Carl van Roon in Korea

MR VAN ROON'S FINAL UPDATE

01.03.07

Well, it's been an amazing trip - this will be the final report on my adventures in Korea. The whole thing has been like a dream. So detached from life in NZ. I get the feeling it will seem as though it never happened once I am home...

So, I'm currently in transit at Hong Kong airport with around 45 mins until boarding onto the flight back to Auckland. Another 11 and a half hours and I'll be home... and really looking forward to it. Been lugging around my carry-on luggage like it's full of bricks, and it might as well be with the library of martial arts / asian culture books I've got in there. I kid you not, it must weigh close to 20kg... It was the only way I was going to make it back with most of the presents and general stuff I probably never needed in the first place but brought with me to Korea anyway...You would think I would have learnt how to travel lightly with the travel I've been lucky enough to do but no...

Had to leave the sword I received in Korea with a friend in Seoul: a "hubei" (junior) of Park Cheol Ho's named Kang who worked at Incheon airport informed me that I'd pretty much be wasting my time trying to get a sword through customs... Even if it did have a blade so dull you could crush soy-beans with it...

Speaking of customs they've recently brought in new rules (in Korea at least) regarding the carrying of liquid items in one's carry-on luggage. Some kind of new bomb threat / liquid explosive apparently...All containers containing more than 100ml of liquid / paste etc would be confiscated so I had to farewell my beloved (150ml!) NZ Colgate toothpaste and aloevera heat-rub at customs in Incheon <sob>

So Kang and I travelled together up from Busan to Seoul by train. The trip took about 3 hours and we managed to make some new friends along the way. A group of 3 young Japanese travelling students sat in the sets behind us so in typical Carl "gung ho" fashion I thought I would show off my language skills. It was an interesting situation, each of us could speak two lanaguages. Kang has great English due to a stint he did in the US army stationed in Korea, the "Japaners" were studying Korean language but had little English skills (either that or they were simply entertained by my own "special" version of their language...much like some of my Korean friends!)
Keep in mind it was "sam il" (the Korean day of the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule) yesterday and the Japanese treatment of Korea still runs very deep for many Koreans - something I noticed in Korea time and again...Even among the youngest of Koreans, we're talking kindergarten kids who know that Japan is "bad" yet I doubt if they know why...From my perspective they simply seem to be emulating the understandable resentment of their elders due to Japanese atrocities during periods such as the second world war.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was very refreshing to watch these young Japanese and Koreans interacting in such a friendly manner. They even discussed "sam il" and the history between the countries in both a diplomatic and open-minded manner. Perhaps there is hope for friendship between the two countries afterall.

The whole thing really reminds me of inter-generational differences in opinions of neighbouring countries in Europe, for example - my Dutch grandparents generation and tensions with Germany contrasted with several of my trips to Germany for travel where I now have some great German friends...

On a completely different note it was great for me to get the chance to welcome Messers Brown and Doogan to Korea at Gim Hae airport (around 45mins West of Pusan) on the yesterday (sam il). Even if we only did spend a very short amount of time together. They both seemed excited about getting to know Korea and those that they would be working with so I will make sure I keep in touch with both them and the ITF-Korean crew once I return to the land of the long white cloud.

My last day in Seoul was spent pretty haphazardly - a little shopping here, getting lost over there, falling asleep in public etc. I guess the whole "I don't need to sleep! Let's celebrate the last month!" attitude had to grow thin at some point.

Shopping was good fun - bargaining down items in Seoul's biggest open traditional market. I've got some cool shots to show ya'll from there but will have to wait until I'm back in NZ to post them up. Got pictures of the "bandegi" (edible bugs frothing away in a boiling pot), "sunde" (the coagulated pigs blood sausage) and other novelities - including an "interesting" looking transvestite salesman (woman?)

Ok guys I gotta go board my plane...yay! Cramped back in cattle class!
<half-grin / grimace>
See ya all soon

Carl

(more photos coming soon)

28.02.07

Kia ora to my extended aotearoa whanau~

Last day in Pusan - everything has gone so quickly in this last few days that I haven't the chance to properly say "annyung hi keseyo" (farewell) to many people.

Just in the middle of teaching my last series of classes. Squeezing in three children's English TKD promotional classes today before a goodbye get-together at my homestay family's home in Yang jeong.
I've done two classes so far and managed to get the student's parents smiling and interested so just one to go...Voice is feeling a little hoarse so I gotta make sure I save a little of my voice for the final class.
Trying to fill the role of the over-enthusiastic foreign instructor with the over enunciated English seems to come naturally to me...and I secretly kind of enjoy it...shhh~

So I'm leaving for Seoul early tomorrow morning, around "yasot shi" (6am) with the aim of having enough time to see the DMZ and fit in... a little... shopping.
As Park Sabum-Nim pointed out - the DMZ should be a good follow-up to the visit to the UN memorial park.

We went on a few errands around Pusan today before dropping into Kang Jang Nim's dojang so I figured it would be a good time to get ya'll some final pictures that might give you an idea of the city is like seeming that most of my pictures have been at cultural locations outside the city or in various dojang.

How about these apartments? Pretty imposing huh? In a homogenous kind of way...
They are located in the "centum city" - not sure what language that is, think it might just be a typo of the word "centrum" which is used to name the centre of European cities? Dunno, anyway "centum city" is one of the most expensive areas if not the most expensive area in Pusan.

