Myongdong Cathedral

Exterior Photograph of Myongdong Cathedral 

Yesterday Ian was working all day, and I had all day to myself. So, I went exploring. I followed my guide's map from the LTRC new teacher's walk-about the other day, and found the place where the "ho docks" (or whatever they are called), are made, fresh. I ate two. They are so good! I forgot to mention that there is some kind of jam or honey in them, which means that your mouth doesn't dry out when eating the crunchy bread. Mmmm!! On the way back, I followed a sign and a passerby's directions to Myongdong Cathedral, which I had wanted to visit for several days. And so I get to answer cousin Jennifer's question about temples and churches. I haven't yet been to any other sacred places, but I do intend to, and I pass by everyday a Buddhist temple that is only three minutes from my apartment.

Myongdong Cathedral is a Catholic Cathdral, and accordingly looks beautiful:


Myongdong Cathedral, Interior 

It's a bit of a work-style structure, as the wealth of Medieval Europe couldn't be pored into its construction. Nevertheless, it could have compared favorably with many Torontonian churches, like St. Patrick's on McCaul St., or Knox Church on Spadina. The grey tones inside reminded me of Notre Dame in Paris, but the roof wasn't as high. But the vaulted ribbing was still there. The building is red brick on the outside, and grey brick on the inside. The lighting is more than sufficient, and the stained glass is beautiful.


Cathedral Light 

There is a brilliant, crimson carpet at the far end of the nave where the altar is. I arrived just in time for sung Vespers (in very decent syllabic [Korean] Gregorian-style chant!), and for a mass. The organ played beautifully. When it came time for the "sign of peace," (for those of you who aren't Catholics, this is the handshaking moment, when you turn to your neighbours, shake their hands, and say "peace"), I was astonished to see no handshakes or spoken words, but lovely bows with folded hands. The gesture was absolutely beautiful, and was, of course, appropriate to our location in South Korea. I was a bit afraid that as a foreigner I'd be ignored at this point, but I wasn't. They just politely bowed to me, and I did likewise to them.

Yesterday I went out around midnight on a short errand. The area at the base of the little alley leading to my apartment was full of exuberant university undergrads, behaving like undergrads anywhere, although there was less shouting. On the streets I found (to my stomach's dismay), that Popeye's Chicken and Burger King had shut down for the night. Instead, in the middle of the street, were cooks with live octopuses (octopii, perhaps?), live squid, and various other strange and wonderful things which looked too wonderful to eat.

Speaking of eating, I'm going to go eat now. After that my landlord is coming to try and fix the smell under the sink (sorry, Sylvia, I forgot to answer that question until just now). I'm very pleased about that, naturally. After that Ian and I are going to check out a huge underground mall.

And, my thanks to Alexandra, Omid (who wrote twice!), cousin Jennifer & Lyle, Monica, Hyoungjoon, and Sylvia for their emails! I enjoyed reading each one! Stay in touch, dear friends!


Myongdong Pipe Organ and Entrance 

NOTE: This post was updated with the pictures because I have had, over the last several weeks, around a dozen people in five countries (the US, Hong-Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea) finding my site through googling the simple search "Myongdong Cathedral." I felt I owed it to them, and future visitors, to provide some pictures. Apparently the cathedral is quite famous, and is associated with various social movements in Korean history.

Actually, I always meant to do update this post, and a few days ago I finally made it back to the cathedral to finish the job. I also bought, as I always do in a beautiful and famous building, a pictorial book. Unfortunately, there were no English books, but for about $3 CDN I got a very nice little picture book with accompanying Korean texts.
10:00PM, January 17th, 2005--NRB.

My first..."doc"

Several days ago I had my first "ho doc," as one foreigner put it. Another foreigner told me that a "ho" was something else, but that it was some kind of "doc." The lady who sold me one yesterday told Ian it was (as translated by Ian) "a doc from a long time ago." And indeed, it must have been sitting there for half a day or more. Anyway, regardless of what its name is, it is very good, especially if one gets it fresh! A "doc" is a kind of sweet, crunchy, flatbread pita that is mixed with cinnamon and sugar. Mmm! This is one of my all time favorite snacks, as of now!

And, my thanks to Alexandra, Sylvia, Thomas, Rob, Bette & Rubin for their emails.

THOMAS AND INSOON JUST GOT MARRIED!--CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM BOTH!!!

