma I so impatient. My father finish the pharmacy and going to go to funeral. My Grandmother sister heavenly bliss.”

“Today is very terrible day and during holiday I went to cottage. But I was stung by bee. I almost crazy. And I became torn my ear because my earring hung the pillow when I lie down. And!!! I play in the valley but I was bitten by strange fish. However, one thing was a good thing. It is, I saw a snake! In the valley! The snake lie down on the rock. It as very cute cute cute cute, lovely lovely lovely snake. By grandfather came to the snake and he said ‘go!’ and the snake really go. That is Grandfather and snake’s communication.”

(Note: Here is the picture from above representing how God’ was responsible for her bad vacation day because ‘God’ put her in God’s “terrible day book” – lol!)

“Today I go to beach. So my neck and face black! I’m very angry. It is so prick. My mother says it is burn. So I’m angry more. I’m never go beach again!”

“Subject: Hi Stephanie (future)

Hi! Stephanie? How are you? It’s a little weird to write a letter to myself. I bet I’m a high school student now. Do I like my school uniform? What is my favorite subject? I like art and music classes now. Dad said he will take me to Lotte World. I’m so excited. Does he have gray hair? How tall am I now? Do I wear glasses? I try not to watch TV too close to keep my good vision. There are so many things I want to ask myself. Stay healthy, be happy.  Stephanie (now)”

“Finished a school I went to a public health centre. Because I got a preventative injection to Japanese encephalitis. Japanese encephalitis is move use a mosquito. And this season is summer. So many mosquito live in city. We don’t division a Japanese injection mosquito. But!! I don’t worry!! Ha Ha Ha!”

“Today I make a nature soap. First melt soap base. Flower, incense and flower powder and melt soap base, put on frame. Waited and waited. Soap was become hard. Completion nature soap. It was very easy.”

“My magic bean is very big like a tree. My teacher said a butter fly coming and butterfly gift pollen. My magic bean is very, very big but if I no water, magic is small die. I want my magic bean is no die.”

(Note: Summer vacation is 3.5 weeks and usually means they still go to all their private academies, and have lots of homework)

“I love vacation and today is vacation!!! Finally I can escape from this terrible school. I will heap upon a curse to my teacher. The worst point is the stupid school gave me the many vacation homeworks. I will play on vacation. Also, like go mad.”

“It was hot today. It was oppressive. I felt tired and thirsty because it was too hot. Even when I sat still, the sweat ran. I wanted to have crushed ice with sweet red beans. Today’s weather is homicide hot weather.”

“Today, our school started a ‘summer vacation’. So I made a ‘plan’ My dream plan is ‘eat’ and ‘play’ and ‘sleep’. But…..  We can’t. Because we need….. ‘STUDY’. Anyway I want to safe this summer.”

“Today I buy some spongeboob Lego!!! I like Lego!! And I like spongeboob very much. My father buy Legos to me and my older brother!! I love my father!!! Spongeboob like a yellow sponges!! I like yellow sponges!!! Todays was very happy, interesting, fun and great day!”

(Lets finish with my favourite diary drawing. Note: The picture does say a thousand words here, so I decided not to include the written portion - Ever felt like your night’s sleep lasted only 1 second? Welcome to the life of a Korean student. “UNBILIBUBLE!”) 

Indeed most Korean food can be a difficult transition for newcomers and those who don’t like spicy food or fermented vegetables that, admittedly, sometimes smell like garbage. But if you can read Korean, know where to look and what to order, you will find extremely tasty dishes virtually everywhere. And maybe, if you are lucky, you will soon start craving some of those fermented veggies, mmm kimchi! (I’ll crave it when I’m gone.)

While the food has grown on us (to say the least), some restaurants still fail to impress prospective diners because of either poor ‘fusion’ dishes or hilarious lost-in-translation translations of food descriptions on their menus. See the ’spam sushi’ or ‘Chucky hot rice cake’.

