tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40069970157640776272024-02-21T17:45:24.751+09:00I live in Busan?mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-60112224249875646962007-12-13T12:10:00.000+09:002007-12-13T12:15:28.657+09:00Cyon....Idea...what?The first time I turned on my new cell phone, the startup screen read "Cyon...Idea". Ha, I thought, yet another use of english for the sake of having english there. Then...the phone SANG the words in this weird high pitched robotic voice. I captured it on video and uploaded to youtube. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wwNVPY6hvU">Have a look:</a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-67756738691775031602007-12-13T11:42:00.000+09:002007-12-13T12:02:58.571+09:00Korean PhonesThey do things a bit differently here in Korea than they do in Japan. Actually, alot differently. When I lived in Tokyo, getting a cell phone was an insanely complex process of forms, plans, getting people to translate, required documents, contracts, choosing from about 200 different phones, english menus. With the help of my korean friend Daniel, I ventured out to find a phone for the lowest possible price. I needed only a basic basic phone since I just wanted to send txt messages with it. We hit a couple of stores, hole in the wall kind of places. I settle on a $50 used phone, no idea where it came from. There is no form, nothing, they just pony up the phone and away I go. When I need to recharge credit i just go back into the shop and hand them a $10 bill and they do the rest. <br /><br />Japanese phones were a marvel of technology and complexity, but theres something to be said for an under the table simple phone. Sometimes ass backwards countries have their benefits.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-58837505494257242972007-11-24T17:53:00.000+09:002007-11-24T18:00:42.291+09:00The Women of Dongnae MarketSaturday afternoon was great. I spent it taking photos of the women who work in Dongnae market, a place only 5 minutes from my apartment. I got some great shots of various characters who work at the market, and for once Im happy with the overall results of my photos! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59506002@N00/">Take a look HERE</a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-19818482523762932762007-11-17T17:23:00.000+09:002007-11-17T17:30:59.688+09:00WeirdOn the ferry boat when I met all the teachers, I suddenly heard someone say "Trans Siberian Express". I perked up. It was Dave, a New Zealander. We chatted about it a bit, and quickly figured that we had been on the train at around the same time. Then it dawned on me, I had met Dave once before. When I arrived in Irkutsk last June, after having just come off a crazy 3 day train ride, I spent one night in a hostel there. I got there late in the evening and left early the next morning, but as we talked to eachother it became clear that had already met in Russia. Crazy! He didn't even work in Busan either but in Seoul. <br /><br />Another in a long line of small world stories.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-39503359528542614942007-11-17T17:14:00.000+09:002007-11-17T17:22:52.716+09:00Visit to JapanlandI was in Fukuoka this weekend on a Visa Run. For those who dont know, I didnt enter Korea with a work visa, so I had to leave the country and pick one up, then re enter to get the visa activated. There is a ferry boat that goes from Busan to Fukuoka. Now, upon arrival at the ferry terminal here in Busan, I was expecting a pretty large ferry. The boat, it turns out, is tiny, but its quick. It will only take 3 hours. On the ferry I met a hardy group of English teachers. Dave and Lisa from NZ, Kirsten from England, Micah from the US (non annoying american finally!) and Jen, who was Canadian but was born in Serbia. We instantly got along, and excitement mounted when we found out we were all staying in the same hotel. Sweet. We get off the boat in Japan, and instantly im taken back into the Japanese mindset. Suddenly everything is clean and modern and everyone is polite. Nice. <br /><br />We head to the colsulate and put in our application forms and then take the subway to the hotel. Upon check in we meet up back in the lobby and head out for drinks and food. Many many hours and a waaaayyyy too much beer and sake later we get back to the hotel. Although I spent about $100 bucks that night, it was well worth it to meet some new friends. The next day Jen and I rode back to Korea together on the Ferry since we both had the same departure. Problem was that the sea was rough that day. Really rough. Boy did I get a bad bout of sea sickness. First time ever! The previous night was catching up to me. <br /><br />All in all, it was a good trip. I figured that Id be depressed coming back to Korea after being in Japanland again. Japan is, after all, about twice as awesome as Korea. But actually it was alright coming back. I had a strong sense of returning home. Maybe im finally