Pics and Vids and Info OH MY!!!

Hey everybody!!! This will be a very exciting post filled with stories, great visuals, and a non stop journey with me, your favourite host, Jason Singh.

The past couple of weeks have been really good to me. Teaching is coming along great! The boys still like me and teaching them is a breeze! One boy is like "Teacher, teacher, you're very handsome, " and I ask him to tell me why, not because I'm vain, but because I want him to speak more English. So he answers, "Because you have a really big nose!" Hahah

So this blog entry will primarily focus on my trip to the Korean Folk Village with Mr. Kim. He teaches at the high school beside my middle school and has become a really good friend. I'll start off with some regular stuff though.

Well I will set this blog entry up with a simple yet effective layout. Each picture will be accompanied with a brief explanation.

So without further ado. Here we go.


This is my supermarket. It is only 3 minutes away from my house. This is where I do all of my groceries. I would probably die without it! I dedicate this one to the little Korean lady who can't speak a word of English but helps me find everything I need - good thing I'm good at charades!


This is my school. The one on the left with the Korean words is Tae Sung High School and the building on the right is Tae Sung Middle School. I teach at the latter. It is a fun place to work and now I enjoy the STEEP uphill climb every morning!

Here I am just chilling at my house. Everything is well set up and my pad is a great place to hang out every night! I try to spend as much time outside as I can watching the people go by, but staying home is not a bad thing some nights.


Here I am on "fire" getting ready to go out on a Saturday night. Every Saturday night is a night on the town. I'm so happy I've found good friends who I have known for a while. Great hosts equal a great night!

Anybody wanna get CRUNK hahahaha Ohhhhh Kkkkkaaaayyyyyy!!!!!! Has to be the best name ever! Good thing it tastes like Nestle CRUNCH.

Look who has a KOREAN CELL PHONE!!!! When I find some calling cards I can reach Toronto! And YES, I picked that squinting smiley face with a BIG THUMBS UP!!!That's just how I roll.

Here I am at the entrance to the Korean Folk Village - it is one of the biggest in Korea and reminds me of a Korean style "Black Creek Pioneer Village" and we all know that I really like that place! Making candles, carriage rides, and apple peel decorations! That place is off the chain! And for any Elginites reading you can go there with the attractions Ontario card for FREE!!!! haha Well anyways this place turned out to be really cool as I got a look into a Korea long passed, evolved into a high rise metropolized country filled with cars, bars, people, and everything in between! It was cool seeing a culture that spans 5000 years!
This was just past the entrance. The Village is surrounded by hills which gives it a very mountainous feel. I think they did a very good job in recreating, for the most part, a step backwards into history.

These pots were used to store a number of different foods, grains, and other things that could be stored for a very long time, I wonder if it was difficult to get to the middle pot.

My friend and guide, Mr. Kim. We are in front of this big rock that Koreans used to wish for good fortunes.
This roofing is made entirely out of layered straw. Underneath this roof is enough space for an Ox to go round and round grinding what ever needed to be ground in the middle. Pretty cool set up and of course if there was no Ox than any human could also do it.

Here's me in front of my house if I decided to come teach English in Korea a few hundred years ago. Yes! Corn included!

These people are NOT real. They were pretty creepy though, however, you can see that each room had enough space for the family. Sitting cross-legged is still the standard in Korea - there is a very good reason for this and I will outline it a little later.

This was the designated reading and writing room. Here I would be writing in my journal and would be reading many books including "The Life of Pi".

Very unsanitary by today's standards this Toilet looks pretty good for it's age, I guess. Although there does seem to be some dirty stains - ewwwwwwww HAha.

The kitchen! I wonder if my mom would be comfortable here and if she would be able to make her famous fried rice......oh how I dream of that beautiful, delicious, fried rice! Ok, so the wall on the left leads to the rest of the house. This is why Koreans sit on the floor - let me explain. Fire wood is placed underneath the pots. Water is boiled, rice is cooked etc. The house which is attached, has the floor elevated above the firewood. This allows for the Koreans to cook their food while warming the floors at the same time! So, this is why Koreans sit on the floor - because this is where the heat comes from. In modern times having the heat source come from the floor is still standard. There is no furnace, just heated floors - pretty cool technology.
This was a little lake, if you look closely there is man on a boat. He is not real and really tripped me out!

