Day 251: Dejavu For Water Woes

So I forgot to mention that the other day at work we were all delivered some lovely news... News that sounded oh-so familiar... And not in a good way! We were told that the water in Ilsan was going to be turned off - completley - for three days, and that we better prepare for it.

Now this is exactly what I went through a few months ago back in Shihung!! God who would've thought that I'd have to deal with this *more than once* while here in Korea! Apparently all the suburbs of Seoul have a water-stoppage rotation cycle. And this month it's Ilsan's turn! (It was Shihung's turn back in May, and I guess that's what I get for moving between suburbs!) I guess here in Ilsan they're going to be shutting off all the water so they can flush out some pipes and 'clean out the system'. Whatever. Back at home our water runs 24/7, 365 days a year (unless you live in Thunder Bay where the occasional Bever Fever scare shuts things down for a while) and yet our water remains clean and potable. The Koreans definitley have a strange and unusual waterworks system here!

Well today was Day 1 of no water, and I was all prepared for it. Well, actually it stopped last night sometime after dinner, but today was the first day where I couldn't have a shower. I had filled up my washing machine again with water so that I would still have some access for bathing/washing/flushing. I just decided to go 'sans-shower' today and it's cold enough here I don't really sweat, so the smell factor should be quite low. The water's supposed to go back on sometime around 9am on Friday so fingers-crossed they come through on that. I really would love to have my shower tomorrow morning before going to work. When I walked into my classes today all my kids went "Ohhh...teacher....new haircut?" and I was like "No, teacher no shower today!" Having constant water access is something that one definitley takes for granted (even if they've lost it already once this year!) and already I'm looking forward to tomorrow's shower. :-)

Day 250: Techno Gimp

So I've come to the realization that I'm a Techno Gimp. And this isn't even new. I've been this way for a while, and am now ready to come out of the Techno Closet... What can I say...when it comes to technology, I suck! And while I'm not technophobic, I'm definitely not very receptive to new changes or advances in technology.

Technology is advancing far faster than I am, and I constantly feel like I'm behind. I don't like new gadgets, and become easily frustrated when I have to learn something new when it comes to technology. Why can't stuff just stay the same so I always know what I'm doing? This stuff is way too complicated for me! I just don't have the patience for it, and prefer to use more 'old-fashioned' methods instead.

For example, when I had a cell phone back in Vancouver, for the longest time I had this old giant clunker that I got back in 1998 (yes, you read correctly) that I didn't get rid of until late 2002. And that was only because I had been a customer with Fido for so long that they *gave me for free* a new phone, (and they were quite shocked when they found out what ancient model I was still using!) When I got the new phone it took me like a month to figure the damn thing out. All these new buttons, new commands, new ways of organizing numbers and names. Ugh, it was too much for me! My old phone was working just fine, thank you very much, even if it was large enough that I could have used it as a serious weapon if I was ever mugged, or trapped in a burning vehicle or collapsed SkyTrain tunnel and needing a way to smash/dig my way out! ;-)

Also, about a year or two ago I won a brand new PalmPilot in a draw. It was pretty swanky and definitely would've helped me organize my busy social schedule with its high-tech features. But did I ever use the damn thing? Nope. I turned it on a few times but it was way too complex for me. I had to plug it into a computer and download/upload stuff, and yeah...it was just way too much effort. I felt like I couldn't be bothered. I was (and still do) prefer a *hand-written* agenda on PAPER rather than anything electronic. And I don't think I'll ever upgrade past that, no matter how user-friendly/gimp-proof the latest gadgets become.

It's the same with cameras too. At the moment I have just a simple 'point-and-click' camera and I'm quite content with just that. Everybody and their dog these days has a digital camera and I'm just not into those things. Sure I'll admit that they're handy and convenient and kinda fun to use cause you can see your photo right away, but I don't think I'd do well with one. I'd constantly be afraid that I'd accidentally hit the wrong button and delete like 200 pics or something. And then they'd be gone forever and I'd be so mad at myself! And it just gets so complicated when you gotta download them (on my archaic computer especially, and what do I do when I leave Korea and no longer have a computer of my own?) plus I really like to have my photos in physical, tangible
form, not just in pixels on a screen. But I must admit that the pressure to cave in and get one of these digital cameras does grow with each passing day...

It's not that I fear or dislike change (in fact I crave it) but I just don't have the patience for keeping up with new technology and having to learn how to do stuff all over again. I'd rather just do it myself by hand, nine times out of ten. This is the complete opposite of my good friend Henry who is a TECHNO WIZARD! Man, that boy is always at least seven steps ahead of the game when it comes to techy stuff. He's one smart cookie who *always* has a new electronic toy to show off. And that just is so not me.

Korea is pretty tech-savvy, of which I am not. Luckily my cell phone here (still running for free!) is pretty simple, or god knows it would just sit in my desk drawer collecting dust. But hey at least I'm honest and upfront about this kind of stuff. I'm pretty helpless/impatient when it comes to technology (also, I've yet to be able to change the clock on a VCR - ever!) But it gets me thinking, if this is what I'm like when I'm 26, dear lord what am I gonna be like in another 10-20 years? Scary thoughts!!

Feel free to call me 'Gramps!' ;-)

Day 249: Cell Phone Culture

Koreans have an obsession with cell phones.

I made the strangest observation the other day... I was on the subway and looked around at the other passengers in my train car. And at least 70% or so of the people had cell phones in their hand! And of all those people, about a quarter of them were on a phone call, half of them were either playing phone games or text messaging, and the last 25% were just *holding their phones in their hand* waiting for a call/message or just for security. Cell phones are like security blankets here - people here feel naked and vulnerable without them.

Anyways, these were some staggering statistics to observe! I've made a conscious effort to watch for this several times while on the subway, and the numbers are always about the same. Amazing! It's like everybody and their dog has a cell phone here (or hand phone as the Koreans call them.) Wherever you go, there they are - people with them on the street, on the train, at the mall, while shopping for groceries, while DRIVING, while walking in parks...there's no escape from them.

Hand Phonism has infected every facet of this society. Besides people using their phones, or just holding them in their hands ready and waiting to engage in some phone action, phone vendors are *everywhere!* All the entrances to subway stations and the tunnels that connect transfer stations are literally lined from end to end with them, and SK Telecom - one of the biggest sellers of phones in the country, is as ubiquitious to the Seoul street scene is as Starbucks is to Vancouver. You can, in all honestly, sometimes pass like three or four or five SK Telecom stores, all in the SAME CITY BLOCK! How do all these places stay in business? Has the market not yet reach the point of saturation?

Besides the obvious visual presence of these phones in your day-to-day environment, these phones mean big business. Some of the most profitable companies in Korea are hand phone companies. And with new phones costing *hundreds of dollars* it's no wonder! Koreans don't blink an eye at spending over $500.000 CDN on a brand new phone. You can fly return to just about anywhere in Asia from Korea for the same price as a new top-of-the-line phone here. Companies here spend a fortune on marketing and advertising. Half the commercials you see on TV are for hand phones, and they all seem more like mini-movies/music videos/soft porn than a commercial for a new phone! And big famous Korean celebrities line up to star in them. Pop stars and actors across the nation can be seen belting it out or prancing around in these commercials. You've really made it in Korea if you've starred in a commercial for a major hand phone company.

And the phones you can buy these days are right out the 22nd Century! Phones here take pictures, videos, play mp3's and music videos, deliver your email and allow you to surf the net, can play TV shows (either live or you can line up all your favourite downloaded episodes), have a million and one games on them, and starting soon some of them will allow you to turn on appliances and lights and adjust the temperatures in YOUR HOME!

Holy fuck!!!

Now granted these are the fanciest of the fancy phones, but still...this is technology that is *years* away from debuting back home in North America. It's unbelievable! In Korea you're nobody if you don't have a cell phone. All I can say is, thank god I've got mine back up and running again! I don't wanna be left behind either! hehe... ;-)

Day 248: Motown Monkeys

So it's official...

Korean pre-school children absolutely LOVE Motown music!

I introduced my Parrots to Motown this week and it was a huge smash success, right from the start. During Activity time we always play music for the kids because they can sing along to it while they colour and cut, and it keeps them a bit more behaved as they tend to focus on the songs instead of distracting each other.

Well anyways since I started at POLY I've been playing the same goddamn CD in class, and frankly, I've had enough! I'm soooo sick of it! I can practically tell the exact order of that CD, all 26 songs, and learned all the words to the songs months ago. My kids still enjoy it but you can tell that they're getting bored of listening to the same songs day in, day out.

To rectify this situation of boredom a few of us pre-school teachers have decided to start playing our own music in class. Obviously we're going to choose our songs carefully since these kids absorb and repeat practically anything they hear. I don't need little Andy going home chanting Mystikal's "Watch yourself, shake your ass, watch yourself, show me what you're working with!" or little Brittany singing for her parents "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're like it's better than yours, damn right it's better than yours, I could teach you but I'd have to charge..." Oh God can you imagine the phone calls that would come pouring in then? haha!!

Addie has some great CD's that's perfect for school and so today I stole her 'Hits of 60's Motown' to play in class. I put the CD in, pushed play, and in mere seconds my kids were all jamming along to it while working away. They were bopping their little heads and really getting into it. It was so cute!!! I've decided that Motown is going to be a permanent fixture during Activity time, at least for a while. It's way better than listening to Raffi and Sharon, Lois & Bram all day, that's for sure!

