Year 1 - World Cup 2002 memories

I was fortunate enough to be in Korea while the World Cup was here. I have watched every World Cup as far back as I can remember. I never thought I would be able to watch a game in person. As the email I posted showed I wasn't disappointed.

I know when most foreigners talk about World Cup 2002 and Korea they aren't favourable towards Korea. Me? Well, I had a great time. I enjoyed watching Korea play and the festivities around it. I REALLY enjoyed the festivities. :)

My co-workers and I watched every game from Korea vs Portugal on at the same samkyubsal restaurant. They had a projection screen. The place was PACKED. It was just fun. We met some nice people and shared a lot of soju with strangers.

Yes, there were some lousy calls but they weren't all in favour of Korea. (I wanted Korea to go as far as possible because it meant the partying would continue.) The Italians particularly irked me. The BS with Ahn JangHwan. The whining because Totti, who was notorious for diving, getting red carded for ... diving. They were acting as immaturely as Koreans often do when something goes against them.

Fondest memories?

The live game in Ulsan of course.

The chick who snogged me after Korea beat Spain. Everyone was celebrating. Strangers shaking hands and some hugging. This cute chick hugs me and starts kissing me. And it wasn't a little peck on the cheek. It startled me at first. We exchanged phone numbers and made plans for a date. (Of course it turned out she just wanted to practice her Englishee. She wanted her boyfriend to join too, he was the guy who shook my hand and thanked me for cheering for Korea after I finished kissing her. Strangee.)

A guy sporting wood riding on the roof of a truck. Cars were all over the place after the games. Lots of Korean flags flying out windows. One pick-up truck was meandering down the street with a guy getting his groove on. Matt noticed the guy either had a hard on or stuffed his pants. Matt noticed stuff like that.

The family that ran the mart in my apartment building. They were such nice people. Still are. I go there from time to time. The mother was always slipping us vitamin drinks in the morning. Or some bacchus for energy. After a hard night of partying that was always welcome. For the Korea-Spain game we painted our faces up. The grand kids were at the store so we did them too. Soon we had strangers asking to be painted.

The partying. It was just pure good fun. I can't recall any mooks ruining things. There were mooks, you can't avoid them here, but they were low key.

Ok, one incident with mooks does come to mind. You knew one would. As I said we went to most games at the same place. We pre-booked our table. If you didn't you wouldn't get one. We invited some friends to come as well. BumSuk brings a gaggle of Koreans. His sister, her fiance, some friends. All in all about 5-6 extra people. Friends of theirs come and go. They ALL left without leaving ANY money to pay. Hilda and I ended up with a bill of around 150,000 won. All of the bastards ate and drank ... and buggered off.

We told BumSuk that he could come next time but not to invite anyone else. The ricetard brings his sister and fiance again. Friends pop in again and they all manage to bugger off leaving a whole 20,000 won with BumSuk to pay for their share. Needless to say BumSuk was not invited anymore. (Ok, I didn't invite him anymore but Hilda stupidly still did. I made sure to keep a separate bill for myself.)

All in all I had a great time.

Mook of the Week

Yea though I walk through the shadow of the valley of Mooks I shall fear no Mook because I have a shiny object.

Welcome to the latest installment of Mook of the Week. What a week it was. I actually encountered THREE candidates for Mook of the Year! It was hard to decide which one to use as Mook of the Week. After some deliberation Stig and I concluded the decision could only be made in the traditional Korean manner. Rock, Paper, Scissors. Thus we have our winner.

I was meeting my adult students at Dunkin Donuts for coffee instead of using the classroom. Being me I was VERY early. So I picked the best seat to observe the world outside. The same seat I saw last weeks Mook of the Week from. And it didn't disappoint.

While the light was red the Yellow Mook drove into the crosswalk and stopped. You could tell by the way he stopped that he was either going to pull a U or run the red and turn left. Then the green walk light came on. At this point he was just a typical mook. Blocking a crosswalk. Then he started moving forward. While people were using the crosswalk.

