Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The APPT Seoul

This isn't actually a post about poker. But good friend Ed happened to qualify for the tournament so shipped himself over for the weekend. Luckily for me he went out in the first day, but that meant we had all weekend to spend together; clearly that's why he qualified in the first place, right? ;)

Actually, mutual university friend Sun-Ho is also in Korea taking up holiday visiting family. Being a poker fan he spent much of Thursday evening swooning over professional poker players (while I'm sitting there at the open bar going, "Greg who now?"), but also being a fan of the salsa dance, I took the boys out to Caliente on Friday night to check out Sun-Ho's new moves. Speaking of which, it's the 2008 Salsa Congress in Seoul next weekend, but no doubt there will be more on that nearer the time.

So there was Insadong and Changdeokgung and Seoul Tower and the War Museum, but more than anything else there was silliness and geekiness.

Which reminds me of the "Rolling Ball" exhibition. Some geeks got together to present their marble rollers. It was amazing. Not to mention the weekend stay in the Sheraton Walkerhill hotel. So I was late to work on Monday morning, but I did have a good breakfast...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Leaving season

I've mentioned once or seven times that it's leaving season. That is, lots of people are leaving Korea right around now. Yet another one just left this morning, and I guess with the end of my original contract approaching it feels strange not to be following suit.

With Joey and Helen leaving for their honeymoon yesterday there seemed to be a need to give extended goodbyes to everyone at the end of the night, despite the fact everyone would see each other in a few days time. The dance studio has been my sanction from small children these past six months, and to me I guess it just feels a bit like the end of an era.

Actually not everyone shares my feelings. I spoke to a friend who has been here a decade or two, and he just said that people leave so often it comes as no surprise anymore. In fact he went so far as to say at one point he and his wife just gave up trying to make friends, as they'd only be leaving soon anyway. When I first arrived in Korea I was warned about people leaving all the time, but it's only now that I'm really noticing it.

Still, new people come as much as they leave, and I'll just be following the trend next year too...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Salsa workshop

Has been a weekend of dance, and with You Can Dance instructors getting married today, no doubt there will be more to follow.

Canadian salsa and swing champions Gerald and April are currently in Seoul, and put on some dance workshops this weekend. The salsa workshop I attended was a really good experience, with a focus on technique and leads. Also to give the regular instructors some time off before their wedding, they taught the Saturday night salsa classes which, as great as the classes usually are, was just a bit refreshing to have a different perspective and teaching style. Watching them dance together during the social dancing was just amazing.

In other news, still slogging through university applications...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Chuseok: discovering the wonders of the Seoul bus system

I take the bus three stops down the road every day to work, turning a 40 minute walk into a five minute ride. Other than this I've found the subway to be very convenient for taking me elsewhere in the city; it's clean, fast, and all the maps have English translations. I've even heard other foreigners go so far as to wonder why you would ever need to take a bus, and that they wouldn't know how.

After having had my attention turn to this convenient website (use with IE), I've started to be more adventurous with my bus travel. Travelling south of Seoul for the Korean harvest festival - Chuseok - to visit family, it was a good opportunity to avoid a four-transfer subway trip in favour of a direct bus all the way there.

Regarding the holiday, hanging out in the countryside was definitely what I needed after a long stint in Seoul, but I did feel mildly awkward not being able to follow my hosts' break-neck speed conversations! With an extra day off on Monday to play with, I went to see Mamma Mia: the Movie with my cousin. Once I got over how incredibly lame the storyline is, it was actualy quite entertaining. And just to note: I love popcorn in Korea! Having a mix of salted and caramel HOT popcorn is a much better idea than drying out your mouth with just one or the other that British cinemas insist you eat!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Recreational mathematics

I've become a sucker for evening logic puzzles. It makes me the victim of disdain in social drinking situations, impatiently waiting for me to join in the conversation and put the notebook away, until math-tutor-David imposes said problems on the whole table.

