What's all this then?

What? What's a blog?

The past few months have not been without incident, and although that's no excuse for my beyond-sporadic updates, I feel that enough time and events have passed to merit another try at this whole "writing" thing.

First and foremost was March's trip to the wonderful city of Shanghai, in China. I went with three of my coworkers: Matt, Ryan and Alex. After touching down at the airport, we got to ride the bullet train, which was appropriately excellent.
This bad boy got up to 304 km/h while we were on it! And that wasn't even its top speed!


We spent the first few nights of the trip staying at the Blue Mountain hostel in a relatively quiet neighborhood of Shanghai. Or at least, it would have been quiet, had it not been...


Chinese New Year's! It sounded like a war zone outside the hostel every night we were in Shanghai. We bought a bunch of fireworks from a cart on the corner of the street and proceeded to go nuts, nearly blowing up a taxi in the process. Then, we took a cab (even cheaper than Korea!) to the French Concession and had dinner at 1001 Arabian Nights, a tasty if expensive themed restaurant/hookah bar. We then went to a bar where I beat the hostesses in foosball.

Waking up the next day, we made a beeline for what our guidebook promised had some of the best breakfast in Shanghai. As you can see, I was not disappointed:
That is powdered sugar from my french toast. POWDERED SUGAR. Anyway, the breakfast was stellar and since we were in the French Concession anyway we decided to take a little stroll which turned up a few surprises. First off was this blast from my past:
The Shanghai Conservatory of music! In 2002, I and my fellow members of the Eastview High School Band program played a very memorable exchange concert here during which our band and the conservatory's orchestra had unwittingly prepared the same Gershwin piece.

We continued strolling through the FC, until we hit the district's downtown shopping area. In front of a statue of the emperor, I was pulled into a family photo by this very enthusiastic dad, who literally shouldered his kids out of the way to stand next to me:

And we're back! Upon walking through the busier part of the French Concession, we came out the other side at beautiful Fuxing Park. In this park, there were a couple of fine gentlemen:
There was also a highly-illegal gambling game going on in the corner, but our attempts to photograph it were met with angry Mandarin and shooing motions.
Here's the game, over in the corner there. Sketchy! Fuxing Park was very beautiful and quite large, and home to a number of surprising sights, such as a tiny little carnival with bubble people:
See, communists can have fun, too. The next day, we decided we wanted to hit the Party Park for a much-recommended brunch (at least recommended by Lonely Planet). The food was incredible and the view excellent. Here are a few photos.

That is a plate of King Snake. Delicious!
Here's the view out the window. We weren't allowed to enter the park, as it is apparently only for Communist Party members. We were allowed to look at it, though.
And of course, my favorite part of the garden, the dragon wall guarding its perimeter.
It was, as you can see, quite awesome.

Later that day, which was mostly filled with wandering about, we ended up having dinner at a nice place in the French Concession which was renowned for its Peking Duck. There was even a photograph of George (Sr.) and Laura Bush eating there in the elevator. We decided to have a little more exotic appetizer.
Mmmm! Fried Scorpion!Yep, scorpions. They were quite crunchy and tasty. Of course, the duck itself was also delicious, and watching the preparation was a treat.
Carved and served right at our table! What service.

After a few nights in our first hostel, we relocated across town to a nice hostel near East Nanjing Road, which is possibly the most famous part of Shanghai. Our first night in our new locale, we took a stroll down said street and, what do you know, I remembered this spot from my last trip to Shanghai.
This is what I always think of when I think of China, and my second trip there did not disappoint. Lots to see, lots to eat, a sea of nose-high faces pressing past. Much of our time in the Bund, as this district of Shanghai is called, was a blur of sightseeing. Right across the Huangpu River is Pudong, Shanghai's newest and glitziest district, with its large towers and relative emptiness (no one really lives there yet). I bought chopsticks, a wall scroll, and avoided buying much, much more. Here are a few photos of the area.
This first shot highlights what is probably one of the more bizarre buildings in Pudong, or for that matter China and maybe the world, the Oriental Pearl Tower. You can also kind of see Jinmao tower rising into the mist, but it's tricky. The Pearl Tower is mostly used for broadcasting television signals but it also serves general-purpose sightseeing and tourist functions.This shot here more highlights an unusual TVboat trolling along the Huangpu. Those adverts on the side are actually giant LCD TVs. After strolling along the Bund riverside, we retired to the hostel, ready for the next day's foray into the strange.

