Beijing; Tienanmen Square, Chinese Advanced Cell Phone Technology and the Cutest Puppy in the World

9 Days in China....

Not long, especially when you are battling two highly populated countries in the busiest travel season. But somehow we made it through all the sold out buses, standing room only trains and lost airline reservations and made it to 3 different cities in China! So without futher ado I give you

China: Days 1,2 & 3

We left Incheon on Saturday, July 31st. Nothing too remarkable about our flight out, but a glimpse of the airport security guards left us with the "we're definitely not in Canada anymore" feeling.



I have no idea what kind of gun that is, but I do know these guys looked maybe 19 years old. Picture mall security guards, but with AK 47's and you'll know how we felt when we saw them.

We arrived in Beijing that night and made our way to our hostel. It was in downtown Beijing, about a 5 minute walk from Tienemmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was cute and appeared to be the place for foreigners to hang out at night.



We had to take a table under the Canadian flags.



Words to live by.



The next day we explored a little bit of Beijing. We walked through Tiennammen Square toward the downtown marketplace. Our photos of Tiennamen are scarce because it was absolutely boiling outside. It had to be at least 37 degrees and we were both dying walking across the hot pavement.



One thing Neil pointed out is that there were people walking everywhere BUT the grass. Last time Neil was in Beijing there were guards and signs to prevent anyone from walking on the grass. With millions of people travelling through there everyday the grass would be non-existent if everyone walked on it. The scare tactic of guards seems to have done the trick though, because the only section of Tiennemen NOT covered in people was the grass.



There were huge lines to see Mao's body but since Neil had already seen it, and I had no interest waiting hours to have 5 minutes to look at a dead dictator, we passed on this.

Later in the week though, I did get the chance to see one of the highlights of the trip across the street from Mao's body. And there were no line ups to wait for this one!



Isn't he cute!!!!!



He is so small - smaller than my feet, as you can tell by the picture.



I spent about 15 minutes petting, playing with this little guy and taking pictures, while Chinese people in the restaurant behind me stared and wondered what's going on with the crazy foreigner.



I'll take an adorable puppy over Mao's body any day.

On Monday we went to the bus terminal for our long trip to QingZhou, Neil's Chinese "hometown". At the bus terminal I got to experience a little bit of the Advanced Chinese Technology when I spotted this little cellphone charge station.






Seriously - hook your cell phone up to a battery and give it a boost. I love it.

And off we went to Qingzhou!!!

Time Flies When You're Working a Lot

And then it was Autumn.

Our summer seems to have gone by in a flash, which is good in some ways (goodbye 35 degree heat and 100% humidity) and bad in other ways, like letting down our loyal blog followers (sorry mom).

Our lives have changed a little in the last few months. Both Neil and I have finished our time teaching at other schools and are now at Niagara Christian School full time until the end of our contracts. After a tumultuous summer teaching schedule that had both of us working around 40 classes a week (the standard for foreign teachers in Korea is 30) and some chaotic adhoc teaching curriculum, it's been nice to slip back into a normal schedule and routine.

Of course, we did have a great week in China at the beginning of August, which left us feeling relaxed and, well, reluctant to go back to work.

China can be broken down into four distinct sections and you can look forward to a separate blog on each of the following;

1) Beijing; Tienanmen Square, Chinese Advanced Cell Phone Technology and the Cutest Puppy in the World
2) Qingdao and the Strange Hotel Room
3) The Great Wall of China
4) The Forbidden City

Here are a couple of teaser shots:





More to come!!

Radio Silence

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the month long absence. But surely it makes the heart grow fonder, right?????

In the past month we've been getting settled into our little Korean life. The country has been buzzing with World Cup excitement but that's now died down since Saturday's game that has cast Korea out of the series. Our lovely island had an issue with the water dam that cause us to go without water for 2 days and caused me to realize how much I hate not being able to clean ANYTHING.

But now for some photographic evidence that we are have built a nice little nest.

Exhibit A: Our lovely kitchen stand. This is home to our microwave, our rice cooker, our no-name Magic Bullet and the piece de resistance - our little convection oven!