The two guys doing the obligatory "V-sign" in the backseat are students from the Yang Jeong dojang who I've just started to actually get to know - which is always a shame when you make visits like this... You just get started learning the language and making friends and then it's all over... <wipes away a tear>

Oh - and the flags? Thought I should explain that.
All over the city I started noticing flags popping up. Kinda hard to miss when they line almost every street! Turns out the flags are part of the commemoration of "Sam il" or the Korean independence movement (also the name of one of our ITF patterns at the level of "samdan" - third degree). As I understand it "Sam il" actually refers to the date of this independence movement against the Japanese occupation. "Sam" means three, as in March (the third month), "il" means day (or the first day of March) - hence the name "Sam il" and my attachment of the patriotic display of the "taeguk" (yingyang) flag of South Korea along streets throughout the country.

Enjoy the photos - annyung hi keseyo~!


Carl
(a.k.a Captain Korea)

27.02.07

Today I visited the UN memorial cemetary in Pusan.

The park was established as a way to pay respects to those soldiers from the United Nations forces that fought to push the communist forces back to the 38th parallel; the current location of the de militiarised zone or "D.M.Z" for short. For those of you not familiar with the history of the Korean war - the forces of the DPRK ("Democratic" Peoples Republic of Korea or North Korea) pushed those of the ROK (Republic of Korea or South Korea) all the way down to Pusan before the US and UN forces dropped in by sea and land to support those fighting against the communists.
The UN troops worked alongside the South Korean forces to push the Chinese supported North Korean forces back to the 38th parallel. Having taken back the capital of Seoul, the two sides then signed a ceasefire and hence - the establishment of the demilitiarised zone and lack of reunificaiton of the Korean peninsuala.
Inicidentally, it looks as though I might be watching a movie about the whole thing tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

So, back to the memorial cemetary.

It kind of felt like being in one of those movies like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Flags of our Fathers" (a new war movie by Steven Spielburg I just saw last week about the US invasion of Iwojima during the Second World War).
There was a certain heavy yet peaceful sort of an atmosphere in the grounds itself.

Notice the grave of Royal NZ Artillery Gunner McDonald - 13th January 1951. Age 22. Same age as me. Really brings things closer to home when you actually visit places like this rather than sit back with your caramel popcorn and watch them on the silver screen...

Also notice inscriptions in both English, Maori and Korean.
The large "koru" monument was erected in memory of "the 6,000 New Zealanders who served in korea..."

Number of armed forces dead from:

Republic of Korea: 237, 686
US: 33, 870
NZ: 41

What's with the picture of those from the Netherlands who lost their lives in Korea? Just me acknowledging some of my roots I guess. That and I found it interesting (or perhaps logical is a better way of putting it) that both the names from Netherlands and New Zealand were inscribed on the same slab.

Finally notice the large UN monument supporting the world and the small soldier statues surrounding (protecting?) the support beams for the world itself - a nice little metaphor I thought.

On a lighter note I've also attached a few shots from the "saju" at Haeundae beach the other night... remember? No? The fortune teller. I really like his whole outfit. Nice get-up I thought as I stepped into his tent. Then he began reading my palm and I started thinking I was in a movie again. This guy really looked the part and I even got away with his notes...Yes! <pumps fist - Kip from Napolean dynamite style) ok ok...so he gave them to me. Oh and don't worry I'm only a little possessed in the red-eye photo. A little black-magic never hurt anyone, "kureyo"? (right?)

"Jya" (alrighty ho), time to plan tomorrow's final demonstration. Should be the best yet~

VR

25.2.07

Annyong haseyo team~

Well, I've only got a few days left here in Pusan before I take off to Seoul and then onto Incheon and finally NZ...Hoping to visit the D.M.Z (de militiarised zone) before my return home. I suppose the Cold War and it's repercussions have always fascinated me. This interest only grew once I had visited the previous site of the Berlin wall at the end of 2005. The difference in Korea is that the "war" is still technically on - the D.M.Z was only the creation of an on-going and remaining "cease-fire / truce" if you will. Since I was only five when the Berlin wall came down I kinda felt like I missed that historical event, but if "tong-il" occurs in Korea in my lifetime then I'm sure the trip to the D.M.Z will boost the event's personal significance for me.

Anyway - yesterday a group of us from ITF-Korea cruised out to perform a demo lesson of "Yong-o Taekwon-Do" (English TKD) at a large Hapkido dojang run in Ulsan by a Mr. Kang. For those of you who tuned in early on my updates - you may remember Kang Sabum-Nim as the Hapkido instructor who had me tied up in knots and forced to flip out of his holds when he visited the ITF-Korean "onbu" (headquarters) in Yang Jeong.

Kang Sabum-Nim built his own dojang - covering the walls and ceiling in polished wood and matting the floor. On arrival his dojang appeared to be well equipped and maintained. The kind of dojang I would like to have myself in NZ someday. Only with a higher roof
Kang Sabum-Nim's club is actually known as "Hwarang Hapkido" and for this reason they all bow and extend a palm-covered fist as they bow while saying "hwaaaarang!"
Kang Sabum-Nim teaches a whole variety of weapons at his dojang - in line with the whole hwarang theme.