The next day we decided to head for Pudong, and there were several options on how to cross the river. There was a walking underpass which, pardon the pun, seemed too... pedestrian. There was also a ferry, but that ran too infrequently. No, our transport of choice had to be the Bund sightseeing tunnel.
Our descent into madness began quietly enough, with a soothing escalator ride down a green slope, with branches overhead. Keep in mind we are entirely underground at this point.
Welcome to the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel ride, straight out of a Disneyland reject bin. But the best (worst) was yet to come...
Here's the view from one of the very toaster-like rail cars that would be our ferry into the land of the unknown. Let the ride begin!
As we crept slowly under the Hwangpu river, a number of low-grade lighting effects assaulted our eyes with vintage 1960s horror. Flashing rainbow-hued LEDs, bizarre pictures projected onto the curved walls of the tunnel, and even (as barely seen in this shot) wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men! Throughout the whole ride, a strange female disembodied voice intoned totally nonsensical word pairings in English. The only one I remember is "magma understanding" or something like that.

At long last, the car pulled through a series of light-blocking flaps and into the dock on the other side of the tunnel. The nightmare was over. Of course, we did buy round-trip tickets...
And into the fancy district of Pudong we go! Our first stop was the quite-gaudy Oriental Pearl tower. It looks even uglier during the day! However, the view from the top is not to be missed.
Oho! Proof that I was there! It is worth noting that, while Matt was taking this picture using my camera, a bunch of Chinese people were taking my picture as well, with their own cameras. Eerie! Anyway, like I said, the view:
Ok, so this still isn't the view, but I thought this barbed lion was too cool not to take a picture of. This is inside the lobby of the pearl tower. That glass elevator in the middle there shoots straight up to the top of the tower. Unfortunately, we were going to be stuck in one of the concrete towers, since we were going to the observation deck, not all the way to the top (too expensive). Nevertheless, that view:
These are the two tallest buildings in China, the Jinmao Tower in front and some will-eventually be taller building whose name I can't remember. So after coming down from the tower, we decided to walk on over to the tallest (completed) building in China to see the famous atrium at the Grand Hyatt hotel.
This is the highest enclosed atrium in the world - not the tallest, but the highest (as in the highest off the ground). We also had a lovely dinner at the restaurant nearby, but my camera was running out of juice and I wasn't able to get any pictures of it. It was nice to live outside our means for a night.

Well, there's only one day's worth of pictures left, taken at the People's Square, on our last day.

And so we conclude our trip to China with adorable children feeding doves! All is right with the world.

North Korea, Part II: This time, it's not part one!

LAST YEAR, ON TYLER'S TRIP TO KOREA (a link to part one)

When we last left our hero, he had just returned from a harrowing journey up into the mountains, where he was confronted by strange concrete beasts and restrictive tour guides. Now, join us for part two of his exciting journey into the heart of darkness... er, North Korea.

So, upon awakening from a reasonable slumber, Matt and I decided to check out the local scene in Onjunggak. We first decided it would be rather classy of us to patronize the fancy hotel's equally-fancy ballroom. We grabbed a deck of cards and headed downstairs to enjoy the entertainment, and to play and drink gin (martinis, in the case of the drink but not the game). We particularly enjoyed the lounge band, and we went to compliment them on their show during a break. Turns out they are a band from the Philippines, and somehow landed a gig in North Korea. They told Matt and I that we look like Jack Nicholson and Chuck Norris, respectively.