Dear Friends (especially the Wycliffians and those who have met Thomas and Insoon),

It is with great pleasure and delight that I announce the recent marriage of Thomas & Insoon! Thomas & Insoon, I congratulate you both, and wish you a fine and wonderful future together. Others wanting to congratulate Thomas & Insoon may do so at:

thkauf@gmx.net
insoon@gmx.net

Please join me in wishing them every happiness and success in their marriage.

Training's almost finished...

Well, my training is almost finished. And it's been tremendously informative and helpful. Three of my more experienced colleagues shared their insights today, my observations having finished yesterday. We didn't quite finish up the last teacher's talk, so there'll be a bit more tomorrow. I've learned quite a lot, and am eagerly anticipating teaching. I am surprised at just how excited and happy I am at the prospect! I feel like a new man over here; I'm happy with myself, pleased that I can make a good living for myself and real contribution to the surrounding society.

It's rather late now, and we've had more than eight hours a day of training this week, except for today, which was just under six hours. So I'm a bit tired, and I'll sign off. Just before I do, my thanks to: my brother JB (aka Jeremy) and sister-in-law Sylvia for their card and email, my sister Missy (aka Rachel), for her card and email, my girlfriend Alexandra, my Auntie Kathy, my very good friend Brian Mullins, and to my computer guru Bob Ross for their emails.

P.S. LG made the monitor I'm looking at right now. Nighty-night!

Little Adventures: Buying a Vacuum Cleaner

Several days ago I bought my first vaccuum cleaner. It's quite marvelous, really. It's one of those small things that have to be recharged for 4 hours for about 15 minutes of vaccuuming. Not the most convenient, perhaps, but affordable and portable (it detaches from the floor piece). When I walked into the LG store, I started to say that I needed a vaccuum cleaner. Now, there are not many foreigners in my area (I'm one of three), so the saleslady would not be expected to know English. And indeed, she put her hands on her face and smiled as she shook her head. So then I made an aural impression of a vaccuum noise, pretended to vaccuum, and immediately the salespeople knew what I meant! The young man asked me something using gestures (I think it was about the box, which I didn't need), but I didn't understand. He disappeared for a while, came running back, and promptly gave me 10% off the the published price.

By the way, LG makes vaccuum cleaners, air conditioners, stereo units, and TV's; the LG corner stores also contain my newest favorite Korean candy! I had never heard of LG before seeing that lovely sign in the Toronto night scene on Yonge St, but here, it's impossible to miss.

Little Adventures: Drycleaning

My dress clothes were in my suitcase for several days before I unpacked them, as I wanted to wait until I had found my own apartment. When I opened the suitcase in my new place, the clothes were hopelessly wrinkled, and only one shirt yielded itself to my attempts at ironing. So, I decided to walk down to the drycleaner down the street. As Ian told me, I pointed to the clothes, said "dry clean," and then waited for a response. This was after my "annyong haseyo," of course. The drycleaner looked at them, looked at the insides of the collers, and pronounced them clean. "Only iron?" he asked me. I said, "sure, only ironed." I was very impressed with the honorable nature of the dry cleaner, and with his English, as he told me the clothes would be ready tomorrow afternoon. (Bear in mind that I am one of only three foreigners living in the neighborhood.) The only problem is, and it's really no problem at all, the neighborhood (and now most of you), must be laughing at the foreigner who can neither change a fuse nor iron his clothes! :-D

Little Adventures: The Electrician and the Light Fixture

Today my landlord, who is a foreigner, had my school call an electrician to fix the light in my living room window. I didn't know how to unscrew the fuses this morning, so I couldn't bring those down. As it happened, both the fuses and lights were blown. The electrician, an older man who couldn't speak much English, met me outside the electrical shop, just down the road from my house. When I arrived at the appointed time ("kairos," for you Greek lovers), the two electrical ladies, and two local corner store owners were there already, all gossiping and laughing about the difficulties of the foreigner (one of only three in the neighborhood!). Since I can barely speak a word of Korean yet ("good day," and "thank you" notwithstanding), there was much laughing and giggling all around. It is a good way to laugh at oneself. One thing that many foreigners don't understand is that Koreans laugh as a way of diffusing tension in a difficult situation. Faced with his own mistake, a Korean usually giggles. How much nicer this is than our Western penchant for apologies, fear, and anger! But I digress. In my experience, Koreans become apologetic for not speaking English, and I certainly feel the same for not speaking Korean. So--we all giggle!