Day 247: Downtown Spelunking

After a really nice sleep we left our super-fun hotel and headed out of town and further down the coast. It was another beautiful sunny day and it was so great just to be out on the open road, cruising down the highway with my friends, rocking out to Michael Jackson and old-school Madonna.

The one unfortunate observation about all of this coastal beauty is that most of it is inaccessible, barricaded off by a menacing barb-wire fence that stretches down the coast for hundreds of kilometers. It's to prevent/slow-down an invasion from the sea by North Koreans, and another reminder of the realities of living so close to a rogue, unpredictable state who sometimes acts out in random hostility against its southern brother.

We drove into the town of Donghae to check out the mysterious caves of Cheongokcheonyeondonggul (and yes that is its real name - try saying that one five times fast!) We had to put on hard hats before entering the cave and it was a good thing we did because in some places the spaces are *really* tight! Again, not a place for the claustophic types! But the cave was awesome! It was full of all these crazy-shaped stalactites and stalagmites (bonus points for whoever knows which go up and which go down) and other strange calcified limestone structures. There's supposed to be a huge bat colony in these caves but unfortunately I didn't see any (bats are way cool.) The funny this is that these caves are practically right in the downtown of this city and stretch for kilometers under the city. Not the location you'd expect to find something like this. It was fun to go spelunking through the caves, even if we weren't allowed to stray off the designated paths.

After the caves we spent the afternoon hanging out in Mureung Valley, which is generally known as *the* most beautiful valley in all of Korea. I don't know if I'd place it as NUMBER ONE, but it was pretty gosh darn beautiful. Again, it was really nice to just chill in the outdoors, playing around and climbing all the rocks and boulders in the stream beds. And once again the colours provided by Mother Nature did not disappoint us.
When it started to get dark we really didn't want to have to head back home cause we were having such a nice time, but alas, we had to leave otherwise god only knows how long we'll be sitting in traffic for.

The drive back home was long but the heavy volume of traffic actually moved along fairly smoothly. It took about five hours to get back to Seoul and we were rolling into Ilsan just before 1am. A late night but well worth it, after such a fantastic weekend. I sure do love these weekend away, and we had such a blast that we're planning another similar one soon. Long Live Roadtrips!

Day 246: Desperate For Tourism Much?

We woke up this morning today around 10amish at our little love motel in Inje and got ready for our big day out in the beautiful mountains. We hopped in the car and drove into the town to have some brunch. We went to this really small Korean restaurant where the lady owner was super nice to us. She didn't have tuna to make chamchi kimchi chigae like I asked so she actually went out to a store *down the street* just go to and get tuna so she could make my dish. Wow, that's so nice!

We then went and drove along the highway that skirts the northern edge of Sorakhsan National Park. The scenery was absolutely spectacular! Majestic jagged mountain peaks and thick colourful forests under the bluest of blue skies. The funny thing was how much the foliage varied... In some spots the fall colours were 'just okay' but then you'd turn a corner or go down into another valley and it would suddenly look as if the trees were exploding in reds and yellows. Amazing! We spent a good part of the early afternoon just hanging out in river beds playing with rocks and wandering around sparkling streams, soaking up the sunshine and breathing in all that fresh air. We all acted like 12 year old kids released on recess and took tons of pics with all the bright-coloured leaves. It was the epitome of classic, perfect autumn adventures.

After that we drove up and over the ridge and descended down into the east coast of Korea. Our original plan was to hang around Sokcho but it was still earlyish in the day and we were still feeling adventurous, so we decided to just keep on driving down the coast and see where we end up. The east coast of Korea is very beautiful. It has a raw and rugged beauty to it - small rocky coves, precarious cliffs, fragile sandy beaches, and green-blue waters crashing into giant waves pounding the jagged shoreline. It has elements to it that actually remind me a bit of the Lake Superior coastline back home.

We then came to the strangest of towns where, once we arrived, decided that we HAD to spend the night there. This town must have been absolutely desperate for tourism at one time because they've built all these STRANGE attractions just to try and draw in tourists. And it certainly has been a successful venture, judging by all the tour busses of Korean tourists lined up. In this one town, they have a South Korean warship that's been pulled up on land so you can wander through it, as well as a rogue North Korean submarine that was captured a while back when it was spying on the South Side, which you could also explore through (not for the claustophobic!) And this town also features the world's largest....hourglass...? Alrighty!

The funniest/oddest thing in this town is a giant cruise ship that's located *up on top of a hill*, next to a cliff overlooking the town and the ocean. It was truly a strange sight when we rounded the corner into town and saw this giant vessel looming up on top of the hill. The ship is actually not a ship at all, but a giant hotel that's been built to look exactly like a cruise ship. We drove up to it and went in hoping for vacancy. And boy do they ever hype up the whole nautical theme here. The ship is surrounded by giant palm trees, and a large moat so you sorta feel like it is/could be in water, and everywhere are life preservers, ships in bottles, those nautical ship steering wheels, tanks full of fish, and all the staff are dressed as sailors! And all the floors have names like they do on real cruise ships. Too funny!

After a bit of negotation/playing the waiting game we managed to score ourselves a room at a really good deal. Normally 210,000 Won a night, the hotel clerk gave it to us for 150,000 a night instead - awesome! The room, up on the Fiesta Deck, was really nice and clean, and with a breathtaking view of the ocean and the beach. Magnificent!! And our room even had a full Western-style bathroom! SO WORTH paying all that extra money for this expensive room!

We went out for dinner to this really shitty chicken restaurant, and then went to a norabang for a while (small, individual karoake rooms!) I don't sing, but it was fun to watch Addie and Michael belt it out to such classics as Hotel California, Livin' On A Prayer, and the Bay City Rollers' S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y Night! We then went back to our room to play Scrabble on the big bed while watching soft porn on the TV. What more could we ask for? We went to sleep that night with the balcony doors open so we could hear the waves pounding on the rocks far down below...ahhhh blissful....

Day 245: Fall Colours Tour 2004

It's Friday today....hooray!

I'm going away this weekend with Michael and Addie on a road trip out to the mountains of Sorakhsan and the East Coast of Korea to check out all the trees in their full fall colour splendour. I've been hearing that this part of Korea is absolutely stunning this time of year with all the colourful leaves and I could really use some fresh air. I can't wait to go! It's been a while since we've had a road trip, and I could totally use a weekend away. It's been like two and a half weeks since my last vacation (to Hong Kong) - far too long! How can one last so long without a trip? ;-)

Michael drove out to Ilsan after work to pick us up but first we watched The Apprentice and Survivor. They're the only English shows that I get here that I watch and are actually current. I watch very little TV as it is, but man I do love those two shows!

We hit the road just after 10pm and headed eastward out of Seoul. For once traffic wasn't all that bad and we made excellent time. We were just flying along the highways and were actually able to travel quite far tonight. We drove for about four hours or so, rockin' out to some great tunes, until we got to Inje where we had planned to spend the night. Inje is the small town that we actually stayed in last May when we drove out to Sorakhsan with Eric and Maeve. And we even ended up staying in the same love motel! We didn't end up in the same room, but actually an identical one directly one floor up. Talk about dejavu!

We went to bed as soon as we checked in and I went to sleep almost immediately. It's gonna be an awesome weekend for sure! :-)

Day 244: Look It Up In A Dictionary

"Teacher, what means 'threesome'?"

*giggle*

Oh my!

Yes, this is an honest question that I was asked today by one of my students! And no it was nothing of the sexual nature, of which I'm sure those dirty thoughts crossed your mind as quickly as it did mine when I was asked to define what 'threesome' meant! It was actually a word in one of our stories today, believe it or not, that we came across in class.

I teach Reading and we read all our short stories aloud together in class and talk about the words used in the story, as well as plot, setting, characters, etc. In this case the word 'threesome' was used to describe three farmers who were in a boat on a river. And no they weren't doing anything dirty with each other's potatoes and cucumbers, they were merely just crossing the river to get to the other side.

So it was a "threesome of farmers" travelling together in a boat that I had to explain, and I had the biggest smile while doing so. It was difficult not to laugh out loud (especially when you see how earnest their faces are on asking such question) but hey I'm a professional so there was no funny stuff. (Until later when I got back into the staff room and got to share the story with all my coworkers! Haha!) :-)

Day 243: Begin To Live

I came across one of the coolest quotations that I've ever heard in my life the other day, and found it truly inspiring and truthful. And it goes a little something like this:

"Nolite solum esse sed incipite vivere."

And for those of you who aren't fully versed in Latin, that much-loved/loathed dead language:

"Be unwilling only to exist, begin to live."

Now how amazing is that!!! It's actually the slogan used by Caffe Artigiano in Vancouver, but if you look past that it really is quite beautiful. And so bang on! It's totally how I feel about life and the world. Too many people just trudge through life either completely miserable, or apathetic and accepting of 'their place in life' at best. Married to mediocrity, bed-buddies with complacency. Strangers to passion, foreigners to zeal, sanguinity, and vehemence. And that's not good enough! There is so much beauty in this world to discover, even in the little things of everyday life. All we have to do is choose to see it. It really is that simple.

