a Korean Christmas

*sigh* and so passes my first Christmas away from home. I'm not gonna lie, I missed it BUT I didn't cry. I came darn close though. Mostly after talking to my family while they were at Christmas dinner at Aunt Donna's house. After getting off the phone I realised they were about to embark on the journey of traditional Christmas dinner complete with children screaming in the background, christmas wrapping paper flying in every direction, and my mom fighting tooth and nail for the wing of the turkey and then strutting around with a smug look on her face and a piece of turkey skin dangling form the corner of her mouth after she, once again, beat my uncle Herb into submission...

Then second time I got teary-eyed was when I was opening the package from Sari and Christine, which arrived on my desk at school on Boxing Day, which was Christmas day at home. Thanks bunches Sawi and Tini!! I lerve it! (For those of you who aren't Sari or Christine, they sent me, among other things, a webcam!)

But now, onto happier things as I did not spend Christmas down in the dumps - NAY! - I was as jolly as Santy, as rosy as Rudolph and as gaseous as Will Ferrel in Elf after he drank 2L of Coke in one go.

Friday after school I began my journey to Seoul, which was 6 hours on a bus. I drugged myself up big-time on gravol and blissfully slept through the first few hours. After that is was listening to music and trying to forget how badly I had to pee. Once in Seoul we decided to splurge on a nice hotel for the weekend. We camped out on the top floor in the nicest room they had...which was just big enough for the three of us (myself, Carol and Roberta, both of whom teach in Suncheon). Here's is the view from our window:

Yeah, Seoul is quite a ginormous place, but thankfully my experience wasn't really overwhelming. After a good sleep, we all woke up and hit Itaewon which is a popular shopping place for foreigners. All the shop owners spoke some English and there were stores that catered to Western-sized women. For a place as over-populated as Seoul, the shopping on Christmas eve was no where NEAR what it is like at Limeridge or The Pen.


That night we got all dolled-up and went to see the Ballet at the Seoul Arts Centre. None of us had ever seen the Nutcracker before, so it was quite the lovely experience. It is always so amazing to me when I hear music that I know so well from recordings (Tchaik, Nutcracker Suite) played live. Even after 4 years of studying music at University, I'm still astounded at how the instruments really CAN sound like the recordings. I'm a nerd. Here are some pics from the ballet:
That first one is a gratuitous picture of me in case y'all have forgotten what I look like. The second one is an aerial view of the lobby of the Seoul Arts Centre.

After the lovely ballet, we were all feeling quite famished. Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner, we enjoyed a meal of traditional Korean food called Samgyupsal. DEEEEEE-lish! To keep in the festive spirit, we referred to the meal as "Pork with all the trimmings". Each table has it's own individual grill where you cook your own meat. Along with the pork we also grilled garlic, mushrooms, carrots, onions and kimchi (which is pretty good when it's grilled). Next, you take a tiny piece of meat, dip it in some sauce or bean paste put it in a lettuce leaf, add some more things like a slice of garlic or onion, wrap it up in the lettuce and then SHOVE IT ALL IN YOUR MOUTH!! When I was eating this with Korean teacher one time, I took polite little bites of my lettuce ball and was pomptly told to do it in just one bite...it's quite fun! Anyway, this happened to be the best Samgyupsal I have had so far.

Oh man, we gorged ourselves...but hey, by that time it was past midnight and officially Christmas day!

The next morning (or the same morning, depending on how you look at it) we took our time getting up, then I spent the rest of the day on a bus. A bit anticlimactic for Christmas Day, but hey, I had a great time in Seoul so there were no complaints.

Now I'm just finishing off my last few days of work before vacation. Interestingly enough, I actually get MORE busy once school ends. The first three weeks of January I am working in various English camps. Then, the day after the last camp ends, Carol and I are skippin' town to Singapore where I get to have a glorious reunion with Arieh!! WOOOOOT! and then to Thailand for some elephant riding.