settling in here?!mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-46812712130344424122007-11-17T17:04:00.000+09:002007-11-17T17:13:58.726+09:00taking a beatingIts no secret that Korean teachers in public schools beat their students, but what I found out about the process was actually really shocking! My middle school class gave me the low down on beatings in the classroom. First, the punishment for girls are smacks on the hand or on the legs with a 18in long piece of bamboo. For boys, they get it on the ass or back. <br /><br />Now, what do the students get beaten for? No, its not disrupting the class, or stealing from the teacher, actually its not for doing anything serious at all. Actually, they get beaten for not doing their homework. They also get beaten for getting low test scores. Shocking! Such a negative way to motivate, the motivation of fear. Its strong, but god how unfair is that...worrying about suffering physical pain if you get a low score on a test. No wonder all Koreans fear authority later in life, its beaten into them from a young age. Even the Japanese, strict though they are, abolished that kind punishment long ago. Korean parents also beat their kids. It could be that Korean adults think that physical punishment is the only way to get through to their kids, and maybe thats true for the most evil and difficult ones, but I had one extremely sweet shy and quiet korean middle school student come into the class with red hands because she forgot to bring her homework to school. I guarantee that beating the poor girl isnt going to help her shy demeanor, nope, its only going to turn her into a more fearful and shy introvert. <br /><br />Would I even beat my students? Ahh, well with some of them I want to but I never would. Never.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-3658600199138819472007-11-17T16:57:00.000+09:002007-11-17T17:04:52.805+09:00Stick DayLast week as I wandered into my kids class I noticed that they all had giant bags of candy stuff. Halloween leftovers? Nope. My kids all come up to me and give me long and colourful candy stuff wrapped in foil. One has bugs bunny on it, the others, a random assortment of anime characters. <br /><br />"Whats this?"<br />"Its Stick Day!!" "Happy Stick day Will!"<br /><br />Now, Stick Day was apparently last Sunday or something. Anyways, I talked to my adult students about it. Apparently Stick Day was the brainchild of the Lotte Corporation in Korea. They made a day dedicated to giving and receiving chocolate covered cookie sticks. Guess what, among billions of other things, lotte makes? Sticks! My co-workers and students all gave me sticks that day. They were fairly tasty. Now, I know that mothers day, for example, is the creation of corporations, but at least we arnt so blatant about it! <br /><br />Im coming back to Canada and starting Stick Day. Guess what the date of stick day is Nov 11. Thats right 11/11. Stick like numbers dont you think. <br /><br />Koreans seem to love stick day.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-18101187564104023172007-11-01T22:16:00.000+09:002007-11-01T22:20:39.075+09:00ZombiesYesterday was Halloween. Its not that I forgot about it, its just that...um, i didnt think that yesterday would be much different than any other at the school. Imagine my surprise when I find that the other teachers have prepared full Halloween parties for their students, complete with goddamn ordered pizza and scary masks. You bet I felt guilty when my students sadly said "Teacher! Where is our pizza! Games?!" Ugh, overachieving teachers are annoying in Korea. I came up with a plan though. I gave the students some lessons in zombie walking, and we marched as a zombie cluster into the other teachers room, and began to eat her classes pizza, as zombies I might add, making a mess of things. <br /><br />The other teacher was super annoyed. Zombie revenge is sweet.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-22507403994587262312007-10-21T11:04:00.000+09:002007-10-21T11:31:05.854+09:00Busan Fireworks FestivalRecently, Id been feeling a bit down on this city. Now, mostly I think this is because I just haven't had the time away from work to see any of the good things, but also it was that the general atmosphere of the place was a little down. Last night though...last night changed my mind. Alex, one of my students and a genuine nice guy, invited me to go to a fireworks show, promising that it would be worth the crowds. <br /><br />It was, without a doubt, the greatest fireworks display Ive ever seen. It was 45 minutes long, it had giant lasers, lights, music, and apparently $3 million worth of explosives. Wow, just wow. The show happened down on one of the beaches and it was the perfect venue for fireworks. About 1km off the beach is a massive suspension bridge, the beach is huge and slopes down quite a bit so everyone can have a good view. There were over a million people watching. Alex told me this was one of the biggest fireworks shows in the world.