That's Entertainment!

Yesterday (Sunday) I dipped my toe into the world of Korean entertainment by checking out both DVD Bangs and Korean TV Dramas. I girded my loins and boldly went where no Kildimo girl has gone before!

I started out easy by simply googling 'Korean drama english subtitles' and not really knowing what to expect. In hindsight I should have realised there would be quite a market for just such a commodity with all the Korean Americans at least some of whom might have spotty Korean language skills.
Lucky for me!
So I did indeed find plenty of sites and have now happily embarked upon steady diet of Korean tv. It's not without it's hiccups, slow loading times and episodes in 6 parts - but an old 'Project Free TV' vet like me can navigate such obstacles no problemo!



If you're insatiably curious, check them out for yourself at http://starones.wordpress.com/

With that under my belt I set my face towards my next goal: the DVD Bang.

'Bang' is Korean for 'room' and a walk down any large street will be show you 'PC Bangs' - Internet Cafe's without the Cafe, 'Norae Bangs' - Karoke Bars, 'Jimjil Bangs' - Saunas and 'Manhwa Bangs' - think Comic Reading Rooms. Manhwa is to Korea what Manga is to Japan.

Last weekend I had watched parts of a Korean romcom that intrigued me enough to describe it in the staffroom at lunchtime. I barely had five words out of my mouth when I was deafened by a chorus of ..."Meenyo nun gehro woh!" (200lb Beauty) and various quotes thereof. So I was determined to watch it in a DVD Bang this weekend.

So on Sunday evening, with my semi-glad rags on, I was all set to head out the door when I doubled back and powered up the laptop. I wanted to do a quick recce of what to expect in the way of prices, etiquette and whatnot. Boy, did I get more than I bargained for!

First off, all the blogs came down pretty heavy (no pun intended) on my movie of choice and then it turns out that as the vast majority of Koreans live at home with their parents until they themselves are married, the DVD Bang has in itself, become a rather tasteless pun. (Let's just leave it at that shall we?!)
So much so that it is rare for two people of the same sex to visit and if you go by yourself you're considered sad and weird. Well! That gave me pause, ........enough that I seriously considered not going.
For all of five minutes. Then I thought, "I want to see this movie, and I like the idea of my own personal home cinema, so screw it, I'll just play the crazy foreigner card!"

Apart from anything else, on Friday when I had quietly asked one of my co-teachers to write the name of the movie for me, it sparked a four way discussion on how to spell it phonetically in English, so there was no way I was slinking into school on Monday morning without having seen the movie!

Thusly filled with righteous pig-headedness I headed down into Mugeodong my nearest DVD Bang. I think you will agree it has an oddly impressive entrance.....

Anyhoo, I rocked up to Darby and Joan at the reception desk, gave them a nice "Anyong ha seo!" (Formal Hello), handed over my written movie title with a polite "Butag ham nida" (Please).
Two minutes later I was in my private theatre with the opening credits rolling, all for the princely sum of 6,000 Won ( about €4.50).

Of course, once I saw the room I could see how it could be used for more, ahem, private recreation....I mean there's even tissues and a towel for crying out loud. The sofa WAS seriously comfy though.

Despite the online idiots knocking the film, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would watch it again, the room was comfortable and the whole evening cost less than a pint of Guinness in Dublin. I reckon I'll become a regular!

So the moral of this post is....."Feck the begrudgers and never underestimate the power of the 'Crazy Foreigner Card'"
I know I won't!

Peace out!

Blessings in Disguise

For those all too numerous times in our life when the excrement hits the air conditioning, there are several occassions when we are lucky enough to see the silver lining glinting above us almost immediately. Other blessings however can take a little longer to materialise.


For instance, three months ago, my latest installment of excrement was the collapse of my plans for Antipodean rambles with my sister. Thankfully the silver lining popped up almost immediately and I am now happily ensconced here in South Korea.

Over the last six weeks I have begun to recognise silver linings that are the result of mishaps going back for several years. It's been very uplifting for me to realise that no cock up, blunder or gaffe ever goes to waste! Not just mistakes though, all sorts of oddities are serving me well over here.

I remember the first time I went to France: while we were sailing there on the ferry my travel mates pulled me aside and explained very carefully why I should not get offended by the fact that everyone would be staring at me. I was told that staring was not considered rude the way it is in Ireland, England, ........ English speaking countries in general! Rather it was a national pastime. At the time I adjusted to it and soon even forgot about it. I chalked it down as being good for my self confidence.

Turns out, it was actually practice for living in a city where for 80% of my week I'm the only white person for four blocks!