The lesson began with "yours truly" taking around 60 hyper Hapkido kids through warm-ups and games in english. As usual my high energy body-language style of teaching took it's toll on me but the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun and with my peripheral vision I could see adults in the audience nodding in approval at seeing their child repeat the English vocab I was introducing for the day; "Wow our little Johnny (Kim in this case) is speaking English!"

Following my warm-up teaching session the Hapkido kids put on a series of choreographed skits similar to pre-arranged sparring. A lot the skits involved weapons such as fans, nunchaku, swords etc. Think we've got a few little stunt men on our hands over here - and some of them were pretty good too. Doing round-offs into back-flips, hand-springs, flick-flacks etc. I was kinda like..."I dunno if my special tech stuff is gonna look as impressive anymore..." Blu....

After the music accompanied Hapkido pre-arranged sparring I taught a small group of ITF students from the Yang Jeong dojang in front of everyone as an example of how the "Yong-o Taekwon-Do" system would work. I was enunciating every word and using my most dramatic body-language so everyone could follow and I think the response was fairly good. We just perfomed some fundamental movements and then a demonstrated few playful sparring drills.

To finish up I demonstrated flying twin and multiple kicks on a few pads. The whole day was also captured on video so I'm hoping to try and post some coverage up.

Following the demo / lesson the students cleared out and the instructors piled into Kang Sabum-Nim's office. Inside the office there were, five or so ITF instructors from Yang Jeong and Gim Hae (not including myself), two Hapkido Sabum, two WTF sabum with seperate clubs and how could a Martial arts meeting not be complete without a pro-boxing representative. Most of the discussion seemed to revolve around implementation of ITF syllabus, doboks, training times and the involvement of "wei guk sabum" (foreign instructors).

Post-meeting we went out for some dinner at a local restaurant in Ulsan and had some kind of "guk" (soup) but I don't remember it's name... It contained verterbrae (i.e. spinal bones) and we ate the boiled meat off the bone. Pretty nice as a matter of fact

Oh yeah one last thing - the night before we went to the Hapkido dojang I had my "saju" (fortune) told to me by some old astrologist wise dude out by haeundae beach in a little tent. He had some old-school chinese based lunar calendar books that he used to match up my birth day, time etc to various signs that turned out to be "hmm quite auspicious indeed." (yea I just wanted to use the word auspicious).

No but seriously some of the stuff he told me seemed pretty accurate eh... Was very interesting. Maybe just a little "confrimation bias" (wanting to believe what sounds good) on my part but hey it was pretty good fun. Everytime the wise dude spoke all my sabum-nim would crack-up into hysterics and have stunned looks on their faces - as if it was incredible what he was saying... I won't bore you with the details but let's just say he said that things would turn out pretty sweet as long as I was careful with respect to certain "vices"... As my "saju" (no not "saju jirugi" - that's what I first said when they asked me if I wanted to go to a saju) had been so good I was somehow roped into shouting everyone a late dinner - of puffer fish!! ("buk ok") You know, the poisonous one! It was quite expensive too - but not because "buk ok" is expensive, more because you need a license to prepare such fish. The chef must cut out the poison glands or something... as I understand it.

The "buk ok" was very nice and I did my best not to pull a "bandegi" face (bug-eating face). <Forced - tight lipped smile mhmm> haha nah it was really delicious actually I was just thinking about what a story it would be for me to be killed from eating the wrong type of fish after such a great "saju". They serve "Buk ok" fish in a soup by the way - with fins and skin and all which reminds you what you of what you are actually eating... (Korean's seem to love to turn everything into a brothy sort of "guk" - soup).

Alright I'm off to "haeundae" beach - probably to see the "nurimaru" (a large round building on a small Island off the beach). The "nurimaru" was actually built as a convention centre for APEC in 2005 and apparently has a beautiful view of the harbour. Might also check out the aquarium there if I have time...

Annyung hi keseyo~

Carlo

23.02.07

Friday afternoon - 7 days left in Korea!!

Not too much exciting happened yesterday guys - I did eat some bugs though... In Korean these are known as "bandegi". They're kind of, well...Crunchy and rich in proteiny goodness
Got the chance to try the little suckers when we went out for dinner last night.
I wondered to myself as I put the first one in my mouth - "Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah - I'm trying to impress everyone with my adaptable palate" But seriously I wonder how many of ya'll back home would eat bugs if given the chance? And... no you don't get paid! All you cheap-ass uni students trying to make a quick buck... I'm onto you...

Moving on...
Spent most of yesterday was either spent training or visiting various "Yu chi won" (you remember - Kindergartens). Met ("smiled and waved" to) some very friendly "yu chi won Sasaengnim" (teachers) who seemed pretty keen on our program.
To be honest, and this is just between us... <leans forward and softens his voice> I think it was my remarkable command of Korean that really clinched the deal. You know, I managed to crank out more lines than Arnold did in his most talkative five minutes of his articulate, well-spoken role in the movie "Terminator"...Cicero eat your heart out - there's a new orator in town...Carlo. Yeah, it could almost be a Roman name? Right?
(I hope someone out there knows which Cicero I am talking about..."You may remember me from such films as High School classical studies")

Anyway today I'm in Kang Jang Nim's WTF dojang again and he's just printed up thousands of posters with pictures of me and students posing together - but I have to warn all you thoroughbred ITFers...I'll be the first to admit it... Yes, I'm wearing a black V-neck in the pictures... Yes the dreaded WTF style dobok... For now, he's sticking with the WTF dobok until the kids are ready to transfer over to ITF, which will be a gradual process - and part of that process is image. Keeping the students comfortable enough but still introducing them to new ideas <Carl begins to sweat profusely and glances at his watch as if he is late for an appointment>

Well that's how I'm trying to justify it to myself anyway. Anyone that knows 2 cents about Carl van Roon (and you guys can ask!) knows he's never worn one of those tasteless black V-necked doboks in his life before... Right Dafydd?