<br /><br />God, the pushing though. With that many koreans packed in, EVERYONE was pushing. At points I was worried someone would get trampled. After the show it took us an hour just to leave the beach with the crowds, we found a seafood restaurant and drank and ate delicious sashimi korean style. It was a great night.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-73306475348481805292007-10-18T12:54:00.000+09:002007-10-18T13:11:39.607+09:00Photos of KoreaIve got some new photos up on Flickr finally. Check them out on the link at the right. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59506002@N00"></a></span>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-5280124027061316432007-10-18T12:10:00.001+09:002007-10-18T12:21:19.093+09:00My new bossWhen you count the stopovers, I spent 30 hours traveling between Toronto and Busan. Thats a whole lot of travel time. By the time I arrived at Busan airport I was completely exhausted, and really really wanted to get some food and a bed. Andy, my new boss and assistant director of my school, had made arrangements to be there at the airport to pick me up. As I walked out of the baggage pickup I hear "Wer, Wer, oba here! Come this way" <br /><br />Andy is a small man with an extremely strange way of dressing...When I first saw him that day he was wearing a ironed silk shirt and what im sure were pajama bottoms as pants. He also had black dress shoes on. After greeting me, he lead me to the parking lot and to his car. I should point out that at this point I had expected to have a couple of days decompression after such a long journey, so when I got into his car and saw a stack of teaching books with a "Wills new schedule" note written on top, I was worried. Immediately, Andy started in on how I would have to teach the next morning, from a completely new book that I had never seen before, and that I had to look presentable to the students since it was the first day....AND I had to do it at 7AM. <br /><br />I almost jumped ship right there and headed back to the airport. <br /><br />My relationship with Andy was off to a bad start, but over the days, and now weeks, its definitely improved. Aside from day 1, he has been, at the very least fair to me...something I find rare in a boss. Andy speaks really really really really fast in english, and uses about 50 more words per sentence than are needed. A typical Andy sentence goes like this:<br /><br /> "And so, um, like what, so, you should um, like, try to and meeting up with Robin, she new teacher and um, you should meet up with her, and um, and like what and I think you should try to find out and like what to teach for lesson today and like what she should make a new lesson plan for you and making the new plan, this good for you, this ok Will."<br /><br />Which translates to:<br /><br />Get Robin to help you with the new lesson plan."<br /><br />After a couple of weeks with Andy, I gradually figured out how to filter out what he was saying to get to the bottom of things. The hilarious thing is that my new students have actually told me "Oh Andy, his english is so good right??" "I love the way he speaks, its easy for me to understand."mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-40985968407861034942007-10-18T11:46:00.000+09:002007-10-19T12:32:36.755+09:00Pusan or Busan?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyzSPZH6Yj8c73eZf2hkgL6ShXAaZ2Ti4r5_E2YaLqg5HTAbiyzjSfMWfE3GXTPkgyLlWHBzqLem1vJJTOs3Cy-TzGfACHvl0zJzMF9nCpFKtsgxWyoYYsr4CUEQmwBp48-o9cg5Msdg/s1600-h/beach.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyzSPZH6Yj8c73eZf2hkgL6ShXAaZ2Ti4r5_E2YaLqg5HTAbiyzjSfMWfE3GXTPkgyLlWHBzqLem1vJJTOs3Cy-TzGfACHvl0zJzMF9nCpFKtsgxWyoYYsr4CUEQmwBp48-o9cg5Msdg/s200/beach.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122885588394135106" /></a><br /><br />On the morning, at the beginning, of my very first class here in Korea I asked my students...do you spell the name of this city Busan or Pusan? I couldn't get a straight answer. "Sometimes its Busan, sometimes its Pusan." "Well, couldn't someone just decide?" "Well, yes, that would make sense...no one has made such a decision."<br /><br />I find myself in a place which is wholly interesting, and downright confusing. BPusan is a coastal city on the southern coast of South Korea. Its the second largest city in the country with, um, about 3 or 4 million depending on who you talk to. I choose to come here because, well, I had already lived in a massive asian city, and I wanted something a bit more down to earth. The photos of the beaches and cool looking mountains were appealing. I expected something like the asian version of Vancouver.