Friday, December 21, 2007

Switzerland Reunion

Your Slave - I'm beginning to lose the connection with air travel.
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No Shit
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Shock - This is the cost of coke in a Swiss airport.
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Leave Your Saw at Home - Saw this while riding a Swiss Tram
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Hello - My Sis on her mobile
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Thinking of You - Clair loves pinapples and makes smothies to die for
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Hello Cheess - Ahhhhhh, plentiful cheap cheese!
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Discreet Apple Store - They wouldn't let the big glass and aluminum box into Switz
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Maditory Shot
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Dinner at Sant Lucia
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Tiger N BearPaw

Tigger_N_BearPaw

Today Amy (Tigger) introduced me to her sister. She has the most creative hat I've ever laid eyes on. This photo should be placed next to adorable in the dictionary.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Korean Won vs Canadian Dollar

This really isn't good. I'm not happy about this at all :( My student loans just went up by around 20%



Thursday, October 11, 2007

Jinju Weekend

The old Gumi crew reunites in Jinju for a lantern festival. Bryant, Will and I take our bikes down for the weekend.

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Mighty will and I found a river

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The water was to Will what spinach is to Popeye

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I had less strength

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We actually sat on grass, a forbidden activity in most parts of Korea

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Lanterns lined the main street and I hid behind them

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I tried to scare an old man by growling at him but he was too busy chasing and growling at everyone in the streets

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We practiced some synchronized drinking

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The streets were overflowing with people

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Korean bugs get crazy huge!

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Christa and Traci found the ultimate man, tall bearded and holding a large shaft

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Will had to have a Zap-Strap cut from his arm

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Skully

Skully

Skully may just be one of my most successful classroom implementations ever. This part scary, part rhythmic all fear inducing shaker defines classical psychology. It only took a single class to pare the cue, beads shaking, with a negative stimulus such as reduced game time, loss of Super Student Stars and sometimes both.

When Skully shakes silence blankets the room... at least for a good twenty seconds or so :)

ps. Came across this little guy on the sidewalk today.

Out_With_the_Trash2

Tomato Puree

"Made with Genetically Modified Tomatoes"
Tomato_Puree-2

Eleven year-old Tommy sits at the back of my class. Generally quiet and well behaved, this is the first time I saw his creative streak.

The assignment was to bring a picture of yourself doing something. Many of the girls brought pictures of themselves performing choreographed dances wearing intergalactic vinyl costumes. Ben cut out 2x2 centimeter picture of two men climbing Mt. Everest. The kids wrote sentences such as, "I dancED in June 2003" or "He climbED Mr. Everest in December 1978" below their photos. The focus here was on the past tense.

Tommy on the other hand, cuts out a picture of Tomato Puree which reads "Made with Genetically Modified Tomatoes". He subtitles the picture with:

It's was very small tomato puree.
It's was very interesting.
Very little tomato is in the puree.
Tommy - made in greg's class

Tommy will be the highlight of my days to come.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Iksan Discovery

My new home in Iksan
001-New_Home

My new yard
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My new roommate
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The local market
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The path less traveled
070909-Iksan-WaterTour
Distance 22 km
Min Alt 3 m
Max Alt 42 m
Max Speed 44.2 kmh

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Sheep Bar

Sheep-Bar

Without any doubt, the "Sheep Bar" is the best ice cream bar in Korea. While it is officially known as the Black Crunch Bar, I find my own name does a much better job at describing the packaging.

Lotte claims, "Now there is a crunch bar for every craving." Unfortunately, this is not the case. I have many cravings this bar can't satisfy, however, when I am craving chocolate-y, Oreo-like CRUNCH, and sweet vanilla ice cream, this bar is second to none.

Do not let the w700 price tag fool or discourage you. For those who question quality at such a meager price, the Sheep Bar is just as good as those stainless steal vats of gelato you ponder over with knickknacks sprawled across them. And for those of you on a budget, come down to Jeon-buk province where the Sheep Bar only costs w350!

Friday, July 20, 2007

First Hours in Canada

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Our first stop after the airport... soooo West Coast

002-Even_Limes
I've never found a lime in Korea and you have to scour for lemons in smaller towns. Not only did this market have limes but their prices were cheap compared to Korea. Grapefruit $0.69 vs $1.69, Avocado $0.99 vs $3.00

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More than 3 fruits to choose from here...

You must understand, I'm somewhat biased at this point in time. Soon enough I'll be pointing out the flaws here in Canada.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Not A Pretty Picture

Not_A_Pretty_Picture

Haydon is responsible for breaking my big toenail. We were playing "kick the ball around in our confined hotel room" and it rebounded off the wall and into my foot.