This puppy has changed our lives. I can bake things with actual whole grains - a rarity in Korea. And Neil can go back to his culinary masterpieces of chicken nuggets and rice, although now he's put a Korean twist on this classic; he bakes mini pork cutlets and rice.

Exhibit B: The fruits of our labour.



Because of our favorite new addition to our family, the convection oven, I am able to bake yummy loaves of whole wheat bread. Delicious. And I accompany my tasty bread with homemade almond butter made in my "not really a Magic Bullet" Magic Bullet. I think I'm a convert to homemade nut butters - I'll likely never go back.

Exhibit C: Living Entities



That's right - we have plants - 4 in total. I try to remember to water them. They are beautiful and the woman who sold them to me actually spoke a little English, so she could tell me how often to water them. Huzzah!

Exhibit D: Collection of Hot Sauce



Every time you order pizza in Korea you get side dishes - as you do in all restaurants here. The sides that come with pizza are hot sauce and sweet pickles. I have no idea why, because I have never seen anyone actually use any of these. Koreans seem to ignore them completely whenever we eat pizza with them.

We have taken to throwing out the pickles as soon as the pizza comes - I just get tempted to eat them when I look at them and then extremely disappointed when I taste them and remember that they are not dill pickles. But the hot sauce has made a nice home for itself in the top shelf of our fridge, waiting to be blended into one of Neil's rice and pork cutlet delights.

There you have it - a place that is starting to look like a home!

Aftermath of a Korean Divorce

Hey Everyone!

Just a quick post today! A few weeks ago we were walking around our neighbourhood and came across some interesting garbage.

A short explanation of the Korean garbage system - if you don't want it in your house anymore, put it on the street corner. There is no specific day of garbage pick up, they come pick it up many times throughout the week. Household garbage goes in special pink bags that you can buy at grocery or convenience stores. Recyclables go in any other kind of plastic bag (this includes cardboard, plastic, bottles and cans). Compost goes in special sealed plastic bins.

And personal memories?? You can just throw them on the street and hope that someone takes them.



I'd love to hear the backstory on how this divorce went down. But on the bright side, Neil and I now have some beautiful Korean portraits to decorate our little apartment!

Just kidding.....but I have considered visiting one of the several photo studios in our area to have our family portrait done. It seems an obligatory part of Korean lifestyle.

Busan Aquarium

On the weekend we had the chance to explore some new areas of Busan. Our favorite area was the Haeundae district. It features the Haeundae Beach and has a lot of personality. The streets are full of people from all over the world and, unlike the rest of Korea, individuality seems to be a positive in this district.

The best part of the Haeundae area is the Busan Aquarium. It is host to several different types of aquatic life. You can even go swimming in the shark tank - if you fork out the cash for it.

I must have taken about 125 pictures in the aquarium - as I started snapping I realized that I love taking pictures of sea creatures - apparently I'm going to have to give scuba diving a try and get a good underwater camera!

When you first enter the aquarium you see the penguins - very cute.





I also loved the fact that they are the "Jackass" species of penguin.

The crabs and shrimp were cool.





My favorite shrimp were the ones that look like men with crazy big mustaches.



A scary huge octopus - he never came out so I have no idea exactly how big he was.



The jellyfish were cool - the moon jellyfish were great because the light in the tank kept changing, so the jellyfish would change colors.







And we found Nemo!



He was with Dory!



We got to see a big turtle - he was amazing - I wasn't able to get a super good picture of him because he went by so quickly.





And we saw many other fish, including a freaky looking guy, some beautiful tropical colors and some lumpy orange guys.







But my favorite sections were the sharks and the stingrays.





Maybe it's a good thing we didn't pay to swim with the sharks - it was scary enough on the outside of the glass.





And the stingrays just rocked. I love this picture because they look like ghosts!



And I love the little fish that swims along with the stingray!





Unfortunately the aquarium ended on a low note. Right at the end, as you are about to enter the gift shop, they have two enclosures that could not have been more than 10' x 10' in size. One had two female lions and the other had two tigers. They were such small spaces and the animals were just lying in the corners - they looked so sad.