<br /><br />This was kind of a strange expectation, as this place isnt really comparable to anything. Ive been happy enough here, my new job is going well, the other teachers at the school are pleasant enough (although all american), my new apartment is huge by asian standards and only a 5 minute walk away from the school. However, my initial dissapointment in this place on the whole lies in my constant comparasons between here and Japan. Japan had a weird kind of magic, it was something in the place, the people, the history...the girls...I dont know, but whenever I went out of my house in Japan I felt like I was part of some huge futuristic utopia. Korea is a reality check. This country is quite normal by asian standards. Hard working people, busses which are not on time, dirty streets, fruit vendors from the countryside selling on the sidewalk, ugly ugly buildings everywhere...<br /><br />As far as I can tell, Korea is smack dab in the middle of Japan and China, and its culture seems smack dab in the middle of these two giants as well. Like China, Korea is an industrial country with massive factories everywhere...like Japan, Koreans work really really hard. The Korean language, just by its sounds to my untrained ears, is a mixture of Japanese and Chinese. The temples here are a mixture of the classic chinese temple and the sweeping japanese temple. The food is a mixture of the "everything goes into it" Chinese philosophy and the "everything is clean and neat" Japanese philosophy. Weird. A whole country which seems like an exact 50/50 mix of two other countries. <br /><br />I have alot to learn about this place thats for sure!! Ill be posting things a couple of times a week if I can. Look for more photos and stories soon!!mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com83tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-60082614951449915362007-06-15T18:24:00.000+09:002007-06-15T18:27:46.493+09:00beijingafter arriving at the airport I decided id better find a cab to the hostel rather than chancing it on the train. You go into a giant line of other folks trying to get a cab meanwhile on the road infront of you there's a 6 lane highway of cabs all whizzing by. Behind the mini highway is a massive video screen running promo videos for intel, and chinese propaganda films about how great the olympics will be. A dude hauling a handcart carrying garbage walks by a brand new A8 sedan and then someone hands me a little slip of paper and barks "GO THERE NOW!" motioning to an aproaching cab. I get in. The driver speaks no english but I show him the address of the hostel kindly written down in chinese by a girl i sat next to on the plane. I show him the paper and he says ya ya ya and we drive off. I look at the slip of paper that was handed to me before i got into the cab. I have it right here actually. It reads:<br /><br />"Do not get into a cab with more than one person already inside, you may be robbed. The driver may mischarge you or take you to a wrong destination. Please call this number if you notice any suspicios (sic) activity."<br /><br />The driver eyes me throught the rear view mirror as he puts on his seatbelt. I notice that mine has been completely removed from the backseat. Outside the pollution of the city casts a weird foggy haze over incomprehensable billboards of chinese propaganda and commercials for shampoo. Im not in fucking kansas anymore :-)<br /><br />Beijing has been an eye opener thats for sure. This city is the complete polar opposite to Tokyo, and the term third world has a whole new meaning.<br /><br />Yesterday I took a mini bus ride with a bunch of other backpackers to the great wall. We left at 6 am and drove for three hours through beautiful countryside before arriving at an almost intact 12km long section of the Wall. We spent the whole day hiking across it almost totally alone (this place is not regularly visited by the hordes of tour busses). This was just about the best hike ive ever done. The views of the wall snaking through the green mountains were stunning. I took about 300 photos. At the very last part of the wall you are presented with a choice. Walk nearly a km down a mountain path to get to the end point, or take a doggy zipline, which was suspended about 600ft up over valley to the gorge below. I choose the zipline of course. sailing through the air at high speed with a mountain panorama and a very real sense of certain death was...<br /><br />Tomorrow I leave on the trans syberian. A guidebook at the hostel had this to say: "often, russian boarder guards will take your passport and demand a cash compensation for you to get it back. Its advised you carry about $40 in american cash in small bills for these "transactions" while on the train." Actually, I must be getting to the bank before it closes!! With the help of some kind of higher power my train ride should be gravy.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-311955271627528552007-05-31T15:28:00.000+09:002007-06-12T00:49:35.074+09:00I don't live in Japan?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpiEXWhbgJL0sfPrRD94K5DcJU1nH0jmjEiJpDfuxh7CiImXwVWF6s5TXx4zzh2_KJZJsItm60CsYntNWwCO5lTWhffmEsfJL3pCUT6fpvjW7ZK4BEc4543JjHXa2CuppMrv6X7onC8c/s1600-h/06-05-040.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpiEXWhbgJL0sfPrRD94K5DcJU1nH0jmjEiJpDfuxh7CiImXwVWF6s5TXx4zzh2_KJZJsItm60CsYntNWwCO5lTWhffmEsfJL3pCUT6fpvjW7ZK4BEc4543JjHXa2CuppMrv6X7onC8c/s320/06-05-040.