Dog House W/ Patio

Technical Difficulties... I think....

Hey all, I just wanted to post a quick entry that my blog site has been switched to a newer (er, better?) version of its former self.

The downfall to this is that the comments (which now has a better fliter on it -meaning no more penis-enlargement ads?) take a while to show up.... if at all. Mark (who is Nate's little bro) has set up this site and is the one with the answers and is trying to fix it as fast as he can (but he too will be joining the ranks of expatriate Americans soon), so please be patient and be sure to thank him once everything is back to normal (without his help, this site wouldn't exist).

So, thanks Mark for helping me out and I hope that your upcoming move to Japan goes well!

Muddy Scooty Early

I've had a very busy week, so this is going to be one hell of a post. You have been forewarned.

I started off the weekend with a smile on my face as I left my apartment at 1am Saturday morning to meet up with some other crazy folk who, like me, decided it was the best plan of action to stay up all night since the bus to the Boryeong Mud Festival left at 6:45 am. So we naturally stayed in and talked politics and had a jolly good time playing scrabble… yeah right. By the time we got to the bus we were happy to not have to drive, stay awake or use any part of our bodies (except bladders) for six hours. I managed to get off about three shots in the bus with my camera, but as soon as we pulled into the Mud Fest it died on me. Apparently the battery wasn't as charged as I thought it was. Oops. But never fear, lots of people brought their cameras and I have commandeered a few shots to share with you all.

The Mud Fest was hilarious. There were tons of people and most of them were foreign. It was sloppy, good, drunken fun. The first thing I did was jump into an obstacle course where I immediately slipped and landed on my right quad causing me to limp for the remainder of the weekend. Nevertheless, I powered through and had a great time with a great bunch of people. I expect to get more pictures as time goes by, so keep an eye out for other posts.

I returned to work on Monday (somehow) and afterwards met up with Charlie to get his belongings and his scooter (which will now be read as MY scooter). I don't have a shot of me riding it yet, but there will be plenty of those to come. A long evening of getting together and hiring out a taxi that would wait while we loaded up the trunk with everything. I finally got my scooter and took it in to the bike shop that all the foreigners go to (Ulsan Motorbike). Great group of guys there and they give us a good discount. I got it all checked up and ready to roll as well as a new helmet and a bike lock.

I started my summer schedule today, which requires me to be at work at 9am. This isn't too bad but it's much different than coming in at 2pm. I was exhausted but made it through and drove down to the downtown area to run some errands (including picking up the new Harry Potter book in English- a rare find here). It feels good to not spend ten thousand won ($10) to pick up a few items.

Okay, here are some pics:

This is Richard, my director's son. He was wearing this outfit and I had to get a picture of it, he chose the pose.

This was my pet spider in my apartment. He was a good pet, but then he disappeared…

Here's my scooter at the shop.

Here it is after my first solo drive today. Like the helmet?

One of the few pics I got from my camera on the way to mud fest.

Here's a shot of the beach we were on early on. It was packed, but not ungodly so.

A random shot of muddy folk.

Some of the Ulsanites within five minutes. This is while I was holding bags, so I have minimal mud on me.

Kevin, Heather, me, and Tamsyn after the obstacle course. Notice Dara giving me bunny ears. Damn Irish….

Dear God, I have an address

So I finally got an actual mailing address. Its taken me a long time and I finally figured out why:

The Korean mailing system is a little... interesting. The streets have no names ( no, I don't think this is where Bono was talking about) and most of the buildings don't have numbers. Why? I have no idea. So here's the deal, you can send me real mail or packages (hint hint) to my hagwon (or school). Here's what you have to write to get them here:

Ryan Schaffer
GnB English School, 3rd Floor
301-12 Mugeo-dong Nam-gu
Ulsan, South Korea

the numbers actually represent a grid system that only the post office knows. So that makes trying to find someone's place amazingly difficult as you have to meet at shop landmarks. Just another of the many facets to Korean life. I have to admit, it keeps things interesting.

(I like parentheses)

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

Another long weekend in Ulsan has passed. After two nights of staying up until 8 am I woke up Sunday to attempt cleaning my apartment (which failed miserably). I met a group of foreigners under a bridge next to the Taewa River to play Ultimate Frisbee for five hours. It was great to get some real exercise (those of you not familiar with Ultimate are probably scoffing right now, but try it once and then tell me its not exercise). But before that commenced I had a little business to take care of…

So you are now reading the blog of the proud owner of a 100cc Delfino Scooter. I have to pick it up on Thursday morning along with 90% of the previous owner's belongings. I made a deal with him where I get all his possessions and the scooter. So I will now have transportation, a DVD player (that supports Korean DVDs), a toaster oven, a computer desk, a computer (a fast gaming comp that I will sell ASAP in order to recoup some flow on the scooter), and various other accoutrements needed for daily life in Korea. Overall a sweet deal for yours truly. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy at the moment.

