Photos to follow

I've been to the future, and it's a shopping mall. Tom Friedman says the world has become flat. What he doesn't mention is that the flatness of the new world is all the better for the construction of sprawling mega malls such as the COEX (Corea Exchange) Mall that I am in at this moment. It's a spotless shining labrinth of shops, restaurants, theatres, fitness centers and even an aquarium, all kept sparkling by a fleet of janitors on "ride-em brooms" (think of an old person's motorized chair with a big mop on the front). I don't mind it here, though; it is what it is.

I found out this morning that Jean Baudrillard died on March 6th. Appropriately, I was in this mall at the time. (This is appropriate because he theorized mostly about ... uh, the vacancy of images [simulacra] and the ways that they propel capitalism, etc.) He would have called the simulated internationality of the food courts hyperreality, the synthetic reproduction of something that no longer exists or never existed at all, the image of authenticity that has replaced the authentic thing, which was just a concept created to sell the reproduction anyway. It occurs to me that the world has, sadly, become just a little less convoluted with his passing. So, I drank a Starbucks "Rwandan" coffee ironically as a tribute to his memory, or, better, the image I have of what he represented.

I patronized Bandi & Luni's bookstore this morning. I bought Life of Pi. It was on sale for about $15 CDN. Bandi & Luni's, in addition to being rubbery and a little insane, is about twice the size of a Chapters store, and it had a very impressive collection of English books. More titles than, say, Books & Company in Prince George. (What is it with bookstores having &s in their titles? Barnes & Nobles has one too.) To take a seat in the capitalism camp (they're comfier here) for a moment, or just to contradict the apparent leanings of the above paragraph (everyone should contradict themselves at least once a day, my doctor says), I will say that I love giant boxstores. I don't lose sleep when mom and pop stores with half the selection and higher prices go out of business. I cheered for Tom Hanks's store in Sleepless in Seattle. And, yes, I am aware that I related my life to art, but that's an inevitable thing, unless you are the monk (regretably, I cannot specify his specific sect) I saw strolling down the LCD-adorned promenade some hours ago. I wonder what he was thinking? Probably: we're all fools, still.

Here are some pictures.

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Tonight I accidentally ordered a whole chicken. It was 8 dollars or so, so I thought it would be a meal with some rice or something. But no, it was just a whole fried chicken. This is why I usually eat with Matt who speaks and reads Korean. It was good though; it came with a mustard-wasabi sauce for dipping. Usually I eat more healthily. At school they serve lunch and it always rice, soup, random vegetable, kimchi, random fruit, and random meat. I like it. Another really good thing is these stuffed peppers I buy from this stand by my aparment. They are basically big peppers fried in batter, and they are stuffed with something, but I'm not sure what. It seems to be some mix of vegetables and sausage, or possibly intestines.

Last Saturday I saw an Apache helicopter flying overhead. And it appeared to be fully-armed too. Like, with Hellfire missiles and Hydra rockets (the names of these I know because of a SNES game I had in grade 8 called "Desert Strike"). Weird, also, yipes! A not so subtle reminder that North Korea is only 50km away. Although, you wouldn't know this from the map in my classroom, which depicts the Korean peninsula as a single country. Oh yeah, and I've heard you can take tours with the U.S. Army through the DMZ to a small village in North Korea. But it costs 50 bucks (that's like 6 chickens).

I climbed a big hill (or a really small mountain) the other day. It was the first time I was off the pavement since I got here, and it was nice simply for that fact. There is not a lot of greenspace here. And by "not a lot," I mean none. There was a flag at the top, and lots of people milling about. The same other day (Sunday), I was wandering aimlessly (a favourite activity of mine) around noon and I happened upon a small church that was letting out. So I stood there and watched the people, just because ... well, I've never seen a Korean church before. Nothing was really different. People walked out and nodded their heads to the pastor (probably) guy. Then a guy came up to me and said: "what is your nationality brother." I think he meant brother in the religious sense, since he was about 60 and, uh, Korean. Then he asked me if I was Roman Catholic, which I wasn't (and I haven't converted in the 3 days since).

"Prostestant?"

"Yes"

(I guess that's as accurate as anything. I knew it would be fruitless for me to try to explain more specifically. I mean, I can even explain it in English to a native speaker, let alone to myself, so ...)

That was the end of the conversation. He walked off to do Korean Roman Catholic things (Hail Mary Kims?). I didn't take it as a slight. The conversation resolved itself by its own volition, as Jerry Seinfeld would say. It's kind of funny that I take protestantism to be a catchall; whereas, I guess, obviously, it's a major differentiating thing to Catholics.

Anyway, this got me ruminating about the inescapable problem/necessity of belonging to groups. Specifically, the strange ways in which the groups a person belongs to compete for centrality, in terms of defining that person's identity. Like, obviously I don't belong to the large nation-group of Koreans. But, say, I was Roman Catholic, would my Catholicism be more central than my national identity? Would I then be part of a religious group that would be more central than my national-group? I.e., could I be in a Catholic group with Catholic Koreans that excluded non-Catholic Koreans. The answer is yes, of course, although it isn't likely. (The answer is always yes.) The point, however, is that I wonder if identity is like a currency. You only have so many chips to play with, and you're taxed every time you make an exchange. (I don't know why all this money language is seeping in here. It must be my proximity to Marxist countries (well, insofar as communist countries are Marxist, which I think is only loosely or vestigially--Shalandrew can correct me). Anyway, my main point is: blah, blah, blah it's 9:55 and my brain is no longer working properly which is causing me to talk about teenagerish issues such as identity. Also, my foot is asleep. The end.