Last September I visited some friends in Bratislava and spent several days being bussed around the city by a bunch of speed demons with no regard for passenger comfort, the condition of the road or indeed the existence of corners! This enlivening experience was practice for Ulsan buses. These zippy little vehicles are small, but there are thousands of them, so that's ok.

Still, at least the Slovakian buses had plenty of seats - on the Ulsan buses for the ride home in the evenings I am invariably standing up, and given the flair of the driving, by next November I'll be ready to go snow boarding!

On a less whimsical note, eighteen months ago I started on medication which had the delightful side effect of fritzing my taste buds. Sweet things tasted like rancid plastic. It's the only way I can describe it. I couldn't eat chocolate, biscuits, hell, I couldn't eat fruit!
As you can imagine, I spent the first week rocking in a corner muttering "Why God? Why?"........until I started losing weight. Heh heh, I started to feel differently then! That was silver lining enough for me, but as the months passed and I travelled to different schools where the canteen was my only source of sustenance, taste became secondary to just plain eating whatever was put in front of me.

This was a HUGE benefit when I moved to Korea!! Every day at lunch I eat with the school staff, under the watchful eye of the Cook and I gamely try everything that's available, a practice not to be sneezed at when I recognise about 20% of the food! So far I have tried mountain bracken, a salad leaf which at home is considered a weed, three types of seaweed and a very small tree. No, seriously, they harvest the small branches of a specific tree and boil the bejaysus out of it. You either taste nothing but chlorophyll, or nothing but the soy sauce you have slathered all over it!

First the Cook was impressed with my chop stick skills, which was lovely to hear, cos I was feeling fairly clutch fisted that first week. Last week, Cook asked one of the teachers to translate for her and asked if we ate the same kind of food in Ireland. My emphatic 'No' needed no translation. She then expressed her admiration for how well I was eating when the food was so different.
Trust me, it always pays to get in with the cook, she pays close attention to what I like, and caters accordingly. I am really enjoying being spoiled!!

So the moral of this tale is, when life upends a bucket of manure on you, it's only a matter of time before you come up smelling of roses!

You know you're a kindergarten teacher when.......

• by Friday afternoon your hands are so covered in marker and crayon you look like you have been attacked by a blind, malicious tattoo artist.
• you're six weeks into the term at your new school and already getting over your second cold caused by prolonged proximity to cute but snotty five year olds.
• the children occassionally barricade the door at the end of the class to stop you leaving - as opposed to ten years down the line when they will be fantasising about stopping you entering.
• 'Dignity' is a state enjoyed by others.
• ditto for 'Personal Space'
• Your enunciation and hand gestures would be the envy of any Childrens T.V presenter.

And you know you're a Kindergarten Teacher in Korea when.......

• the girls where hair accessories that Irish kids would only trot out at Halloween, including pink tiaras, rabbit ears and bow ties precisely half the size of the child's head.
• In order to get the boys' attention one must first confiscate their origami Ninja throwing stars. ( I did not make this up - who could make up something like that?!)
• You toss and turn in bed at night muttering in your sleep: " Ee goy oh?" This is Korean for "Is this it?" Which you hear at least 80 times a day as each student seeks personal reassurance that they are on the right page.

And you truly know that you are a Kindergarten teacher when your day is filled with all of the above and you love every second of it!

Just Plumb Crazy!

I had a great example this weekend of what a daft bint I can be at times! So naturally I thought I would share my foible with the world: I was talking to my sister on Skpe this Saturday. She is just landed back in Ireland after a year in New Zealand topped off with a month in Australia and 10 days in Bali. I had a lovely time hearing a sample of her stories and reflections but when I ended the call I sat back and thought, "Wow, she has had some great adventures!" I was settling in for a nice comfortable bout of sibling envy when it struck me - "What the hell am I doing?!" Am I seriously going to envy my sister's adventure while sitting in my apartment in South Korea!!! For years I dreamed of moving to France, a country where I spoke the language, loved the food and was a two hour flight from home - but I could never quite get my act together enough to take the plunge. Now I find myself in a country where I speak precisely five phrases, recognise about 20% of what I'm eating (and by recognise I mean I can point to it and say that's fish!) and I'm a day and a half from home. I'm so far out of my comfort zone that it is merely a smudge on the horizon - I reckon I'll have all the adventure I can handle and then some in the next 12 months. So in this blog you will get to see the trials and tribulations of this Accidental Pilgrim as I struggle with the language, the culture, the fact that I can't buy shoes!! Meep! Fingers crossed I'll be able to handle it all, and write about it so wittily that I'll keep you enchanted. Ciao for now!