After that it was off to the bar where they served a surprisingly tasty beer in cool glass pitchers. We met up with a group of other folks, mostly English, who were on our trip and we played some P & A (with the ranks cleverly renamed to "Dear Leader" and "Bear-suit Guy") before heading off to the local noraebang (karaoke room). I serenaded the British lasses with some Mr. Big and a good time was had by all.


The worthwhile pictures pick up again on the next day, when we hopped aboard buses bound for Guryoung Waterfalls. We were actually given a choice on this trip, whether to take the easier "lake" hike or the more challenging Waterfall course. I was feeling well-rested, in contrast to the previous day, so Matt and I opted for the greater challenge which we of course hoped would yield greater rewards. As you can see from the below pictures, it most certainly did.
This was some kind of house... on the river. That's about all I could tell.
Here, this one's for you, Mom. It was some weird tiger conductor statue. From here on out, for the sake of brevity, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, except when I feel they require some extra explanation.
Ah, now this is my kind of drink. I think this is some kind of Snake-Soju. It was on sale, but it was still the AM and I don't think I would ever have the courage to drink some kinda crazy homebrewed North Korean moonshine. With a snake in it.
Here's a bunch of people who were on the trip in front of the trailhead marker. This picture was taken by an actual North Korean party member (commie)! That's me in the middle, obviously, my coworker Matt on the top, second from the right, and some other guy named Matt bottom left.
Here are some Chinese characters carved into the stone face and painted red. These were all over the mountains - state-sponsored graffiti. Our tour guide explained that most of them extol the virtues of Communism and the wisdom of Great Leader (Kim Il-Sung). They were a bit surreal, but I suppose nothing more surreal than four giant presidential heads carved into a mountain.

Just to give you a little idea of what I was dealing with here.
And to prove I was there.
These were the promised waterfalls. They were very pretty, but I was in store for a better sight yet. There was an optional additional path that basically climbed straight up the side of the mountain overshadowing the waterfall. I of course couldn't resist.
The path up was treacherous and crowded. Steep stairwells and hundreds of Korean tourists (we were the only Foreigner group there at the time) made for an interesting ascent.
The view from the top was incredible. This shot doesn't quite capture the row after row of green peaks spreading out in a bowl around the cliff.
This one's better.
Looking back over towards the DMZ.

After the descent (which was exhausting, due to having to shove past hundreds more hikers who were just making their ascent, I met up with Matt and Matt again and we walked all the way back down. It was now about 2 PM, so after we rode the bus back to Onjunggak we had lunch at a delicious Korean Fusion restaurant in the square's miniature shopping mall. Time was short at this point, and I had yet to go to the square's outdoor jimjilbang (spa) so I rode the short bus over there (loaded up with Korean ajima) and enjoyed a relaxing sauna/hottub/shower.

After that, it was time to hop back on the coach bus and head home. Matt and I sat in the back with our newfound friends and we drove through most of the afternoon home. Customs on the way back was fortunately uneventful (they didn't even check our cameras, which was good because I know many of my traveling companions had taken many illegal pictures) and we watched a movie or two on the ride home. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, one of my best to date in Korea, and certainly an experience to remember.

Next up: China!

Continuity Break

Hey there sports fans!

This month has been intensely busy (giving it the well-deserved name of "busy season" by the SLI powers-that-be) and it's been really tough finding time to make time for thinking about preparing to do things that are important to me, like keeping in touch with, oh I don't know, the world outside of the approximately 7 people I hang out with here.

So I thought I'd finally update this again, and while I'm sure many have stopped bothering to check it and read it, to the five (read: three) of you who are still around, thanks for your patience! I'm very, very slowly getting better at this teaching thing and thus I'm finding that prep doesn't take as much time. Also I've been growing bored with the ways in which I usually squander my precious free time so there you have it! Justification and rationale for both my lengthy sabbatical and my sudden return to the worldwide intarwubs.