Or is it? Not if you click on this link to see random hastily-taken pictures of mundane objects!

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Hi, my workweek just ended. Well, not really, because we have training tomorrow at some headquarters place. Anyway, this is the first minute I've had free to post in the last few days. Actually, I wrote a post (below) on paper at my apartment, but I haven't had a chance to type it in here. Anyway, I'm heading out soon with my coworkers and some random people they know. Hopefully I can get a calling card ... and chicken. Also, we might go see 300. I love movies about math.

_________

I am often overanxious at the beginnings of things. That's when there are the most variables floating around and when there are more imaginable dooms. I usually get over it pretty quickly though, and then I mock my younger (by one week) self for his weenieness. So it has been with this latest experience.

The job will actually be pretty easy, I think, once I get the hang of it. I only have 8 kids in my class, and 7 of them are not the antiChrist. Actually, 7 are really good and cute and nice and smart. The job is theoretically only 35 hours a week (althought it was 45ish this week), so, that's pretty good for CDN 2690 per month plus accomodation. By the way, one of the other teachers flaked out, so if anyone wants to come and join me, you're welcome. All you need is a BA and a love of confusion.

Funny story: On Wednesday I had cooking class, and the project involved cutting up various vegetables and arranging them in flower/plant patterns. Unbeknownst to me, one of the vegetables was a fairly hot green pepper. Of course, the kids promptly rubbed this pepper all over their faces and in their eyes, which turned their skin bright pink. Then, after a confused delay while they tried to figure out the source of their discomfort, they cried. And then they cried some more. And that was the end of cooking class. Actually, some of the kids were fine, but they just had to join in because, hey, free crying! It was very cute.

My two remaining coworkers are decidedly cool. (A third is supposed to arrive next week, so strike the above offer.) One guy reminds me a bit of Jason, which is all you need to know about him. Also, he's from Victoria. The other guy, Matt from Seattle, reminds me a lot of Chuck (hi Chuck). He's Seattle Chuck, or Yankee Chuck, or something. He reminds me of Chuck because he speaks slowly and deliberately in a deep voice, he's really tall, and he makes a lot of obscure pop culture references.

Anyway, I have to run (away! run away!) now ... I might polish this post up a bit tomorrow--hey wait a minute, that's not what people do with blogs. Make that: I will foist my stream of consciousness on you! Spellchecker be damned!

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the view from the roof of my apartmentmy flat

toilet/shower

Hello everyone,

Apparently I now live in the world's 2nd largest metropolitan area: Seoul. This is a bit of a strange change considering that in January I was working in Chetwynd, which, respectfully, is the armpit of the world.

I will be teaching an English immersion class for 6-year-olds at a private school these next four months or so. I would have liked to stay in PG, but I couldn't find a suitable job and my listlessness reached the exploding point. Sometimes when overwhelmed by inertia (read: laziness) you just have to make a decision to get out of the rut, even if the decision isn't ideal. Objectively, it was probably a good idea for me to come here, since it will put a good dent in my schooling costs next year. Subjectively, I'd be a lot happier working at a gas station in PG, because then I'd be near Roxanne and other family members. I miss them already.

I was going to write a paragraph here about how hectic my departure was, but Roxanne covered that on her blog. I'll just say that I got an average of 3 hours of sleep over my last 3 nights. I've had two 10-hour sleeps since I got here, so I should be normalish now.

The Korean Air flight was pretty legit. They had about 50 movies and 100 albums you could choose from, plus Tetris and chess, which (theoretically) you could play with other passengers. I watched Flags of our Fathers (terrific!) Casino Royale, Marie Antoinette, and The Prestige. I also listened to Stadium Arcadium, which is surprisingly soothing on a hot plane when you have a headache.

I was quite anxious about using "e-tickets." No, that's not the right confirmation number, please go home; your trip is ruined. I was also leary about entering Korea without a visa, but it turned out not to be a problem. I will go to Japan to get my working visa in a few weeks.

After China, nothing seems overly weird here. One unusual thing, however, is that at night you can see a lot of orangish-red neon crosses. Each, apparently, is afixed to a church. Presumably, the neon bibles are inside.

My apatment is small, but clean, cozy, and efficient. The floors are heated, which apparently is pretty standard here. And they'll probably be heated for a while, since I can't find the thermostat.

Anyway, I'll probably be pretty busy getting settled in teaching next week, but I'll get an update up at some date. Absence makes the heart grow fonder; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (etc.). Still, I miss you all alot--especially Roxanne!!!

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I see your hectic and raise you one bat shit insane. Got a job in Korea some 35 hours ago. Leaving in 3 hours. Eyes hurt. Moors to follow.

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