Anyway, I found this quotation quite inspiring and uplifting. Now what I'd like to know is what quotation inspires you? Please send me a quotation or passage or line or phrase that you find inspirational or beautiful or particularly appealing. It doesn't have to be in Latin or Shakespearean or poetically perfect or anything like that. I just want to know what passages and prose have struck a chord with you. I like to collect these things and would love to hear something back from you. Please think of a quotation you can send to me (take your time if you need it), and be sure to post your name so I know the source. It would mean a lot to me! Thank you muchly! :-)

Day 242: Playground Asia

After work tonight Michael drove out to Ilsan to have dinner with Addie, Katie, and I. The four of us went and had a truly delicious dinner at Aroi Aroi - the local Thai restaurant. God, the food there is amazing! After dinner we headed back to The Village for our attempt at 'Goonies Night'. As mentioned earlier in a recent blog entry, I've never seen the movie 'The Goonies'. (much to the shock, horror, and despair of my friends.) We decided to rectify this dire situation by renting the movie and bringing me up to speed (a la late 1980's!)

Unfortunately our local video store didn't have that movie, or several others that we wanted to rent. Instead we watched 'Zoolander' which is another movie that I had never seen until then. And it was hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in a while - what a great, silly movie! :-)

After the movie Michael and Addie stayed behind to help me decorate my apartment with the cool stuff I bought in Insadong. I have no artistic eye for interior design whatsoever, and in fact am rather helpless in that matter. Luckily Michael's pretty good at that kind of stuff, as is Addie. We arranged all my cool Korean paper into these funky placements on the wall that look really cool. And wow what a difference it made! They've added so much colour to my overly beige apartment, I love it!

On the weekend I had also bought a massive map of Asia that we put up on the wall next to my bed. We then sat on the bed for like an hour just looking at all the different countries and islands and exotic destinations and roads and paths to travel (both well-worn and off-the-beaten) and endless unpronounceable places to explore. It was dreamy and imaginative and inspiring and fun.

Our Boracay Christmas plans may be in jeopardy because of inconvenient flight schedules, so we launched into ideas and possibilities for Plan B. None of us want to stay in cold snowy Korea for Christmas holidays, and all five of us who are going on the trip agree that we wanna go somewhere warm and tropical and beachy. So the three of us sat around pointing out different places that we could go to. Ko Phi Phi in Thailand. Bali in Indonesia. Penang in Malaysia. The Maldives off the coast of India. Islands with names unknown in Vietnam. All available at our request and merest desire.

I've spent many an hour in my life just pouring over maps fantasizing about all the places that I'd love to travel to, and here I was doing it again. But this time it was completely different. For the first time in my life I have the means and ability to *actually* go to these places! While checking out that map of Asia, all we had to do was close our eyes, spin around a few times, and put our fingers on the map if we really wanted to. We can go anywhere. It's all available, it's all within our reach. Asia has become our playground, and we have complete freedom to travel to the destinations of our wildest dreams. All we have to do is choose where we want to go. What an amazing relevation! And what a dream come true for me.

Day 241: 21 Things I Want In A Lover

Do you derive joy when someone else succeeds?
Do you not play dirty when engaged in competition?
Do you have a big...intellectual capacity?
(but know that it alone does not equate wisdom)

Do you see everything as an illusion?
(but enjoy it even though you are not of it)
Are you both masculine? And feminine?
And politically aware?
And don't believe in capital punishment?

These are 21 things I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer

Do you derive joy from diving in and seeing that loving someone can actually feel like freedom?
Are you funny? A-la self-deprecating?
Like adventure?
And have many formed opinions?

These are 21 things I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer
I figure I can describe it since I have a choice in the matter
These are 21 things I choose to choose in a lover

I'm in no hurry, I could wait forever
I'm in no rush cause I like being solo
There are no worries and certainly no pressure
In the meantime I'll live like there's no tomorrow

Are you unhibited in bed?
More than three times a week?
Up for being experimental?
Are you atheletic?
Are you thriving in a job that helps your brother?
Are you not addicted?

These are 21 things that I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer
I figure that I can describe it since I have a choice in the matter
These are 21 things I choose to choose in a lover

Are you curious?
And communicative?


Wow, you said it Alanis! I couldn't have worded it better myself! ;-)

Day 240: Cheap Man's Art

Addie and I decided to have a "Seoul Day" today - a day to hang out in the city and do semi-touristy stuff and check out some sights that she hasn't seen yet. We were going to check out Seoul Tower but it was a little on the smoggy side today and there's no point going up there unless it's a perfectly clear day. We've been having such beautiful weather lately with the clearest skies I've seen in six months, so I know there'll be another one of those nice days soon.

Instead we decided to do a little browsing at Kyobo Books, and then meander through Insadong. Addie's never been to Insadong and it really is one of the coolest parts of the city. First we did a little clothes shopping as since the last payday I've been itching to buy myself some new treads, but alas, I didn't find anything today that I wanted to buy. (Why is it that whenever you can't/are not allowed to go shopping, you find TONS of stuff you wanna buy, and then when you actually have money to spend, you can't find a single thing you want? What's up with that?)

Michael joined us for Insadong and we pushed ourselves into the throngs of people that crammed onto that one street. The crowds were ridiculously insane today (but it is Sunday today, so I shouldn't be surprised) but we had a fun day nonetheless. I was on a mission to find some cool Korean stuff to decorate my apartment with. I've got a great little pad but the walls are a little bare and it needs some colour and some 'life' to spice it up. Inspired by Michael's apartment, I bought some giant pieces of beautiful Korean paper to drape on my walls - (aka Cheap Man's Art!) I also bought a fairly large Korean scroll with a really pretty ink image of a branch to hang in my apartment as well. Between the artsy stuff I bought today, my little Korean coffee table, and my maps and pics from Korea, my Totally Korean Apartment should be nearly complete after this! ;-)

We had dinner at Bennigan's and then Addie and I headed back to Ilsan. We met up with Katie and the three of us rented 'The Princess Diaries'. The sequel is coming out soon in Korea and even though I've heard it isn't very good, we plan on seeing it anyway (when like only two or three English movies come out in Korea a month - at best- you really will go to the theatre to see just about anything.) It was then bedtime as tomorrow is Monday.

Day 239: Underdressing For Dressing

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to with great anticipation all week long - Thanksgiving!!! A bunch of us at work had signed up to participate in the Thanksgiving Dinner organized by the Canadian Embassy here in Seoul, and we all knew that it was going to be a meal to die for. God, if we only knew how unbelievably delicious that meal was going to be!

I hung out at Namdaemun Market with Sally & Jason and then we cruised around Itaewon for a while. After that it was time to head on over to the Grand Hilton Seoul for our fabulous festive meal. Our mouths were salivating with anticipation! When we arrived our first reaction wasn't quite what we had expected... It was a semi-formal event, and we were dressed completely casually...

Uhhhh...apparently we missed the memo or something about dress code? I was totally embarrassed! There were people there in suits and evening gowns and here us trashy teachers were in jeans and t-shirts! I totally felt like hiding! I pride myself on being a good dresser - I'm *never* underdressed! Oh well - too late now. We're here now and goddammit we paid our 60,000 Won so we're gonna enjoy ourselves! Luckily later on a few other people showed up to the dinner dressed not unlike ourselves so we felt a little better at not being the only ones who were severely undressed.

The hotel was stunning and the ballroom all dressed up in Thanksgiving splendour. A few speeches and welcome remarks were made by the Ambassador and then it was time to chow down on the magnificent buffet laid out before our very eyes. Now this is a Thanksgiving spread that you have never even fathomed - more gorgeous and grand than anything in your wildest dreams. Here's the menu, and you better be sitting down for this one. It really is *that* amazing!

-Pumpkin Soup
-Assorted Leaves with Dressings
-Red Beet Salad
-Tomato & Onion Salad
-Coleslaw with Caraway Seeds
-Decorated Cold Poached Whole Salmon
-Creamy Mashed Potatoes
-Scallop Potatoes with Cheddar Cheese
-Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Peas & Carrots
-Sauteed Pumpkin with Molasses
-Yam
-Green Beams Almondine
-Bread Stuffing
-Whole Tom Turkey
-Glazed Harvest Ham
-Gilbert Gravy
-Madeira Sauce
-Cranberry Sauce
-Hard Rolls & Farmer Rolls
-Pumpkin Pie
-Apple Pie
-Pecan Pie
-Lemon Meringue Pie
-Maple Crepes
-Cheese Cake
-Vanilla Sauce, Raspberry Sauce, Chocolate Sauce
-Vanilla Ice Cream with Maple Syrup

HOLY SHIT! Now if that's not the best frickin' Thanksgiving Dinner line-up you've ever seen, then I don't know what is! We dove on into our meals and the moans of pleasure began almost immediately. Everything was absolutely delicious! Not only did they import all this food from Canada, but they must've flown in chefs from back home too cause there's no way Koreans could have made this meal (Koreans don't eat *anything* that's on this menu, ever.) It was like an orgasm in your mouth with every bite. Culinary ecstacy at its finest. It was almost too much handle. I wish I had had ten stomachs so I could've shoved it all in. It was amazing and it was perfect.

When you're far from home and without daily comforts, food takes on a whole new level of importance for you. This should come as no surprise to you considering how many times I've talked about food in this blog over the last eight months. Perhaps it's cause I've been without all that sort of food the whole time I've been here, or maybe it was just prepared just right, but it was *The Best Meal I've Had In Years.* It really was THAT good! I can't say enough good things!

I ate so much I wanted to hurl but god did it ever feel good. I'm drooling right now just thinking about it again! After dinner they had some musical performances and then came the door prizes. This is where things got even more interesting. Three of us teachers ended up going home with some pretty swanky prizes in hand, including Yours Truly. I won a three-month VIP membership to this posh fitness centre in Seoul (the same one Michael goes to, surprisingly enough) and that was pretty cool. What was even cooler was that one of my coworkers, Kelly, won a return trip to Vancouver! And then her boyfriend Michael won the 50/50 draw, worth 333,000 Won! WOW!! One couple took home the two biggest prizes of the night, and they're both Poly Crew! We sure cleaned up that night!