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070610684269921362" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ulohKSoLAuAV8EONnJ785Tyt22ZkjQnz9puT6SSu2y059tWRGVLBqJBNgc-MAME50Cs5R5UjiPkibIndcgJjqQW89aktBW9ZW9TMs9zwwliTzRwEr0ierMA5Loz35rf2S67A1bEh1sk/s1600-h/06-00-002.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ulohKSoLAuAV8EONnJ785Tyt22ZkjQnz9puT6SSu2y059tWRGVLBqJBNgc-MAME50Cs5R5UjiPkibIndcgJjqQW89aktBW9ZW9TMs9zwwliTzRwEr0ierMA5Loz35rf2S67A1bEh1sk/s320/06-00-002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070610173168813106" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iozufapiWJXhPNvN2oV5FkxY4GFA0GUKrkAdFvAusthHtqYtM_UCSWweH8FK0LX2Sk7CLV2O-I_Gp5yIwJJ_N3mLGfDTgN3DaMVnYWjYiH1EVmqVCcYzFtij9wCx9tl63QFSqHnmKMI/s1600-h/06-06-046.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iozufapiWJXhPNvN2oV5FkxY4GFA0GUKrkAdFvAusthHtqYtM_UCSWweH8FK0LX2Sk7CLV2O-I_Gp5yIwJJ_N3mLGfDTgN3DaMVnYWjYiH1EVmqVCcYzFtij9wCx9tl63QFSqHnmKMI/s320/06-06-046.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070612015709783138" /></a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-24824990959687850182007-05-09T14:31:00.000+09:002007-05-09T15:43:15.280+09:00Workers<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yq8eHt52lXw"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yq8eHt52lXw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object><br /><br />Today some workers were building scaffolding across from my apartment. I decided to take a video. Japanese people always work hard, and these guys spent hours building up all that scaffolding! Ill stop short of comparing them to ants. Sometimes here you get the sense you're part of some kind of worker collective...mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-55488133980402562482007-05-05T14:57:00.000+09:002007-05-05T15:14:48.608+09:00My StudentsBeing a Nova teacher has its ups and downs. The company itself is shit to work for, but the students who you get to meet are kind and quite interesting to talk to. Working for Nova means that I deal with a complete cross section of different people; middle aged housewifes, rich business men, retired scientists, school teachers, actors, engineers, high school girls. Id like to describe some of them to you, if I can. <br /><br />I have one student who is in his late 70's. He's been learning english at Nova for 5 years and he has never progressed passed the beginner level. He doesnt seem to mind. He's always so amazingly cheerful, although very difficult to teach because he cant hear very well. Once a week he schedules a one on one lesson were he gets the instructor to check his personal journal (which he writes in english to practice). This man has such a simple life. Every day is the same for him. In simple english, he describes waking up, eating, listening to the radio, walking around the block and visiting his bone doctor. Day in day out, he does exactly the same things. A simple, balanced and practiced way of life is very Japanese indeed. <br /><br />Another student I have refuses to be tought the same lesson twice. Once, a teacher did this by accident, and the student went down to the Japanese staff area and yelled at them for nearly two hours. This guy is kinda like that nerdy kid with glasses from another town in your grade 6 class who just didnt fit in and caused alot of trouble. Hes got the same maturity level too, even though hes a father. However, in a country were so many people act the same, its refreshing to see a true character. Another character I have is a student who calls herself "Hime" or princess in Japanese. She believes she's a Samurai warrior. Every Saturday she comes to Nova dressed in her Hakata (martial arts outfit) and carrying her sword. She takes lessons right before Nova. Once I asked if I could see her sword, but she got offended. Once, when I asked her what her job was, she told me "its a secret". Other interesting students include a kindergarden teacher/champion tri-athlete, a man who works for 14 hours a day and has 3 days off per month, a guy who designed the engine for the Honda Accord, and a woman who teaches blind and deaf kids. Honestly, Japanese people are a fantastic lot to teach English to. Always so polite and eager to learn things from me. Ill miss them.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-48050291082762663522007-05-05T14:39:00.000+09:002007-05-05T14:57:05.313+09:00The Japanese Way<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6qmAd5MXgQ8tgQ2v6UvZprebvi72U5ENd0EP5Mt85QCAFibyWtMR4MFB0h43P2T1uIGfFwy7R88y_JchC1sdui4HkRwlA7Jo6UQ5KGladoxSvlhaIeAcdaw22rXtGXVub67MkBGGz60/s1600-h/IMG_1880.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6qmAd5MXgQ8tgQ2v6UvZprebvi72U5ENd0EP5Mt85QCAFibyWtMR4MFB0h43P2T1uIGfFwy7R88y_JchC1sdui4HkRwlA7Jo6UQ5KGladoxSvlhaIeAcdaw22rXtGXVub67MkBGGz60/s320/IMG_1880.