At this point he is through the crosswalk and out in the street. He stops. People are still crossing. A woman and child are just starting to cross. The green to walk isn't even flashing. It is still solid. Then he cuts his wheels and goes to finish the U-turn.

He came close to tagging the mook in the car who had been edging out even though the light was red. Thus blocking the other crosswalk. And even though he should be able to see that people are still using the crosswalk he stepped on the gas and sped off.


If ever there was a poster boy for Mooks this ricetard is it.

You sir, are the mookiest mook that ever mooked.

What the ... fan death?!?!?

Lousy asked for some guest writer to do something on fan death. If I didn't have my own blog I would have submitted this to her.

Fan death is a phenomenon peculiar to Korea. No other country believes in or suffers from this ummm what is a good word to use? Stupidity? Extreme lapse of logic? Problem! This problem. :)

Basically, Koreans believe that if you leave a fan (or air conditioner) on in a room with the windows closed you can die. It does this in various ways.

1) It creates a vortex that sucks out all the oxygen from the room creating a vaccum. (But if the room is sealed where does the oxygen go? )

2) It chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe. (Who knew fans could split molecules!)

3) The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide. (Except that fans don't create carbon dioxide.)

4) If the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing them from breathing. (Wouldn't that be blow the air away? And what avout the air it replaces it with?)

5) Fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. (Ummm ... yeah. )

6) Fans contribute to prolonged asphyxiation due to environmental oxygen displacement or carbon dioxide intoxication. (Mind you HOW really air tight is your apartment?)

7) That fans directly on the body deprives "skin-breathing," leading to suffocation. (Bwahahahahahaha!!!)

The Korean government and media perpetuate this myth every year. In fact the Korean Consumer Protection Board actually issued the statement:

"If bodies are exposed to electric fans or air conditioners for too long, it causes [the] bodies to lose water and [causes] hypothermia. If directly in contact with [air current from] a fan, this could lead to death from [an] increase of carbon dioxide saturation concentration [sic] and decrease of oxygen concentration. The risks are higher for the elderly and patients with respiratory problems. From 2003 [to] 2005, a total of 20 cases were reported through the CISS involving asphyxiations caused by leaving electric fans and air conditioners on while sleeping. To prevent asphyxiation, timers should be set, wind direction should be rotated and doors should be left open."

They actually said asphyxiation from electric fans and air conditioners was among South Korea's five most common seasonal summer accidents or injuries. Of course there were no autopsies to confirm this.

Ask a Korean did look into the idea of fan death. He believes he found proof it can happen. He did a good job looking into it and presenting his opinion. He actually may have found a reason to fear fan death. Unfortunately the reason he found ISN'T the reason why Koreans fear fan death.

Nor have there been any deaths proven to be caused by it. They just believe the BS they were handed down by someone older than them and repeat it no matter how stupid it makes them look. Sometimes it seems that Fan Death is just used as a way for the police and media to explain a death by unknown reasons. Several students (adult) have said that it is used in cases of suicide to cover it up.

Ever notice that no foreigner has ever died of fan death in Korea? But how could that be? Because when a foreigner dies there must be a full and proper autopsy (as I was told when a friend died). I guess foreigners are either stronger than Koreans or no Korean doctor would be stupid enough to sign off on fan death as a cause of death on an international death certificate.

It kind of reminds me of the "reason" why many Koreans shut off their lights when they actually stop for a red light. They believe it saves wear on the battery. No scientific fact behind it. Much like many of the problems Koreans have with Mad Cow Disease. Little fact and lots of fiction. And you just can't discuss these things rationally with them.

Once someone older has told Korerans something it never enters their mind that it might be wrong. Korean schools teach that there are only 6 continents not 7. I had students argue black and blue in the face that there are only 6. It didn't matter how much evidence to the contrary you showed them. It came down to the fact an older Korean authority figure told them so it must be true.

Whether it is a fact that diverges with reality or something silly like fan death Koreans grab on to the nugget and just can't let it go. Only in Korea.

What the ... traffic violation?!?!?

HT to Marmot's Hole for pointing out K-Popped's post.