Here is the first of two segments of videos describing some of our favourite and/or most interesting dishes one can find here. Enjoy.

Beef Galbi – (Jorkat’s 2AM Galbi Restaurant) Fall 2009

Dalkgalbi (Spicy Chicken Stir Fry – Gangchon) Spring 2010

Ribs (Eaten With Gloves) Fall 2009 & Summer 2010

Watch our camera quality and my video commentary improve in just a few short months…

Korean Yuk Hae (Korea’s Version of Steak Tartare) Winter 2010

Kongchi Kimchi Jjigae (Moony’s Spicy Hot Pot Soup) Spring 2010

Sashimi (Pronounced ‘Hay’… Raw Fish Restaurant) Summer 2010

Spicy Octopus with Cold Noodles (Pronounced Nakji So Myun) Summer 2010

Bonus: Here is one of our favourite Korean cocktails!

Dae Na Moo (Bamboo Wine) Fall 2009

 This is a must do for any any movie lover or afficianado of the kind of treatment normally reserved for those with some sort of platnum card. For those of you looking for a classier, more comfortable and refined way to experience the art of film (Eclipse… again) look no further than Lotte Cinema’s ‘Charlotte’ theatre (actually, most theatres in Korea have their own strangely named version of this experience).

The experience, normally $20 and now on special promotion for $10, starts with a VIP red carpet area to buy your tickets (handed to you in a glossy envelope in what can only be described as boarding pass-like). Once tickets are in hand you bypass all the “commoners” who are stuck waiting in the lobby before being let into their theatres, and are given access to Charlottes’ pre-movie VIP lounge (again, very first class airline feel). Maitre D’s offer one complimentary cocktail, wine or fancy coffee of your choice. There is an upscale menu too. Popcorn? Here you can have full dinners – we brought popcorn in though. We felt like peasants.

  .

Next, and at your leisure, you may enter the theatre (doors held open) personally escorted to your seats. Not that it’s hard to find – there are only 24 seats in the whole theatre.

The luxury treatment doesn’t stop there – not by a long shot. Next you get warm blankets brought to you and your drinks you were sipping on in the lounge.  (What? Me carry my own wine glass to my seat, don’t be ridiculous.) Your seat/sofa/bed is about as comfortable as sitting on God’s face. It reclines to all kinds of settings and the leg room is enough to have a soccer game. The best part is your little table is equipped with a call button so you can summon servers for more drinks or whatever. We just brought our own wine from home – classy with a capital ‘C’.

 Here’s a video that – well no you can’t really capture what it feels like to spend and extra $2 on a movie ticket and get this experience.

I almost forgot the VIP washroom (which I visited a few times for fun). Fresh flowers, scented soap and a fancy sink that just screams “You are on the A-list” (soak it up here because I’ll never afford it anywhere else… nor would it be a fun special treat if I had it all the time).

How will we ever go back to that horrible congested feedlot that regular people call a movie theatre. Shiver

There is no better way to get around and see a city than by bike, with the possible exception of hovercraft. When you don’t have a car, it really can change everything. Bike owners can appreciate the unbridled freedom, the desire to explore and find hidden treasures all about town. First let’s take a look at the park perspective:

From the park, off a humble offshoot of a path, is an underpass. To our amazement and surprise, it opens up to the sea and adjacent wetlands and tidal mudflats. A light ocean breeze seemed to push us along as we marveled at the serene beauty and abundant sea birds that have been in our backyard this entire time. Stunning.

Bike riding isn’t just about parks and bike paths. The true afficianado enjoys the inner-city streets and alleys aswell. In Korea such a journey is about searching out new restuarants, markets, and pubs. Moreover, it’s about having no destination at all. its about always being ‘at’ where you are ‘going’ , already and not yet there simultaneously – such is the journey of life right? We were near the neighborhood where many migrant factory labourers lived. This was the perfect place to buy a large Tsingtao beer to cool off in the mid-day sun. We hit a bench in the nearby park and had no idea what was about to happen….

