Happy Halloween!

I decided to give my students a break today from our usual rigorous English scholarship and instead we had a Halloween party. Although trick-or-treating doesn't happen here, the kids know all about Halloween, and especially the part about getting candy. They made quick work out of the Halloween theme word searches I prepared for them, and then it was on to the main event: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I'm not sure how much of the story they were able to follow, but judging from the uproarious laughter it seems Snoopy is able to transcend the language barrier!

Seoul European Film Festival

Sad that I missed out this year on the VIFF, I went on a movie spree this weekend at the 6th Seoul European Film Festival taking place at Megabox at COEX.

The festival program offered up many interesting titles, but unfortunately no English subtitles, so I was only able to choose from UK movies, and the English language films of Wim Wenders that were presented as a retrospective series.



I found Wender's take on post-9/11 America, "Land of Plenty", both provocative and timely. I think his take as an outsider looking at the current psyche of the US offers a perspective that has not emerged so far from within. It seems however that the critics have a different opinion, as this film has been widely panned. Tonight I'm seeing his latest effort, "Don't Come Knocking", which is fresh from Cannes.

The best film of the festival was also my choice for the fifth best film of 2004, Mike Leigh's Vera Drake. (Feel free to email me if you want to see my full 2004 movie top 10 list). I was surprised just how powerful and emotional this story was even the second-time around. Imelda Staunton's performance is one of the most devastating I have ever seen on the screen. She definitely deserved her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and in my opinion should have won.

Another night of fireworks

Tonight was the second and final night of the Seoul International Fireworks Festival. As impressed as I was with the display last week, the show tonight was absolutely jaw dropping. The first half hour was choreographed by an United States team, and the it was very good. However, compared to what came next it looked like amateur hour.


The final country in the festival was, of course, Korea. And wow, did they put on a show. I have never seen fireworks like this before. The entire 40 minute show was like watching the grand finale in most other fireworks shows. It was unbelievable. The atmosphere was positively electric too, with an estimated 1 million people lining both sides of the Han River, the crowd roared with approval throughout the show.

Kimchi panic becomes a "frenzy"

As I reported earlier, problems with Chinese kimchi have rocked Korea recently, and recent developments have whipped already suspicious Koreans into a "frenzy" — this according to the International Herald Tribune.

Last month it was lead in kimchi, and now this Friday it was revealed that roundworm and other parasite larvae has been found in Chinese-made kimchi. This follows reports in July that a carcinogen was found in imported Chinese eels.

The net result has been the unthinkable: Koreans have stopped eating kimchi. At least store bought kimchi, causing a surging demand for locally grown cabbage. As an outsider, it is hard to fathom just how big a deal this has become. Here is a sampling of some of the recent news coverage:
'Kimchi shock' could sour S. Korea's trade with China
Seoul, Beijing Set to Meet Over Kimchi Trade Row
New scare reinforces kimchi suspicions
China voices concerns food scare may spread
China warns of trade retaliation against Korea
China Threatens Retaliation Over Tainted Import Claims

Ansan Light Festival

Anna and I decided to journey into neighbouring Gyeonggi-do province for the Ansan Light Festival. Ansan is connected to Seoul by subway, but it really does feel like a different area entirely. The journey takes about an hour and a half, and the most noticeable difference is the sparse density of the buildings and the impression of open space.

The light festival was spectacular. The displays were creative with just the right amount of kitsch. Particularly impressive was this Chinese dragon made entirely of blue and white china plates and tea cups. Dramatically lit, the dragon was the length of a football field.

I love the freedom of digital photography — there is no need to hold back! And I didn't, snapping off more than 200 photos! To see the 50 best pictures from the Ansan Light Festival click here. Or, to view them as a slide show click here.

Reed Festival at Haneul Park

This weekend I took in the Reed Festival at Haneul Park, part of the larger World Cup Park. The site was formerly a garbage landfill, but was transformed into a park the size of New York's Central Park, and is home to World Cup Stadium, built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The fertile soil of the former garbage dump is now home to fields of eulalia reeds, and the festival marks the two weeks a year that they are in full bloom.

To see more pictures from the Reed Festival click here. Or, to view them as a slide show click here.

Fire in the sky

The sky over the Han River was ablaze tonight with an impressive fireworks display, part of the Seoul International Fireworks Festival.

Tonight's show featured displays from China and Italy, and next Saturday the festival concludes with the United States and Korea. The JoongAng Daily reports that the tab for tonight's show was 1.4 billion won (roughly US$1.3 million), and was picked up by the Hanwha Group.

The fireworks were fantastic, but almost more impressive was the number of people that turned out for the show. It was a sea of people, but unlike the rowdy crowds that have come to characterize the Celebration of Light, the crowd was well-manered and orderly. The police were out in force and did a great job moderating the flow of people into the subway stations to avoid a mad crush. It is a credit to Seoul's amazing transportation system that such a huge mob of people was able to disperse so quickly and so smoothly.

Click here to view more fireworks festival photos on my Flickr page.

Celebrity in the neighbourhood

Read about Rummy's visit at "Your Hometown Newspaper," Stars & Stripes. The photo is courtesy of Flickr.