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060951501299558562" /></a><br />Its a beautiful day today, bout 26 degrees, sunny. I went for a bike ride around the neighbourhood with shorts, sandals and a tshirt, trying to find a nice park or somewhere to get some sun. After some searching I found a beautiful park with a small lake in the middle quite close to the train station. Such a contrast to cycle through grey concrete apartment blocks and ugly powerlines everywhere to see such an amazing and natural looking park. Such contrasts are everywhere in this country. I cycled around the small lake on a carefully manucured path, and everywere I looked I saw different facets of Japanese life. A young couple holding hands, a bored looking fat man selling Yakitori at a stall, countless families, children running everywhere. At one point my train of thought is broken by a young boy on a small bike who nearly crashes straight into me. "sumimasen!" He apologizes as he rides by. <br /><br />Everyday I spend here I see amazing and fascinating things which I find totally different from anything I knew back home, but today, on this bike ride, I seemed to see it all through different eyes. We are the Japanese. The Japanese are us. We are all the same. We are all humans. For the first time since Ive been here I felt like I had a home and that I belonged with the things I saw around me. Today I wasnt just another gaijin english teacher looking at everything in Japan throgh a mental microscope, looking for strange things to point out. Today I was Japanese.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-49569669461236644622007-04-23T13:20:00.000+09:002007-04-23T13:44:11.943+09:00Panty TheftJapan has a long standing histroy of panty obsession. Anyone reading who's ever seen Anime or Manga comics, knows this obsession well. I see it everywhere in Japan, on TV...panties, magazines...panties, movies...panties. The obsession has alot of interesting offshots in Japanese society: panty shops (for men), used panty vending machines, and panty theft. Thats right, panty theft. This is actually quite a common problem in Japan, because of the aformentioned obsessions, plus the fact that no one here has dryers and everyone hangs their laundry outside. <br /><br />I didn't believe that the problem was so widespread until James and I signed up for our internet connection. In the package of papers and forms, we found a form offering a free wireless webcam. The form explained the benefits of having the webcam, namingly you can catch dirty panty theives by hanging the camera outside and pointing it at your clothsline. Click below for a larger image. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAV1eH9n5hqiB6Sx32-1Iy4Y1oetq0bhU_j217G7t2Owh6ovO8esOG53rznYcxr2dJ-Mpv-9CJzwsuSIAQhNK4lKUssJbwqP8Kaqg4gYrIiBDI36eqA8fLst8CMc_rvz02ehx6PLTb1E/s1600-h/IMG_2385.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAV1eH9n5hqiB6Sx32-1Iy4Y1oetq0bhU_j217G7t2Owh6ovO8esOG53rznYcxr2dJ-Mpv-9CJzwsuSIAQhNK4lKUssJbwqP8Kaqg4gYrIiBDI36eqA8fLst8CMc_rvz02ehx6PLTb1E/s320/IMG_2385.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056478980956474770" /></a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-36618474369736521622007-04-16T12:43:00.000+09:002007-04-16T12:47:34.969+09:00New Photos<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA6hFhexgJ_M8kswssRUxtN-90Pu-V5ry2He5MNBHF8kdFDLLNjJ83e7J1coAXEfZpYRK2T9vTSv1inR2DJU1iLZBbNtl3N2Q5chbQ2IQxNqj160NsPmLuUPF_Frs3H6U9dtAn3oeM5Y/s1600-h/IMG_2090.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA6hFhexgJ_M8kswssRUxtN-90Pu-V5ry2He5MNBHF8kdFDLLNjJ83e7J1coAXEfZpYRK2T9vTSv1inR2DJU1iLZBbNtl3N2Q5chbQ2IQxNqj160NsPmLuUPF_Frs3H6U9dtAn3oeM5Y/s320/IMG_2090.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053867553652262290" /></a>Got some new pics up on Flickr, have a look!mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-14612474631308888432007-04-16T10:39:00.000+09:002007-04-16T11:28:52.038+09:00Lost in Translation Karaoke<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivnNsCJ183YO6T8u1pTCNGup2nXXSuiVts-7Z6PmIMH9hbAxEZNy-zYU1h7m-YBTXPeZY5Rn3AFZqsBfG29z5FuQ1aL76ILKBG-xCzviTO2a0xPUyPveTJzZGTfjpeNYrnNNx2JKfbMng/s1600-h/IMG_2240.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivnNsCJ183YO6T8u1pTCNGup2nXXSuiVts-7Z6PmIMH9hbAxEZNy-zYU1h7m-YBTXPeZY5Rn3AFZqsBfG29z5FuQ1aL76ILKBG-xCzviTO2a0xPUyPveTJzZGTfjpeNYrnNNx2JKfbMng/s320/IMG_2240.