TV, Dogs and other takeaway food...
G'day folks!
It is snowing in Mokpo today so pretty cold. It was snowing yesterday too but it didn't settle for more than a brief snowball fight on the way home. It was sunny on the way to work but very cold. And that is the weather report from the south west of Korea today!
Well, what have I got to tell you about today? Not sure so let's see how it goes. I have been thinking a lot about the whole being in Korea thing. It seems unreal most of the time- I could easily be in Chinatown in Sydney (except that they are Korean NOT Chinese- but all the languages sound the same until you get used to them I guess). My TV is one of the biggest reminders of where I am as for hours at a time there is nothing on there in English and I end up watching hours of Korean chess or the advert for the mattress that self inflates in 45 seconds. Maybe I should watch less TV. I have started writing letters but have yet to find the post office- next important step I think! So the TV is on, I am watching stuff I can't understand. Good job that my social commitments take me out of the house so often and that the PC bangs (internet cafes) are soooo cheap!
I do find myself avidly watching anything that is on in English though and have turned into a bit of an Ally McBeal addict- oh no! And my worries couldn't be much more different. Babies??? too worried about ordering food that might turn out to be too spicy for me to eat or trying to get a taxi to somewhere I don't know the name of! Men?? Well, maybe a little but I am too busy enjoying my space at the moment- I mean physical space- this apartment isn't big enough for two of us! So no more Ally Mc for me- well, maybe just five nights a week!
Korean TV- at least the cable connection that I have got seems to be mostly adverts for a lot of the time- the titles of a film come on and then the movie stops for a quarter of an hour while some woman comes on and tries to sell you shirts that don't need ironing EVER! But the short ads are even more annoying- not because of the content but because they show the ad- for instance for kotex- the ad finishes and then they show it again in case you weren't paying attention the first time! Double the irritation factor in one easy step!
And on to another subject lest you should think that all I do now is watch TV. I have found a very strange thing going on with the dogs in Korea- not that they are slowly disappearing and being replaced by well fed looking people. No, they only eat one type of dog and only at certain times of the month and it is all very hush hush as the international community is a bit upset about the whole thing and FIFA keep threatening to take the World Cup away unless they take Fido burgers off the half time menu. I am not taking about the edible dogs. I am talking about the little lap dogs that people have stuffed in their jackets or on the end of a lead. These are a little white breed- just smaller than the rats. Well, I say they are white but I discovered a special shop the other day that spends its day dying bits of the dogs. There are cages in there with white dogs with green ears, yellow tails and orange feet- since seeing the shop the other day I have been more aware of the canine inhabitants of Mokpo and found that this is not an unusual thing. I guess that buying a white dog gives you a good base to start colouring! Madness.
But at least there isn't dog mess all over the pavements here- only because there aren't any pavements to speak of and those that do exist allow people to ride motorbikes down them- making them only marginally safer than walking in the street. And the drivers are a little mad. There only seems to be about two different types of car- Hyundai and Kia- makes my life easier and now I am something of a car expert- not!
The only other thing that makes as much use of the pavements as the motorbikes are the little food tents everywhere. When it is raining the front is pulled down and you perch yourself on a little plastic stools and eat mainly food off sticks- fish on a stick, unknown battered item on a stick etc etc. Usually these places are quite small and we can only fit about five drunken foreign teachers dying for an egg and ham toastie in them. But when I went to Pusan at the weekend (big city on the other side of the country) these tents were creeping off the pavements and taking up the first lane of traffic too- well, I guess that the cars can always use the pavements!
Pusan was an interesting city though- so much bigger than Mokpo. And weird because it had all these lorries leaving the port there (no Eddie Stobarts though) and it reminded me of home as a lot of the trucks were loaded with the same kind of containers that we see in Felixstowe- K Line, Hyundai, OOCL etc. Then it occurred to me that they had probably come from my home town to get to Pusan and I got a bit homesick. But only a bit because then I hit the beach. It is considered the finest beach in Korea- it is a bit like Bondi would be if it ever got that cold in NSW- not likely with all those fires I would say. People are still drawn to the beach though and it was covered in people wearing duffle coats standing at the water's edge watching the waves. So we went to the aquarium there which was pretty cool- even though me and Tim seemed to be almost as popular an attraction as the fish. But we didn't care because we were too full of pizza- there was a pizza hut near the bus station and it didn't take much to persuade us to go in.
After the aquarium we went to the cooperative fish market- which sounds like a great idea to me- fish that actually want to get caught! Maybe they jump into the boats of their own volition only too pleased to be able to cooperate in the fish trade of Pusan. Maybe not. The place was massive though and filled with fish both dead and alive. There was more interesting fish there than at the aquarium- squirming around in their plastic bowls waiting to be eaten. The interest kind of wore off a little for me when a man pulled a squid writhing out of the tank and started to cut it up in front of me- its legs moved for a long time after the knife went in. Also popular were tubs with skinned eels in them- still moving- yucky!
Anyway, I think that is enough for now- just thinking of those fish makes me want to run to the squat pot!
