Snow / Staff Meeting / Shilom Jjimjilbang / Santacon

So the temperature in Daegu dropped the last couple weeks.  According to the long term forecast it should get back to normal winter temperatures in a week or so.  Hopefully.  The ski season has already gotten off to a good start here this year (as of Monday the 10th 13 of the 23 slopes at the YongPyeong ski resort).  We had our first snow here in Daegu on Friday, see the photos of my students going mad.  It was cold enough that it froze and settled really quickly, after about an hour and I got a message saying other schools had cancelled classes (sadly not mine though).  Even the snow did not stop the korean election demonstrations in the street (I imagine they're saying something like "dancing for democracy" or "Candidate 3 Style Freestyle").

WE LOVE ( CANDIDATE ) 69!

Later on was the staff Christmas party at the Daegu Grand - so ancient and historic it can trace its history all the way back to 1989.  The company had hired out a room with a buffet for the 50 or so staff, the teachers were split into 6 teams (5 korean, 1 with all the foreigners).  There was also a table for school principles and local 'celebrities' - the big name this year was the Mayor of Suseong-gu.  Me and the other waygooks practiced quickly outside then settled in to an alcoholic beverage (or dozen).  One of the coteachers had made a delicious plum/soju mix, and we when we ran out of booze we ordered some more.  As you can see we certainly managed to make a dent.   



There was a korean MC (who spoke no English).  Each team performed and I got a few videos - they ranged from 'sexy' singing/dancing, a Pink Ladies comedy sketch, a blacklight glove show and our 아줌마 파워 dance to "Sexy and I Know It".  There was Gangnam Style, and 'sexy' kpop, then white people dressed as old korean ladies.  My Thursday coteacher definitely took a video, so I will try and hunt one down.  In the mean time enjoy the videos I got of the other groups (and the awful pictures of our performance).  After that there were a bunch of weird korean games (lots of rock, paper, scissors, back massages, shouting 야! and the occasional bum pinching from my boss..) and a few other things lie a triathlon (with skipping, kicking up a ball, blowing up a balloon and popping it between two people) and an word guessing game where Chris acted out stuff for us to guess.  We won that one easily (but probably only because we luckily picked the group of cards without anything that was just Korean written out in english).  Finally we ended with a raffle.  I won a shampoo set!  By this time me and Paul were shouting Fisting instead of Fighting so it was probably time to leave!  Grabbed an unopened bottle of soju and butter from New Zealand and headed downtown to spend our 50k for winning Charades.

Had a few hours in bed then caught the train up to Seoul (had to get up just after 6am to make the 7am KTX).  First stop was the American Diner at the east end of 이태원.  If you're ever there I wholeheartedly recommend the spicy bacon omelette.  Had a nap/made up for lost time with Matt and let the omelette digest - (Richard Copycat's American Diner is along near the junction near Noksapyeong station and the Welcome to Itaewon arch).


After a little hunting online I came across this wonderful blog and a second here about Siloam Spa (실러암 찜질방).  It's halfway between 서울역 and 충정로 (map) - if you're at the AREX entrance, go out the nearest entrance and immediately turn right.  It's less than 5 minutes walking north, at a big junction you can see it across the road.  The mixed part was really good - hot jade, hot and warm salt, ice room and a superhotigloo style.  


The men's part had : 

• soil/mud bath (will look closer to find out what that was)
• massage pools (a bank of 4)
• hot salt sauna (there was a big wooden bowl with salt in it for you to cover yourself in.  It's meant to be good for respiratory illnesses and the skin due to the 82 trace elements found in your average spoon of sodium chloride.  I was a little bit too close to it when an old man decided to salt his front with his crotch right near my face.  sexy).
• jade hot tub (apart from the famous use in China, it was also used in burials and weddings in Korea.  During the 신라 period it was also used for crowns)
• mugwort tub (Chinese Mugwort or 쑥 (ssuk) as it's called in Korean has long been used in traditional medicine.  It is burnt during acupuncture to warm up the surrounding region to stimulate Qi flow in a process called Moxibustion)
• waterfall bath (really good, you could just move around while the hot water pounds down)
• backbone massage jet (you lie on a massage table with your head through the hole to breath and hit the button on your right.  heaven).

Lastly there was Santacon, ended up at the sauna too late to make it for the actual walk - had dinner at a galbi restaurant that Matt introduced me to in Hongdae (it was written up in the New York Times) which is right next to the square where we took the photo last year.  Sadly we didn't see them (they must've decided on another place for the photo).  We still saw smaller groups later on.  