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053844996484023650" /></a>Quite some time ago, my friend Finton decided he wanted to do Karaoke in the exact same room as the scene from Lost in Translation. Through the magic of the internet, he found the place and the room that the scene was filmed in. Last night we got a group together and had a wicked time singing Karaoke. We sang lots of the classics, plus I even tried out a Bjork song which was a hilarious disaster! <br /><br />Actually, even though the Karaoke was really fun, and it was super cool to be in the Lost in Translation room, the highlight of last night was when we left Shibuya Station. This part of Tokyo is the one with the giant video screens (like in Lost in Translation, if you've seen it, when Bill Murray is arriving in Tokyo he goes by an intersection and sees a giant dionsaur, that's Shibuya crossing). So we're at Shibuya crossing last night, the light's about to change and thousands of people hurry to make it across the giant intersection. Someone in our group decided (since we were late), to make a break across the street, but as soon as we started running, the light changed. It was us, and only us, running across this massive intersection (the worlds busiest apparently). It felt like we had an audience of thousands of people, set against the backdrop of neon signs and giant video screens. Such a rush! After crossing we all had a good laugh about it, and today as I write this I realize I had yet another unique Japan moment. <br /><br />Heres a clip from Lost in Translation for comparason:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcBgY8eu662n0Z3o5YV6-xBB-i0shtObOS-LR_WTCf7t20fjkWoT4IxbgM_dK9ycE4TotSE0Yl7ToPz9IcWNvI0E_GtZ6qeAOm8_LVFKfqZFGGPQ0u526Vf9QkEgFdhWJHFw42jNRPPA/s1600-h/lost+intranslation.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcBgY8eu662n0Z3o5YV6-xBB-i0shtObOS-LR_WTCf7t20fjkWoT4IxbgM_dK9ycE4TotSE0Yl7ToPz9IcWNvI0E_GtZ6qeAOm8_LVFKfqZFGGPQ0u526Vf9QkEgFdhWJHFw42jNRPPA/s320/lost+intranslation.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5053845185462584690" /></a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-14003339895392163112007-04-03T15:35:00.000+09:002007-04-03T15:50:36.287+09:008mm<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLbqtB2U7_KAJN9oPQYl89-5T-NUShshGflvcNVcbi1G7Vs9OBjJidMRuinrOA5pLG35h1RjGbP3PwqER4P0Y4SRFLfbdOA7WH5rzZjt4ai0ZN_2DqfhYY6ImcB-tL9rMu2_gKXgrwBc/s1600-h/IMG_182.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLbqtB2U7_KAJN9oPQYl89-5T-NUShshGflvcNVcbi1G7Vs9OBjJidMRuinrOA5pLG35h1RjGbP3PwqER4P0Y4SRFLfbdOA7WH5rzZjt4ai0ZN_2DqfhYY6ImcB-tL9rMu2_gKXgrwBc/s200/IMG_182.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049090584868926194" /></a> I LOVE finding cheap electronic bits in Tokyo. Its so fun to cruise around the used camera shops looking for cheap gear to play around with. Awhile back I went into a camera shop in Ginza and found a bin of "broken" camera parts. In the bin I found an old, but quite good quality 8mm film camera. I held it up and took a look, and then the store owner said "no work!" to me. "Ahhhh, can I try it anyways?" I said. <br /><br />I played around with it for about 5 minutes and it magically started working. The store clerk was surprised, and annoyed. The camera was listed for only 2000 yen (about 20 bucks), its worth about 10 times that if it works. He grudgingly sold me the camera for only 2000 yen. Now, an 8mm camera isnt practical at all, but with the right kind of film it can produce some really cool old looking images. Plus, all my favourite film directors ever got their start making movies on 8mm. I decided I'd take the camera with me to Russia this summer...wait...Russia? More on that later...mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-15971925019664363582007-04-03T14:01:00.000+09:002007-04-03T15:23:23.855+09:00Yokohama<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dIg0HYqmrngJUoof1tI60uZzFGifTh-Qri6V-3hu0reT6tvjrXQRfvDKTK17hvcDdm0sVFtzxAblYoAgKZTSZJSIC4p_hwSZ1Gs80-x_zwVLRdbtEzNb1j_b0u_QuZuOw3WYkMKXOlw/s1600-h/IMG_1781.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dIg0HYqmrngJUoof1tI60uZzFGifTh-Qri6V-3hu0reT6tvjrXQRfvDKTK17hvcDdm0sVFtzxAblYoAgKZTSZJSIC4p_hwSZ1Gs80-x_zwVLRdbtEzNb1j_b0u_QuZuOw3WYkMKXOlw/s320/IMG_1781.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049069651198325410" /></a><br />I went over to Yokohama on my last day off. Its about an hours train ride from Tokyo. Now, Yokohama is a pretty cool place, but the first thing I noticed when I got there was that the giant ferris wheel on the waterfront (second largest in the world I think) has a super big, ugly digital clock on it. It instantly reminded me of this little gag from an old Simpsons episode when they go to a future London and Big Ben as a giant digital clock plastered on top of it. <br /><br />Yokohama reminded me of Halifax in this weird way. A seaside city, more low key than Tokyo (on second though, any other place on Earth is more low key than Tokyo). Shipping docks, some red brick buildings on the waterfront. The downtown of the city felt very North American, more so than any other place Ive been in Japan. I could sorta mentally pretend I was back in Canada...until I found Chinatown. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Fzuw9tL-BkGPgWkd09fKb8apgrK6bwwckYOk-NzpT_HmOVeh7B3-VizCheu5YvU77Dt0lvef9u2LUB0LsMzj-oUQMSdJYbE7tbL5xIjCdl7tFjfFKG8_y_0xkc8pe5CQedJRDTa-99M/s1600-h/IMG_1822.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Fzuw9tL-BkGPgWkd09fKb8apgrK6bwwckYOk-NzpT_HmOVeh7B3-VizCheu5YvU77Dt0lvef9u2LUB0LsMzj-oUQMSdJYbE7tbL5xIjCdl7tFjfFKG8_y_0xkc8pe5CQedJRDTa-99M/s320/IMG_1822.