Ok guys, the truth is I'm sorry I was forced into the WTF dobok. I didn't have a choice, they stole my sword (the blunt training one I received as a present from Lee Sabum - the guy dressed like a monk) and threatened my life with it so I reluctantly agreed to wear it. Oh, that and it is quite good for kicking in...

I've attached two different posters - the larger one offers "three free lessons!" and features pics of me with students posing outside their schools and in the dojang.
The smaller one was a promotional poster put out by Kang Jang Nim prior to my arrival.
Notice the body-stretching machines that I sent pictures of earlier when I visited another dojang? No kidding - that's what they are. I think... Don't get me started on a sport and exercise science rant on this one guys... It's just not worth it. And you know how much I love a good rant.

Off to teach TKD totts~

VR

Click to enlarge

22.2.07

Well everyone - yesterday did end up being another massive day! This time I won't write so much but rather try to rely on the pictures explaining themselves...I'll apologise in advance if this email doesn't read to well as I was in a bit of rush to write it!

So yesterday I was woken up at around 8 after the previous night's late email session. Had a hearty Korean style western breakfast (if that makes sense) and then we (Kim Jung Hae - Mr Chinese language and I) were off to "YongGungSa" (translates directly from the characters used as dragon <chinese "long"> house temple). I had been told how great this temple was so I was pretty keen to see it for myself...
And what a day for it - the warmest I've experienced in Korea thus far. I know it's nothing compared to the NZ summer I'm missing back home but it really felt more like spring than winter...I didn't even have to wear a jacket a lot of the time.

Onto the photos from "Yong Gung Sa" and Ji's graduation. Makes for quite a big album this time... So, what have we got here:

a large stone tablet at the entrance to the temple. Characters read: "East Sea Dragon House Temple".

twelve statues corresponding with twelve signs of the oriental zodiac

me and my awesome zodiac statue "chui" (mouse) <cough>

Guan yin - the boddhisatva (Buddishist Saint) of eternal compassion (I think)... She was kinda like the temple secretary - does the meet and great thing with everyone before they filter down to the temple itself...

Haha not sure what the deal is with this Phallic looking brother but yeah thought I'd share with ya'll

Statue dedicated to mothers in general - Kim Jung Hae Sabum explained to me at this point that nearby there is a large cliff famous for suicide / suicide attempts and the idea of erecting this statue / similar statues was to desuade children from going through with it. A mother's plea if you will.

the idea of rubbing this guy's belly is that if you rub enough you will increase the chances of having a boy child - notice the characters above: literally translate as "wait male buddha"... could be interpreted as "Rub this guys tummy and wait to give birth to a baby boy who takes after the buddha".

a gate with the simple chinese characters: "not two gate" meaning that once you pass this gate you will not be two people but united as one. An important buddhist idea... not to mention "how romantic!!"

shots of the temple complex itself. I've never seen a temple by the sea like this. They are usually in the mountains! Plus the weather really helped out on this one...

Year of the pig people - and a happy pig at that!!

Characters read "everyday is a good day"

Little statue of a monk with some money and chocolate (a romantic couple's way of garnering a little divine favour I suspect...)

Ji and his uncle Kim Jung Hae (also my Sabum) after getting cleaned up from the flour / egg fight

Following our trip to the "Yong Gung Sa" I had the opportunity to try some "Melchi hui" (tiny fish sashimi) which was delicious - in a smallish port around the corner from YongGungSa. According to Kim Jung Hae Sabum this was the only place you can find this type of "hui" as "melchi" fish are usually dried and transported around the country as they go bad very quickly. Close to the port however, "melchi" may be eaten fresh and raw which was really nice. Each mouthful (size determined by the individual) is wrapped in various types of "sang chu" (lettuce / leafy greens) and then combined with some "manul" (garlic - which Koreans love!) and "tenjang" (similar to Japanese "miso"). Up with the new experiences that kind freak me out!!

After lunch we returned to the dojang to meet up with President Kim for some more promotional work. He showed me a stack of thousands of copies of "Taeglish" flyers and communicates through body language that these will be put inside newspapers and distributed throughout the suburb of Yang Jeong. There's a nice cheesy pic of Park Sabum and I putting on some over-the-top grins but at least they got my name right this time - even if it is read "Kal pan loon" if you pronounce the "han geul" (Korean characters) as they are written...

From the dojang we proceeded to visit around 4 Kindergartens in the Yang Jeong neighbourhood. As usual I'm in the dark at this point. Some of the Kindergarten operators ask us to sit-down, some don't (obvious body-language made this predictable) and I just generally practice my smile and wave.