I have a few pictures to share, and precious few interesting stories to tell about my life here. Fear not, there is still at least one more part of the North Korea saga rolling around in the empty parts of my head, so that update will hopefully follow in less than a week, although I make no promises to its expediency. So without further ado, a much overdue update on life here in Suji.

December flew by really, really quickly, and I don't honestly remember much of it. I've picked up several early-afternoon tutors, small groups of 2-4 young kids with fairly limited English but very sweet dispositions. They are a lot of fun and I always end up enjoying the classes, even though I usually dread getting up the extra few hours early. One of my classes has even given me a Korean name, since "Tyler Stokes" doesn't translate well into Korean. Let me give it a shot here... 타일라 스톣 Yeah, not really working out. Therefore, I present my new, Korean name!

신준일
Shin Jun-il

I like it. I have no idea what it means, but my students don't laugh when they hear it, so that's a good sign, and they seemed to be matching up letters from the Hangul-ified version of my English name to compose this shorter, better version.

In other news, my parents came to visit over the holidays. Getting to the airport to meet them on Christmas Day was quite a chore, but it was definitely worth it. Finding their hotel nestled in the woods in the middle of Jeongja was another hassle, but as it turns out their hotel was approximately 4.2 times as nice as my apartment so I think it was a good choice. I had lots of fun hanging out with them between shifts at work and catching up with the little bro, he kicks my butt at Guitar Hero but I'm catching up. We saw the city, Namdaemun market, the Suwon Fortress, the Korean Folk Village, and all sorts of other touristy things that I had been saving for their visit. Dad lost his passport, so we also got to see the Embassy! Fun for the whole family, unless you forgot to bring a book and didn't wear layers and for some reason they keep the waiting room thermostat set to "extra crispy."

After seeing them off (actually, I didn't get to see them off, I had to work, but after saying goodbye in any case), busy season at the Hagwon started in earnest. I've had my fair share of 13-hour days, granted with a few hours scattered in there for lunch and maybe a trip to the gym, but all in all a thoroughly unpleasant experience that I wish to avoid in the future. We're over halfway through the session now (which ends on the 28th), so the end is in sight! I also had the misfortune of my every-other-month Saturday writing class coincide with busy season, so in addition to the packed weekly schedule I also have three extra hours on Saturday morning. Needless to say, what with being exhausted from all the extra classes, not having Saturday mornings or afternoons or even Sundays free (rescheduled tutoring sessions), my social life has taken a serious hit. But February is soon, and returning to the regular evening school schedule will feel like quite the vacation.

Speaking of vacation, Matt, Alex, Ryan and I are headed to the electric city of Shanghai for our upcoming bi-annual less-than-a-week-of-break (yes, we really get that little vacation). Needless to say I am very excited to return to what was one of the coolest cities I've ever been to, this time with more personal freedom and time to actually explore what I want to see. Although it won't be quite the same without Engel as the roommate, it should be a pretty good time anyway.

Other than that, there's in truth not much to share about goings-on here. I haven't been into Seoul much since the family left, and in my limited spare time I've been reading and going to the gym. I'm up to 6-8 km on the treadmill, depending on how much sleep I got the night before, and I'm really starting to actually enjoy it. This is a new thing for me. Also when I don't think it'll disturb the neighbors I shred on some Guitar Hero.

Well, it's late on Sunday night and I've morning TOEFL class tomorrow, so I should turn in. I'll hopefully be updating much more frequently these days, so y'all come on back now, y'hear?

