Jeju

While I was in Korea I went to Jeju. Jeju is the only subtropical island in Korea. There are nice beaches and beautiful mountain Halla san. The beaches were crowded in the way only Asian beaches are, there seems to be  just a huge area of nothing but umbrellas and people watching then the water is crowded like a wave pool at a water park. Still its been a while since I went to the beach so it was nice. Jeju is famouse for its grandfather statues and they are everywhere.

Jeju Grandfather Statue

We went to a famous waterfall but in reality it was kind of lame. You couldn't swim so it was kind of just not worth paying to see.

The best part for me was climbing mount Halla. It was a really pretty climb to the top. Also, Halla is the tallest mountain in South Korea.

Korea

Hey sorry its been a while. I'm in Korea right now so look for stuff from there soonish.

Signs Signs Everywhere Signs

In Japan it is illegal to smoke and walk. There are several reasons for this, like to keep children from being burned. Another is that if you are walking the smoke can go any where. The last seems to be that smokers walking are more likely to just throw down the butt. There are a lot of signs about this kind of thing. They are in Japanese and odd, not quite wrong, but odd English. The diagrams though are what really make them so I hope that you enjoy this small tribute. Tune in next time for some Engrish. Click to make the pictures bigger.

Samantha's Return and Ueno Zoo

Samantha has gone back to America. Before she left we went to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. It was really fun. They have so many different animals. The pandas were the most popular by far. My favorite though was seeing the tigers. Samantha loved to see the red pandas.

サマンサはアメリカに帰りました。帰った前に私達は上野動物園に行きました。動物園はとても楽しかったです。色々な動物いっぱいです。パンダは一番人気です。私はトラ一番好きです。サマンサはレッサーパンダが大好きです。

 

Taily Po

This is a scary story that I tell my students at Halloween. The Japanese version is good for elementary and the English would probably work for Junior High School. This version is highly smiplified so you can find more detailed versions.

There once was a poor man who lived with his dogs in the middle of a big swamp. One day he was in his house when he saw a big tail coming from a hole in the floor. He was hunger so he picked up his ax and cut the tail off the animal. Then he heard the animal run out from under the floor and into the swamp. That night he ate the tail and went to bed. He woke up in the middle of the night and heard a voice in the swamp. It said, “tail, tail tail.” The man was very scared. So he let the first dog out into the swamp to find the voice. The dog ran out barking into the swamp, but then suddenly stopped barking. Then the man heard the voice, “tail, I want my tail.” The man was very scared. So he let the second dog out into the swamp and then locked the door ran upstairs and jumped in bed. The dog ran to the swap barking. Then it to was quite. The man lay in bed. He heard the voice again, “tail, do you have my tail.” Then he heard a sound in the kitchen. Then a sound in the living room. Then a sound on the stairs. Then he heard the door to his room slowly open. Then he heard a sound at the end of the bed. He looked and saw 2 big eyes. “Tail. Do you have my tail.” The man said “you have my dogs tails isn’t that enough.” The eyes stared back and then said, “you have my tail.”




むかし、むかし、大きなぬまちの中にびんぼうな人と二ひき犬が住んでいました。ある日、彼は家の中でゆかのあなから大きなしっぽが出てくるのを見た。はらがへっていたので、びんぼうな男はおのでそのしっぽを切った。のちに、その男はある動物がゆかのしたからぬまちまで走って行ったということを聞いた。その夜しっぽを食べたあとでねました。 夜おそくになって、男が目をさましたとき、ぬまちの中からかすかなこえが聞こえてきた。このこえは＜しっぽ、しっぽ、しっぽ＞と言ってた。彼はこわいかった。この事から彼は１ぴき目の犬に、何のこえかを見つけさせるためにぬまちに行かせた。犬はワンワンと言ってぬまちに走って行った。でも、とつぜんに犬がきゅうきやんだ。すると男は、あるこえを聞いた。そのこえは＜しっぽ、おれのしっぽがほしい＞と言っていた。男はとてもこわくなり、二番の犬をぬまちに行かせた。そして、彼はドアにかぎをかけて、にかいに走りあがり、ベッドの中にもぐりこんだ。犬はワンワンとなきながら、ぬまちに走った。でも、とつぜん、その犬はなきやんだ。彼はベッドによこたわっていた。そのとき、いまからこえが聞こえてきた。そのこえは＜しっぽ、お前はおれのしっぽをもっているだろう？＞ときいた。その後で、だいどころからおとが聞こえてきた。そして、次にはいまからおとが聞こえた。次はかいだんから聞こえた。そして・・・彼のへやのドアがゆっくりとあく音が聞こえ、そして、ついにベッドの近くまできた。彼は二つ大きな目を見た。＜しっぽ、お前はおれのしっぽを持っているんだろう？！＞それに男は、＜あなたは私の２ひきの犬のしっぽがある。それでじゅうぶんではないですか＞といった。目はじろじろとにらみながら＜お前のはらのなかに、おれのしっぽがあるじゃないか＞と言った。

A beer for kids?

Japan has a different set of expectations and beliefs when it comes to alcohol.
Here, a person can call "drinking " one of their hobbies. (Meaning that they drink, alone, almost every night.) Here, it's perfectly acceptable to get black-out drunk in front of your boss. In fact, it can help you score points with him to do so. Showing up to work hungover is more likely to elicit good natured ribbing than a stern reprimand. To be honest, I don't think that they have the same concept of alcoholism here. The common sentiment seems to be that so long as a person shows up for work in the morning, even if that person had a drink with breakfast, they don't have a problem.

Beer wine, and hard liquor are all easily available at grocery stores and konbini (Convenience stores. Image a gas station that doesn't sell gas.) Beer can still be purchased out of vending machines, although some of them now require legal ID.

With that speck of background I would like to introduce a product that Caleb and I stumbled upon:

THE KIDDIE BEER.

We found this in the candy section of the local grocery store. The name roughly translates to "Cheeky beverage". It was supposed to be "cider" flavored, and no, it wasn't alcoholic.


It came with a little plastic beer mug that you filled up to a line.

Afterward you poured in the powder.

The powder made so much foam, it overflowed onto the table.


I'm not sure what kind of taste we were expecting, but what we got was... well
It was sickly sweet. It didn't taste anything like beer, or cider.
It did look impressively like beer though.