Following this we pick up Kim Jung Hae sabum's nephew (who is actually a member of the homestay family I'm staying with). His name is Ji and he just graduated from Highschool yesterday - so we picked him up outside the school gates. I was a little suprised to see all the students looking as pale as ghosts when we arrived, on closer inspection they were actually all covered in flour, some even had eggs across their faces and in their hair... Perhaps the catering for the graduation ceremony went wrong I thought to myself but no, this is a tradition at every highschool in Korea. The students celebrate graduation by covering each other in flour and eggs and sometimes end up destroying / tearing / cutting their own and each others clothes as a sign that they have left behind school life... It was pretty hilarious to see actually and kinda reminded me of highschool antics I experienced back home.
I managed to get a few shots of Ji and myself but hopefully I'll have some better shots forwarded to me by Ji as my battery ran out. In the pictures Ji had already kind of cleaned himself up so he's not looking too worse for wear...

We returned to the Yang Jeong dojang after celebrating with Ji at Pizzahut... From here I begin working off some of that extra-cheesy crust with some self-training. I work on shadow boxing, footwork and then begin some bagwork combined with circuit training style bodyweight exercises. At this point Kim Sabum-Nim (Mr. President) jumps in and gives me some advice - I'm all ears as he guides me (once again with body language and simple English phrases) through a series of endurance building drills that he says (mimes) will allow me to give my best performance throughout each round of sparring at worlds.

The drills are hardwork when performed correctly and I take note of how to best carry them out / how I might implement them on my return to NZ and my regular training schedule. I was a little nervous this morning when my legs got a bit little wobbly when walking over to the dojang... the steps down on the overbridge of the main-street were a challenge haha trying to act cool isn't easy when your quadriceps don't allow you to brake your momentum down a flight of stairs...

Post-training last night I returned to the apartment on level sixteen for dinner - at this point it was around 9pm and I was beginning to "pekopa juketa" (die of starvation) so I chow down on some fine Korean Kai moana - among other things.

I manage to get off to bed at a fairly early hour for once and now here I am writing this email - the next day at around 1pm, chilling out in the dojang with Park Sabum.

We've got a whole series of marketers in here who are calling around trying to establish a profile for ITF-Korea. As I understand it most of them are students and this is a bit of part-time work for them before they return to Uni for the year. So... better get out the office!

Catch ya'll up later - got a few more photos to share with you that I might send tonight or tomorrow sometime~
Ciao

Carlo

------------------------
Hey back with more pics - here are some shots of Ji after his graduation and a few shots of the extremely cute niece of my homestay parents taken over "seollal" (the lunar new year):

20.2.07

Annyong~! It's 1am and time for another big update. Going to a coastal temple early in the morning but hey I gotta tell you guys about today...this might be the biggest update ever - just warning you...

So team - "Seollal" was a three day holiday (i.e. Sat, Sun, Mon) and now it is tuesday (well actually wednesday). Today actually ended up being pretty MASSIVE and we visited some places that made me wish i had brought my camera - in the meantime I'll do my best to explain the turn of events...

Everyday is a bit of a lucky-dip for me here in Korea so today began with

Part.1: some TKD English (Taeglish) class promotional work for ITF-Korea.
A group of sabum-nim and myself visited a local Elementary School (note the American influence as opposed to Primary School) to try and raise some awareness of the local dojang in Yang Jeong. A couple of the kids I saw at this time already attended the dojang but there were plenty of interested kids to lure to our dojang... As usual there were a few brave ones keen to show off their English skills and a few who pretty much took off in a sprint as soon as they saw me: "Ahhh mum this giant foreign guy was smiling at me and trying to speak korean but I couldn't understand his horrible pronounciation and.... it was so scary..." Anyway I stuck around outside this school for about thirty mins before my nipples froze off and we had to abort the mission - don't forget it's winter here in Korea and I was only in a dobok - silly I know, but my blue blazer just didn't really look the part over the top of the dobok...Yes, even I couldn't pull it off...If only I had been briefed for the day I might be able to plan for these type of events. Oh well, keeps me on my toes. Dancing around, trying to keep warm that is <cough - was that a lil too dry? Yeah>

Part. 2: Helping to organise Visas for new teachers looking to come to Korea - "ITF-KOREA WANTS YOU!!" <insert photo-shopped pic of President Kim wearing the whole Abraham Lincoln stars and stripes get up>

Part. 3: After lunch at a cute little "tweiji guk bap jit" (boiled pork rice soup shop) we trekked out to the dojang at "Gim Hae" (remember? About an hour from where I'm staying in Yang Jeong). From here the team put together a large proposal for further promotional work and we all piled back in the car... I was presuming we would be visiting another school but by this time it was already around 6pm so I ruled that out. You see, the only other person who could communicate with me much was Kim Jung Hae (who you may recall from the airport when I first arrived in Korea - the one who I ended up chatting to in Chinese). Anyhow, I've kind of got used to going with flow but I this next part took me by suprise...

