Friday, July 28, 2006

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

We finally got paid and thanks to the Korean currency system it feels like we are rolling in the cash. For some reason the highest Korean note is 10,000 Won which is the equivalent of $10.00 Canadian. Imagine if Canadian bills only went as high as ten dollars and you can see how truly strange the situation is here. Combine that with the fact that everything is paid with cash and what you have is a state of affairs where even small paydays make you feel like a millionaire.

We also received our money in an envelope which added a certain mystique that I haven’t experienced since fat Tony paid me for off’ing Little Jon back in 1995.

Tomorrow we are off to Japan so won’t be able to update the site until we get back. It’s our first vacation and although we haven’t been here for that long we are pretty excited to do some traveling and get a break from teaching.

Tomorrow we are going to wake up at the crack of dawn and then take a train to the city of Busan. From there we will catch a Beetle, which is a sophisticated ferry that rockets along the water at ridiculous speeds. In fact, the boat doesn’t really touch the water and sort of glides along it instead.

(The "Beetle" - maybe the coolest ferry ever made. Yes, even cooler than the Fast Cat.)


(Just to give the full effect, we're including this graphic representation of the Beetle's coolness.)


Once in Japan we are taking a train to Tokyo where we will spend three days getting lost, failing to properly speak Japanese, and of course, eating enough sushi to qualify for the next season of television’s the Biggest Loser.

(We don't actually know these women, but they're Japanese and they're eating sushi, so they fit.)


We also plan to hit Tokyo Disney and Fuji-Q (which is a theme park at the base of Mount Fuji for those of you who missed out on Hooked On Phonics). From there we will be off to Kyoto to work on implementing wind turbines and reducing emission levels. Of course, once we are done saving the environment we will spend a few days experiencing traditional Japanese culture and eating even more sushi, which according to our guide book the Japanese apparently call…..Sushi.

(The happiest place in Tokyo.)


Since we won’t be able to post until next Sunday we wanted to leave you with a short, humorous story from work. Yesterday we were walking home with one of my students (Oh Ram Sole) when we started to talk about the food that we missed the most. One of the things we brought up was salsa at which point he replied with “Korean Salsa?”

We figured that even though it seemed like a question, he must have been informing us that Korea has its own type of salsa and we got pretty excited (it should be noted that his English is at a beginner level and most of this was done through short words, grunts, and hand actions). We asked him what Korean salsa was made from and he seemed really, really puzzled as though we had just asked him what side of the moon he enjoyed rollerblading on or something. Since he didn’t seem to understand we pushed on and asked him if it was made from fruits or vegetables. When that question didn’t remove the puzzled look we asked him if you could even eat Korean Salsa and then we made eating motions with our hands and went “Salsa, Salsa”.

He seemed to pull back in utter shock and said “No, No, No”. Then he looked at us the way that our soccer team did last week and the way that my grade 12 prom date looked at me: in utter disgust and horror. We decided to switch topics as seemingly he hated salsa and apparently everyone who ate it as well. The look he gave us was that shocking.

Anyway, today in our Korean class we asked the teacher what Korean Salsa was like and what you ate it with. I think we even told her how excited we were to try it and how great it was going to be to taste fresh salsa in our mouths again. At that point she started laughing so hard she cried and it took five minutes for her to calm down enough to explain that in Korean “salsa” means Diarrhea.

(Mmmmm...salsa with corn. Muy bueno.)


Sigh, poor us. It was just one of those days. By the way, to fully appreciate this anecdote, go back and read the part again about tasting fresh salsa in our mouths.

Fortunately we have Japan to help drown our sorrows. And on that note, take it easy and don’t forget what John Lennon said, all you need is love, and a really really good Korean- English Dictionary.

Cheers

Shayne (and Jo)

2 comments:

Jason Harman said...

I would have loved to see that poor Korean kid's face as those two continued to make motions of spooning heaping mouthfuls of Korean salsa into their gaping maws... Poor kid must have thought they'd witnessed one to many shiza video...

PS. Still on lookout for said videos.

Divisions - with Aaron Ekman said...

sure... wait till you're on the other side of the planet to admit that it was you who off'ed lil' John.

Think you can get away with it that easily huh? Just wait till the consolate finds out about this.