I had several glasses of white wine during the night (four were included with my meal ticket) and danced a couple times with Katie and Addie. After the evening wound down Michael came and picked us up and drove us back to Ilsan. Katie went home to bed while the three of us watched Spiceworld and played Crazy 8's. I may have been a little tipsy. I went to sleep that night with a very, very happy tummy. To the Canadian Embassy who put all of this together for us Canadian expats here in Korea - thank you! thank you! thank you!!!

P.S. A special thank you goes out to Jason back in T-Bay who gave me a pretty accurate 411 on how to prepare my stomach all day long for such a big meal. Thanks Jay for helping me to maximize my Thanksgiving Dinner capacity! You're a pro, man! ;-)

Day 238: Observations

Today was the day I've been dreading about for the last couple of weeks at work. The day where I get OBSERVED for a full morning by one of the Bosses. Addie and Katie had their turn earlier in the week, and now it's my turn. Ever since my shitty review a few weeks ago I've been a bit insecure and unconfident at work, and today would be the day whether that would be professionally confirmed or not.

David (our R&D guy at work) sat in on all four of my preschool blocks today and just watched quietly while scribbling away on his pad of paper while I taught the ten little hellions known as The Parrots. The kids were up and down all morning. One minute they were all quiet and well-behaved, the next defiant and hyper-active. I did my best to keep the reins in hand and stay on track and I think it went fairly well overall. But David didn't say a single word *all morning long* and he's always got such a serious look on his face so who can really tell?

A few hours later in the afternoon, just before the elementary classes started up, I got my answer. David pulled me aside to have a chat and 'talk about the morning.' What a massive relief it was for me when I was given a primarily positive review! He had lots of compliments and good things to say about what he saw, and overall was very pleased with how I ran the class. He still had lots of suggestions and tips, but it was all constructive criticism and very supportive. Man, did I ever breathe such a huge sigh of relief! I feel like I've had this weight on my shoulders ever since that fateful afternoon of The Open House and finally today that weight was lifted off. I still have to work hard to improve the class for the next one, but at least I know that work doesn't think I'm a shitty teacher anymore! Yah! :-)

Day 237: Competition

After work tonight I had Addie, Katie, and Chris over to play a little Cranium. Technically the Cranium game belongs to Michael, but I 'accidentally kidnapped' it last week and it's been with me ever since. Cranium is one gosh darn fun game. I sure do love it!

We had it paired up so it was Boys vs. Girls (ahh, the eternal Battle of the Sexes) and it was oodles of fun. The first round the girls whooped us boys' asses. But after suffering such a humiliating loss us boys demanded a Rematch, and the ladies accepted our offer. We ended up kicking butt in Game 2 and so I felt redeemed by having evened up the score with that win.

One thing that you should know about me - and I'll freely admit it to anyone - is that when it comes to games (especially board games) I am *extremely competitive.* I try not to be, and attempt to convince myself that 'who cares cause it's just a game', but that hasn't seemed to have worked on me yet. It's not that I turn into a raging, seething, foaming-at-the-mouth SuperBitch when I lose or anything, I just really REALLY like to win. And it shows when I play. I take my board games very seriously (while still having tons of fun) and tend to be very 'strategic' with games, even when it's not required.

This competitive side is especially evident whenever I play Scrabble with Pauline. I don't know what it is about that girl, but there's something about playing that word game with her that makes my uber-competitive side rear it's ugly head whenever I'm stacked up against her. And she's so damn fucking good at that game! Despite the fact that I've played ferociously and feverishly against her dozens of times, I have still yet to win *even once* against her. And she just sits there so calmly the whole time while I work myself into a near-frenzy. Maybe that's her edge? Her coolness fuels the fires of my competitivity? One of my main missions in life is to beat that bitch at her own game (I love ya Pauline!) and nail her Scrabble-Supremacy ass to the wall. One of these days it will happen. And I refuse to leave Korea until I complete such mission (or let her leave for that matter either, and considering that she's supposedly leaving Korea in like a month the clock is really ticking.)

GODDAMMIT I REALLY NEED TO WIN!!!

And now here's the part where I forget to breathe...

;-)

Day 236: A Sheltered Life

After work tonight Addie & Katie wanted to rent a movie so we did just that. They had mentioned the other day that one of their favourite movies is 'Singing In The Rain.' I commented that I had never seen it, to which they both simultaneously reacted with their jaws dropping to the floor. I *HAD* to see this movie immediately, they said, and there was just no other way about it. We rented it, and I have to say that I totally loved it! It was a fantastic movie and one I'd even buy. They just don't make movies like that anymore.

While on the subject of movies, I have to confess that when it comes to viewing 'Classics' or even just 'Famous Movies', I've lived a rather sheltered life. Movies that "Everybody and their dog" has seen a million times over and cherish with all their hearts, I just seemed to have missed. These are the movies that when I sheepishly admit I've never seen, the person always seems to react with "OMG!!! YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ________!!!???" Me: "Uhhhhh...no." Here's a short, random list of movies that I've never seen that everybody else in the Western World apparently has. Prepare to be apalled:

-Gone With The Wind
-The Goonies (this one gets the biggest reactions)
-all of the old Star Wars films (I've only seen bits of each)
-Braveheart
-The Breakfast Club
-The Sound Of Music
-It's A Wonderful Life
-or Miracle On 34th Street for that matter
-Grease
-Footloose
-any of The Godfathers
-Stand By Me
-Gigli (okay nobody went and saw that movie, but I had to throw it in for laughs!)

Now I don't know if this is because I grew up in middle-of-nowhere Thunder Bay or maybe my parents secretly plotted to starve me from popular film when I was growing up or if I just happened to be sick on all the days when cool sleepovers where 'we watch our favourite classics' took place. I really don't know how to explain it. It's kinda embarrassing actually because I like to think of myself as a guy who's always In The Know. Can I still be a self-proclaimed Connoisseur of Pop Culture if I haven't seen these movies? Uh-oh....

Day 235: Dino Dennis

I woke up today feeling a-okay and went back to work. Starting the week off knowing that you only have a four-day work week is really quite awesome. My pre-schoolers were as good as gold today and it made me just wanna smother them in hugs and kisses and steal them home with me.

One of my kids is a little boy named Dennis who is so cute. He's actually kinda funny-looking but he's a sweet boy who is simultaneously the brightest and the slowest of all my pre-schoolers. When it comes to Phonics or Reading, he's definitely the slowest in my class. He can't really read (one of only two in my class like that) and often has to be told basic instructions like ten times before it ever sinks in. Hell, most days I have to call his name like six times before he turns his head to respond.

But one thing this kid does know is dinosaurs, and man does he ever KNOW dinosaurs! He's only five years old and can't tell the difference between 'B' and 'P' but he can name every single species of dinosaur that you can imagine. The other day I had them colour a fun dinosaur worksheet as space filler inbetween classes, and while all the other kids exclaimed in excitement "Teacher! Dinosaur!" Dennis was like shouting out "Dinosaur no! Anklyosaurus!" WOW!

And then today we were doing work in our Phonics textbook and all the kids were freaking out cause there was a picture of a snake in there. While everyone else was screeching out "Snake! Snake!" Dennis came up to me and said "Teacher look! Boa constrictor!" Haha!! This kid cracks me up! God is he ever cute! Even though he's slow in everything else and this can be a bit frustrating, I can't help but love the little guy. Maybe cause he reminds me a bit of the dinosaur-obsessed kid that I was not too-unlike at one point in my life. He can barely write his own name but he can recite off to you six-syllable dinosaur names. Dennis, you're awesome! :-)

Day 234: Milking It

So I woke up today and did indeed take a sick day. I probably could've gotten away with going to work, but after the way my body's depository habits have been lately, I decided it was better to just chill at home and go back tomorrow when things are (hopefully) all back to normal again.

Today was the first sick day that I've taken in YEARS! The last job I had before this one was at Delany's Coffee House, and I can't even remember the last sick day I took there. It really has been *that* long. I almost never get sick, and even when I do it's never serious enough to have to stay at home. I hate been defeated by miniscule little viruses and always prefer to just 'tough it out.' Calling in sick, I've learned in the past, is really easy to do when you call first thing in the morning immediately after you've waken up. You still have the Sleepy Voice which can easily be manipulated into Sick Voice. Not that I was lying about my conditions today on the phone to my bosses or anything like that, but it's always best not to leave any doubt in their minds, so I played it up a bit.

My Sick Day turned out to be quite a productive one and I'm fairly proud of myself. I got A LOT done today! I made a Master List of all the things I needed to get done and got through pretty much the whole thing. Dishes? Check! Laundry? Check-Check! Sweep and wash floors? Checkerooni! Cleaning my really dirty bathroom? Checkety Check-Check! My place looked awesome by the end of the day. Mom would be pleased.

I got a lot of other little odds 'n ends done today, including picking up my photos from Hong Kong which turned out great. Watch for those coming online soon. I also had a little Creative Project today. I redid my Fridge Of Fun (btw, I seem to be loving using Capital Letters today on my words) and made it an all-Korea display. Before it had all been Canada photos and I decided that I needed to move on from that and focus on all my amazing memories that I have here in Korea, carefully captured in crazy and charismatic photos. I kept a few of my favourite photos from Canada and put them on the side of the fridge - I haven't forgotten my Canadian friends completely!