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in Korea should know the disregard Koreans have for traffic laws. Whether it is running red lights, doing illegal u-turns (which is kind of amazing because there are legal u-turns in Korea), driving through crosswalks, moronic parking, or any other kind of violation. They occur on a daily basis.

Anyone who follows this site knows that Stig and I often hang out at a Dunkin Donuts that has a patio on weekends and watch the hustle and bustle around us. You can't turn go a minute without seeing a traffic offense of some sort. We have seen the police walking around just ignoring the violations.

Evidently, KBS won't ignore them. They have announced that they will no show Rain's video Love Song because ... make sure you are sitting down ... he is show running across a deserted street in the video. What the kimchi?

Yes, Rain's video shows him blatantly violating one of Korea's traffic laws. The cad! How dare he! Thank god KBS refuses to show this horrible behaviour. It could have resulted in Koreans J-walking. We all know that what law abiding people Koreans are, especially when it comes to traffic laws. And how easily they are influenced by K-Pop stars. Now the streets will be safe from J-walkers and other traffic law breakers.

What a pile of horse shit. I haven't seen many Rain videos. Thanks to Stephen Colbert, thanks only because it was funny, I saw one. In it we see someone running down a street, destruction of property. I guess KBS just had enough of the tom foolery that is Rain and had to put their foot down.

Mind you the morons in charge at KBS probably violated 10 or more traffic laws the day they made the decision to ban his video. Hypocritical morons. If they were REALLY concerned about people violating traffic laws they would have actually taken steps to educate the public and address the problem by tackling the major problems and not a video.

What the .... cultural stupidity?!?!?

I have a 3 hour break Tuesday and Thursday. I actually kind of like it. I get to get anything I need and still be home for dinner.

So, I am getting ready to head out. The kyopo says to me "What about the meeting?"

Shaking my head because I know what is coming I say "What meeting?"

She replies "Don't we have a meeting today? To go over the new computer program we will be using?"

I shrug and say "Evidently it isn't a meeting for me since I wasn't told."

She seemed shocked (she has become assimilated after all and said "But won't we (now she includes herself as a foreigner) have to use it eventually."

As I was going out the door I said "No idea. Can't plan for what I am not told about. They have my phone number if I am actually needed." With that I started to carry on..

This is typical Korean Bullshit, not being told about something. Nothing worth getting bent out of shape over. Not informing the foreign teacher has been a problem everywhere I have worked in Korea. Hell everywhere anyone I know has worked in Korea. Last minute notification is nothing new either. But it did bring a question to mind.

I went back into the teachers room and said "So, why are Koreans so lousy at informing people of things in a timely fashion?"

After blinking a couple of times she said "Oh it is cultural."

"Seriously? It is part of Korean culture to not inform people of things, sometimes important things, until the last minute or it is too late?"

She said "Yes, I think so."

Now keep in mind she isn't really a Kyopo. She was born and raised in Korea until the age of 18. Then spent 10 years in Canada. She may have a Canadian passport now but the Korean mindset is there. She was raised through her formative years in Korea. She should actually be able to tell you what is or isn't cultural.

I said "Well you have lived in Canada. In Canada we consider it to be stupidity not to inform people in a timely fashion. Or laziness. Especially when it is done repeatedly. You really think it is cultural trait in Korea?"

"I think so."

I left laughing. Basically I have just been informed that stupidity IS cultural. It is an intrinsic part of Korean culture. Wow. I don't think the collective will be happy with her answers when they hear them.

I mean I have always suspected it could be cultural. What with all the apologists and Koreanphiles trying to pass off stupid things Koreans do and say as being cultural. Add to that the stupid things Koreans do and say. To have it confirmed by a Korean. I never expected that to happen. :)

Mook of the Week

Welcome to the latest installment of Mook of the Week. This week we see the Clown Mook. This kind of mook parades around in his pajamas.

There are a couple of hospitals in the area, odds are he was at one of them. The I.V. was a dead give away. It isn't strange to see people in pajamas milling around outside hospitals smoking cigarettes. It isn't the pajamas that make him a mook.