Part. 4: What were we doing standing outside a giant fluroscent castle?! It resembled Disneyland Castle more than any school I had ever seen but hey Korea never fails to suprise - this was a "Yu chi won" (kindergarten - I only remembered that because in Japanese the word is "Yo chien", but don't worry I'll blab more about language in culture in the next part...) So what did we end up doing inside? Well, to start with our group of four were asked to wait in one of the other rooms. Yes, in a classroom. I wish I had had my camera because the site of these staunch Pusan Martial Artists sitting around on a bunch of undersized childrens chairs at cute little tables with brightly coloured flowers and animal decorations was too good to miss but hey... I'm gonna try to go back and get a few shots of this place as it isn't too far from the dojang in Gim Hae. Once we were ushered in I took my place as the token foreigner at the table and nodded and smiled whenever anyone else did... "Just smile and wave boys... smile and wave..." < - Madagascar>. Apparently it all turned out well and the Lady headmistress / head teacher / "sasaeng nim" expressed great interest in the program and everyone traded details and plans on how things might best go ahead. In the meantime I was off in Lalaland - like Charlie Brown with his eyes slowly closing but trying to look attentive "Mwooo mwooo mwooo" No it wasn't that bad. Ok, maybe a little but hey, I'm glad we get to introduce the little tykes to TKD. What could be even more fun than teaching <cough -~baby~- cough!- ~sitting~> kids even younger and probably even less attentive than Kang Jang Nim's WTF youngsters? NICE! <Borat again>

Part. 5: The History lesson. (This section is a bit long guys so I'll forgive you if you skim it lol... I guess I got a little carried away).
So it was back into the dojang for a dinner of one of my favourite Korean foods - "dolsot bibimbap" (stone bowl hotpot mixed rice - usually served with "gochu jang" or red pepper paste). Ok enough of trying to do the hard-sell on the Korean cuisine. Just trying to make Korea seem a little more enticing to the Kiwis back home that aren't on the frontline here in Korea <quick flash of President Kim again in that stars and stripes top-hat pointing his finger - WE WANT YOU!!>
Ok Carl you're a shocker - get on with the history lesson. Surely that will be far more interesting than the lame jokes you keep trying to crack.
Post-dinner several sabum-nim and I were sitting around chatting and the topic got onto Asian history, culture, religion, language etc. It jumped around all over the place and I was taking it in like a sponge. Having been exposed to plenty of Chinese and Japanese culture (in the form of close friends and study of both languages and history at uni) I was pretty keen to hear the Korean side of the story.
I suppose the lesson began with Kim Beom Suk (Mr. President) giving me a rundown of each of the Chinese dynasties and how they corresponded / influenced the Korean three kingdoms period (involving Goguryo, baekje and Silla) and how these Kingdoms and the proceeding periods in turn influenced various Japanese periods.
I had heard theories from Koreans before about how Hwarang were in fact the descendents of Samurai and felt they were pretty far fetched myself but this really got me to thinking... Kim Sabum-Nim explained in detail, in broken English (if that is even possible), how the Baekje kingdom sent ships sailing over to Japan and greatly influenced the language, art, culture and military of the Kamakura period. It was at this period that "bulgyo" (Buddhism) also greatly flourished in Japan. But here was what really fascinated me, the undeniably close pronounciation of many words associated with culture that Japan constantly refers to as being uniquely Japanese could be found throughout the customs of the Baekje kingdom of this period. And seeming that China has always been seen as an undeniably large influence on Japan (just check-out the characters and architecture) it seemed only natural that Korea would act as a physical and cultural bridge to Japan.
Even the word Samurai and "bushido" - Kim Sabum-Nim claimed, had descended directly from the Baekje warriors known as the "saureba". A word that when written in Chinese script is the same in both languages. Following on from this revelation, I began scrawling out various combinations of "han cha" (Chinese characters: "Kanji" <Japanese> and "hanzi" <Chinese>) in front of my sabum-nim. It was fascinating to see the correlation between the words. Because Kim Jung Hae sabum was also present with his Chinese skills we could create a chain - from conception of words in China in the form of characters and their base pronounciation, their alteration in Korea and their alteration from Korean into Japanese. Korean it seemed, was the missing link between the two Asian languages I was most familiar with. Now it may seem like a no brainer geographically but when you are only exposed to Japanese propoganda / historical accounts and Chinese "Zhong guo" (literally "middle kingdom") egocentrism then you don't really understand the role that Korea played in the whole process. I feel like such a geek but it really was fascinating - I could write a character and not even speak the pronounciation and then recognise the origin of the pronounciation and how it was altered through each step of it's evolution / alteration into modern Japanese. Maybe I should take up linguistics!
I suppose by being a foreigner you are detached from the situation / cultural biases to a certain degree and hence putting together the pieces of the cultural puzzle so to speak is a little easier...
If nothing else this was a great way to have a direct conversation of some depth with some of the sabum-nim who I always had to speak to through someone else. Even if today's conversation was all in ideograms - basically just little pictures (i.e. chinese characters can convey meaning when written down even if one cannot pronounce them in the indivduals mother tongue in order to be understood).

Part. 6: The final activity of the day was kind of another suprise... Well no it was a suprise. On the trip back from Gim-Hae dojang I managed to nod-off <drool zzzz> while still listening to my "Survival Korean" dialog CD... I was suddenly awakened by Mr. President to realise we were standing outside what appeared to be a hospital. I had already heard word that Park sabum's (my main man's) grandmother's had past away but President Kim simply ushered me inside, saying something along the lines of "Park Sabum grandmother, die". So here I was, the only whiteboy in a 10km radius - doing what felt somewhat like gatecrashing a traditional Korean funeral reception... Honestly I'm one of those people who never know how to act in situations like this - but then I guess when it comes to death not many of us do... So I head inside following the lead of my "sunbei" (seniors) and trying to shrink a few centimetres. I consider running off to the toilets to dye my hair black to fit in too but then decide to risk it - especially after 2005's whole NZ team Dortmund debacle now would I? At least my hair didn't turn out as badly as some people's... eh Trotter?