Korea is a magical place of random events and spectacles. You never know when one will happen – but something great will happen. Today it was a group of men drinking and eating across the park. One of them spoke very little English – the worst amount. He introduced himself as “Phil Kim” and started going on about the singer Kris Kritsofferson. Now when a drunk Korean man is talking to you… you are trapped. There is no way of politely leaving with his dignity intact… so you tough it out.  This time however, was rewarding beyond measure. Not because of the ice cream they bought us, but for the sweet serenade:

On our way out of the neighborhood we happened upon a drinking and driving checkpoint – like Canada’s R.I.D.E. program. The only difference was this was 1:0opm in the afternoon.. oh Korea, I love you.

With too much ambition we rode for almost 2 hours to the costal village of Oido, which you may recall from horrible food poising 3 years earlier. 

It was sunny and beautiful and we weren’t going to eat anything. What could go wrong? How about a flat tire. So what would you do? Cant pump it at gas station, there’s a hole in it. Can’t take a taxi with the bikes. Can’t take a bus with the bikes. There are no bike stores in town. And you are in a rural part of a foreign country with little to no English and your Korean is pretty bad. Let it sink in..

So what did we do? In a country where anything can be sold off the back of a truck anywhere, we happened (by sheer chance) to stumble upon a moblile bike repair guy parked at the side of the road. GOD I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!  Here he is fixing my bike, putting in a new inner tube and sealing the leak – for $3.

I think it’s still worth talking about the amazing entrepreneurs that work their tail off from various trucks all around this country. You can’t go 5 mintues wanting or needing something without finding it. It is such a uniquely Korean experience that I truly take for granted. Let’s say you have been though the long end of the meadowlands trail. You want a place to sit, a snack and perhaps a cold one? But there is no commercial area or restaurant nearby – no problem. There is a truck for that.

Now it’s tomato and weird yellow melon season. You want fresh from the farmers’ market – not that unripe stuff that goes to the big grocery stores. And you don’t want to walk more than 100m. There’s a truck for that too!

But what about my vegetables you say? And what’s that? You have a fear of trucks since one ran over your cat?..  Leave it to the ajummas to sit on the sidewalk doling out everything and anything green or with a bulb on it.

As one gallivants around town, in and out of public spaces and parks, you are sure to encounter countless pieces of public art. Some are more obscure than others – but I am no art critic.

What would bikes be if we didn’t use them at night too? The park is abandoned on Sunday evenings and the perfect place to go with a mat and a bottle of bubbly, and listen to the frogs croak. It just so happens to be a great place to take some photos. The takeaway message here (teachers in Korea and everyone everywhere) – GET BIKES!

And the frogs sing us out…

Sorry about the end of the video – I happen to run into an old friend who didn’t know we were recording.

I want my back yard to look like this. Wait, I want a back yard.

Erin loves the feature that allows us to isolate certain colours – what a way to experiement here in the sea of colours.

When the sun goes down, it’s time for the parade. This is a top 3 MUST NOT MISS annual event in Seoul. Can’t think of the other 2 right now, I just didn’t want to say it was #1 in case I excluded something and sound like a douche. In another act of Korean generosity and hospitality, some nice Korean woman gave the girls in our group free lanterns.

Let the parade begin. Somewhere in the middle was a hilarious Buddha’s ‘helicopter’ float. The connection to Buddha? Thats a head scratcher.

We are nearing the end of this time abroad, and only a handful of posts remain. Stay tuned….  

What was intended to be a short 4-month stop in Korea for these authors became even more enticing when we learned our close friends Katie and Jordan would be spending a year in Korea. When they had decided to come in the winter of 2008, we were overjoyed but admittedly pissed off. We had spent 2 years in Korea with no intention of returning. Yearning always for more friend visits (after the wonderful time with the Mulqueens in 2007), you can imagine the frustration of learning our friends were coming for a year, but not until after we had returned to Canada. So our hands were tied. We booked our flights and signed another contract in August 2009.