It is his actions. He ambles up to the crosswalk dragging his I.V. stand. Ok pulling it as it is on wheels. He can't be bothered to wait on the sidewalk at this busy intersection he has to stand on the road.

It turns out he was heading across the street to a 7-11 in order to get some smokes. A mook with no smokes can lead to more problems.

On his way back he once again has issues with patience and logic. Why walk on the sidewalk when you can walk on the street. At this point he decided to lift the I.V. stand up and carry it, as he would be stepping down onto the street. Being a mook he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. Ok that also seems to be a trait of most Koreans. And some hilarity ensued.

He lifted his I.V. stand, tube and all, into the branches of a tree. It took him a minute or more to free it. Then he stood there cursing at the tree. As if it had deliberately offended him and would understand him. Then he mooked down the street to the crosswalk, stood in the street, and crossed at the next green. He was able to make his way back to his hospital without further incident.

You sir, are a mook of the 1st Order.

Year 1 - Denmark vs Uruguay

Howdy

What a weekend, take 2. The expanded version after some sleep. :)

Saturday night was FANTASTIC. There were some bumps in the road getting to the World Cup Game in Ulsan, but nothing that could detract from the experience.

Friday night I watched the France-Senegal game with friends outside White Market. It was a good time, and a good game. No one expected Senegal to upset France like that.

I got an early start to Ulsan Saturday. Well, early for a weekend, late considering what time I have to be up and about on weekdays. I left Chongju on the 10:00 A.M. bus. Overall the trip took about 4.5 hours, putting me in Ulsan at around 2:30. The trip was pretty good. Korean buses are a lot more comfortable than Canadian, and more efficient. We made one pit stop at a place called Chilgok, and to drop off passengers in Kyeoungju. Other than that it was straight through to Ulsan.

The countryside along the way was spectacular. I am still not used to the sight of so many mountains. We only passed through part of Kyeongju, but what a town. Everywhere you look is history. Kyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom for almost 1000 years, until 982 A.D. when the kingdom was conquered and the capital moved to the north. Its origins go back to around 57 B.C., around the time Julius Caesar was conquering Gaul. It survived a sacking by the Mongols in the 13th century, and Japanese in the 16th. Most of its artifacts survived the Japanese occupation of the early 20th century. Even considering what the Japanese stole, a wealth of historical treasures remain. I will definitely be going back there for a visit.

Ulsan has been a major harbour in Korea for over 1000 years. A legend from the Silla Kingdom said a man, believed to have been an Arab, arrived in Ulsan in 879 for trade and then settled to live among the people. Since the 60's the government has invested heavily in building up the infrastructure and industry base of Ulsan, turning it from a town into a modern city. Today Ulsan is one of the largest industrial cities in Korea. Most oil imports flow through the port. It has the biggest shipyard in the world, the area is also a home of many multinational petrochemical corporations as well as a center for the Korean shipbuilding industry. With a population of over 1,000,000 it is almost twice the size of Chongju.

The first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was the heat. It gets hot in Chongju, but I expected more of a breeze off the ocean here. There wasn't much of one. A wave of heat washed over me, and stayed with me the whole day. Patrick and his girlfriend were late getting to the bus station in Seoul and missed the bus. They didn't leave until noon, and their bus wasn't slated to arrive until after 5PM.

I went in search of a Yeogwan. After an hour of walking around in the heat I ended up back at the first Hotel I went to. Yeogwans are usually aorund 20-30,000 Won a night. For the World Cup they decided to jack their prices up to Hotel level. I couldn't find one that was below 50,000 Won a night. So I got us rooms at a hotel instead. The first thing I did upon entering my room was shower. I was a little ripe after walking around in the heat. ;)

Patrick and Chun Soon were SUPPOSED to have arrived at 3 PM. They missed the 10 AM bus, and the 11 AM. They never got out of Seoul until 12 Noon, and it takes around 5 hours to go from Seoul to Ulsan. So, I decided to head to the bus station before 5 and meet them. % PM rolls around, and no bus. 5:10, 5:20, FINALLY at 5:30 the bus rolled in. The game started at 6:00 and it was 30 minutes form the bus station to the stadium. Luckily, we found a cabbie that knew shortcuts and didn't know what a speedlimit was. ;)

We missed the opening kickoff but only by a couple of minutes. You could hear the roar of the crowd outside the stadium when the game started. The main thing slowing us down, other than the distance from the road to the entrance gate, was security. Security was tight, but fairly efficient.