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049070110759826098" /></a><br />Yokohama Chinatown is the largest one in Japan. Walking around it was surreal. Like everything in Japan, they took the concept of Chinatown and made it Japanese...namingly clean and organized. It was like Disneyland. New looking shiny buildings, resturants and jewelry stores, all at tourist prices. Nice place though, fun to cruise around. I got some good snaps.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-32065620064786493942007-04-03T13:10:00.000+09:002007-04-03T13:36:41.550+09:00Blossom Party<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXdFu78yCf3CHOdCTOnTCC08HT1-Xv8oh9e110gg4D4-8aZvLGktqCVranFGJyFnnc_P5jKC41dMIPLW0WIMePUbmH2kFRVosQSoBAuE5OnYBfZD9uu2Ewl3N2He2znATb3097jOh_2U/s1600-h/IMG_1686.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXdFu78yCf3CHOdCTOnTCC08HT1-Xv8oh9e110gg4D4-8aZvLGktqCVranFGJyFnnc_P5jKC41dMIPLW0WIMePUbmH2kFRVosQSoBAuE5OnYBfZD9uu2Ewl3N2He2znATb3097jOh_2U/s320/IMG_1686.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049055095554159218" /></a>Tis' the season for "Cherry Blossom Watching Parties" in Japan. Yeah it sounds boring, but its really anyhin but. Right now, billions of cherry trees all over the country are in full bloom. All the parks of Tokyo are whitish pink, and in some ways it reminds me of looking at snow covered trees. In Japan, the cherry blossom season is a big deal. Thousands of Japanese crowd the parks to watch the blossoms, or in other words, get really drunk. In true Japanese fashion, there are specific numbered zones in the park were you are allowed to sit, as well as thousands of garbage bins everywhere to make sure so one commits the deadly sin of littering. Some friends and I went down to Ueno park the other night to take part in the festivities. What a great experience! <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5gQsJgjmoPPZPwpB8RYu2GMcGymbUylOns2yLwASIdH_etBmIl3Kc_5jOqgyg8aB7ADnQ_Rw63zTWaKWF4GvTVUQpWRxLJNLafuhyphenhyphen6RpALl81epNDfIj06Qm9ZEMsFvog9Y5qPR3Xds/s1600-h/IMG_1698.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5gQsJgjmoPPZPwpB8RYu2GMcGymbUylOns2yLwASIdH_etBmIl3Kc_5jOqgyg8aB7ADnQ_Rw63zTWaKWF4GvTVUQpWRxLJNLafuhyphenhyphen6RpALl81epNDfIj06Qm9ZEMsFvog9Y5qPR3Xds/s320/IMG_1698.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049055271647818370" /></a>We sat down next to a large group of Japanese folks. I think they were all part of the same family. As the night went on, they kept offering us free food and Sake. Later, a guy with a guitar came up to us and started singing the whole group Japanese folk songs. The Japanese we were sitting with were generously giving him 1000 yen bills all night. All told, he probably earned about 200 bucks! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWJ054fWyQtzZ9G7iViuBRx_dfwHtdPiJVAT6L5HRqM297D2Q9oZiu8RITgGh2G6VjDd2aiDoJPSLfuBFe_Lv7-AhUiAPEFstqhMCWnxVLcrZhWPMYohnLmNxLXDvB2RjyYrzjDy-_Fw/s1600-h/IMG_1673.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWJ054fWyQtzZ9G7iViuBRx_dfwHtdPiJVAT6L5HRqM297D2Q9oZiu8RITgGh2G6VjDd2aiDoJPSLfuBFe_Lv7-AhUiAPEFstqhMCWnxVLcrZhWPMYohnLmNxLXDvB2RjyYrzjDy-_Fw/s320/IMG_1673.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5049055838583501458" /></a>mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-43282131233724104252007-03-31T10:39:00.000+09:002007-03-31T10:41:57.475+09:00Internet hookupThere are a ton of blog entries that Ive been planning to write, but I didnt get the chance over the last couple of weeks since my Internet connection has been out of order. Now its back! Expect loads more photos and posts over the next couple of days! Ive had about 1000 page views since I started writing this blog, and about 600 unique visitors. Thanks for reading!mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006997015764077627.post-293599168674289542007-03-31T10:22:00.000+09:002007-03-31T10:38:59.456+09:00How big is Tokyo?I was talking to a friend from back home on the phone the other day, and I had an interesting time trying to describe Tokyo to him. "You can't just look at pictures of it to understand it, you've gotta see it in motion", I told him. Tokyo is a city that stretches on forever. Just when you think you've reached the edge, it somehow keeps on going. Ive lived here for months and Ive seen maybe 5% of it. Its not so much the land mass of it, its the density. For example, 35 million people live in Tokyo and the surronding cities (GTA-Greater Tokyo Area). That would be like taking the entire population of Canada, all the apartment and office buildings, all the houses, all the roads, power lines, all the towns, cities, and roughly half of the cars, and packing them into an area slightly larger than the size of Toronto. <br /><br />To some, this might sound scary, but you get used to it. There are two main things that are annoying about living out here actually. There are no trees anywhere, and the trains stop running at 12.mcdoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18245235690502977455noreply@blogger.com2