It is snowing in Mokpo today so pretty cold. It was snowing yesterday too but it didn't settle for more than a brief snowball fight on the way home. It was sunny on the way to work but very cold. And that is the weather report from the south west of Korea today!
Well, what have I got to tell you about today? Not sure so let's see how it goes. I have been thinking a lot about the whole being in Korea thing. It seems unreal most of the time- I could easily be in Chinatown in Sydney (except that they are Korean NOT Chinese- but all the languages sound the same until you get used to them I guess). My TV is one of the biggest reminders of where I am as for hours at a time there is nothing on there in English and I end up watching hours of Korean chess or the advert for the mattress that self inflates in 45 seconds. Maybe I should watch less TV. I have started writing letters but have yet to find the post office- next important step I think! So the TV is on, I am watching stuff I can't understand. Good job that my social commitments take me out of the house so often and that the PC bangs (internet cafes) are soooo cheap!
I do find myself avidly watching anything that is on in English though and have turned into a bit of an Ally McBeal addict- oh no! And my worries couldn't be much more different. Babies??? too worried about ordering food that might turn out to be too spicy for me to eat or trying to get a taxi to somewhere I don't know the name of! Men?? Well, maybe a little but I am too busy enjoying my space at the moment- I mean physical space- this apartment isn't big enough for two of us! So no more Ally Mc for me- well, maybe just five nights a week!
Korean TV- at least the cable connection that I have got seems to be mostly adverts for a lot of the time- the titles of a film come on and then the movie stops for a quarter of an hour while some woman comes on and tries to sell you shirts that don't need ironing EVER! But the short ads are even more annoying- not because of the content but because they show the ad- for instance for kotex- the ad finishes and then they show it again in case you weren't paying attention the first time! Double the irritation factor in one easy step!
And on to another subject lest you should think that all I do now is watch TV. I have found a very strange thing going on with the dogs in Korea- not that they are slowly disappearing and being replaced by well fed looking people. No, they only eat one type of dog and only at certain times of the month and it is all very hush hush as the international community is a bit upset about the whole thing and FIFA keep threatening to take the World Cup away unless they take Fido burgers off the half time menu. I am not taking about the edible dogs. I am talking about the little lap dogs that people have stuffed in their jackets or on the end of a lead. These are a little white breed- just smaller than the rats. Well, I say they are white but I discovered a special shop the other day that spends its day dying bits of the dogs. There are cages in there with white dogs with green ears, yellow tails and orange feet- since seeing the shop the other day I have been more aware of the canine inhabitants of Mokpo and found that this is not an unusual thing. I guess that buying a white dog gives you a good base to start colouring! Madness.
But at least there isn't dog mess all over the pavements here- only because there aren't any pavements to speak of and those that do exist allow people to ride motorbikes down them- making them only marginally safer than walking in the street. And the drivers are a little mad. There only seems to be about two different types of car- Hyundai and Kia- makes my life easier and now I am something of a car expert- not!
The only other thing that makes as much use of the pavements as the motorbikes are the little food tents everywhere. When it is raining the front is pulled down and you perch yourself on a little plastic stools and eat mainly food off sticks- fish on a stick, unknown battered item on a stick etc etc. Usually these places are quite small and we can only fit about five drunken foreign teachers dying for an egg and ham toastie in them. But when I went to Pusan at the weekend (big city on the other side of the country) these tents were creeping off the pavements and taking up the first lane of traffic too- well, I guess that the cars can always use the pavements!
Pusan was an interesting city though- so much bigger than Mokpo. And weird because it had all these lorries leaving the port there (no Eddie Stobarts though) and it reminded me of home as a lot of the trucks were loaded with the same kind of containers that we see in Felixstowe- K Line, Hyundai, OOCL etc. Then it occurred to me that they had probably come from my home town to get to Pusan and I got a bit homesick. But only a bit because then I hit the beach. It is considered the finest beach in Korea- it is a bit like Bondi would be if it ever got that cold in NSW- not likely with all those fires I would say. People are still drawn to the beach though and it was covered in people wearing duffle coats standing at the water's edge watching the waves. So we went to the aquarium there which was pretty cool- even though me and Tim seemed to be almost as popular an attraction as the fish. But we didn't care because we were too full of pizza- there was a pizza hut near the bus station and it didn't take much to persuade us to go in.
After the aquarium we went to the cooperative fish market- which sounds like a great idea to me- fish that actually want to get caught! Maybe they jump into the boats of their own volition only too pleased to be able to cooperate in the fish trade of Pusan. Maybe not. The place was massive though and filled with fish both dead and alive. There was more interesting fish there than at the aquarium- squirming around in their plastic bowls waiting to be eaten. The interest kind of wore off a little for me when a man pulled a squid writhing out of the tank and started to cut it up in front of me- its legs moved for a long time after the knife went in. Also popular were tubs with skinned eels in them- still moving- yucky!
Anyway, I think that is enough for now- just thinking of those fish makes me want to run to the squat pot!
posted by Helen @ 11:46 PM
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