The two broken toes were a result of the Mud Pit in Boryeong. The Mud Pit is a dirty, slippery place where there is one rugby ball and 30 big army guys. The game is played as follows:

Tackle anyone who is holding, touching, close to or intending to get the ball.

Get the ball

Brace for impact...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Curry Town Apprentice in Seoul

Greg,Chef,Knives,Cook,

I ate some amazing grub at Curry Town about two months ago. The restaurant is tucked away in a typical Korean B1 style building basement. In the dingy, fluorescent lit space there exist four or five businesses which are perpetually empty. Go past the shop filled with miscellaneous boxes, next to the over priced dry cleaner and past the lifeless Korean soup restaurant and there lies the equally empty Curry Town.

The real shame is, it's just the location that is keeping the place from making it big -the atmosphere, food and service are all great! I've wanted to learn how to cook Indian food ever since I lived in little India, aka, Abbotsford BC. Today I simply showed up in my chefs garb wielding two knives and asked to go to work. There was one problem though... there were no customers.

Jay-R and his boss offered me some Chi Tea. Not wanting to intrude, I considered leaving, but then reconsidered, as that is what I always do and regret having done later. Low and behold, as we sat and talked business two Korean women walked in and ordered. I made straight for the Kitchen.

The order: Butter Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Garlic Nan and some kind of Masala Prawn Dish. My first hour, and already I would learn to make two of my favorite dishes. There wasn't much room in the tiny kitchen, as much as I wanted to help I also wanted to stay out of the way. I sat on my perch and took in every bit of information Jay-R was willing to share.

Jay-R is an interesting man who has lived all over the world, he spent 7 years in Iran right after the war. During this time he cooked for a number of embassies including the US and Norwegian Embassies. The money was never great, so he ended up coming to Korea. As I looked on, Jay-R did his dance, throwing in a little extra show for his new apprentice. There were no secrets in his kitchen, he made sure I knew EXACTLY what went into each an every sauce and offered me samples of everything he had made.

I learned more in one hour with Jay-R that I feel I've learned in the last four months, with the exception of my one week photography gig. Indian food isn't nearly as complex as one might think. Here's what I deduced from my hour of observation:

You basically have your primary colors in the kitchen except instead of paints they are sauces. Red, green and blue would be Tandori, Masala, Tomato Sauce and White Sauce (I know... there aren't 4 primary colors but flow with it). Black equals sour, usually lemon juice, and white equals hot, usually Jalapeno pepper. You can make virtually any Indian cuisine by mixing and matching those ingredients. It's that easy... or at least I hope it'll be :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Korean Bike in Won

Hyosung_Comet_In_Won

I sold my bike after 16 months, a few thousand kilometers and infinite fond memories. This is what is looks like translated into Korean Won. The Korean Won will eventually translate into the picture below... but without all the gay flames...

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Flickr Never Stops

Mmmmm

Flickr just keeps making things better. I was checking out my sisters pics the other day and clicked on "slide show". I was shocked to see a sleek new interface and photos being displayed at twice the size. Check it our for yourself HERE..

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Veggies, Demolition and Chuck

Chuck-Norris-Marine

I really only posted this one for Bryant and Will.

Demolition

I just finished dealing with two apartments being built right next to my place in Gumi. I survived the endless noise of metal crashing on metal at 6am from Monday through Sunday. Now I arrive here and get to listen to two buildings being demolished... and I fear constriction will begin once demolition is over... :(

Big-Veggies

Korean vegetables scare me. Look at the size of those green onions and that celery compared to the red pepper, and not just any red pepper - that particular one has been in my fridge for over a month. I ate it the other day... it tasted fine.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

First on Google

Google-1st-250_Hyosung

Crazy... My Hyosung 250 Review now ranks first on Google... assaaa!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Disk Face

DiskFace
- All My Macography - This is about all this 40gb iBook drive is good for now. No photoshop on this one, just an aperture of 40!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Mac Books N Jazz

001-MacBooks_N_Jazz
Keith came up to buy a Mac Book and his buddy Jin hooked up with us too.

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Wanted to see what happened if we put a Sea Monkey in Haydon's aquarium. The poor bugger didn't last more than an eighth of a second. Yum yum! 

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Chill'n at Haydon's pad

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Where's the bar? 

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Once in a Blue Moon Jazz Bar in 85-1 Cheongdam-Dong Kangnam-Gu Seoul. A very stylish place with groovy tunes and CLEAN AIR! (Yes, No-Smoking)However, a little pricey -- drinks start at 13,000w 

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The beat 

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Cheers! 

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She was good! Liked the sound of Korean jazz. 

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A little GimBop Goodness around midnight 

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I'm gonna take one of these guys out to party before I leave Seoul 

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Carl is running for the next election