Seoul Grand Park Zoo

Anna and I took advantage of the great weather we have been enjoying to visit the zoo at Seoul Grand Park. The zoo is huge, and it took us the better part of a full day to see it all. The animals all looked well cared for, but the zoo itself is starting to show its age. Posters from last years twentieth anniversary celebration of the park's opening in 1984 are still up around the grounds, and from the appearance of many of the animal enclosures, it seems that no major upgrades have taken place since then.


Click to view a video of the bears being fed. The video might take a minute or two to load before it plays, so be patient.

To see more pictures from the Seoul Grand Park Zoo click here. Or, to view them as a slide show click here.

Class Moms

This is something you wouldn't see back home...

Once a month, the "class moms" come down to the school for "cleaning day." Teams of mothers spread out and scrub Yang Hwa Elementary till it is sparking and shining clean. In this picture the moms are standing on a small ledge to scrub and clean the windows. Somehow I just can't imagine Canadian parents being willing to get down and dirty scrubbing their children's school! I'm guessing the janitorial union doesn't quite have the muscle it does in BC schools...

iPod boys

Apple's exciting announcement today inspired me to post this picture of "Robert" and "David" listening to some tunes before class on my iPod. They were disapointed when I couldn't fill their request for Britney Spears, but did give the thumbs up to The Jayhawks.

Speaking of new iPods, the sweet new 60GB iPod with video sure would make a nice Christmas present.....

UPDATE: Forget the new iPods — this is the new mp3 player I really want! Mmm, Pez!

Kimchi panic!

Ah, kimchi. Nothing says Korea like kimchi, right? WRONG!

A scandal has recently broken involving health concerns with kimchi imported from China. A Korean politician has released a report from a supposedly reputable research institute that charges that Chinese kimchi has unhealthy high levels of lead. However, many consider the real scandal to be that this scare has revealed that more than half of all restaurants here in Korea are serving Chinese made kimchi!

The Korea Times has the full story. Further evidence that this story is having a real impact is available on the excellent Korea blog The Marmot's Hole.

I wonder how much of the hysteria is about the potential health issues, and how much is a reaction to the realization that foreigners are cornering the market on the kimchi supply....

Saturday afternoon fever

I was going through my pictures from the Seoul Drum Festival and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to devote a special blog entry to Korea's own KaTA. The festival program states that KaTA's aim as a band is "that the world feel the sympathy leaping over the existing art and culture and the present fusion." Huh?

Decked out in Saturday Night Fever white suits, KaTA delivered exactly what the Korean audience was hungry for: cheese. I don't want to make a gross cultural generalization, but I've watched enough Korean TV to know that Koreans seem to love the "show," and the flashier the performance the better. No decade had more flash than the 80s, and that was the last time I saw a band using keyboards like this!

A river runs through it

This was a busy weekend in Seoul for festivals. The Cheong Gye Cheon Festival celebrated the grand opening of the Cheong Gye Cheon Restoration Project. A project of Seoul's ambitious mayor, Lee Myung-bak, the project transformed an elevated highway and long ago paved over stream into an attractive, vital green space in the centre of the city.

The Chonggyechon stream once flowed for about 10 km through the centre of Seoul, from mountains behind the presidential Blue House and was central to life in the city. Work to restore about 6 km of the stream began in July 2003 at a cost of around US$350 million. The revitalized stream now flows through a narrow park that celebrates the history of Seoul. There are 22 bridges across the waterway.

Environmental experts and urban planners from around the world are watching what is happening in Seoul with the restoration of the stream as an interesting case study to see if a city that rushed to become a major urban centre without proper planning can replace concrete jungles with green spaces.


To see more pictures from the Cheong Gye Cheon Festival click here. Or, to view them as a slide show click here.

Seoul Drum Festival

This weekend Seoul echoed with the sounds of beating drums. No, it wasn't a North Korean advance, it was the 2005 Seoul Drum Festival. Several stages around downtown showcased free performances from artists from around the world.

The highlight was the main stage show, outdoors at Seoul Plaza in the shadow of City Hall. The lineup included The Blue Devil's, a marching band drum line rumored to have been featured in the movie "Drumline", and Bomba, a group that was billed in the program as "Cuban," though it turns out they are actually from Edmonton!

To see more pictures from the Drum Festival click here. Or, to view them as a slide show click here.

Chalk Bryan

Its official: Vancouver is the best place on Earth!

There was never any doubt in my mind, but now I have indisputable proof: Vancouver is the best place on Earth! Some outfit called the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked 127 cities around the world, and it comes as no surprise to me that Vancouver topped the list.

Also not surprising to me is that Seoul came in well down the list, ranked 54th. The criteria on which cities were ranked included personal risk, infrastructure, and the availability of goods and services. I guess out of 127 cities, 54th is not too bad. Interestingly, I have visited and spent time in two of the cities that ranked in the bottom 10 on the list: Tehran and Phnom Penh. I'm not quite sure what it says about Seoul, but I think I actually preferred both of those places over Seoul!

Check out the story at CNN, BBC News, or Yahoo!.