Rainy days and smelly feet.

Reading the rubbish that 35 students wrote on “Rainy Days” is tedious, but every now and then one student writes something truly funny or screws up in the most amusing way. It is Monsoon Season in these parts of the world. Think is that here it is called Typhoon Season. It took me a good minute to figure out that toe pong is not smelly feet, but in fact, a weather pattern.

Reflections on Middle Street

At night, when Middle Street is wet, and there are few people blocking the view, you will see beautiful reflections of coloured lights from the various shops. If you find the right spot and wait for a while, you will inevitably see someone walk across one of the reflections and cast a shadow. I find this makes for a more interesting photo.

Problem is that to get the perfect photo you have to stand there, holding your camera, on in this case your phone in the ready position to take about 10 shots, just in case some don’t work. (Most don’t.) Standing like that with your phone pointing at, urm, something, makes you look and feel like an idiot. People walk past glancing at you and surely thinking: “What is the weird foreigner doing now?”

After I posted this photo I noticed the sign towards the top right. Apparently, after all these year of having a sizable number of Koreans who speak very good and sometimes perfect English, and now foreigners who speak it as their mother tongue, Korea sill thinks that “Grand Open” is acceptable English. Great street lighting…shitty English, STILL!

YPBooks

What is this?
Youngpoong Books, also known as YPBooks has a few branches in and around Seoul. I find that YPBooks does not have the selection of Kyobo, especially the Banpo branch, but they are not to be ignored when you need something to read. The staff often does not have the very best English, but they are always able to help you with whatever you need.

Where is it then?
Possibly the best know branched are in Gangnam (actually Banpo) and Jongno.

For the Gangnam Branch go to Express Bus Terminal on Line 3. Heat out Exit 7, immediately turn right and head in to Central City. As you enter on the B1 floor you will see YPBook on the other side of the floor.

The Jongno Branch is right next to Jonggak Station on Line 6. Head out Exit 6. As soon as you exit you will see the smaller entrance to YPBooks on your left. It is that easy.

And when are they open?
I still have to confirm this, but my current information is that they are open from 09:00 to 22:00 every day.

I have questions. Can I call them?
I still need to go back and ask them for a phone number where we can reach an English speaker .

Is this information still correct?
I was at the location on 10 July 2011 and can confirm the pin. I need to go back and check the times and telephone numbers.

Take me back to the list of bookshops, or show me the map with all the pins on it.

Kyobo Books

What is this?
Kyobo Books is probably the biggest book retailer in Korea and their section on English-language books is immense. For people from South Africa, Kyobo stocks about as many books as an average sized Exclusive books. As if the sheer number of books is not impressive enough, they also stock academic book in English. There is usually a competent English speaker to help you and what they can’t find in store they can usually order fro you online.

Where is it then?
Possibly the best know branched are in Gangnam and in Jongno.

For the Gangnam Branch go to Shinoghyeon Station on line nine. Head out Exit 7 and the main entrance to Kyobo will he right in front of you.

For this, the Jongno branch, go out Exit 4 at Line 5’s Gwanghwamun Station. As you come out, look to your left and you will be starting at the Kyobo Building. Walk a few steps down the road and you will see the entrance on your left, leading down into the bookshop.

And when are they open?
I have to confirm this because it completely slipped my mind, but I suspect they keep the same hours as most major stores in Korea, so 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m, seven days a week.

I have questions. Can I call them?
As with the hours, my familiarity with this location make me not even consider going in and asking for a phone number. This will be added to my to-do list.

Is this information still correct?
I was at the locations on 10 July 2011 and can confirm the pin. I need to go back and check the times and telephone numbers.

Take me back to the list of bookshops, or show me the map with all the pins on it.

Seoul Selection Bookshop

What is this?
Apparently this book store, located right next to Gyeongbok Palace, is the place to go if you are looking for English-language books on Korea. It seems like such an obvious business idea if you consider that the Palace one of the biggest tourist hotspots in Korea. They offer DVDs with English subtitles and traditional Korean music CDs along with their selection of used books.

Where is it then? 
From Gyeongbok Palace Station Exit 5, head East along the front of the Palace itself. When you get to the end of the wall, turn left and, just around the corner, you will see the pedestrian crossing. When you cross the bookshop will be right in front of you.

From Angug Station Exit 1, head West towards the Palace. Just before you get to the Palace you will find a small police station. Make a quick right just as you past it and you will see the pedestrian crossing. The store is basically right next to you.

(The Police in the area are very friendly and often speak English. If you get lost, as a policeman standing or walking around.)

And when are they open? 
9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m, Monday to Saturday.

I have questions. Can I call them?
Try (02) 734-0565

Is this information still correct?
I was at the location on 10 July 2011 and can confirm the pin. I have not had a chance to go inside yet.

Take me back to the list of bookshops, or show me the map with all the pins on it.

Seoul Bookshops

For most of us living in and around Seoul, Seoul itself is where we get our book from. Yes, I know YOU get it from Amazon.com, but I’m going to pretend you don’t exist.

This post, and the posts it will link to in the future, will contain a list of bookshops that sell a decent amount of English language book. At the moment it is quite sparse, and I still have to visit most of them to get the exact map location and finer details, but I hope to flesh it out soon enough.

