Lunar New Year in Beijing

To continue our Asian travelling theme, Kelly and I were joined by Erin, Justin Page, Justin Pray, Poly and Lindsay for 5 days over Lunar New Year. It was not disappointing.

We managed to all book the same fantastic hostel, called Peking Downtown Backpackers if interested, which was a 10 minute walk to a park/bar street and 15 minute cab ride to many attractions. When we first arrived we went on a stroll towards the park to see some of the city. That walk introduced us to the traditional Chinese new year's celebration of firecrackers. At first the firecrackers we heard were a cool celebratory thing, but 5 consecutive days of nonstop explosions got a little tiring.

For a little more tradition, we found a restaurant serving the holiday special of dumplings, of which we downed about 25 dumplings apiece. After the feast we came upon the park and saw the most amazing winter activity imaginable: ice biking! It couldn't have been cooler. A bike with 1 tire on the back, bracketed by 2 blades that acted like training wheels, with normal handlebars and a blade on the front. The steering was surprisingly responsive and the brakes weren't useless. It was the best $3/hour I've ever encountered.

Wednesday night was a sight to behold. It's hard to put into words, especially for an amateur as myself, so try and stay with me. The alley we stayed in is about 15 feet with, with 2 storey buildings on each side, many wires overhead, and trees up and down the avenue. We were told there would be a few fireworks, but the big celebrations would be in the countryside. We were deceived. By 10:00 there were fireworks ignited up and down the entire alleyway, as well as the endless cacophony of firecrackers. Flamable materials all around were ignored in the name of the party. Not a second went by where you couldn't see the flash of a firework. They were quality ones too, like you'd see at any display in Canada, just on a smaller scale. Kids lighting them, men lighting them with cigarettes, all basically asking to have massive facial burns. J.Pray had the idea to go up to the roof of our building and get a better look at the rest of the city, and what a look it was. Looking 360 degrees you could see non-stop fireworks. It was incredible, the total number of fireworks all 7 of us had seen in our lives didn't come close to the number we saw that 1 night. It was a scene, man.

On Thursday we did some of the famous sights like Forbidden City, Tiennamen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. They were decent. The highlights include a New Year's Day parade with people all dressed up, the Circular Mound (which is maybe 18 inches in diameter and raised 6 inches, the name's just hilariously translated) which people stand on and give a little prayer, a kid with a NASCAR racing jacket that was sponsered by Mralboor cigarettes, and scaffolding around 80% of the structures in Forbidden City. But we saw them.

Friday was the Great Wall. It's pretty big. The part we were on was called Simatai which isn't the most heavily traveled by tourists. We did a 7km hike, which was pretty tame in general. We were on the peak of a mountain ridge, so the wind was a little whippy, and it was cold, but the sun and walking kept you at a comfortable temperature. It has been kept surprisingly undeveloped in the area we walked, with mountains and 1 gas station as the only real surroundings, which was very nice. There were parts that had been rebuilt, but most of it seemed to be the original construction complete with crumbling watchtowers. It was what I thought it would be: big, extending as far as you could see, a little decrepit, and quite peaceful. I have now hiked a grand 0.1% of the Great Wall of China.

On Saturday we went to see some of the Olympic buildings and go shopping. Unfortunately the 'Bird's Nest' and Swimming Complex were completely inaccessible, but they looked nice from afar. We then went shopping, which was as cheap as the tales say. Polo golf shirts for $6, Versace/Tommy dress shirts for $8, etc. My best purchases were some stylish leather dress shoes, 2 pairs for about $60. Kelly's best deals were a Roxy sweatshirt for $18 and a Spyder ski jacket for $20. It was a good thing we packed light, because our bags were overflowing on the trip home.

On Saturday night we took in a Chinese acrobat show and it was incredible. There were around 8 acts, but I definitely had favourites. The dudes who set up a see-saw and used it as a catapult were sweet. One little guy stands on one end of the board, while a dude behind him balances a chair attached to a 20 foot pole on his head. A group of guys jump on the other end of the board, sending the little guy flying, doing 3 flips before landing on the chair. Next were the guys who set up rings of 2 sizes (maybe 1 foot & 2 feet wide) on a bench and ran/flipped/jumped through them. It finished with the bike rountine and about 14 women riding 1 bicycle. And these are the gymnastic rejects!

We flew out Sunday after visiting a temple and hitting one final market. China definitely has the most historical character out of any Asian country we visited. Thailand has more religion, Cambodia had 2 interesting periods but it felt like a gap from 1400-1950, Vietnam had the most recent rebuilding, and Japan had the most wealth. But none had as much palpable history as China, and certainly none merged the past with the present so well. I think the Olympics will be incredible. They seem intent on proving their worth to the world. The food was cheap and fantastic. Aside from their human rights record, I don't have a bad thing to say about the country. Which is too bad, because it's really a place I could get behind.

Oil Spill Clean-up

This past weekend Ian and I, along with some friends, joined a team of people heading to the Taean Oil Spill distaster area.

If you haven't red much about the oil spill, check out the following article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22140662/

When we heard about the opportunity to help, we immediately signed up. We went with Poly, Lindsay (Flem), Grace and Melissa King from WLU and Naomi from Plus Academy. We joined two busloads of people at a subway station and got there early morning. We suited up in white space-like suits, rubber boots, face masks and two pairs of gloves each for the effort on the cold Saturday morning. We weren't surprised to see the several other people working awa

y as we headed down to the water, and were pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty of the South Korean coastline.

As the article link states, "The oil started hitting beaches, including Mallipo, on Saturday after a Hong Kong-registered supertanker was slammed the day before by a South Korean-owned barge that came unmoored from its tugboat in rough seas."