This weekend I will be going to the Boryeong Mud Festival. It's a promotional event put on by a cosmetic mud company. All the mud is spa quality, so I will be getting a 48 hour treatment, if you will. Pictures will be taken, don't worry.

On a slightly more serious note: I've had a rare insight to the London bombings being surrounded by Brits. Its amazing how well they are taking it all in. I've spoken with a few people from the London area and gotten their impressions. I have to commend them on their ability to cope and adjust. Their solidarity at such an uncertain time is truly impressive.

Remember the British?

Me either.

I've just been to Gimhae to see Dave for his birthday, celebrate Canada Day, and of course the Fourth of July. It was a crazy time to say the least. But to say the most….

So I started off the weekend by being a little under the weather. My sinuses have been slowly degrading since my arrival and this week was the last straw, apparently. But I purchased some sinus medication at the local pharmacy (an experience to do with no English, I will tell you that) and went about my merry way half-drugged through the streets of Korea. It really wasn't that bad, but there were definitely times where I felt that basic sounds operated on a different frequency than normal (which makes navigating traffic amusing to say the least). You really don't realize how much you use your sense of sound to associate places until you can't differentiate a scooter engine and a mosquito in your ear. 'Why did a sinus med effect your sense of hearing, Ryan?' I don't know, but it worked, so be quiet mosquito.

After another bus ride to Gimhae I found my way to Dave's where I learned that the so called 'martial art' of Tae Kwon Do (I'm sure I didn't translate that right, so forgive me) is, much like all other forms of Korean education, all about rote memorization and regurgitation. So, unless some one comes at you from position 47a of a Tae Kwon Do textbook you will not be able to do anything. Of course this is a generalization, but when you see someone who's about to get their black belt not able to spar with someone, who hasn't even taken a single class, it is a little eyebrow-raising. That said, I now call it Tae Kwon Don't.

After being thoroughly let down by what I'm sure is an exception to the rule we proceeded to have my first haircut in Korea. If you're reading this, you probably know that I'm not the type of guy who pays more than $12 for a haircut. The idea is absurd to me. So imagine my surprise when Dave took me to a place right around the corner from his apartment and I received the best haircut in my life for 7000 won (about 7 bucks). The man (I never caught his name, so I'll call him Raul) spent an hour and a half on my head, and my hair's not long. I got a 'cold shampoo,' which translates to a strange tingly serum that is massaged into your hair and then (I kid you not) beaten into your scalp with a stiff-bristled brush. In a strange sadomasochistic way it was awesome. It's something that you have to experience. But wait, there's more? Oh yes. Then the female helper washed my hair, massaged my scalp even more and I was returned to the chair where Raul continued with what is the most impressive technique I've ever seen of hair trimming. He went around my head with a pair of scissors clipping away at 100 kilometers per hour. It was scary, but cool. The whole time Raul had a look of absolute concentration plastered across his face. I don't think I've ever had someone care so much about my hair before.

Never thought you'd hear me say so much about a haircut, huh? It was that good.

So after that we went to the Canada/ Independence Day Party at Roger's house. I saw my recruiters for the first time since they dropped me off and I once again thanked them profusely for putting me in a good school with a good director (I've now realized that I'm a lucky man for my job placement after hearing some horror stories from other Wayguks). All in all a great time despite not blowing anything up.

I made my way back to Ulsan (after having a strange but great conversation with a Pakastani in broken English- where we discovered we shared the same political sentiments- on the bus ride back) and purchased a fan, some anti-mosquito incense, a real towel, a much-needed Swiffer, and a bath mat. Although they're small creature-comforts they make my place feel that much closer to a temporary home and not just a place to sleep.

News from the scooter front: I drove my first scooter this weekend as well. They're easy and surprisingly fun to drive. The pursuit has now been pushed to code orange.

And now some pictures:

Captain Canada. This best describes the mood of the party. But don't worry, he'll cower if you actually try to get him to do anything worthwhile.

Raul in action. Note the peace sign (you'll see it more, I promise)

Yes, that's him smacking my head with a brush. I could try to explain again, but I don't think I'll save any face doing it.

This has to be one of the few times I've ever had any 'product' (as they call it in the industry) in my hair. It was amusing, but after a haircut like that, you have to let the man finish his vision.

Happy Fourth folks. I miss you all and hope that everyone had a good, safe weekend full of debauchery.