Busan Sushi

(Kyle Speaking) I am not sure why I keep on mentioning that this is me speaking. Nick doesn't contribute to this blog at all anymore, so from now on just know that it is me.

After the breakdance battle that occurred on Saturday and the all nighter that was pulled immediately after, our Busan trip was still not yet over with. Our friend, navigator, and tour guide, Seung Ju drove us east toward the sea. We ended up in a nearly desolate spot that I like to call "New Jack City." My name for the area has nothing to do with the 1980's Wesley Snipes film....although while we are on the subject, props to that movie for being pretty sweet. I refer to the ocean-side town as "NJC" because the entirety of its coast was built out of these large cement objects that looked like enormous jacks. For some reason these cement features struck me as really odd and interesting in appearance. Sorry for all the pics but I had a miniature obsession for "NJC."











Nick and some of the boys had to take a dip to test out the waters. I was chillin hard inside the restaurant's second floor, so I sat this one out. I snapped a few photos of the merman look that Nick had going though.




"New Jack City" had one giant restaurant that was completely unoccupied aside from the employees. We ended up having the whole second floor of the restaurant to ourselves with a great view. Oh, and don't worry.....there was plenty of raw fish to go around.

Busan

(Kyle Speaking) At nearly 10pm on Halloween night ... Nick, myself, and 11 boys from the Morning of Owl stuffed ourselves into a rented van and headed toward the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula to the large coastal city of Busan. There was a fairly large breakdance battle that was occurring on the beach down there and both Nick and I were invited to join for the weekend. Some photos from our adventures can be seen below:

Here is a photo of Nick and I in the back back seat. That is not a typo. There were 4 rows of seats in the van. It was snug.


13 boys total. The van was big but not that big. Good thing Pocket can literally fit in your pocket.


Here's Pocket, in the flesh. He's doing one of his signature "what?/why?" poses. He can't speak English that well so he usually just runs around and says "what?" or "why?"


The stage was located on the sand of the beach. There was a large concrete boardwalk area behind the stage that we and all the b-boy competitors chilled at for most of the day. This is a view of the back of the stage.


The beach that we were at sat in a small bay that was connected by a rather large bridge. It was a nice bridge and all......but coming from San Francisco (GGB and BB), I am a pretty tough crowd to impress.


Backstage, there was a large mat of wood-like linoleum that was laid down for a practice area. Nick and I sat around all day and watched b-boys go off on it.



Pocket, getting his stretch on.





Here is a snapshot from downstairs of where we stayed the night before.




Nick and Seung Ju enjoying some afternoon Hite.



In between rounds of the breakdance battles, there was much time to kill. We bought a kite from a an old dude on the beach in order to occupy ourselves.


"Q"



The Van






This is a view of the front of the stage.

This video is taken from where Nick and I watched one of the battles. Sorry about the obstructed view. Just look for the feet flying in the air and you can get the idea of what's happening.

Classroom

(Kyle Speaking) So I finally was able to make a decision on a camera to buy and thus I am just now enabled to take pictures of my neck of the woods. This set of photographs are of my classroom on the fifth floor of Cheon Cheon Elementary School in Suwon. Enjoy:

This is a view out one of the windows of my classroom. One block past the four-way stop is my apartment. My commute to work takes around 2 minutes and 36 seconds on foot. Just wait till I get my heelies though...


This is a view directly out the same window as before. I believe that is a pre-school across the street which would make 4 Cheon Cheon schools all touching nearly the same block. (high school, middle school, elementary school, and pre-school).

My desk.....aka where the boss dog sits. The kids don't call it that, I call it that.


My room has been designed to have several areas that mimic real life scenarios. For example this Hospital/Pharmacy and the restaurant behind it.


Cheon Cheon Airport, which apparently, according to all the kids has beefed up its security since the 9/11 attacks.


This is a view from the back of the class. There are six tables total, seating 7 children each. Do the math.



This is a view from the front of the class. If you look closely, you can see the two murals on both the left and right hand sides of the picture that completely epitomize the English language. The changing of the guard in London and the downtown Manhattan skyline including the twin towers. Mind you, this school was built in 2002. Never forget!

Halloween

(Kyle Speaking) The American institution that is Halloween is for the most part non-existent in Korea. Most people know about it through either movies or what they learn in English class from teachers such as yours truly but no one really celebrates the holiday. Nick and I set out to change that. Talking it over with the boys of Morning of Owl, we decided that a party needed to be thrown where a cultural exchange could be set up.....to share and learn about one another' customs of course. I snapped a few photos of the serious interaction and discourse that occurred.


Nick and I told the boys on Monday that the party would be happening on Thursday October 30th. With creativity reminiscent of the boys from 1524 Fell, Morning of Owl was able throw together these ensembles in no time. From left to right we have (b-boy names): Issue, Seung Ju, Owl'd, Mi A, Q, Rocket, Cho, and Sknuf.


To Matty D, Joe, Freddy, Mughen, Julian, Boston Jon, and any other east coast kid I ever met, I'm sorry. But you know Nick and I had to fully endorse the west coast to all the boys of MoO.







Nick made his signature carbonara pasta for everyone. Granted, the ingredients were a little different because we are in Korea, but everyone loved it. By the way the new white guy face belongs to a Frenchman named Kevin whom we met in the supermarket. Good guy.



This Mr. Kim Bab costume originally belonged to Nick. Gim bab (pronounced Kim Bop) is a cheap Korean rice roll that is similar to sushi that both Nick and I love.



Our cultural exchange session involved carving jack-o-lanterns....13 of them to be exact. Piece of advice; don't leave 13 carved pumpkins in your apartment and then take off to the other side of the country for the weekend.





This is probably the best and most realitic advertisement for soju there is.




Finished product. Not bad for the first Korean Halloween.