Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Changes

The end of February is almost here and with it, the end of my time at EG. I am so thankful to be finishing up at EG and moving to The Little School. For the past week, I've been doing observation/training at The Little School in the mornings and working at EG at night. It's been hectic and VERY draining but so good to be spending time at my new school. The kids love being there as do the teachers. It's such a great environment.

The lease for my new apartment officially began on Monday. I took some of my things down and moved in all the used furniture I bought. Thankfully, the guy I bought it all from lived approximately 40 feet from my new place. What a blessing. Tomorrow, Tae is bringing his car to move the rest of my stuff downtown to the new place so I've spent my whole night doing laundry, packing and taking things off the walls.

I can't wait to be settled into my new place, sit on the couch (that I haven't bought yet) and just relax. Life will be soooo much better in about 10 days :)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Suspect Arrested in Korean Arson

By Hyung-Jin Kim
The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Police said today a 69-year-old man upset over a land dispute has admitted setting the fire in Seoul that destroyed the 14th-century gateway considered South Korea's top cultural treasure.

The suspect in the arson at the Namdaemun gate, identified only by his family name, Chae, was arrested late Monday on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul.

The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate, which once formed part of a wall that encircled the South Korean capital. The structure collapsed as hundreds of firefighters attempted to get the blaze under control, officials said. The gate's large stone base remained intact.

Police have a letter from the suspect complaining about a land dispute with a development company. The suspect maintains he did not get enough compensation from the developer for his land in Gyeonggi province near Seoul.

Police found a bottle of paint thinner and leather gloves at the house of Chae's ex-wife in Ganghwa Island, said Kim Young-soo, head of a police station handling the case in Seoul.

Kim said the man had been charged in 2006 with setting fire to the Changgyeong Palace in Seoul, which caused $4,230 in damage.

The two-tiered wooden structure destroyed in this week's fire was renovated in the 1960s. The government built a plaza around the gate, officially known as Sungnyemun, in 2005 and opened it to the public the following year for the first time in nearly a century.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years and some $21 million to fully restore the gate.

(Tuesday February 12, 2008)

Monday, February 11, 2008

Crime in Korea

Usually, the only mention of crime in Korea is referring to how it is almost non-existent. Unfortunately, last night, there was a BIG crime in Seoul. Arson.

One of my first weekends in Seoul, I visited Sungnaemun (better known as Namdaemun, which means "South Gate"). It was really beautiful. 610 years old, this gate was once the main gate to Seoul. It was the oldest wooden structure in Korea, survived the massive bombings of Seoul during the Korean Civil War and designated National Treasure No. 1.

Sunday night, just before 9pm, someone set Sungnaemun on fire. Around 2am, the gate collapsed. All that's left is the cinder block structure. It's a true loss to the cultural history of Korea.

In 2006, a to-scale blueprint of Sungnaemun was created. The building will be able to be reconstructed to look like, though not be, the original. The government estimates this process will take approximately 3 years and 20 billion Won (around $21,300,000) to repair the gate.



All That's Left

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

SPAM!

It's Lunar New Year so we get a 5 day weekend. Even better, we got gifts from school. We've been joking that this might happen ever since Chuseok, but never really expected it. We got the Spam gift set.
Obviously we were really stoked about a big box of spam and canola oil.

Brad was so excited.

Mmmmmmm....Spam!

Monday, February 4, 2008

18 and ONE!!

I woke up at 540am today. Nick and I met downstairs a little after 6 and headed to the subway. It's about a 45 minute ride to Itaewon. Unfortunately, Rocky Mountain Tavern (a local Canadian sports pub) was the closest, and only, place we knew of showing the Super Bowl. That's right folks. I just had my very first Super Bowl MONDAY.

It was definitely different waking up early for the big game. The pub served their famous "Truck Stop Breakfast" which consisted of eggs, homefries, bacon, toast and coffee. It may sound pretty run of the mill, but over here, there aren't many places that serve an American breakfast like that.

The first quarter was pretty rough. They were streaming the Super Bowl from a website and it was constantly freezing. We missed almost every play and just saw the moments in between plays. "Hey look, it's first and ten. Something must've happened on that last play." After the quarter, they switched to a Korean website that was showing the game. It was a much better picture and no more freezing. Of course, that meant no Super Bowl commercials, but that's a small price to pay to see the big game, and since the place was so packed and loud, we couldn't hear much anyway.

It's always hard to root for the Giants. As an Eagles fan, you're conditioned to hate them, but I hate the Patriots even more. This was, by far, the best Super Bowl in a few years. There were a few Pats fans at the pub, but the place EXPLODED when Manning hit that game winning touchdown in the last 35 seconds...yes, apparently Eli really is a Manning after all.

To top it off, as we were leaving the pub, I was celebrating with a couple guys and mentioned how it is hard to cheer for the Giants since I'm an Eagles fan. The one guy just froze, looked at me and yelled, "oooooooooh!" and we all know what comes next.......E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!! Turns out he was in the same boat as me. We exchanged the usual, "There's always next year," and headed out. It had been a good morning, but it was almost 1pm, and Nick and I had class in a few hours.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Odds and Ends

It's been a busy couple weeks for me. I've had a lot of meetings, finished intensives, found a new apartment and am starting my last month of work at EG. I went snowboarding again today too. That was a lot of fun. Overall, it's normal life. Nothing out of the ordinary, but things are going well.