So, I will probably be AWOL for a good long time. Don't worry though, I'm just off becoming "worldly" :P

Happy New Year to everyone!

snow - the ultimate excuse

It seems, after 2 weeks of snow (not heavy by any means) and sub-zero temperature, that South Korea is having a "unique" winter. All signs point to the fact that they only deal with snow once or twice per year, rather than, say, constantly. The points mentioned last post aside, snow is also an ecellent excuse for poor drivers to instantly become worse...but that's OK, because they turn on their 4-way flashers :D. Last Friday I had a meeting in Gwangju and had to be there by 1pm. No problem I says, I'll just hop on yonder bus at an appropriate time and off I'll go, tra la la. The appointed hour arrives and I learn that the bus is running 40 minutes behind due to the snow. I must emphasize at this point that it was not snowing in Boseong, but there was snow on the ground, and it very well could have been snowing in Gwangju (Gwangju is a 1.5 hour bus ride and lies north of Boseong). Well, this f's up my schedule horribly and so I do the only thing that will get me there in time - I took a cab. 50,000 Won (approx. $50) and an hour later I arrived safely in Gwangju having been driven through clear weather. That's only a slight kick in the pants. The plus side is I got to enjoy the luxury of a private ride to Gwangju rather than endure the vomit comet. Half full I tells ya, half full.

The meeting was about the Teacher Training Workshop that I will be doing during the winter vacation. For 2 weeks I get to teach Korean English teachers how to use MUSIC in the English classroom!! WOOOOOT! I'm a happy camper.

After said meeting, I decided it would be wise to spend the night in Gwangju considering I had to return the next day to meet a friend for dinner. Carol and I got a hotel room (correction, a love motel room) and then go out for dinner with some friends. We had some of the most delicious Thai food that I've experienced (granted, my experiences have been few). This was a precursor to our trip to Thailand where we get to eat like that all the time for ridiculously cheap. It can't come soon enough.

The next day, Carol and I roamed around downtown Gwangju shopping for various items. The weather was unbelievable. After witnessing it, I dropped all remaining complaints about Friday's cab ride. There were actual snow squalls and heavy snow fall. How is this unbelievable, you ask? Well, the snow fall was turned off and on like a tap. One minute, blizzard, the next clear. CRAZY! Being a Canadian in Korea I feel it is my duty to stand up to the cold and laugh in its face, but jeepers creepers, I thought I was back in London.

***Warning! Side Story***
Carol and I were checking out a random store that had a little bit of everything in it. Right smack in the middle of some Hello Kitty merchandise, cute plush pillows, and inscence was a display of many different kinds of condoms. Carol and I were pondering this when a uniformed korean girl (meaning she was in middle or high school) looks at the condoms, looks at us and then says "Very good!" Oh mercy, we laughed heartily! And now back to the regular scheduled programming...

The roads were pretty bad for driving and when we met up with our friends for dinner. A 15 minute drive to the restaurant turned into an hour and a half expedition! Dinner was delicious again and the company was awesome. Unfortunately, Carol, Betty and I had to kiss hours hopes of getting home that night goodbye. We realised that due to the unpredictable road conditions, we should take the train the next day. The train left Gwangju at 5:35 am.
oh. dear. god.
Thus, awakened by the beeping of the alarm at 4:30, I began my day today. The train ride was uneventful, and here I am, no worse for wear. Though unexpected, my weekend was wonderful yet again!

This weekend I am showing the students the How the Grinch Stole Christmas orginal animation. Last week of classes! Apathy! Heck yeah!

le bonhomme de Korean neige

*sigh* today was great. Wanna know why? Because it was Monday and it was a snow day. That's right...school was cancelled due to snow. To add to this lovely occurence, I got the call that it was cancelled on Sunday night. Mmhmm, I slept in.

Not only was today great, but my whole weekend was pretty top notch. On Friday I just hung out at my appartment and decompressed. Pajamas, warm tea and a movie...they make for good times. On Saturday I once again headed to Suncheon to spend some quality time with Carol and Roberta. Instead of the usual, which is accidentally finding ourselves drunk at a party, we opted to stay in and play "triopoloy". This is like monopoly only there are places all over the world and there are three levels. Canada made it on there (Toronto) and it was pretty sweet property to own. THIS girl owned it (or did I pwn it?...one never can tell) and exploited it as much as I could. The biggest capitalist of all was Roberta, however, as she risked most of her money on hotels and made tons of money back because of it. Poor Carol didn't get very far because although she had some property with hotels...they were in the slums (think Baltic Ave, only south of the equator) and so the profits were mediocre at best. We called her "El Slum Lordo"...I think there may have been some sweat shops there too (ooo, I'm bad). At any rate, one could save some money by taking a "Soju discount". If I owed a player $1300, I could pay them $1000 and take one shot of soju. We only started doing this more towards the end when the situation was desperate. And that's how monopoly becomes a drinking game.