Our seats were fabulous. We were in the lower bowl, near the entrance, to the left of the net! We started off behind Uruguay, and finished behind Denmark when they switched ends. The only thing better would be to have been down with the players. The teams were evenly matched, and both sides made some great plays. We were cheering for Denmark, which made it even sweeter when they won.

We did have to laugh at some of the calls, or rather non-calls, one ref-linesman made. It is kind of funny that no matter what the sport some moron always manages to get a job as a ref. This guy gave new meaning to incompetent. Several plays happened in front of him that should have resulted in some form of penalty. Once, a Uruguayan player hammered a Dane in the face several times with his elbow while trying to get the ball right in front of the ref. He got the ball, and took off with it. When the Dane stared at the ref and asked why he didn't call it the guy just made a face and motioned for him to go away. (We had a great view of this happening.) And this twit of a ref gets to go to the World Cup and officiate? Reminds me of Andy Van Hellemond in the NHL.

During the half time we wandered around, looking at over priced souvenirs. I called mom and said hi, and told her where we were sitting. Then I called one of my sisters to say hi. The 2nd half started just after I got through so I had to rush off. When I sat down I realized that we were no longer behind the Uruguayan net, they changed sides at half time. So I called home and let mom know we were behind the Danish net now. Just as I hung up Uruguay scored. We got to see 2 of the 3 goals scored up close. Great game!

The Koreans organized people to cheer for both sides. It was a nice sight, or rather sound. The roar of the crowd was awesome! Fans were well behaved in the stadium. A yank cut in front of me while I was waiting to get drinks. He ended up turning around just as I was about to tap him on the shoulder. He asked if he cut in front, apologized and bought me a beer. :)

After the game we took a walk around, trying to find our way out. We did see one fight start, but it ended pretty quickly. One guy in Uruguayan colours, and another in Danish started going at it. Interestingly enough both had English accents. They saw some Korean police heading their way carrying these big ass night sticks, about 5' long, and decided to stop, and bug out. :))

Leaving the stadium took some doing. However, things were well organized, with free buses to take people all over town. However, the line ups were HUGE. We ended up looking for a cab, which was not easy. We ended up on the street with some Brits and others who were looking for a cab. The Brits had to get to their hotel and to the airport or miss their flight. Patrick's girlfriend played interpreter for them, and talked to the police. The police went WAY above and beyond to help out. They got the airport police to come in a van, pick up the Brit's, take them to their hotel, and then to the airport. We also got a lift to the hotel with them.

From there we decided it was time to have supper, and some soju. We decided to go for something traditional, sum kyub sal Plus soju of course. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, we could not find ANY restaurant in the downtown area that served what is a very basic Korean food. It was astounding! Lots of fish places, night clubs, and western style places. After an hour we gave up and went back to the area around our hotel. I had seen some places while walking around that afternoon.

We ended up at a traditional Soju bar. Then we settled down for supper and to watch the Germany - Saudi Arabia rout. I can't bring myself to call that massacre a game. We had a good time watching the game and drinking with the people at the bar. By the time the game was over, the day had taken its toll, as had the soju and beer, and it was time to sleep.

Sunday was another hot day. I spent some time looking around, nothing much to see in that part of Ulsan. There is a HUGE ferris wheel on top of the Lotte Department store, but we never went on it. I hopped on the 1 PM bus and was home in time to go out and watch the England - Sweden game. It was a great weekend.

Take care,

Flint

********

This was my 1st ever live World Cup game. Hell my first live soccer game. It was great. I am glad I was here to see it.

I didn't have a TV or the World Cup coverage would have probably pissed me off with the focus pretty much being Korea and nothing else from the complaints I heard from friends.