Friday, October 27, 2006

A rare moment of journalistic brilliance

I have been following American politics intently for a long time now. I have largely ignored the mainstream media (MSM) for much of that time because of how poor and tattered journalism has become in America. I was reading a left-wing blog today and I came across a link to this video on youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WG7pcIpV10

It is by a MSNBC journalist called Keith Olberman. It is the best thing I have seen on a major American network since the Bush administration came into power. Just when I had decided that the only source of truth on TV was comedy!

Its about 10 minutes long. Find time to watch it if you are interested in the shape of the upcoming election.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Loving the weather

Ok, so it's official. Yesterday for the first time the temperature dropped below 20 during the middle of the day. My heartfelt condolences go out to those poor souls who are living in Canada, for whom fall started a month ago. All my friends here say that this is one of the best times of year. You can still manage to go to the beach. But the weather is also perfect for hiking. I am thinking that I should check out some of the mountains around Busan. Apparently there are alot of places where you can enjoy a good walk, nature and a Buddhist temple, all in one place.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Three month anniversary (Boring couple of weeks)

On October 19th I officially completed my third month in Korea. Unfortunately, it's nothing to get excited about. For the last week or so I have failed my promise to myself to update twice a week. Part of that is that the last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful. Part of it is also that I am feeling down at the moment. When I got here a was told by a few people that at around the 4 month mark, many people experience a period of depression. I think a lot of it is brought on by the end of "newness." Once you reach a certain point of adjustment, where Korea is no longer new and exciting every week, you settle down into a routine. At that point, it is easy to get depressed. You are away from the familiar, family, western culture etc... The job is not challenging enough to provide mental satisfaction, and you wonder what exactly is the point. I have had times in the past few months (and posted about them) when I have had these thoughts. However, each time something new and exciting got me motivated again. I think that because I had friends here when I arrived I became adjusted to Korea quicker. So I reached the end of "newness" faster than most people.
Anyway, I have always gone through these manic swings between optimism and depression. I know that I would be feeling the same way if I was back in Canada doing my first primary teaching job (just for different reasons).

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

P.I.I.F.

This sunday just past I attended the Pusan International Film Festival. Its the largest film festival in Asia, and probably the most prestigious. This year the festival had 245 films from 63 different countries. Yumi, one of my Korean friends invited me to come with her friends to some of the Sunday showings. She had an extra ticket to the first showing and we were able to get enough extra tickets at the exchange booths to get our group into each movie.
The first movie we went to was called "The Bet Collector." The film was from the Philippines, and was about the numbers (gambling) game called Jueteng. Apparently its a massive problem in the Phillippines, where it is one of the biggest sources of criminal income in the country, making hundreds of millions of dollars and employing tens of thousands of people. The last Phillippino president lost his office because of his connections to Jueteng. The movie is set totally on location in the slums of Manila. It follows a middle aged woman who spends her days walking through the slums soliciting bets, earning a few american dollars for a whole day's work. The movie was a low budget affair, and had the feel of documentary film making. At times the handheld camera work and meandering plot was frustrating, but the lives and poverty the movie showed were very affecting. We were lucky enough to be there for the festival premier, so we had a chance to attend a discussion with the Director, Cinematographer and the Actress who played the main character. It was an interesting experience, since the Phillippine crew and actress spoke English as their second language, and the audience was mostly Korean. So each question had to be translated into English for the crew and then their answers were translated back into Korean. It took quite awhile and I wondered how much meaning was lost in the process.
The second movie we saw was called Das Frualien. It was a German film, which told the tail of three women who work in a small restaurant. The youngest character moves through the film like she is in a pinball machine, propelled by her fear of impending death from leukemia. It was a well told story, at once tragic and sweet. The acting was great, and although the story was a bit predictable it was also good, honest story telling. My only big complaint was the directors penchant for focusing his camera in on his cast so tightly that it felt like you were viewing them through a magnifying glass.
The third movie, 9th Company, came from Russia. Apparently it was a huge blockbuster there last year, becoming the country's highest grossing, post-communist film. The film is partially based on real events of a company towards the end of the Russian-Afgan war, which was almost forgotten during the Russian pullout from Afganistan. The company guarding a mountain top and facing destruction before the Russian army finally remembered to evacuate them. The story itself was nothing remarkable, containing most of the traditional war film elements. However, the directing, cinematography and locations were incredible. The film was largely shot in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (I imagine Afganistan is not the safest place to film a Russian movie :) but the mountain shots were increadible. Considering that they weren't on a Hollywood budget, the special effects and war scenes were up there with some of my favorite war movies.
Anyway, it was a good day and I really enjoyed my first Asian film festival experience.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Gifts of Spam!