While digging through my old photos I came across a really wonderful and exciting discovery. There, buried amongst my photos from months and months ago, was my elusive Second Battery for my cell phone. Now to give you a brief history, I bought Brad's old cell phone when he moved back to Canada but it only worked a few weeks (despite the fact that service was supposed to have been cut off almost immediately) and then the first battery fucked up and the phone went out of commission. Well it's been sleeping dead in my drawer ever since late June cause I couldn't find the second battery to juice it up. So when I found this second battery I hurriedly (is that a word?) shoved it into the cell phone and DING! it turned on!

And not only did it turn on, but the damn thing STILL HAS SERVICE!!!

Service was supposed to have been cut off *four months ago* and yet it's still running. I've never paid a bill for the thing and have no idea where the bill goes or who's been paying for it all these months. Either way I'm THRILLED and plan on milking this for all I can get. As long as it's running I'm going to use it now. No, I'm not gonna be dumb and phone Bolivia just because I can (for free), but I'm seriously gonna treat it like a regular phone. Why not man? If you're dumb enough to pay for a phone you don't even use, well then I think I deserve to take advantage of this and use it for as long as I can.

A free cell phone? Right on!

Day 233: Weapons Of Mass Destruction

I woke up today hoping that all of last night's nastiness would be finally finished, but I was immediately disappointed upon my first trip to the bathroom. God, let it be done already! I've suffered enough!

Michael had spent the night and we ended up having a really lazy day. We went for lunch with Pauline to a restaurant in Old Ilsan and I had some yummy chumchi kimchi chigae. After lunch we briefly wandered around the Old Ilsan market and then headed back to my place. I was still feeling a little 'worn out' from all of this unpleasant and unnatural behaviour and didn't want to stray too far from a toilet. Addie came over and we watched a Taiwanese flick and then headed back out again.

Michael went back to Seoul and so Addie and I met up with Katie down by Juyeop Station. We had an awesome dinner at Outback Steakhouse (including the best cheesecake I've had yet while here in Korea!) and then went and saw a movie. We went and saw M. Night Shymalan's 'The Village' and it was a really great movie. I've liked all his previous movies a lot (with the exception of 'Unbreakable' which was just dumb) and was excited to see this one. In typical M. Night Shymalan style the movie had a huge twist at the end that I didn't see coming at all. Good stuff!

After the movie I was feeling pretty crappy. My body was STILL rejecting last night's dinner and I was feeling tired, dizzy, and nautious. I went home to chill out there but still felt pretty crappy (pun only partially intended!) I decided that in the morning I was going to call in sick and rest at home. At day at home to relax and get over whatever bug that I ingested that has turned my ass into a Weapon Of Mass Destruction is probably a good idea. Please! Somebody! Make it stop! ;-)

Day 232: Fall, Frisbee & Flatulence

I woke up today to find that it was a beautiful fall day outside. Cooler temperatures, a gentle breeze, and bright CLEAR blue skies. After a summer full of smog and haze, it's wonderful to be able to look outside my window and actually see BLUE skies for once - not brownish greyish sorta bluey skies. And I can actually see mountains in the distance that I haven't seen in months!

I went down to Yeouido Island in the middle of the Han River with Pauline and met up with Michael, Nick, and Angele. We chilled for a while in the grass and then played some frisbee for a while too. It was a fantastic day to be outside and we all had a great time. After that it started to cool down a bit so we went for some coffee at a Starbucks up the street to warm ourselves up.

After our coffee treats we were all getting a bit hungry for dinner so we hopped in Michael's car and drove on over to Apgujeong to find a bite to eat. We ended up having our meal at a fairly nice chicken restaurant that specializes on dakkalbi - one of my favourite Korean dishes. Nice and spicy and oh-so yummy! We really enjoyed our dinner and cleaned off our plates. Who knew that such a seemingly harmless delicious meal would cause such problems later on?

After dinner we went over to Nick & Angele's place to play a game of Cranium. This was especially exciting for us because the game is a new import brought over from the States by Michael's parents who visited just this week. The game was a riot and we had a total blast!

Before the end of the evening though, I had had to...ummmm...let's just say 'make a deposit' more than once. For whatever reason dinner was NOT agreeing with my body and it had decided to rid itself of everything inside it as quickly as possible. Oh, how lovely!

Michael drove Pauline and I back home to Ilsan and let's just say that I *barely* made it into my apartment! Another minute or two longer and there would've been a *serious accident* in Michael's car! By the time I went to bed I had taken five huge nasty juicy spicy explosive toxic shits in the time span of like four hours! It may have been kinda fun the first time by the time Round #5 hit I had had more than enough! Man, that dakkalbi was just NOT being processed at all by my body. What the hell was in that chicken???

Day 231: Bitch Session

Today was not a good day at work, and that was for everyone at POLY - not just me. Two of the directors/management had been away for a couple weeks on holiday/emergency leave and came back just this week, and you could tell that the bosses were back in town.

In just two days we've had tons of shit piled on top of us teachers, and this is after two VERY busy weeks that had led right up to Chuseok. We've just finished a fortnight crammed full of writing monthly tests, administering the monthly tests, grading both elementary and pre-school report cards, an open house, a POLY workshop, a bunch of feedback sheets on the workshop, a pre-school ranking sheet... Fuck the list goes on and on. We had all been worked to the bone right up until the holiday and now that we're back it's like Round 2 is just beginning again. What's up with all that? It's not that we're lazy, it's just this sorta stuff is usually spaced out over a month or two, not all thrown at you at once.

On top of all these new meetings and forms and paperwork that was dumped on us today and yesterday, the bosses announced that not only were all the Pre-School teachers would be observed for a FULL-MORNING each next week, but that 'random check-ups' were going to be done on all our afternoon classes as well. What the hell!!! Talk about making us feel insecure and paranoid! It was like too much too fast, and it just pissed everybody right off. The bosses have been nit-picky and completely anal-retentive and breathing down everyone's necks for stupid shit lately and today was like the final straw. It was like the whole staff just collectively snapped today and let loose all the built-up stress and frustration.

After work today we had not one, but two, POLY bitch sessions. Just before leaving the school five of us had a little impromptu mass venting session in the staff room. And then later on tonight, after a bunch of us had gotten together to watch The Apprentice and Survivor, we had a more formal grievance release party. Two of our more senior staff members - Chris and Tim - are going to talk to the head honchos on Monday morning and we wanted to have an organized list of complaints (and suggestions) to present. POLY is a really great place to work, but sometimes all the stupid political shit like what's been going on just gets to you. After only two days at work I was ready, already, for the weekend.

Day 230: Back To Work

Ugh...

Having to go back to work after being on vacation - especially such a truly enjoyable one - always sucks big time. I had such a great time on my trip and I wish I was still there livin' it up in Hong Kong. At least, I have to say, the break was really nice. I was only gone for five days but it actually felt like quite a bit longer in some ways. I felt like I had really removed myself from Korea and from work and my normal routine and came back feeling refreshed and re-energized. Still not quite ready to jump back into work full force, but recharged and refuelled at least.

Luckily for me I was given a smooth, gentle transition back into my work routine. Not only is today Thursday, meaning that it's only a two-day work week, but my classes were a breeze today. I only had six (count 'em, six!) pre-schoolers which meant that this morning was a total cake walk. Managing only six kids was SO MUCH EASIER in comparison to my usual eleven. God it's amazing how much better behaved they are when there's less of them to bounce off each other! My job would be infinitely easier if it was like this every week. Haha!

On top of that, for all my classes today, all the kids seemed *so much* mellower than usual. They were quiet ad well-behaved and some of them were borderline comatose. I had little to none to deal with in the Rowdiness Department today, and that was right across the board with all my Grade 2's and my Grade 4's. Looks like I'm not the only one who's feeling a little tired and also wishing they were still on vacation! ;-)

Day 229: The Coolest

Today was my last day in Hong Kong - man, that sucks! In only five days I've come to completely love this city. It may just be the coolest place on the planet. I love the energy and the excitement here, all the people and languages and foods and cultures from every corner of the globe, the beautiful scenery and the unreal cityscape, and the variety of sights and attractions. Hong Kong - a cliche as it may sound - truly is an amazing fusion of East meets West. You get the best of both worlds - foreigness and history and exhilirating Asian chaos mixed and mingled with modernity and familiar comforts and conveniences and Western efficiency. Yep, it's true - Hong Kong officially kicks major ass!

I would totally move here in a heart beat...another day, another journey perhaps? (a possible future extension of The S2H World Tour?)

I slept in a bit today and wanted to be at the airport by around 2pm or so, so I didn't have a lot of time on my last day to do stuff. I went back into Central to wander around and have lunch at a restaurant that I had been dying to eat at since I arrived. But first I went and did something totally cool and innovative and sensical... I went and checked in my luggage and got my boarding pass for my flight...at the downtown train station!

Yes, you read right! At the Central Station of the Airport Express, you can actually check in your luggage and get your boarding pass for *any flight that day* and then go off and play in the city, knowing that your luggage is safely on its way to the airport without you. And you won't see it again until you arrive at your final destination. How cool is that! Man, I love this city!

Alrighty - time for lunch! I went to El Taco Loco and had *real Mexican food* (I guess dreams DO come true) and it was absolutely scrumptious! Mexican food is one of my favourites and another treat that cannot be found in Korea (at least not anything of reasonable quality.) I gorged myself on a giant bean burrito and then went out to do some last-minute sightseeing.