On an unrelated note, I just watched Juno, and it's highly recommended. It's a sweet, quirky independent film blissfully free of pretension (although the soundtrack was a bit heavy on the twee). The acting was excellent, and if anything, I was sorry that the film didn't spend more time with the very interesting and well-written characters. Ellen Page is going places, and she delivered the typical indie-styled "quips to hip to actually be real" with serious panache. She was also spectacular in her portrayal of a very mature and confident girl who, underneath, is just barely hiding some very lifelike insecurities. She was so balanced in her portrayal. However, I think there were too many well-written characters for the film's short running time, and in particular I feel that Michael Cera and Allison Janney were a bit underused (don't even get me started on Rainn Wilson's hilarious but way-too-short cameo). Similarly, Jason Bateman's place in the movie never really resolved, and I would have liked to see his complicated character get at least some kind of nod in the end. In any case, it's a good film, and I recommend you see it if you're into that kind of quirky, awkward thing. Plus, I'll recommend any movie set in Minnesota. Except Jingle All the Way. Screw Jingle All the Way. But when you've got Drop Dead Gorgeous and, of course, Fargo, you could do far worse as a state.

I also went out to the movies last night and saw Sweeny Todd. If you're a fan of the musical, skip it. If you've never seen the musical, skip it. If you really love Johnny Depp, eh, skip it. I would recommend it if you're a big fan of Tim Burton, because, as you would come to expect, it is chock full of his typically lavish Victorian eye candy. The visuals in this film were excellent, but not more so than any of his other work (in fact, they're a noticable step down from Big Fish or Edward Scissorhands). The acting is also quite able (and what else would you expect from Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen), but here's the real problem with Sweeny Todd: it's a musical.

That, in itself, is not a problem. I actually quite like musicals, and while I've never seen or heard the original Broadway version of this one, this movie doesn't even seem to be a particularly awkward adaptation. Many musicals lose something in the translation to a general-audience film, maybe it's the choreography or the energy or just simply the plausibility of people bursting into ridiculous arpeggio'd exposition with nobody batting an eye. There are of course several notable exceptions. Chicago was excellent, and, while this is a controversial statement, I will always hold a soft spot in my heart for Moulin Rouge.

Here's what made those films work: 1) the energy practically jumped off the screen, electrifying the entire first row. The choreography in Chicago was over-the-top, and the quick editing made it seem like I was actually watching it at a theatre, my eyes jumping from the singer to the backup dancers and back again. Moulin Rouge did exactly the same thing, except even more so, adding to the visual feast an insanely lavish spectacle, both in costume and set.

2) The actors could sing. While the casting was hit-or-miss in Chicago (I was particularly unimpressed with Renee Zellweger's too-hollow attempts at jazz), there were three shining stars whose voices made that musical sing (pun most certainly intended). While Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly were absolutely fantastic in their one-song appearances (I believe that "Mr. Cellophane" was easily the best number in the movie and I don't know why he hasn't sung more often), Catherine Zeta-Jones anchored the movie with a strong, beautiful voice. Moulin Rouge
's Ewan MacGregor and Nicole Kidman probably offered the best musical performance from stars primarily known for their acting that I've ever seen. As a sometime singer, MacGregor's voice in particular is extremely enviable and he nails every song in the movie.

This, sadly, is not the case with Sweeny Todd. The performances of a few of the supporting cast were great. Alan Rickman was excellent but sorely underused, and Sacha Baron Cohen's solo was hilariously operatic. Antony was also quite good. In particular, the young boy who comes into the employ of Ms. Lovitz had a striking voice, clear and versatile. However, the four leading cast members left much to be desired. The young unknown who played Joanna had a voice too shrill for her part. I have a theory that Burton selects his actors based primarily on appearance. See for evidence Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci. They all look like they should be siblings. This young girl also looks very similar. Furthermore, Bonham Carter turns in a decent performance, although not strong. The same can be said of Depp. This is a problem. Sweeny Todd is a musical. It is a musical about a man named Sweeny Todd. Sweeny Todd sings a lot. While Johnny Depp is an able actor and, ok, I'll admit it, a very pretty man, he is not much of a singer. Musicals have very basic and obvious plots, and next to no character development. Musicals sink or swim based on the strength of the music. Based on this criterion, Sweeny Todd tries to keep its head above water, but it eventually drowns under the gallons and gallons of blood that earned it its R rating. Bottom line: It wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't pay to watch it again.