Since then we have had many adventures together. We have been generously included into their amazing group of friends, both expats and Koreans. We became part of their community and their couch. We experienced laughs and tears, food and culture, hugs and more hugs. We even have a theme song. They were there for us as a reminder of home and example of true friendship, especially when we found ourselves homeless and unemployed for the month of February. There are so many highlights to share and I will do my best to cover most and honour our amazing time together. The trip that sealed the deal – our trip to Taiwan together has already been covered in great detail, so go ahead and assume that is #1. As for the rest, these memorable experience fall in no particular order:

McMullorkat – A 4-way combination of our names. Yes, it is awesome!

Sleepovers – Even (or especially as Erin likes to point out) as an adult, sleepovers can still be fun. That is…  unless you have the spins and duck out to bed early to avoid being sick and Jordan jumps onto the bed to test the limits of your gag reflex. Katie is the unsung hero of getting coffee for us in the morning. I don’t use the word “hero” very often….

Screen golf – As flat land is a valuable commodity in Korea, the golf courses are rare and expensive. Instead residents have a plethora of screen golf establishments to visit when the urge to slice one’s ball, curse, and slam your club arises. We would have gone more often if there was more than 1 place in the entire country with facilities for a left-handed golfer.

The cool part is there is a beer cart but it’s a girl pushing an actual cart from room to room. There are couches to sit on between shots and one has the pleasure of a digital driving range to warm up on. A machine auto-loads your ball onto the tee or mat, and video replay shows just how much worse your swing is getting with each passing of the beer cart. What impressed me the most was that the platform actually moved to match the slope of the ball lie on the screen. See here how Jordan is chipping from the side of a hill? This is the closest I will ever come to playing Pebble Beach.

Halloween – I had only met Jorkat’s friend and co-worker Kirsten once before I found myself handing her $40 for two costumes for Erin and I. She found a website with a bunch of different animals. Jordan was regretfully a bit wet-blanketish on this day – choosing to go as himself in a baseball jersey. Boo. We headed into the university district and got sloshed. We danced up a storm and constantly berated the DJ to play our newly discovered theme song. PS – Koreans don’t dress up on Halloween – we got some stares on the bus.

(Below –  Photo Credit: Jorkat)

Hiking – The fall is the perfect time to hike this beautiful country. Equidistant from our places towers the picturesque Gwanak mountain. We met there and set off on our way up.

A gorgeous temple greeted us near the top. The serenity was only broken by the sound of jet engines overhead. Unable to spot the source, our curiosity lingered until the next day (see zoo below).

Nothing beats the feeling of triumph and sense of accomplishment of reaching the top of a 3 hour trek up a mountain. Unless of course there is a nice cold one waiting for you at the top. I managed to fit 4 tall boys in a small cooler bag in my backpack and lugged them all the way to the top. The plan was to unveil my surprise at the summit and accept the various accolades that I am the best guy ever. Alas, (I should have realized that ‘This Is Korea’) there was a guy with 3 fridges full of beer selling frosties at the top of the mountain. Jordan offered to buy me one before I even had a chance to whip my backpack off. The view was spectacular.

Zoo – One of our best days, if not the best, from our last time in Korea was a fall day at the zoo.  Despite being tired and sore from the hike the day before, we pushed on to the zoo. We couldn’t walk the next day – it was a mistake, but we saw all kinds of cool stuff, including and especially the air show planes overhead.

My favourite part was a fenced in leaf pile where kids were having an all out free for all. They were in their glory and we just soaked in the inocent joy. That, and we took a thousand photos.

Sporcle – Lazy sunday afternoons doing online trivia. We could never quite get 100% right. Except for the quiz with only one question… “Things Meatloaf Won’t Do for Love”……………(Answer: that)

Talking about Twilight – I do not need to post a photo of Edward because he is already in my dreams *sigh*. Still, if Edward is, like, the perfect guy ever, and Bella is ‘drawn’ to him by some mystical force, could she really be that conflicted about Jacob? Yeah, okay fine, he left her for a while and Jake was there for her, but come on… I’m not buying it.