I decided to go and ride Hong Kong's Central-Mid-Levels Escalator. 'Now Scott why would you go and ride an escalator???' you may ask, but be rest assured my friend, this is no ordinary escalator! It's actually the *longest escalator in the world* - and is nearly a kilometre long! 'Holy shit, that's a helluva long escalator!' you may say, and with that I reply 'Yeppers, it sure is!'

The escalator was built to help bring commuters from the hill-side Mid-Levels residential area down into the downtown Central area. Before, residents had to take long, windy drives down the steep mountain-side. Now they can just hop on the escalator and cruise gently and swiftly into the city centre, brief-case and cappuccinos in hand. It takes just over twenty minutes to ride the escalator from end to end and is actually broken up into several 'pieces' to allow riders the chance to get on and off at various points in the city. Not only is the escalator just plain fun to ride, but it's a great chance to see the city as the ride provides a unique view of a cross-section of various neighbourhoods. Once again, I feel the need to repeat myself, but Hong Kong is way cool!

After my ride up and down the escalator it was sadly time to head out to the airport. Boarding pass in hand and luggage long-gone, I just hopped on the train and was whisked off to the airport. Upon arrival I got to skip all the long queues at the airline desks and head straight for security and immigration. Mere minutes later I was on 'the other side' and waiting patiently for my flight back home to Korea. Dinner on the flight home was courtesy of a restaurant at the world-famous Peninsula Hotel and was pure deliciousness!

Three hours later I was back in Korea, already missing Hong Kong. I had to wait forever at Incheon Airport for a bus to come and take me back to Ilsan, and it was close to 11pm by the time I rolled into my apartment. It's back to work tomorrow, and I'm soooo not in the mood to do that. My vacation was really awesome and even though it flew by really fast, I felt like I saw and did a lot. I landed and conquered that city - mission accomplished, baby! Now it's back to reality and normality (well, as 'normal' as life gets for an expat teaching kids overseas, haha!)

Day 228: Vanilla Coke

I phoned Ailish this morning and we decided to make plans to hang out for the day. I hadn't seen her since the airport when we first arrived and her plans sorta overlapped with mine anyways. On my way to go and meet up with Ailish I popped into a 7-11 to pick up some snacks for the day and was THRILLED to discover one of my favourite treats - Vanilla Coke!!!

Now I have to say that I'm a Pepsi boy at heart through and through, but I absofuckinglutely love Vanilla Coke! IT'S SO DAMN GOOD! And, amongst the great tragedies of all tragedies, it is not available in Korea. But there it was, available for my purchase in Hong Kong, just beckoning me, calling me, seducing me, teasing me, from behind the glass of that 7-11 fridge. SOLD! There's actually been plenty of great treats that I've found in HK that I can't get in Korea, including Snapple, Crunch bars, non-gross gum, a variety of sweetened iced teas (Hong Kongians seem to love iced tea almost as much as I do) and a plethora of other delectables that I had not laid eyes upon since leaving Canadian soil. Hooray for foreign travel!

I met up with Ailo, her Mom, and sis at the MTR station near their hotel and we decided to go and check out Stanley today. We hopped on one of those uber-cool double-decker trolley cars and rode through the crazy streets of Hong Kong to Central, smiles on our tourist faces and semi-tropical breezes blowing gently through our hair. From there we caught a bus (double-decker again!) that took us up and over the mountain of Hong Kong island. It was an absolutely breathtaking bus ride (who knew that city bus rides could actually be breathtaking?) that awarded us with spectacular views of first the forest of skyscrapers in Hong Kong, and then the beautiful beaches, coves, and hillside villas of the island's backside.

We arrived in Stanley which is one of the many 'villages' that lie scattered along the backside's ruggedly gorgeous coastline. It was truly a world away from the rest of the city. Only minutes ago we were surrounded by skyscrapers and crowds, and now we were in a garden oasis surrounded by lush green mountainsides and bright blue waters. You'd never believe that all that HK chaos lay just behind our backs...

Stanley is known for its market so we cruised around there for a while browsing all the little shops and stalls. After lunch we wandered down to Stanley Beach. The sand was really soft, and the waters a vibrant aquamarine colour, but it was unfortunately full of bits of garbage floating on the surface. A real tragedy considering how beautiful the rest of the surroundings are, but I guess a reality considering its location next to a city of 7 million people. On the beach I actually ran into Marianne again, who was chillin' at Stanley with another fellow traveller - Richard from Wales. Us four kids chatted for a while and then made some plans to meet up later for drinks.

After Stanley we briefly checked out Aberdeen - another coastal 'village' (full of dozens of 40-story apartment towers) - before concluding that there wasn't a whole lot to see there and it was in our best interests to head back into the city. Today was the beginning of Mid-Autumn Festival which is the second-biggest holiday in China and there was supposed to be lots of cool festivities going on that night.

We bussed back into the city and made our way to Victoria Park to check out the Festival. The Festival turned out to be 'just alright' as it was mostly just a few lanterns, some not-so-talented local talent performing, and about five billion people crowded into one little park. It was still hot and humid and were were all tired and hungry so we made an early departure. We cruised on over to SoHo which is a very funky neighbourhood full of trendy restaurants. Italian was calling our name so we chowed down on some chicken parmesan at a really cool restaurant called Fat Angelo's. Yum!

After dinner Ailish and I met up with Marianne and Richard and headed over to Lan Kwai Fong to grab some drinks at one of the many bars. We picked a place and went on in, parked ourselves down, and ordered a round. It turned out to be a really fun night, sharing travel and life stories with our two new friends, doing a little dancing, and enjoying quite a few drinks. Next thing I knew it was after 3am and I was ready for bed. Marianne and I chose to MTR it back home while Ailo and Richard went on to another bar for another round. Rides on the subway are always fun when you're drunk and we were back at the glamourous Mirador Mansions before we knew it. My last full day in Hong Kong had sadly come to a close...but at least it ended on a high. :-)

Day 227: Big Ass Buddha

I met my first 'fellow traveller buddy' this morning when I was paying my daily rent for my room. Her name was Lucy and she was from England and on a trip across Asia. She was staying in the same building as me but at a different hostel (there's dozens in my building.) She was super friendly and had the same plans as I did for the day, although hers was on a tour and mine was 'free-style'. Hmmm...I wonder if we'll run into each other there?

My plans for the day were to check out this big ass Buddha statue located at the top of a mountain on an island near the city. This Buddha statue is the largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha in the world and is supposed to be quite spectacular. I had to take a ferry there from Central so off I went to catch my boat. One of the many great things about Hong Kong is how EASY it is to get around - ferries and trains and busses and trams will whisk you anywhere you need to go. I especially dig the ferry system that links Hong Kong harbour with all of its many surrounding neighbourhoods and off-shore islands. They fast, frequent, and the most scenic way to travel around the city.

It was about 30-40 minutes or so on the ferry out to Lantau Island where I would catch a bus upon arriving at Mui Wo - the 'capital' of the island. Mui Wo turned out to be a small town that serves as a mini-suburb to big-city Hong Kong. On the ferry there I ran into Lucy, sure enough, and one of her travelling buddies Marianne from Australia. We were each taking separate busses up the mountain so I went off my own way and enjoyed the pleasant ride up to the Buddha. Lantau is a large, lush, mountainous island that surprisingly feels quite removed from all the hustle and bustle of HK. About 45 minutes later we were waaaaaay up high in elevation and at the foot of the Buddhist complex where Mr. Buddha called home.

At the plateau below the Buddha lies a large Buddhist monastery - and the bottom of the LONG stairway up to the Buddha statue. The statue was enormous and impressive even from down below. It was massive! I hiked up the 260 steps up the statue (quite the workout considering the heat and humidity) and it was well worth all that effort. The statue was so beautiful and serene as it gazed out across the semi-tropical mountain landscapes. And did I mention that the Buddha was HUGE? (check out my pics to have this verified!) I sure enough ran into Lucy and Marianne again later on and we cruised around the statue and the complex below, enjoying the temples, gardens, and small museum in addition to the Big B. My admission ticket included a free vegetarian lunch at one of the restaurants in the monastery so I took advantage of that, and I have to say it was quite yummy!

After lunch I got back on the bus and headed back to Mui Wo. It was about late afternoon at that point and I was still feeling energetic so I decided to go for a little hike. There was a trail not far from the ferry terminal that Lonely Planet said was pretty good so I checked it out. It turned out to be a hike that was 'just alright' but the solitude time on the trail was nice, and I got to check out some nice waterfalls and an abandoned silver mine cave entrance.

By the time I got back into TST I was HOT AND SWEATY and feeling really gross. Whipping out my trust LP - again - I decided to go for a little swim to cool down at the Kowloon Park Swimming Complex just up the street from my guesthouse. There were 2 indoor pools and 3 outdoor ones and it felt sooooo nice and refreshing to relax and swim after a long day out in the hot sun.

It was after swimming that The Mauling took place. I was heading back to Mirador & Chungking Mansions to go and get some dinner to eat. I was in the mood for Indian and both places are known for having a huge selection of awesome Indian food. I had one particular restaurant in mind but decided to just 'go with the flow' and see where I ended up. Once again, before I even got to the doorstep, I was mauled by a swarm of Indian guys all wanting to take me to their restaurant. How did these guys even know I was looking for Indian food? It's like they can read my mind or something! Seriously though, there was like six or seven of them who were all thrusting their flyers in my face and yelling at me to try and convince me to pick THEM over all the others. I had hands and papers all in my face and could barely see where I was going. It was equally hilarious as it was overwhelming. I decided to just go with the guy who had gotten to me first (much to the great disappointment of the other six) and he led me to his restaurant. It turns out that his was the one that I was actually looking for in the first place! What great karma!