수성 Christmas Tree

Kinda gutted I'm going to be missing the Daegu Santa walk this weekend but I'm looking forward to Jonas' Birthday Bash as well as the Tim Burton Exhibition in Seoul.  Honestly the bit with the group is really the only fun bit - once it gets messy (and everyone is in Hobar) it's not really my thing.  After stumbling home at 2am and getting up at 6 to leave for Seoul Matt and I were pretty much both done by 1am which is kinda a poor showing.  It got me into the Chritmas spirit, and I got to hang out with a bunch of friends, Matt and I even got chatted up by 2 girls from Canada and Middlesborough which was certainly amusing.  Matt asked me which one I'd "go home with if [I] didn't have a choice).  Turned out he would've picked the Brit and I would've chosen the Canadian.  Guess that's how it worked out anyway.  :-P

Next weekend is the lovely Deva's and Jona's birthdays, and the Tim Burton Exhibit.  Can't wait!

Everland Theme Park and Wicked!

Headed up to Seoul right after work Friday - caught the 22:06 train which was a mistake as the subway had closed by the time we got up. At Choi's Guesthouse we met a lovely girl from Lebanon who spoke English, French, Arabic and was learning Korean - puts most people to shame!  Got up very early and headed out to Everland!

No Frothy Beer or
Aliens Allowed

Is this Lacist?

Transport info: Got to Everland by catching the express 5002 bus from the middle of the street near exit 4 of Gangnam station. Got back by getting a different bus 1500-2 to Sadang station - it was 10 or 15 min longer but we weren't standing all the way. This year the Everline from Giheung Station should open (it's ready, trial runs went fine last year but the owners were concerned it would make a loss until the Shinbundang line opened). There was a short shuttle from the bus station (also where the Everline ends) to the entrance. The shuttle bus also goes to the water park Caribbean Bay (I'll have to go when I get back to Korea, especially if everyone there is fit and oiled up like the advert).

T Express - 77 degree drop, 104 km/h,
Get your QPass tickets as soon as you get there!

Plastic Sheets
- Amazon
Experience

Ghost Bedside Reading

The ticket office opened at 9:30, gates at 10 so there was quite the crowd outside (top photo). A band of foreigners played while they opened up and everyone rushed in. We immediately went to the back of the park where the wooden T Express rollercoaster is in the "European Adventure" region (see this video). We picked up a Qpass then went on and it was my favourite ride there. 77 degree angle drop, 104 km/h and most of it being thrown out of our seats. Tried taking a photo of us pulling cute faces but were told off :-( Picked up a Qpass for Amazon Experience and then went back on the T Express. It was just as great as before but the very back was the best, possibly due to the momentum of the train.

Mirror, Mirror....

Next on the Amazon Experience which was a white water rapids style ride but each "boat" was made up of 6 wedges which could move semi-independently and were covered so you didn't get too wet (although this is really the point of these rides!). See this video. The rest of the rides were pretty fun, nothing particularly special. The haunted house had amusing books in the fake library - The New Jewish Encyclopedia, The Black Military Experience in the American West, Poems from the Middle East.

We saw the splash water show which was very, very.. wet. Honestly I've seen less water spray in the Victoria Falls rainforest. We caught animal shows - including one with a monkey named after a Kpop group JYP. The seals, penguins, tiger and two polar bears all looked well looked after and happy. Not at all shell shocked like the polar bear at Edinburgh Zoo. The African area was a little racist but had some fun animals. Thankfully I did not give any monkeys boners this time, maybe I wasn't looking my best!

            Splash Fun Parade - I could only do their job high.....

Almost front row and Center

On Sunday we went to see Wicked (on until August 31st) at the BlueSquare Music Hall which is connected to Hangangjin station near Itaewon. Our seats were good, but a little high and far from the stage. Still the show was excellent. No photography allowed, but I was sneaky.  Also I admit I was not close enough to take the photo on the right :-)

Seoul

Headed to Seoul last weekend, usual Friday-night-in-Hongdae-out-until-6am business.  Tried out a couple new clubs (theres this tiny one, almost a literal translation of when the french say boite (box) for nightclub thats always PACKED).


Saturday we headed back to the war museum (last time we just went to the bodies exhibition).  Its quite an impressive building, with loads of stuff including giant wooden boats.  Its free too so would definitely recommend it.  After we had lunch in Itaewon, had drank coffee and caught up with Paul for the first time in ages.

Sunday we hit the Samsung art museum in Itaewon which was worth it just for the building architecture and the GIANT SPIDERS that looked like something out of war of the worlds.  I got shouted at for taking photos in the gallery (when I was caught I was actually taking a photo of the spiders outside but apparently  no photos means no photos) so have now invested in a silent camera app that doesn't make this obnoxious fake camera click sound.  Whoever invented that should be hung and drawn.  Or photoed for hours and so subjected to the irritating sound he created until his ears bleed.