This duck however, was very real. He was squawking very loudly and I think he was making fun of me in Korean!

I'm pretty sure this says "BALLER" in Korean! What a house!

Now that's how you Bar-b-q. Reminds me of those late night Bar-b-q's in Markham and on the Burg! I hope you guys are ready when I get back!!!

Sentencing time! Let's see what jail is like back in the day.

"I swear I did not do as they say I did! Please believe me!!!"

Nothing like a little torture to get the truth out! The chair was used to spread knees as far apart as possible and the cross bed there on the left was used for some serious spanking - look at the size of that paddle!

She must have done something really wrong! That torture device is there just in case something goes down. All that coinage is there from people who respect and honor the fallen. It was be also a form of wishing for good luck - like the fountain in the Eaton Centre!

These guys were in for misdemeanor crimes. I guess the floor could be comfortable the company, maybe not so much.

These guys are down for some SERIOUS crimes. You had to stay motionless if you were in this situation as there is SHARP blade surrounding the necks of these criminals, one wrong move and you'd be in two parts!

HEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!! I'm slipping! I'm slipping! Stay in school and get a proper job or one day you'll end up like this!

I will be a fair and honest councilmen and up hold the law to the fullest! Check out the hat!

I knew I was gonna get lucky in Korea, but TWO beautiful ASSES! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

This man knew how to use an ax - I seen him split a log with just one chop! I was like, this can't be that hard....

It was....I don't even think that little girl in the pink was impressed. HAH

Here are some creepy mannequins, especially the little girls playing games in the house. It actually looks like a pretty cool house though.

This was the first "show" we saw at the Korean Folk Village. This was a performance that the farmers did to hope for good crops. Sort of like a little rain dance. Here is a little video to show it in action. These farmers also started doing some crazy side flips and then this one superstar farmer had a huge ribbon on his hat as was doing real breakdancing moves - looked like he was from the early 1990's!!!





Next up, we have got the BEST game of See-Saw EVER - Just look at what these girls can do!





If you thought that was cool.....

They started jumping with ribbons! It was quite the sight...
Then....They started to add things to their repertoire, the crowd was going wild!




And, then the grand finale! These girls were AMAZING!!!




Next, we saw this tightrope walker. He was an older Korean man and was heralded as a national treasure. This guy was a performer - had the audience in stitches, even though I didn't know what he was saying. He was doing all kinds of wild things - walking on one foot, sitting on the rope, jumping on the rope this guy was nuts!

Just in case you forgot what I look like! Hah.

WEDDING TIME!!!!!!!! At the Korean Folk Village they have traditional Korean marriage grounds. I found out from Mr. Kim that there would be an ACTUAL wedding ceremony that day and that people wait months in advance to have their wedding ceremony in this sacred place.


This is the traditional marriage table where it all goes down.

This is the carriage that the bride is carried away in when the bride and groom are finished the ceremony and are on their way to the groom's house.

The handsome groom.

The beautiful bride with her two bridesmaids.

This video will show a little of the traditional Korean wedding ceremony.

Here the bride is being whisked away to the groom's house.

Here is the groom on his way home. If you can see the smirk on his face there may be a little of second guessing going through his mind! Hah!

And, of course, no wedding would be complete without LIVE music!

Now that really was Pics and Vids and Info OH MY!!!
I hope you enjoyed this LITTLE glimpse into how I'm spending my time here in Korea. I am meeting many interesting people every week and am having the time of my life. Although I do miss home and all the goodness of Toronto, my time out here is important and I don't have a regret in the world. I love you all - especially my MOM who I miss the most.

See you soon :)
Jason Andrew Singh.