I had a really delicious curry chicken dinner and then headed back out to do a little more cruising around the Temple Street Night Market (three nights in a row now for me!) I spent a bit of time there before heading back to Mirador for some sleep. Another awesome day in Hong Kong comes to a close!

Day 226: On My Own

Today was a fantastic day!

I woke up around 10am and was fully ready to hit the town again, despite my marathon-like pace of travelling the day before. I wandered down the street and found a place called Oliver's Super Sandwiches that makes like the best sandwiches ever! Forget Subway man! Oliver's is where it's at!

I walked back down to the ferry pier (which is only minutes away from where I'm staying) and took the Star Ferry back across the harbour. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it must've been close to 30 C! Wow - a beautiful day for hanging out in the city! I headed straight for the Hong Kong Planning & Infrastructure Exhibition (aka: Heaven for Urban Planning Geeks!) It was complete nirvana for me!!! I spent probably a good two hours or more in there checking out all the cool models, displays, virtual reality simulators, future plans, diagrams, maps, and everything else a geek like myself would love. It was awesome!

After the exhibition I decided to go on a little self-guided walking tour of Central Hong Kong, provided courtesy of my trusty Lonely Planet. (God bless Lonely Planet!) The walking tour began at the ferry terminal right where I got off and as I was walking there I noticed all the dozens, if not hundreds, of Filipino ladies hanging out in the shade chattering away. Most of the housemaids and nannies in Hong Kong are immigrants from the Philippines and every weekend they get together at various public squares and parks to hang out and chat and swap stories with each other. It's fascinating to watch as not only are there just *so many* of them, but they're all so happy and jovial and cheerful - and so loud! Filipino has a very strange sound and when you have a large group of them all talking at once it sounds almost like an aviary full of birds. Cool!

The walking tour was awesome and right up my alley. It took me all through the downtown area and past just about every major famous landmark building in Central Hong Kong - the Bank of China Tower, 2 IFC, the HSBC Tower, Lippo Centre, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Jardine House, City Hall...it was awesome! The buildings in Hong Kong are completely unreal! They are SO BLOODY TALL!!! I spent half the day with my neck craned up! Walking through HK feels like you're walking through a living, breathing SimCity or something! Amazing!

I was in the best of spirits all afternoon long. I felt so free and so independent and so...I dunno...in sync with the rhythm of the universe or something, for lack of better words, while being out and about. Here I was, thousands upon thousands of kilometres away from my hometown, out in the world, doing my own thing, travelling like I always dreamed of, in an absolutely incredible city that I was loving every inch of. I just felt so alive!

After the walking tour I headed back to the other side of the harbour to an area north of TST known as Mong Kok (try not to giggle when you say that...it's hard, I know!) I was meeting up with a friend from LA who was gonna give me a little tour of the market shopping area and then go have some dinner. Zack took me around Mong Kok which turned out to be pretty cool - very busy, occupying several blocks, and full of mostly useless stuff but fascinating nonetheless to walk through. Just *being IN* Hong Kong is an experience in itself - just to soak all of it in. We had dinner later on at a Chinese restaurant and it was really yummy!

After dinner Zach had to head off to do some studying so I decided to go for a walk along the waterfront Promenade to enjoy the view. To see the Hong Kong skyline at night is more than enough reason alone to come to Hong Kong! It's absolutely breathtaking each and every time and so completely surreal. The buildings look so beautiful all lit up in such bright colours, like an alien city from the future or something. I strolled along the walkway and found myself in The Avenue Of Stars. The Avenue Of Stars is Hong Kong's equivalent of Hollywood's Walk Of Fame. It's full of names and handprints of all of HK's most famous movie stars (the HK movie industry is HUGE!) and it was cool to check it out, even if the only names I recognized were Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

After walking along the Promenade and just soaking up all the Hong Kongness, wishing that I could forever preserve that image in my mind as sharp as it was that night, I decided to wander back through the Temple Street Night Market again. I never seem to get tired of exploring all these Asian markets! I almost never buy anything there but the experience is just to be there and to just be part of the crowd. One of the coolest things about just walking around HK is that you realize how incredibly cosmopolitan and international this city is! In walking like only a block you can hear like twenty different languages! Unbelievable! There's people here from literally every corner of the planet. Wow!

After having my share of the market I decided to head back to my hostel to hit the hay. I was tired from yet another amazing busy day out exploring this crazy beautiful city. Tomorrow I'm doing a little sightseeing outside of HK and it should be pretty darn cool again! Good night! :-)

Day 225: Hit The Ground Running

Ailish and I woke up at 7am and got to the airport just after 8. Good thing we arrived early cause the airport was an absolute madhouse! What a stark contrast from the time we spent there last night! We checked in, went through security and immigration, and then it was time to board.

We were flying on a 777-300 on Cathay Pacific and it was an absolutely gorgeous flight. Beautiful airplane, great service, fantastic food, and every passenger had their own little TV screen with a huge choice of movies, TV shows, and other programs. Way cool! I tuned into The Stepford Wives, chowed down on my chicken and pasta, and tried hard to sit still. My original plan was to catch some extra ZZZ's on the flight down but I was way too hyper for that. Just over three hours later we were landing at Hong Kong! WOW!

Hong Kong International Airport is an amazing, brilliant, enormous, state-of-the-art MASSIVE airport. It was actually named one of the Top Ten Engineering Projects of the 20th Century and I believe it. It opened in 1999 and at just over a kilometer in length, its terminal is the longest building in the world. Ailo was meeting up with her Mom and sister who had flown in from Ireland the day before but they were nowhere to be seen. Ailo told me to leave without her since we were staying in different parts of town anyway.

I hopped on the Airport Express train, which docks right in the terminal, and was whisked into Hong Kong in no time at all! Travelling at 135 km/hr, the airport train only takes 20 minutes to get from the airport into the city. I wasn't able to see much from the train but my first impressions were of lush green hills, enormous high-rise apartments, and very, very smoggy air. I got off at Kowloon Station - right across the harbor from Hong Kong Central - and decided to take the free shuttle bus to the area where I'd be staying. I was planning to stay in the infamous backpacker's ghetto known as Chungking Mansions to save some cash and although I tried to prepare myself for what I was about to jump into, it still came as a shock to the system.

I got off the shuttle bus and was *THROWN* into the chaos and madness and pure energy that is Hong Kong. People everywhere - thick humidity - waves of foreign smells - enormous highrises - five-star hotels located right next to slum buildings - CROWDS - pushy vendors - lights and neon - and did I mention that there's like a billion people in Hong Kong?? It was overwhelming and exhilirating and a little stressful - and simply wonderful. As soon as you step into Hong Kong you can feel the pulse, the vibe, the energy that defines this city. Hong Kong has this pace of life that just grabs you by the neck, throws you face-first in, and all you can do is just run and go with it. It was amazing and I loved it immediately!

I was actually planning on staying in Mirador Mansions, which is right next to Chungking, as my Lonely Planet had listed quite a few cheap guesthouses/hostels in there that were supposed to be half-decent. I walked up Nathan Road and in just 20 steps or so had a half-dozen or more Indian guys throw flyers for tailors at me asking me if I wanted a suit made. Ummm...no thanks.... I hadn't even made it to Mirador yet when this Indian guy asked me if I was looking for a place to stay. I paused and hesitantly replied....'uhhh yeah...' and before I knew was whisked off the street into Mirador.

Mirador, just like its twin Chungking, is the slum of all slums. Its a towering 17-story block of apartment flats that look as if they're on the verge of collapse. They're disgustingly dirty and gross and are crumbling apart and are known for having a particularly aggressive species of giant flying cockroach that lives in the stairwells but are the cheapest place to stay in Hong Kong. I was skeptical and cautious about this over-eager salesman but thought that having a quick peek wouldn't hurt. I can always just say 'no', right?

He led me up the elevator (aka: steel coffin of death) to the 8th floor and into my room. My room was incredibly tiny and was literally no bigger than my bed. The room consisted of a double bed, a really really miniscule bathroom with shower, sink, and toilet, a TV, and a window that looked into an air-duct in the building. It was a bit of a shock to see how tiny it was, but it was clean, cozy, and in a pretty secure part of the building. Buddy wanted to charge me $350 HK a night ($70CDN a night!) and wanted to know how many nights I was planning on staying and told me I had to pay for all the nights up front.

Uh-uh! No way! Out came 'hard-as-stone' Scotty who not only made him agree that I only could pay night-to-night (in case I felt like moving elsewhere) but I got the price down to my budget range - $250 HK a night. Still fifty bucks a night but I won't find much cheaper in HK for my own room so I decided to go for it. And there it was - I had my own place to stay already. Wow! Time to hit the town!

I changed and jumped back into the chaos of the streets. I wandered around my neighbourhood for a while just getting my bearings. Again I was struck at all the contrasts - luxury hotels located across the street from ghetto slums - luxury cars and rickshaws sharing the streets - high-end shopping and a million fake Rolexes to be bought. Wow! I had a late lunch and then decided to take Star Ferry across to Central Hong Kong (downtown) located on Hong Kong Island. The ferry ride is only a few minutes long as the harbour is not much wider than a large river. But the view is absolutely breahtaking - the giant skyscrapers of Hong Kong are incredible!!! The buildings here are sooooo tall!