The starting problem:

Three applicants for a job are all equally qualified. In order to distinguish between them, the employer presents them with a fair test. Each applicant is blind folded and seated facing one another in a triangular shape. The employer has three black hats and one white hat. He places one hat on each of the applicants and toss the other one out. When the blindfolds are removed the first one to state his or her hat colour will get the job.

Before the blindfolds are removed, one applicant states that he knows his hat colour and he knows why. What is it and why?

[I think this problem would have been a lot easier if I'd seen it written down rather than verbally...it's easy to forget information when there's beer involved...]

The current problem:

There are seven prisoners, each to be executed tomorrow. The warden presents them with a chance to save their lives. Before the execution each prisoner will be chosen at random to enter a room. In the room will be two light switches. The light switches serve no purpose. The prisoner must flick one switch once. When a prisoner can tell the warden when he knows all seven prisoners have flicked a switch, they may all live. They have one evening to discuss the problem. What should they do?

Since I'm that kind of fair-play kind of player, I haven't looked any answers up online. Of course now I've written them online, I'm potentially subject to spoilers. Just stay smug in the knowledge you know something I don't (yet), ok? :P

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Giving in to pressure

The argument:

With society having moved increasingly towards a 2-parent working family, schools need to support the needs of working mothers. With the English learning boom of the past few years, competition from English language hagwons, and new regulations for all public schools to have English teachers, this kindergarten is under pressure to keep up.

The solution:

There is a 'day-care' class for children whose parents work and are unable to pick them up from school in the afternoon, where they play, read books, do occasional cooking (sorry, 'cooking') and use building blocks. "To support working mothers" the principal wants to introduce another English class to encourage parents to keep their children at school in the afternoon. And guess who has to do it?

Initially I gave an outright "no". I know it's not a big deal - I just have to read them a story and maybe do some 'fun' story-related activities, but it's just another thing I don't want to do, and frankly, another thing the kids don't want to do after several of them having already spent an extra two hours English lessons after a full day of Korean studies. This is let alone the day-care teacher who has already made all her plans and now has to fit in a farcical story time. Unfortunately this is well within contractual hours, so I don't have much of a leg to stand on when I try to object, though I got some sighs from other Korean teachers when they heard I finally agreed.

Actually, I don't really mind, now. It's easy - I can just read them a story, and as long as I fill the time I guess no one really cares what I do with it. It's not like I can complain given all the slave-driving hagwons out there. It was just the principle of the thing. "Now that my elementary class has been cut I have ALL this free time, so I can do another class." It sounded like they were working me for the sake of it. But since there is this highly convincingly dubious argument to persuade me I roll my eyes and give in.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Things I haven't done for a while

I mentioned my dislike for Itaewon, but it certainly has its perks. On Friday night David asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. I said bangers and mash. You can get "sausage" here in Korea, but often it's the processed frankfurter type. I certainly have not had mashed potato in nearly a year. Gecko's Terrace it was then. It's all about the gravy.

I also mentioned it is leaving season. Another friend is off on Wednesday so some mutual friends threw her a small get together at the Ritz-Carlton in Gangnam on Saturday night. I haven't hung out at a private party drinking wine and listening to music since being in Korea. Admittedly Koreans tend to live with their parents and teachers tend to live in tiny studio apartments, so going out tends to be a more practical option than staying in. I don't think I've really even drunk wine in Korea - it's all been about the cheap Cass lager. But last night the weather was gorgeous; perfect for a bit of socialising among good friends and balcony dancing.

Another (another) friend just returned to Korea after two months at home, so it was back to Itaewon for some dancing at the Hard Rock Cafe. Most people I meet here say that they drink far more than they ever did at home. My lager intake has certainly gone up, but my all night partying (and tequila intake) has taken a down slide since uni. Last night was an exception though. Apart from salsa, I don't go out clubbing that often. But it was great. Haven't danced like that in a long time.