To make matters worse, some lady kept knocking on the plastic glass in the left corner of the tiger's enclosure, where one of the tigers was resting. After a minute of her knocking the tiger got up from his corner. I swear he looked right at me - I was standing in the right corner - and he looked absolutely depressed. He then slowly walked to the right corner and curled up with his mate, who was already asleep there. It broke my heart.

Then the lady came over to where I was standing, and pushed me aside so she could continue pestering this tiger. Neil, seeing I was upset and that this lady was a jerk, grabbed her arm and told her to stop. Of course, since she was Korean, she didn't understand and just laughed in his face, and continued to laugh as she walked away. Apparently having a humane attitude to animals is funny.

I understand that the culture here places a different importance on the treatment of people and animals. In this culture humans are the top species and animals are here to satisfy our needs, be that as food, entertainment or a pathetic substitute for a child that we dress up in ridiculous costumes (I'll write more on the Korean fashionable pets another day). But I will never be able to agree with those beliefs, and I will never feel okay about seeing animals mistreated in such a way.

But that's enough of my rant. I can honestly say that 99% of the wildlife in the Busan Aquarium appears to be very well taken care of and it is an excellent place - well worth a visit should you ever find yourself in Busan.

Happy Seokga Tansinil!

This year May 21 was the celebration of Seokga Tansinil, or Buddha's Birthday in Korea. His birthday is celebrated each year on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month. Our boy Buddha is 2,634 years old, based on a birth year of 624 BC. In South Korea, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated by hanging colorful lotus lanterns in temples for the month of May. On his birthday many people visit the temples to pray and light a lantern.

We visited Busan for Buddha's birthday to visit the very special Beomeosa Temple. Beomeosa Temple translates to "Temple of the Nirvana Fish". This temple was built in 678 and has a very special story on the origin of it's name.

The mountain where Beomeosa is found is said to have at the summit a golden well which never, ever dries up. The water of this well is believed to have very special magical properties, as one day a golden fish came from heaven to play in the well and has lived there ever since.

The temple has been reconstructed twice - once in 1602, after it was burned down following a Japanese invasion in 1592. It burned down again only years later in 1613, this time in an accidental fire.

To get to the top of the mountain where the temple is found we take a bus from near the Beomeosa metro station. Since it was Buddha's Birthday we were in the company of hundreds of Koreans. The lines were extremely long and the heat was excruciating, but I channeled my inner Buddha to find calm and nirvana. This allowed me to keep my cool while I watched groups of old Koreans cut the mile long line and nab a spot on the bus before everyone else. After a 30 minute wait for the bus, and a sweaty, claustrophobic 30 minute bus ride to the top we were finally there.

The first thing we were greeted by was vendors, selling a variety of things, from small knickknacks and toys, to traditional Korean rice cake and cotton candy. There were also candidates for the upcoming elections shaking hands and kissing babies everywhere.









The temple itself was beautiful. There were brightly colored lanterns hanging everywhere, with tags on each. I believe that people can buy a tag and write a wish for their family on the tag, to hang from the lantern. They were not lit yet, as it was not dark.





As we wandered we came across many small temple rooms, where people would pray to various images of the Buddha. We weren't able to go in, or take pictures of these small rooms, as it didn't feel right to interrupt the worship. Although I did attend Buddhist temple on occasion with my family when I was young, I never really learned much beyond the basic bow - and the warning not to play with my o-juzu beads in temple.

Apparently other foreigners had no problem posing for cheesy pictures in front of the prayer rooms, or having their pictures taken with monks like they were seeing Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. It was definitely a strange dichotomy, with some people there to have a special religious day and others there to sight see.

There was a small stage, with some women playing traditional music. I assume that later in the evening there would be more of a ceremony on the stage, when all the lanterns would be lit up.



The temple also provides lunch for all visitors to the temple that day - which is a staggering number of meals. We didn't partake in the meal, which is a traditional lunch of rice, vegetables and chili sauce - bibimbap.

It was great to see a traditional, historical sight on such a special day. I look forward to visiting another temple in Busan, which is built into the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean, but we will save that trip for a day when it is less busy.