Exploring Seoul - Jorkat’s neighborhood had it all – everything a foreigner could want. It’s no wonder why its residents rarely feel the need to explore other parts of the city. Yet with time in Korea fleeting we managed to hit some of our favourite spots together.

Shule - This was an offshoot of a fundraiser our friend Pat does back home. Pat’s sister ran it here in Korea.Readers Digest version: ‘Shule’ means school. Pat made friends with a guy when volunteering in Africa and promised him that if he went to university there that Pat would raise the money for tuition and living expenses for his wife and children. He is now in his 2nd year of university and despite all of our good efforts leading up to the event, Jordan and I just had to decorate one of the posters in an utterly juvenile manner. No disrespect intended.

 Beer, Wings, Wine, Shwarmas and Nachos – Not sure where to go with this. We love them. We loved them together.

Trip #1 – Sanjeng Lake – A brilliant addition to the Jorkat community in Seoul were Korean friends Eunjin and Hooyoung. It was a great priviledge to hang with them in Seoul, and an even greater one to get taken on a roadtrip to the country. It’s ironic how going on a trip makes us feel most at home. It felt just like we were headed to the cottage for the weekend.

We packed our costco bags into a rented van and, despite Eunjin’s driving, we made it there safely. The suite was nestled in the mountains near a man-made lake. We had a blast! Bonding with Darren and Kirsten was an added bonus. Strange art was confusing.

Cuddle Puddle & Katie at her best…..

Noraebangs… Is it legal to have this much fun singing?

(Below – Photo credit: Jorkat)

“F*ck the Sun” – This was the lasting motto for Jordan’s birthday and all-out gong show. The line was famously uttered by my sister on a recent trip to Vegas. Without knowing it she had partied all night. When a friend saw the sunrise and suggested sleep, my amazing sister in typical party-bully style retorted “f*ck the sun!”

So that was the plan. All night with a sauna in the morning to throw up in. As per the birthday boys wishes we all donned his sports jerseys and headed to the noraebang.

(Below – Photo Credit: Jorkat)

Before heading to the Suana/bathhouse at 5am, Jordan had the brilliant idea of having a race with Darren. I prayed one of them would fall on their face. Alas. For the record, and as proven in this video -Darren is faster than Jordan. Maybe it’s because he actually looks where he is going.

Christmas - What a special treat to have them with us on the special day. I will never forget Jordan flirting with my mom (very over the top) and his stupid winks to me afterwards. Thanks asshole.

Darren & Kirsten & Brielle – I will miss arguing politics with Darren and my kinship with Kirsten and her love of seemingly random stuff; like wind. I love wind too. Darren is my new BFF. It was a friendship that could only flourish in the absence of Jordan, like a rosebush growing in unweeded soil. We are blooming. Brielle is stylish and awesome, adding a third person to the question “How did Jorkat get so lucky to work with these awesome people?”

(Below – Photo Credit: Jorkat)

Summer in the Park – Drinking beers, having a picnic, Jordan stealing the baseball bat from some kids and insisting on playing until he hit a homerun. Priceless. I forget what that kid with the pool skimmer was all about.

Trip #2 Seokcho – Once again Hooyoung and Eunjin treated us to a roadtrip and weekend away. An even more luxurious suite awaited us in the coastal town of Seokcho, at the foot of Seoraksan mountain and national park. We explored the coast, taking in the fresh ocean air.

We found our dinner at the fish market located at the docks. After we bouth the fish a group of woman filleted them with ninja-like precision.

That night – wine, music and a lot of love. It was coming to the end of our time together. When we played our group song, it sounded just a little bit sweeter.

The next day, we took a cable car up one of Korea’s tallest mountains. We hiked the last bit of it (after taking a huge cable car for the bulk of the journey) - enough to feel overly pleased with ourselves. Here’s what the top of Korea looks like with some handsome dudes on it.