Compared to pictures from before, the coastline looked relatively cleaner. However, when we took a closer look at the rocks and pebbles, we could see that there was still a lot of work to be done. We sat in a group and started. We took what looked like dry sheets and dug holes. We poured water into the holes and this raised the oil. We then set the dryer sheet-type material on top of the water and absorbed the oil. It was incedible how quickly the white cloths turned black. When we ran out fo the cloths, we began using old rags. We also scrubed rocks clean.

When the day was finished, we actually felt like we accomplished something. The area in which we were working no longer seemed to have as much oil left. We tried dumping water in holes and absorbing oil, as we had been doing earlier, but there wasn't much left to be absorbed! Of coarse there are other areas affected by the spill and there is still plenty of work to be done, but at least we helped in a small way!

Here is the link to the picture album: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140316&l=386ca&id=187905622

Korean Students on Britney Spears

You guys all know how I feel about Miss Britney Spears. I feel like I have a strong loyalty to her, even though she has been acting pretty outrageous. I feel bad for her and I guess I am just rooting for her to get better. What does this all have to do with our time in Korea, you ask?

Well, we read a newspaper in our older level classes called "The Junior Herald." It's a newspaper written by Korean high school students with very high English proficiency. This past week there was an article about Britney Spears in it and the students wanted to read it, obviously. The journalist wrote about Britney's lastest custody fisasco and drinking problems and I saw this as a prime opportunity to teach my students about American pop culture, the paparazzi, and Hollywood stars who are on a downward spiral. I also saw it as an opportunity to teach them that acting in immorale ways can cause self-destruction. Most Korean students love a lot of American pop idols and listen to some of their music. My students loved to take a break from the usual political and current event articles they were reading to read something that interested them. I thought I would be able to work a fun activity into the mix as well.

I made a worksheet with vocabulary and opinion-based questions and on the back, I gave the students a chance to write a letter to Britney. Most of the teachers here all thought it would be cool to make a little booklet of the letters afterwards. We can bring it home and show you guys how once in a while, North American culture is stirred into the mix of our teaching and it can be a relaxing and fun topic. I started each letter out for them, having typed:

Dear Britney Spears,
I am a middle school student in South Korea and we recently read a newspaper article about you in our class. I know you have been going through some problems lately.

I left lines for the students to fill up with their own advice to Britney and was anxiously awaiting their responses. I thought I would share some of the cute, hilarious and insightful reach-outs to Britney with you. I am leaving them in their original form, so many times the sentence structure and spelling is incorrect, but I think that makes them even cuter. So, there goes:

As all of the letters start.....

Dear Britney Spears,
I am a middle school student in South Korea and we recently read a newspaper article about you in our class. I know you have been going through some problems lately:

"I think you should relax. Why are you change so much? Come down. I love your Christmas carol and I hope that you make more sings. Take care.
From Judy"
.....

"Why are you so erratic? You are similar with me. I'm erratic too."
......

"Hello Britney, my name is Kristi. I think you did bad thing very much, like drinking and smoking. But I know you as a famous pop-star and singing very well, but you still did bad thing! Then you will be not popular anymore. You should stopping drinking, and taking music video. So, you became good girl again. I love your song (Like, My Only Wish This Year, Toxic) I wish you became good girl again. Please Britney! Good bye.
From Kristi"
.......

"I think you didn't care about your kids. GO to play, drink and do strangely. You don't have right to protect them. Just give up and live alone. It's good to all.
From: Lee Young Ryul"
.....

"You are a famous pop star and our idol. But you are so tired and hard. We want you take some rest for you. I think you need your own privacy but paparazzi makes you tired. I want you back again teenagers' idol!
From Vicky"
........
One of my favourites:

"I'm your big fan since when I was elementary student. 3 years ago, whem you visited Korea, you was so kind and wore our traditional clothe too. Unlike other Hollywood stars. That was attracted me and I love your songs too. But I know that you changed now. You drinking a lot, play with Paris Hilton, divorced. I think that's not your fault.All of the enviroment makes you crazy. So I always supporting you with my heart. And I believe you can up to grace again. Cheer up! Britney Spears! For your children!
From: Lee Jae Joon"
.........

"First, I think you have to stop much drinking and taking drug. Recently, your behavior is really strange. Most of Korean teens know your problems and many of them are love your songs. Please stop your strange behavior and come back to popstar!
From Juliet"
...........

"I just think you are very poor. Some people think you have everything. But I don't think. You can't have anything. My favorite song is "Piece of Me." I know it's your lately album and lyric about you. Everyone want to know about your privacy. Song "Piece of Me" is very sad. But, I think you can do everything again! You just stop drug and drinking and start again singing and dancing. If you do like before on any people will like you again and you can protect your children! You can fo everything again! Good luck!
From Regina"
_______________________________________________________

All the letters ended with the students signing:
"From: _____(name)_____
Seoul, South Korea"


So, it is fun to do activites like that every once in a while. Lately, I have also started Pen Pal letters again with my students, which I started when I got here, and our friend Leah had already been doing it with her friend's students in Arizona. I do it with my step brother's class in Florida and this summer I did it with his simmer camp. The students are really excited and all brought adorable stationary, stickers, and markers to class for the first letters written. I have done some other fun things, like creative stories, class newspapers, Hallowe'en masks and Christmas paper chains. It can be a lot of fun! I feel like sometimes the students don't get to express their creativity as much as they should.

That's it from me! We head to China tomorrow and cleaned up an oil spill tis weekend, so I-Dawg and I will have alot more to blog about coming up! Happy Lunar New Year! :)

PS Sorry if the spelling is bad on this post! The spell check isn't working and I wrote it rather quickly!