As a companion to this page I am updating a Google Map to show the exact locations of the various shops.

Here is the list of notable bookshops I know about so far:

Kyobu Books
Yongpoon Books
Seoul Selection Bookshop
Underground Foreign Bookshop
Beautiful Store Bookshop
Itaewon Foreign Bookstore
What The Book
Abby's Nook

Ace Student

Su-Jeong: "지금...업서" and closes the dictionary
Me: "Now"
Su-Jeong: "mumble-mumble"
Min-Ji: "N...O...W"

She received 60% for her conversation class with me, because they are not allowed to get the 10% they deserve.

We want YOU to vote for someone.

Elections for, I think, Students President Body members (how is that for some high language made up crap) happened today. In true Korean fashion the campaigning happened right before the actual election with no one having time to analyze that is happening. This is, of course, assuming that middle school students actually care if anyone other than someone from their own class “wins this thing they are voting in.”

Pop goes the iPhone

I think it was in a book by Anthony Robbins, yes I sometimes read stuff like that, that I found the idea that you will go where you look. As an example, if you are on a bike and see a large rock in your way, then the way to avoid it is not to keep your eye on the rock. Looking at it will naturally draw you straight at it. What you should do is look at where you need to go to avoid the rock, i.e. next to the rock and you will naturally drift that way. With that in mind, let me lay the reason for the photo on you…

I made a mad dash to the supermarket between two classes. To do this I had to almost run home, get on my scooter, go buy a bunch of pens for students to use, then come back. On my way to the supermarket I saw something lying in the road, as in in the middle of the road. How it got to be there I have no idea.

I was looking at this black object as I was approaching it, trying to figure out what it was when all of a sudden I released I was looking at an older model iPhone. Being the idiot that I sometimes am, I kept on looking straight at it instead of looking where I need to go to avoid it and ended up running right over it. I am the one responsible for cracking that glass.

The phone might have been in a good working condition before I came along, but as things stand now I’m unable to switch it on and wait for someone to call. I guess I am the new owner of a useless iPhone. It is not really my phone, but seeing it in this condition makes me sad. There is a Korean out there who has been taking care of their phone for so long and then this happens.

Workshop - Complete

 

Our annual teacher’s training was pretty much what I expected it to be. The lecturers were OK and gave me a few ideas that I would like to try and work in to my teaching. There were the usual attendees who felt that they absolutely HAD to point out, loudly but not directly at the lecturers, that what the information presented was irrelevant because it did not apply to them in particular and there should be left out altogether. All in all I felt that the workshop was worth my time.

There were a few interesting things about this session that did stand out. Firstly, the location. The resort we were at is located in a gorgeous mountainous area. Places like this are why so many Koreans believe “Korea is a beautiful country”. I put that in quotes because I come from South Africa. SA earn money with it natural beauty and wildlife. Korea is not going to impress me in terms of general natural beauty. The resort we were at is nestled in these lush green mountains and offers various activities from the mundane, for Korea, like hiking to the more adventurous, paragliding. Right next to the main building is a short walkway with statues lining the way. ALL the statues are of women, and more than half are of what you could call a soft erotic nature.

The statue in the first photo was my personal favourite. It is of a women resting on the railing looking at the scene below. The detail on the underwear and body is amazing and I was looking at that particular piece for quite some time. If only the artist had put in a tenth of the work on the hair that he had put in to the body and underwear...

Also something to note about this workshop was that we were not allowed to drink alcohol, at all. See, the thing is that there are always people who drink, get drunk, and then do stupid things. Apparently this time they took photos of what they did and put it on Facebook. These people just refuse to accept that we are held to a far stricter standard that any Korean will ever be. You see, our beloved Korean media found photos on Facebook and published it to show just how well behaved us non-Korean teachers are. It is OK for Korean teachers to go away for a weekend, on the department’s expense mind, to basically climb a mountain as an excuse to get drunk, but it is not OK for us to buy our own booze and get drunk after hours. Yes, indeed, we welcome foreigners in Korea. If they were not here then we would have to write more about the bad behaviour of our own people.

Note: Most of the media publishes stuff like this because it sells. Some people read it, many dismiss it. Just what numbers ends up believing it I will leave up to you to decide.

Pissing Down and Flushing Everything

Most of last week was drenched in the monsoon, I think it was a monsoon, that’s been visiting Korea. Towards the end of the week it died down a bit and by Saturday it had mostly rained out. Mr. Monsoon, however, was not going to give up without a fight.

The English like to say call heavy rain “pissing down”. I know the rain is not exactly yellow, but it is still a fun and descriptive phrase. Yesterday, Sunday, IT was not pissing down, no sir. THEY were pissing down. The whole Sumerian Pantheon decided to drench us with their holy water, all at once.

I took this photo in Itaewon, and this was not even when the rain was at its worst. (It is not easy taking photos with a phone while holding a tiny umbrella to protect said phone, and controlling person so I waited.) The rubbish bins in the photo barely stayed there. If it was not for one sensible Korea (yes, there are a few) who removed the rubber from the storm drain then those bins would have been gonners. I can understand why they cover the drainage grills in walkways. They should not be there and girls with heels they don’t know how to walk in might get hurt, but why the hell would you close one up in the gutter next to a road?

All in all there were no real disasters and fun was had by most.