So anyway back to me trying to blend into this awkward moment... I considered taking up smoking because Korean men seem to love the stuff, and thought it might help keep me light for my worlds division... seemed like a flawless plan but no I thought better of it - hopefully I wouldn't stuff anything up... I just had to rely on my "skills" ( - Napolean Dynamite)

Entering the ceremonial room, all the relatives of the deceased were dressed in white ("bandae" / reverse of what we are accustomed to in "the West"). I couldn't see the casket clearly but there was a shrine surrounded with various white flowers and traditional decorations including incense placed in a similar way to that of Chinese / Japanese ceremonies of this sort.

Luckily Kang Jang-Nim went before me in the line entering the ceremonial room as I had no idea what to do - he first performed a standing bow to the eldest offspring of the deceased before kneeling onto a mat only big enough for one placed in front of the shrine. From here he performed 2 (or was it three?! I thought to myself) kneeling bows to the shrine - each time standing in between the bows as the relatives chanted in a low manner - similar to Buddhist chanting I had seen in Chinese / Japanese temples. He finished with another deep standing bow to the relatives as he left the room. I was next. I took a deep bow to the relatives and proceeded to copy all that my "sunbei" Kang Jang Nim had done. It all went very smoothly. Instead of the "smile and wave" I relied on the "bow lower and longer than everybody around you and avoid excessive eye contact maneuver"... "skills" <Napolean again>.

Following this we all satdown for some more food - Korean people love to eat and offer others food... the only problem with this? We're always sitting on the floor and well, I'm just not that limber haha I know I know - I'm twenty two I'm supposed to be supple... I can pretty much kick vertically upwards but compared to these old dudes at the table (more like a coffee table) next to us? I'm struggling and trying not to change position to accomodate for what feel like two cumbersome, uncoordinated, inflexible aryan legs that have been forced into a position that they are trying to veto with all their power... So we sit around and chat, well, they sit around and chat while I practiced my "smile and wave skills" - I even threw in a few "neee nee" (yeah, yeah I agree) for good measure when I pretended that the fact that I recognised one word in a sentence (usually my name) ment that I was following the conversation. Or maybe they were just saying the word for "knife" (Kal) and not even my name... During the eating period I met a host of Park Sabum's relatives and felt very honoured, although very awkward at that way that they welcomed me in the most friendly of fashions. Sometimes in the most "tipsy" of fashions but hey, that was appreciated too - it made me feel less uncomfortable about being the only one making a fool of themselves...

Part. 7: Off home to bed - back up to the 16th floor of the apartment complex where my homestay family resides. I'm with Kim Jung Hae Sabum-Nim who stops me at the door to the apartment with a look of anticipation in his eye... I step away from the door, I get this feeling like there might be a suprise party inside or something... instead Mrs. Cha comes out holding a large carton of crystalissed (rock) salt and starts throwing it at us!! I'm like "what the bejesus"... as usual - another suprise in Korea that people prefer not to warn me about. I think my "sunbei" just enjoy seeing the whole mixed bag of shocked expressions contrasted with childlike delight that I exhibit at every turn we make...hence they prefer not to warn me about experinces to come (whether pleasant or unpleasant - I'm sure you all haven't forgot my report on the trip to the torture chamber? Sorry - the oriental doctor's?) Anyway sorry to stray away again - as you might of expected the whole salt throwing thing was a purifying ritual. In Asia there is a superstition that salt is able to ward of spirits of death i.e. those that we may have picked up in the hospital or at today's reception. Even as I was being pelted with salt, my martial arts addicted brain could only think of the way that Sumo purify the "dohyo" (ring) before each match in the traditional "shinto" (Japanese naturalist / shamanistic religious) style.
"GEEK!!"

And that ends VR's massive tuesday... Kim Jung Hae promises me that tomorrow will be just as big. Not sure if my update will be though.

ZZZZZZZ <drool again>
Over and out

Carl van Geekhofd
("hofd" = head <Dutch>)

18.02.07

Well, it's been a pretty big weekend so far guys - had a few massive days and nights celebrating "seollal" (lunar new years) with various Sabum Nim.
I had been doing my best to avoid Korean drinking culture but situational obligations make it pretty hard to avoid at times - especially when you're the one being shouted all the time which kinda makes it hard to say no time after time...

On friday night a group of us visited the biggest and most extravagant nightclub I've ever seen... In Korea "nightclubs" are much bigger than "clubs", yes people there is a difference apparently.
Even in Europe I never saw anything like this megaplex of a club... It really felt and looked more like something from a Las Vegas movie. For those in Auckland, think of the biggest club you know of back home and times that by ten and you might get some idea of what it was like... A huge dance floor with hundreds of tables a huge light-show and mini pyrotechnics etc... The DJs going absolutely crazy. Hundreds of staff with ear-piece communications really looking the part of making you feel like a VIP. We even had a private "noraebang" (karaoke room) equipped with anything we might need. Needless to say I aced the singing with a beautiful rendition of the Westlife version of "Uptown-girl"...Let's just say the whole experience was quite a bit different to a friday night in Auckland anyway.

