Snow…

We don’t get snow in New Zealand.

Well, on the mountains, sure (there’s some good skiing in NZ), but not in the parts that most people live anyway. Certainly not my hometown of Napier. Ergo snow is always exciting for me. The first White Xmas I had was in Canada, staying at my buddy Erik’s house in Wasaga Beach, Ontario. That was back in 1989(?). Man, we had some fun. Wasaga Beach is a ghost town in Winter (in Summer, it rocks apparently). There was a large pond just down the road from where he lived and it freezes over during Winter. We were out there playing ice hockey and tossing a nerf ball around. It was great.

I find it difficult to understand people who don’t like snow. I guess if you have to live year after year in a white Xmas, it would be a hassle. Mind you, in the Southern Hemisphere we have the same thing year after year too. But a Summer Xmas never becomes a problem.

So we had some lovely fine snow yesterday afternoon.

It got heavier and last night it snowed quite a lot. I was trudging through snow about 3 inches deep on the way to work today. I enjoy that. Here’s a shot of GyeongBok Palace. I occasionally take some pictures there on the way to work.

Actually, the snow was beautiful last night. It was the kind that glitters like powdered glass.

Possibly Maybe…

We went to see Bjork in concert last night at the Olympic Stadium here in Seoul. Approx 5000 people were there to see her first performance in Korea and to promote her latest album ‘Volta’.

I bought Bjork’s then latest album ‘Post’ back in 1997, ‘Homogenic’ was released very soon after so I picked that up too.

Cover art for ‘Post’

Her style is very unusual. Electronic music (which as a general rule, I don’t enjoy) mixed with brass and her unusual vocal style. I think that’s why I do enjoy her, because of her eccentricity. The concert was super. It took about two or three songs for her to get warmed up, but it just kept getting better. I must admit, I’m not familiar with her material since ‘Homogenic’ but she performed plenty of her earlier stuff, so that was cool. She didn’t communicate with the crowd much, a very cute “Thank you” between songs was about it. She did however introduce the band prior to the encore. Not that the crowd seemed to mind, everyone was rocking – except me. I enjoy concerts rather in the same fashion as I enjoy a movie. The band consisted of her, four members on percussion, electronics and synthesizer, and a 10 piece brass section called the ‘Wonder Girls’ from her native Iceland.

She has an incredible voice. Very powerful and varied. The highlight for me was ‘Army of Me’ from the ‘Post’ album. It was awesome. Seemed to be the crowd favourite too. Though I was a little disappointed she didn’t perform ‘Oh, So Quiet’ from the same album as that was the song that turned me on to her. At about 80 minutes, the concert was a little short I felt. But I’m not complaining. The wife loved it too. She was never a huge Bjork fan, but she likes her visual style (clothes, atmosphere etc). She’s a fan now.

I am still.

Not likely at home…

One of our P.E. teachers retired today. Miss Bang has been at our school for 34 years – “Not Likely at Home (anymore)” case 1. Amazing. And she’s not the longest serving current staff member. She’s retiring to take care of her grandchild when he/she is born (soon), so both parents can continue working – “Not Likely at Home” case 2. We had a ceremony at school, students and teachers, past and present attended along with close friends and family.

An interesting observation about Korean society is that they seem to require the national anthem, pomp and ceremony for the most trivial (from a Western perspective) things. I’m not suggesting Miss Bang’s retirement is trivial, but opening and closing ceremonies for the year and the semester and camps and sports day and this and that seem a little excessive and unnecessary. Again, this is from my point of view.

As an aside, we are a private school. We have a related High School and University, we all have the same name and are administered by a common board of trustees. Indeed, one of my co-teachers went right through system, attending our middle and high schools and graduating from our Uni. But we operate within the public system, government grants for renovations etc, set curriculum and I’m employed and placed by the Seoul Metropolitan Office Of Education. One big difference between private and public is that teachers can only stay at a public schools for a maximum of 5 years, then they have to go to a different school. That sucks.

Anyway, the soon-to-be-graduating 3rd grade students (another ceremony for that tomorrow) lined the halls applauding her from the theatre to the library where went to have a morning tea/lunch spread for the teachers and other adults. So I’m finally getting to the point here. “Not Likely at Home”, case 3 – there was beer and soju laid out on the tables along with the various foods. So there we were, headmaster included, consuming beer and hard liquor at school, during school hours, the occasional student coming in and out and we were back to work afterwards. It’s part of life here.  Last year we did the same thing on a much larger scale for the then headmaster’s retirement. Admittedly we didn’t have any classes this afternoon and nobody was trying to get inebriated, but I had to stop for a minute and contemplate this happening back in NZ.

I couldn’t.

So, I’m not an intellectual…

I’ve been in Korea a while now, reading Korean blogs by various people such as The Metropolitician, The Joshing Gnome and Brian in Jeollanam-do to name a few.
In reading about the experiences and opinions of these people, I find myself agreeing, disagreeing, having shared or dissimilar experiences. As one might expect. The thing I do admire about these people is their ability to express their experiences and opinions in a way that is concise and can be clearly understood.  I wish I had that ability.  Or rather, it would be nice to have it in spades as they seem to.

Keep it up guys.