In Korea there are many customs associated with the Chusok (thanksgiving) holiday. Chusok traces its origins back to ancient harvest festivals. So many of the traditions are linked to food. It is also customary to give Chusok gifts. The traditional dish associated with Chusok is Songpyun, a type of rice cake filled with sweet bean paste, chestnuts or sesame seeds. However, there is also a traditional Chusok food with a more recent heritage; SPAM!



On the Wednesday before we left for the Chusok holiday, Unium gave us all gift packages of Spam and tuna. Its one of those things that happen here. One of my fellow English teachers at Unium has a word for this kind of experience, which I can't currently remember, but the essence is that the experience is totally unexpected, but somehow not at all surprising. You get used to absurdity and strangeness very quickly here.
Anyway, Spam is a really big thing in Korea. I believe that it's popularity goes back to the Korean war when there were severe food shortages and people relied heavily on the US army to provide supplies. Spam was one of the most common foods provided, and it has retained its popularity since that time.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Interesting weekend

I wrote a little while ago about the gym I have joined and how it has a sauna as part of the facilities. On Saturday I finally made it to a proper Korean bathhouse. I went with Sonia (another Canadian), Stotesbury, Ange, their friend Pam who is visiting from Toronto. Its up on Dalmagi hill, which overlooks Haeundae beach. If you go to the bottom of my blog you can see a picture of me in a green shirt with Haeundae beach behind me and Dalmagi on the right side of the photo. Because of it's location it is one of the most beautiful areas of Pusan. At night you can see across much of the city, including both Gwangali beach and Haeundae beach.
The bathhouse is a lovely five story building that looks straight out over the water. The second floor is the change room and bathhouse for women, and the fourth floor is the change room and bathhouse for men. There are a series of 5 pools that move from icy cold up to 45-46 celsius. There is even an outdoor hot pool with a protected balcony which looks out over the entire city. There are also several steam rooms and a cool waterfall for when the hot tubs become too much. Some Korean bathhouses offer massage, but a full body scrub is more traditional. This involves having someone take what amounts to a brillo pad glove and scrubbing your whole body vigorously for 15 minutes. I didn't get one. but the girls said it's right on the edge of outright pain, but that afterwards your skin and body feel incredible.
Part of our time was spent in gender groups in the bathhouse, but the third floor is a co-ed area where there is a series of hot and cold rooms. Some of them have huge windows looking out over the city. Others are made of natural crystalline stone, so that some of the walls look like they are embedded with rough gems. There is also a large social area with huge TV's, snackbars, hairdressers and even a restaurant with a small menu. In the end we spent about two hours enjoying the facilities. Afterwards I was so relaxed and fatigued that I felt almost drunk. We ended the evening with barbequed duck in the nearby Haeundae beach area.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Investment opportunities