In such "Nightclubs" the DJ interacts a lot with the audience and encourages them to get up from their private tables to dance. It's almost more like I would imagine it must have been for my parents generation during the sixties when couples went to dances with a lot more order to how things were done. Remember what I said about Korea being a little like a "timewarp"? As an example of this order to how things happened, there were separate times for couples to have romantic slow-dances and other times for people to just generally boogey on down with their bad selves. In between DJ sessions most people seemed to go upstairs to their private rooms and bang out a few songs in their "noraebang" before heading back down stairs again for more dancing.

So friday night we didn't get much sleep. But that didn't stop the group getting up the next day to head out to "Chung Won" (spelling?) which was around two hours away from Pusan. We visited a friend of Kang Jang Nim (the WTF instructor who's CQB trained kids I've been teaching) for a feast of "hui" (sashimi for those who like Japanese raw fish). Was a pretty nice spot really - the "hui jit" (sashimi shop) was located on the waters edge of a huge harbour where a large bridge is being constructed that kinda reminded me of the San Francisco golden gate bridge. I tried so many new types of food. To start with we had some sort of sea egg (like the Maori "kina"). It was customary to eat the insides out of this sea egg before drinking soju (sake) out of the empty body. We also had spiral shaped shell fish which had been steamed. One had to remove them with a large tooth pick before dipping them in "gochu jang" (hot pepper paste)... there were plenty of other things yesterday and today that I ate that kinda freaked me out but then a lot of them ended up being pretty nice... kind of. haha. Today I tried "sunde guk bap" (a coagulated pigs blood rice soup) which sounded, well... revolting but I sucked it back and it wasn't too bad. Kinda felt like I was on the Korean version of "Fear-Factor" or something...Next stop "Ke gogi" (bbq dog meat)

Tonight it looks like I will be attending a traditional celebration of "seollal" (the lunar new year) with the family who I'm currently homestaying with. Needless to say I'll be taking cultural notes.

To finish up this update I thought I'd just make a mention of the guy sitting next to me here in this "PC-bang" (internet cafe). Like many Koreans he is enjoying passing the time with a bit of "Sudden Attack" (a korean version of the game Counter-Strike for those familiar with this violent but addictive first person shooter)...
The interesting thing about this chap is that he is wearing camoflauge as he plays - and not just for fun, he must be taking a break from service for the weekend because he's wearing the South-Korean uniform and looks to be quite highly ranked too. Guess everybody's gotta get back to their hometowns and celebrate "seollal" with their families, right? Oh, that and play a little "sudden attack" in uniform to maintain those killer instincts...The funny thing is, nobody in Korea even notices this as every man has to go into military service for two years. Nobody finds it amusing in the slightest while foreigners like myself turn heads everywhere just for managing to crank out the simplest of Korean phrases "annyong haseyo!" (hello).

Time to sign off from this update - hope everyone is having great "seollal" celebrations back home too!

Ciao~

"Carl van"

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By the way everyone - this weekend Korea celebrates Lunar New Years Day or "Seollal" much like the Chinese community in NZ and all over the world for that matter celerbrate Chinese New Year...

"Koreans' favorite holiday is just around the corner. Koreans usually celebrate two new year¡¯s; one on January 1st according to the solar calendar, and another according to the lunar calendar, falling this year on February 18th. During Seollal, most people go back to their hometowns to perform ceremonial rites to pay their respect to their ancestors, so the day before and after Seollal are also designated holidays. This year however, Seollal falls on the weekend, so the holidays are shorter..."

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16.2.07

Your Korean correspondent reporting in to HQ.

Back in the dojang today for more teaching of the terrible TKD totts at Kang Jang Nim's dojang! <Like the use of alliteration? Yeah - I thought it was a little forced too...>

I spent this morning working on a secret project that I'm not actually supposed to talk about... so don't tell a certain "Mr. B" that I've begun putting together my special report for the upcoming issue TKD Talk... My ideas for the article are gradually developing and I've put my first draft together so I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of response I get from people.... But for now - back to the situation at hand!

Because it is friday, and because the kids at the dojang have been so good...NOT!~ <Borat again> they get a special treat today!!

What else but some good old fashioned violence! This time not in the form of kicking each other... nooo. That stuffs only for the toddlers, now we're preparing them for real combat... in the form of "Survivor Shot" - a laser tag game in which each kid wears a headset and is equipped with their own gun so they can have an all out battle royale... I'll probably just be hiding in the corner trying to recover from PTS (post traumatic stress) as the mayhem unfolds... And like I said, the whole thing has practical applications - the boys are all going to need these skills when they have to do their compulsory military service so... like all good Korean parents, why not give the kids a headstart now?

I was thinking I might even show them a few CQB (close quarter battle) techniques...you know, all the fun stuff... eye gouges, groinal knee strikes, stamping on the instep... maybe even a hit with the butt of the pistol if they run out of battery for their lasers? Hmm. Maybe we could market the whole concept to dojangs all over Korea? - English, Taekwon-Do, military something or rather... "The complete training system - start them young with their combat training folks! Get your little killing machine qualified today with the original English language survival system! CALL NOW!! All rights reserved - Master instructor Carl van (minus the Roon)"

Hey you're laughing now (maybe) but that's seriously how far some of the teachers in Korea will take it to get a heads-up on other local dojang competing for the most students... Anyway that's enough blabbing - time to grab a gun and get me a "killtacular!"... Halo, anyone?

Enjoy the pictures guys Fresh shots from the first battle...

Over and out :-)

VR