Monday 30 September 2013

Scavenger Hunting in Daegu

This weekend I was lucky enough to join an event in Daegu held by the Daegu Compass (Daegu magazine).
We formed a team of 4 girlies and got ready for a day of scavenger hunt.
We needed a team name and like any normal people we called ourselves 'The Kitticorns'. This is a combination of both 'Kitties' and 'Unicorns' of course.
The hunt was fantastic fun. We danced in the streets, ran after Koreans and found many ways to amuse ourselves.
Here is a selection of photos taken by the lovely Theresa.

We didn't win but it was fun and i'd definitley do it again.

After our day of photos we went to a local jazz bar where we finally saw some live music and ate some free popcorn.
After some shopping we ended up in a old vintage book store that also serves delicious food. They even had Poutine on the menu for all you Canadians out there. I even had real chips.
It was a great day with some lovely people. I just need another weekend to recover.

All photos from the lovely Theresa who has a fantastic blog you can see here

Team Kitticorn

Pose by the sign

Sing your national anthem

Find your home flag

Hug a stranger

Find the event organisers

Pick your nose

Find a westerner with Stubble

Do a love shot with a stranger

Convince a delivery driver to let you go on his bike

go on the bike

Find the lotte cinema

Play the Korean fighting game

Pose like a model with strangers

Do Taekwondo with strangers

Wear a traffic wardens hat

Find a Korean with stubble

Get in a phone box

Find a lookie-likie

Find someone with Gingseng and take a silly photo

Get your team in the square with one more person (we did two)

Make a team banner

Make vietnamese rolls

The Daegu Platform



This week sees the launch of Daegus new magazine The Platform.
It is an incredibly sophisticated and beautiful magazine and Im proud of everyone involved. I was lucky enough to take some photos for the article and I cant wait to work with them again.
http://issuu.com/platformdaegu/docs/pf_final


Wednesday 25 September 2013

Discovery of the week: Pain threshold.


This week I have been tested to my limits. Although Korean culture dictates you should never miss a day off school this doesnt mean you dont run into illness from time to time.
I have had a few times that my bed was a hundred times more appealing than the classroom but Ive persevered (mainly because the school nurse lets you sleep in a bed in-between your classes) but today I faced a new hurdle.
Frozen shoulder!
Ive had this occur a few times over the years and it may be one of the least pleasant experiences of my life. If you havent had shoulder/neck pain you are a lucky individual as I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. My neck and back tighten to the point that any movement feels like a thousand tiny ninjas are attacking, not to be too dramatic or anything.
This normally isnt too much of a problem since in the past Ive worked in an office where I can sit very still and have a spinney chair (although this did make me seem like some kind of Bond villain). Normally if Im completely incapacitated I can stay home but in Korea thats not an option so today I had to teach 4 lessons without any use of my upper body.
There was a lot of pen dropping; funny looks and luckily a slight amount of sympathy from my 3rd graders (no such luck with my 2nd grade class who thought it was hilarious to throw things at me) ...the classiest moment of my life came when I had to take a bin to the library to be sick from the pain. Thats true ladylike tendencies for you!
One lovely student told me that it was like a robot was teaching them! I love my students, always looking on the bright side.
It was a challenge to teach (and turn and write) but its 50% of the way through the day and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with just 2 more classes to go.
The nurse has given me some pain killers which dulled the pain so Im hoping to add a few degrees of movement into my next class but my poor student have to put up with C3P0 teacher for the day.
Screw you pain.lets do this!

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Tokyo: Robots and Road crossings

The next day we were out and about and tracking down as much Japanese goodness as possible.

Real Chox caramel eclair...mmm




Ox tougne...amazingly tasty


Some sweet sake

Traditional wedding


Wishes for the tree



Doll street





One of the things I wanted to do in Tokyo was the famous crossing in Shibya. Its the busiesy crossing in the world and boy did it feel like it too. It was so impressive and i'm really glad we had a chace to experience it.
This dog is famous in Tokyo because he would wait every day for his owner. Even after he died the puppy could be found waiting at the station.

Next on our list was this little guy. He's been a hero of ours for many years so it was great to finally meet him. We even got a wave, bow and clap.

The rest of day we spent wander the streets. There was so much craziness that I couldn't take it all in.



Finally after years of telling me about the legend that is Wendys , Lee got to show me the incredible taste first hand. It was fantastic.





Quirky Japan , I will miss you and I could easily live in you forever. We will be back soon.