When I was out Wednesday evening, enjoying the first evening of the Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday, I ran into my friend K. K is one of those foreigners who has really made his life here. He has been in Korea for 10 years, he has a nice girlfriend and an amazing two-story apartment. He told me that he was organizing a get-together for a bunch of friends. The point of which was to set up an investment group. The idea really got my attention.
Since getting to Korea, I haven't thought much about what to do with my money in more than the most general sense. I am still a week away from getting my second full paycheck, and I need to repay the money I owe for university. So long term investment isn't my first priority. However, upon talking a little more with K, I decided that even if I don't have the capital to do any serious investing, I am at the right time in my life to learn how to do it.
I went today at about 4pm to the apartment of one of K's friends where about 20 people showed up. We barbequed some chicken and enjoyed good beer and company for a couple of hours. I only knew a couple of people there and I was also the most recent entrant to Korea. It was really cool to meet some new people. Especially since so many of them have been in Korea for years and know all the tricks. Once we got down to business the meeting became really interesting. K's idea is to create a social network where we pool our intelligence, contacts, research and information to provide a knowledge base for many different kinds of investment. Everybody invests individually in whatever they want, but by combining our efforts we can all benefit together. We all stated what we were interested in, what we knew about investing and what our goals were. Many people, like me, were completely new to investing. But we all had knowledge to contribute. For example I got into some really interesting discussions about tech companies and stocks that I know about just from my personal interest in computers and the internet. However, many of the people there are already involved in personal investments, particularly e-trading and real estate. During the meeting we all discussed the areas of investment that we found particularly interesting. Then we all put our names down in the areas we will focus on. We will each be responsible for providing research and information in the one or two areas we are most interested in. Areas like real estate, tech stocks, natural resources, currency trading, emerging markets, mutual funds and ETFs.
One of the things I studied in university is how social networks form and affect our lives. I remember one of the books I read discussing how much of the job and financial success we attain in life is derived from "weak links" (acquaintances and social contacts) rather than from "strong links" (family and close friends). This entire project is about putting this into practice. We are creating a potentially powerful network of "weak links" to help create wealth. Once you factor in the outside links of each member the whole network has wonderful potential. For example, one of the group members has a family member who is a very important financial analyst in America. Apparently he is interviewed on MSNBC and Bloomberg all the time. Another group member had a college roommate who became a very successful investment banker.
Part of the plan is to create a website to allow us to channel all our research and information efficiently. One of our group members, Antony, is real computer wiz. So together with Antony and Misha, I will be helping to create the website for our new group. We are meeting on Sunday over coffee to plan the layout of the site. We even chose a server host and everyone chipped in money to pay for a year's hosting before we broke up the meeting. We plan on making a site which will allow us to provide information and have discussion on each area of interest separately.
What makes this so exciting (despite the fact that I will not have the capital to do my own investing for some time) is the feeling of energy and purpose which was present during the evening. I think that there is a good chance that this group will actually manage to create a real financial resource we can all benefit from. Living here in Korea we are in a unique position where we all have disposable income and a lifestyle that allows us to focus on other things than work. I think that once we get our group working I will try some virtual trading using the information we gather and see how I do, until the time when I have the means to do some real investing.
Anyway, I am feeling really charged about this. I recently wrote that I was at a point in my life where I was looking for new purpose. I think that this might provide me with an exciting and constructive way to develop some new life skills.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sightseeing

Because of the trouble in Thailand I decided to cancel my trip. I will still visit Thailand this year. However, seeing as I was traveling by myself, during the rainy season and a military coup, it seemed like it would be better to visit another time. So I spent my break over the past week relaxing, socializing with friends, visiting the beach and sightseeing in Pusan.
A few days ago I went with Teal, one of the other teachers from my school, to visit an area of Busan called Dongnae. There are alot of ancient historic sights in the area. We visited the Bokcheon Tombs and adjacent Museum. It was really facinating to experience some Korean history. Western education does not provide a good understanding of Asian history, and what history I know generally focuses on China and Japan. The oldest Bokcheon tombs date back as far as 300 B.C. There are 170 tombs which have been discovered in the site covering almost 800 years of Korean history. The outdoor site is quite picturesque. It sits on on the side of one of the many small mountains that cradle Busan. The area is carefully maintained and you are able to walk around some of the tombs that have been succesfully excavated and covered over again. There is also a dome protecting several tombs which have been left open to allow visitors to see the inside of the structures.



The museum itself is really nice. It's architecture amalgamates modern and ancient themes and maintains a position at the very top of the mountain. The museum contains a great many artifacts from the tombs. Armor, weapons, pottery, grave goods and some truly incredible gold jewelry. There are also models showing how the construction of the tombs advanced and changed through Korean history.



On the way back down the mountain we visited a 600 year old Confucian shrine school (Hyanggyo). It has been damaged and rebuilt numerous times during various invasions. The majority of the current structure dates back to the beginning of the 1800's.
It was really nice to discover more of Pusan. Because so much of the city is modern, it is easy to forget that you are in a country and city with thousands of years of history.