Martini’s – I f*cken love them. I think I will owe Jordan for life. Thanks for bringing martini’s and I together Jordan. You are so classy.

Loving Katie More – Do I mean increasing the amount of pre-Korea love for Katie or do I mean I now love Katie more than Jordan?

Both.

And that, I would easily say, is the real #1 on this highlight list. Katie Algate. Katie, you are a star. A shining star fallen down to earth and wrapped in Lulus. The Foie Gras of friends, the Kobe beef of buddies, the Blue Label of babes. Thanks for putting up with Jordan’s crap so that Erin and I get the pleasure of your company. You are without a doubt my standout highlight of the year.

Our Song – It all started on a night of You Tube clips. You all know it for sure – but to us it will always be, in the way only music can do,  our link to a place and time that was just ours together. Though we left, it will never leave us. ‘It’s like Ive been waiting my whole life……‘

Katie and Jordan. Thank you.

Goodbye.

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Epilogue - Has there been a more heartfelt goodbye in the history of the Korean peninsula? I can only think of one. That scene from the last episode of M*A*S*H, where Hawkeye lifts off from the helicopter and his best friend Hunnicutt has left a ‘goodbye’ spelled out in rocks. Still wets my eyes just to think about it.

Thankfully, I will see you again in a few short months.

We had stayed local for the previous 3 games and since this round of 16, do or die game was on a Saturday, going into Seoul was the obvious choice. Being able to cheer on your team in crowds of thousands of people is a once in a lifetime opportunity not to be passed up. We were determined to watch the game in a huge public place and there was only one problem… rain.

At about the same moment on a rainy Saturday afternoon, my friend Darren and I came up with the solution. The game would be shown on the big screens at Seoul’s 2002 World Cup Stadium, a stadium with covered seats! Brilliant!

Along with about 35,000 fellow ‘red devils’, we enjoyed one of the best sporting events of my life… and the game wasn’t even being played there. To give you an idea of the energy, here is the place at 9:30pm.. a full hour and a half before the game started.

To control the amount of people moving through the stadium, security would lock certain gates effectively closing off entire sections of the stadium. ‘Effectively’ if this was anywhere else besides Korea.

Here is more pregame action, right before kick off. Keep in mind that all the people on ground level, and those in the first few rows of stands are getting poured on with heavy rain!

As the game began, it was apparant to one youngster that the large stadium screens were insufficiant for game watching. So he pulled out his cell phone and watched it on its live TV feature.

Korea went down 1:0 early and a strong Uruguay team went on the defensive. This made for an exciting 2nd half full of chances and near misses. Although no one really expected Korea to make it to the finals, or win this game, I still felt entitled to one simple request: a goal.  I told our friends with us that I would not be exessively heartbroken with a loss, but I would be devestated if I couldn’t have just one goal. How can one imagine a spectacle like this without the chance to explode with sheer ecstasy with 40,000 people just once? Oh please god, just once!

It was Lee Chung Yong who’s header answered my prayers in the 68th minute to tie the game, and bring the house down. Erin managed to catch it right as it went in, but in the excitment (in combination with my jostling) stopped recording after 1 second. She immediately started again… so technically there is only one second missing between these two videos. I have never experienced the level of happiness from sports as I did at this moment. And I probably won’t ever again.

It was while releiving myself in the bathroom that Uruguay striker Suarez curled in possibly the most beautiful goal of this world cup, and put an end to the Korean dream. But here is where the story contains real heart – the fans were happy and grateful. The mood was solemn yet very pleasant, as if at the end of an amazing rock concert. They were sad it was over and knew the end would come eventually, but they had a blast while at the show. Fans were still cheering “Dae Han Min Guk” on an exceptionally crowded subway.

I am very lucky to have been here for this experience. Like I said before, I will be a Korean Red Devil for life! DAE HAN MIN GUK!

Stay tuned for a tribute to Jorkat…