And yes, the electrician fixed my problems for a very reasonable sum. Next time, I'll know how to change the fuse!

Seoul: First Impressions

What a delightful and charming city Seoul is! At once cosmopolitan, busy, and sophisticated, it is also, already, dear to my heart. The inhabitants are highly civilized, with exquisite manners. Formerly "the Hermit Kingdom," this once very closed society is opening like a beatiful flower in bloom for all to see and experience.

The people of Seoul are well served by a wonderful transportation system. There are buses galore on the city streets (one time when I decided to count from a restaurant window, ten passed in 5 minutes!). The subway is superb! With literally hundreds of kilometers of track, the subway is the primary means of transportation in the city. The next stop is announced, always clearly, in both Korean and English. Each stop is well-signed, in English, Korean, and Chinese. The newer cars have flatscreen TV's in them. There are arrows pointing out the direction of the doors to open onto the platform. The announcements are incredibly helpful, and indicate where the transfer points and exits are at the next station. These announcements are preceded by either chimes, the tweeting of birds, or with a few bars from Mozart. At City Hall, one comes up in a red brick corridor reminiscent of England, and hears, almost without fail, beautiful classical music playing in the main hall from the music store there. Earlier this week I heard early European music from before even the Baroque period! (I believe it was William of Ockhegam.) Regardless of how crowded the subway, I feel safe in it, and am so pleased that such an efficient and civilized mode of transport exists in this city.

When one walks on the streets, one notices the smiles and giggles on the faces of the Koreans. The smiles and laughter are the most visible example of the charm of the inhabitants. During the morning comute huge crowds of people are silent, but in the afternoon and evening the cheer and happiness are everywhere. While the foreigner's eyes are sure to be delighted by the crowds of people, his nose may not be: one finds the streets aren't up to even Torontonian standards of cleanliness. In Seoul, the streets are dirty, but the people are clean. Almost all of the women wear high heels and modest dresses or mini-skirts, and their makeup is much more tastefully and colorfully employed than the dull Hillary Duff clones in North America. The men wear suits, dress shirts, and all kinds of wonderful neckties. Invariably, I find myself admiring the combination of their neckties and shirts. The favorite color scheme for the businessmen here seems to be blue and gold, a favorite colour scheme of mine, as it happens. Few people are overweight; perhaps this is due to the healthy amount of walking that is required in this city. What one does not see is obvious by its absence, and to this day I have not yet seen a single instance of either graffiti or physically violent behavior.

The variety of food here is simply mind-boggling. Koreans take their food seriously. To illustrate this, I draw on a story told by the director of my school. Back in the crisis of 1987 there were dangerous riots and protests on the streets. My school let down the outside shutters, requiring people who wanted in or out to roll themselves under the shutter-door. From his office window the director could see the police and protesters in violent confrontation. Just at this moment who should come through the crowd but the Chinese food deliveryman to deliver his order! "Chinese food man to deliver order" got him not only through the crowd, but into the building, and out again, completely unharmed by the protesters or police. And he came back an hour later to gather up the dishes! In fairness to Seoul, such violent protests are now largely a thing of the past, now that the government is democratic and people-oriented.

In Seoul, there are Western food outlets galore (fast food and steakhouses), native Korean pubs and bars, and Korean food restaurants to satisfy every price range; there is also Japanese food, Chinese food, French crepe-shops, bagel shops, Italian pizzarias, Indian eateries, even Mexican and Texan-food restaurants! What a mouthful! And one shouldn't forget the very decent selection of foreign and domestic wines (alas! they are beyond the price range of the teacher who has yet to collect his first paycheque!).

And yet in the midst of all this gastronomical diversity, in the midst of all the busy-ness of one of Asia's busiest cities, in the midst of all the technology, it is the class and charm of the city's inhabitants that speaks to me the most. The quiet beauty of the old churches and Buddhist temples, palaces and parks, the smiles, the giggles, the sincere efforts to understand the dumb foreigner's hand motions and English, the street-friendly high fashion, all these win the heart of the visitor to the city, even if the seat beside him is invariably the last one taken on the train. Truly, Seoul is the Paris of the Far East. But one shouldn't press the analogy too far: Seoul is Seoul, equal parts charm and beauty.