I headed straight for the Peak Tram so I could go up The Peak mountain to watch the sun go down. The tram is an old special train that climbes *steeply* up the sides of the mountain - at nearly 30 degrees in some places! The view from the top is one of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see in your life. There the sea of high rises stretches out before you - enormous skyscrapers squeezed inbetween the mountain and the water - with roads and buildings everywhere. Wow! The sun went down and the lights came up and I was absolutley mesmerized. A few of the key landmark towers in HK have spectacular lights coating the entire buildings that make the skyline look like a forest of brilliant illuminated technicolour torches rising high into the sky. Some of the buildings' lights even flashed or changed colours. It was so amazing it's hard to describe in words.

I hung out up top for a while and then took the Tram back down. I headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST - my neighborhood where I was staying) to do a little night shopping. I walked on down to the Temple Street Night Market which is a famous sprawling market famous for cheap goods that's open late into the night. The market was one L-O-N-G row of stalls and shops selling all kinds of stuff - clothing and music and jewelery and knock-off everything and cheap kitchen ware and electronics and gadgets and all other kinds of goodies. I was especially excited over the stacks and stacks of cheap CD's! They had tons of fake compilation albums and imitation greatest hits albums and were dirt cheap - I was like a kid in a candy store! I bought like 4 or 5 before finishing the rest of the market. It was really crowded and cramped there but I really liked it.

I headed back to my room to then clean-up and head out to party for the night. I was feeling pretty tired but this was my only real 'weekend' night in town and I wanted to maximize it! I changed and cleaned up and then took the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) back into Central. I got off the train and walked up to Lan Kwai Fong - a vibrant and exciting nightlife district. It was a pedestrian-only street full of bars! There must've been like two dozen bars all squeezed into one little block! There were tons of people everywhere, music was blaring out of every bar, and people were hanging out in the street with their drinks chatting each other up. Man, this is awesome!! I cruised around the bars for a while checking out the scene before ordering a drink at one of the pubs. I just about cried when the bartender told me how much my drink cost me - $63 HK!!! That's like $12-13 CDN!!! OUCH!!! HK is sooooo expensive!

I sipped my Tom Collins *very slowly* and then decided to go and check out a popular club up the street called Propaganda. I had to shell out a fortune for cover to get in (equivalent to the annual GNP of most African nations) but it was a pretty cool place I must admit. Big dance floor, lots of places to sit and check out the sights, and really funky decor. I stayed until around 3:30am or so and by that point I just couldn't stay awake anymore. I cabbed it back to TST and crashed into bed. Wow, what an amazing, incredible, exhilirating day! I've seen and done so much already - definitley one of the longest, busiest days of my life ever - and it's only Day 1!

I can't even imagine what the rest of the trip is going to be like! ;-)

Day 224: Airport Ordeals

Today was a great day at work - TEST DAY! All I have to do is give out the monthly tests to all my students and just sit and chill while they write them. It's easy as pie. And this morning in preschool we had a birthday party *and* the weekly sing-a-long! So that means that for all of today I only had 2 classes of actual teaching! Sweet! I'm sooooooo excited for my trip to Hong Kong and can't wait to go. Tomorrow morning I'll be on that plane bound for China (well, a Special Administrative Region of it) and I'm so thrilled!

I had packed my bags last night and brought my suitcase to work today. Tonight's plan was to leave right from work and take a bus out to Airport Island to meet up with Ailish. She's on the same flight as me to Hong Kong, and since the roads are expected to be absolutely clogged with holiday traffic tomorrow we thought it would be a good idea to get out to the airport the night before, get a room, and then that way we don't have to deal with all that transport crap on Saturday morning. This idea sounded wonderful in theory and on paper, but in reality it didn't turn out so rosy...

After having the ultimate feeling of JAIL-BREAK! after work tonight I grabbed my luggage and caught a cab to the bus stop. There I waited for my airport bus which came shortly and whisked me off to Incheon International Airport out on Airport Island. Ailish and I were meeting up at the terminal for around 9pm and would then go and find a place to stay for the night. I arrived at Incheon to find the airport looking like a ghost town. The terminal was practically abandoned - you could've shot a cannon through the immense glass and steel structure and not hit a soul. Rather eerie actually....

I got some BK dinner and waited for Ailish to arrive...and waited....and waited... 10pm came round and she still wasn't there. Hmmmm....what's up? I gave her a ring on her cell and she was running late - complications with busses and shit like that. But she was on her way! And so I waited....and waited...and waited... It was now 11pm and still no Ailish. I absolutely love airports but hanging out alone in an empty giant terminal by yourself for two hours gets real old real fast. She finally arrived just after 11pm and was very apologetic...once again the 'reliability' of Korean bus routes came through. Ugh.

I was soooo exhausted and just wanting to go to sleep... The cab driver that Ailish took to the airport informed her that there were NO HOTELS or anywhere to stay on Airport Island at all - fuck!! You mean we came all this way out here for nothing? There must be someplace we can stay! Most major airports in the world have a hotel either right attached to the airport or there's a cluster nearby... We looked around and found out there's a Transit Hotel in the airport. Thank God! We tried to get there but couldn't seem to find an open door...okay what's going on here? We were then told by a security guy that access to it doesn't open up til 1:30am... Okay considering this Transit Hotel advertises itself as 24 hours this all seems kinda strange... Whatever...

So all we could do was just camp out and kill time. We went and got some snacks, found a place to crash for a while, and sat and chatted and caught up. And talk a lot about how awesome this trip was going to be! *Finally* 1:30am came round and it was time to go and find this Transit Hotel. At this hour there were actually people milling about in the terminal (why now and not anyone at all earlier, god knows). So we tried to get access but were again denied access. WHY THE FUCK NOW!???

Turns out that we need a boarding pass to get in there, and that the gates/airline service desks don't open til 6am. Oh fuck! We were so mad!! We were totally given wrong information!! At this time I was completely exhausted and getting crankier by the second. Scotty really needed to find a place to sleep, and on a bench in the airport was not gonna cut it. We decided to go and try to find a cabbie anyways and just ask him to take us to the nearest minbok/yagwan (cheap motels) and pay for it no matter how far away it was. We just really, really needed a place to sleep...anywhere will do...

We found a cabbie and he actually informed us that he knew of some cheapish places to stay that were right on the island! Sweet! We asked how far this was and he told us only about 10 minutes or so. We then asked how much the ride was going to be and he told us he'd use the meter. Awesome - it'll be cheap! We hopped in the cab and sure enough in 10 minutes we were outside this motel located in the New Airport Town just down the highway from the terminal. Well we thought we were finally in the clear but alas the saga was not over yet....

The cabbie told us that the fare was 20,000 Won!!! NO WAY!!! For this price you can normally ride for over half an hour in the city on that rate. 20,000 Won for barely ten minutes? We were NOT going to pay for that! This guy was trying to rip us off! Ailish speaks a bit of Korean so she and the cabbie got into this screaming fight over the fare. He had promised to use the meter but then lied to us and just made up a fare on the spot. Well this went on for a few minutes until Ailish just threw 10,000 Won at him and we stormed out of the cab. He continued to yell at us as we walked into the hotel but I didn't give a shit at this point. I just wanted a bed!

We checked into the pricey 60,000 Won hotel (OUCH!) and crashed into bed. It was 2am and we had to get up in a mere five hours to head back to that airport. God, what a rough start to our trip! I sure hope that this isn't a sign of how the trip is going to go...

Day 223: Switching Gears

So fall has officially arrived in Korea, and it made a sudden and noticeable arrival this week. It didn't sneak in through the backdoor or quietly crouch up behind you. It was like summer, summer, summer...FALL! Fall in Korea always arrives the last week of September and is marked by a sudden and significant drop in temperature. And this year it arrived right on time. Last week I was still sweating buckets walking to work and sleeping at night nearly naked with all the windows open (nearby voyeurs and telescope-possessors, eat your heart out!) This week there's been a TEN DEGREE drop in temperature and I actually broke out the long sleeves for the first this season. It was like Mother Nature switched gears all of a sudden. Fall is here! And I love this season, so I'm all smiles.

So tonight I decided to go and do a little shopping. I had to pick up a bunch of stuff at LaFesta for my trip to Hong Kong, and thought I needed a little treat. That 100,000 Won gift certificate that I got from Dennis' Mom, even though I've only had it for three days, has been burning a hole in my pocket. And I know exactly what I want to spend it on...

About a week ago my Gucci graduation watch finally hit the bucket. The wrist band's completely worn (but it's been like that for over a year) but then all of a sudden the watch just decided to give in and give up. The face plate glass cover thingy fell off, and then the watch hands got lazy...now it doesn't work at all. So what Scotty needs is a new watch. Time to go shopping!

So after work Addie and I made a b-line to Lotte Department Store and I scoured for the watch department. And there I found it - my dream watch. The watch that I've been dreaming and fantasizing over for years. Well maybe not the *specific* watch, but one just like it. I've always wanted to own a Kenneth Cole watch, but never allowed myself to have one. They're far too expensive, and I always had a beautiful watch anyways. Well now I got the cash and I ain't go no watch no more, so here's the perfect excuse! I picked out this absolutely gorgeous black leather-band, silver square Kenneth Cole watch was so beautiful my eyes welled up with tears just looking at it. And I took it home with me. I still had to fork out 60,000 Won for that puppy but it's so worth it. It's the epitome of fashion and design, of post-modernist glitz and glam, of style and success, of consumerism and excess, of luxury and confidence, the perfect date on my wrist - and it's all mine! Yeah, baby! ;-)