I made my lazy way back to Boseong early Sunday afternoon. The air was crisp and clear in Suncheon. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up I was nearing Boseong and what did I see? The ground was blanketed in a thin layer of snow...it was glorious. After hearing so many people from home talk about snow, I was really, really missing it. Previously I had been told that Boseong doesn't get snow very often...maybe once per year. WELL, I practically peed my pants when I saw it. Thankfully incontinence hasn't hit me yet.

In a few hours the light dusting had turned into an almost-blizzard. I was safely in my appartment by that point, but unfortunately my furnace chose this point to BREAK. Yep, I had a tiny space heater keeping me unfrozen. I once again have to sing praises to Mr Son who came over post-haste in a snow storm to take a look. He went out, convinced a friend of his (father of one of my best students, Koh You Jin) to come and fix it...no other people would go out in the weather. A few hours later I had heat again and then was informed hat there was no school the next day. Oh mercy...I've got it good here.

Let me say something about snow in this part of Korea...people don't expect it, so people aren't ready for it. No snow plows, no salt, and no shovels. There were people "shoveling" snow with stiff pieces of cardboard and/or plastic scoopy things. No wonder school was closed.

At any rate, I woke up nice and late, lazed around for a while and then decided to go out an play in the snow, since it may not come again for a while. I made a snowman. That's right, I'm 22 and I went out and played in the snow and made a snowman. I can't tell you how much a bit of snow has made me feel...alive. It's like Canada was missing me so it decided to drop by and give me a present.

Thanks Canada...I miss you too.

'tis the season...already?!

It may come as a shock to all of you living in the Western world, but I have not seen a single Christmas commercial on TV yet and it's less than a month away. Don't get me wrong, you can find Christmas here, for example in small displays in large department stores, but it's not shoved in your face day and night suffocating the holiday spirit right out of you. I'm not gonna lie - it's refreshing. I have rediscovered my excitement and joy for the Christmas season and it feels great. On the eve of the first day of December I already have christmas lights, a tree and even presents under it! I've also been on a Christmas music binge for the past few days (including the Channukah Song by Adam Sandler :P). After years of working in a grocery store during the Christmas season I slowly became immune to the Christmas spirit. Sure, I would feel happy, I knew that I was losing that excited, jittery feeling that I would get as a kid, I just chocked it up to "not being a kid anymore". I got good news for y'all: I'm still a kid and I love Christmas!!

Oh, get this! One of my students even told me that, although her family is Christian, she doesn't get presents on Christmas because they celebrate Jesus' birthday. What a novel idea! I tell ya, these Koreans and their crazy ideas...

Thanks to Korea for being a kind of Christmas-overkill rehab. I'm renewed...refreshed...uh...re...capitulated?

EVALUATE'D!!

Last friday the Boseong Education Supervisor paid my school a visit. It is the time of year when the bigwigs leave the office to come and hobnob with the lesser folk in the education world. I had to prepare a lesson plan so the supervisor could see what I was doing, should he want to come and see my class. Luckily for me, the supervisor, Mr Jang, is very interested in English so OF COURSE he wanted to come and see my class. I wasn't all that nervous, but all the teachers sure were...not because they thought I would bomb, but mostly because it was THE SUPERVISOR *insert diabolical music here*. The lesson came and went without incident. My grade twos were unusually well behaved and the lesson was a hit. They actually asked to play a game a second time...weird. I think they may have drugged the kids that day to make them more docile...

After class I had a "briefing session" with Mr Jang. He said many nice things...good class, engaged the students, etc, etc so I feel pretty good about that. He did say I should focus a bit more on pronunciation, which is fair. He may have been talking about the girl who said the word "Affectionary" instead of "affectionate"...I figured she was trying and she was close enough :P What?! it's a difficult word!
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This weekend Carol and I made our way to Gwangju to meet up with Riann, the chap who helped us get our cellphones. He's ridiculously friendly and occasioanlly silly, so naturally we get along. We ended up sitting in a bar from 4:30 until maybe 10pm watching K1 ultimate fighting. I have never seen this, but I tell ya..it's quite entertaining. It's like boxing, only with kicking. So I guess you could call it kickboxing (I'm a genius). Anyway, it happened to be the world championship and Riann and his girlfriend had a bet going to see who would win. K1 is really popular in Korea because there is a Korean fighter who is a GIANT. No jokes, he's over 7 feet tall. Anyway, the Korean guy lost in the quarter finals, which pissed off a lot of the Koreans in the bar, especially when Riann (noticeably NOT Korean) started cheering at his loss. All fun and games though...everyone is a good sport :D.

After that we relocated to a neat little jazz bar, drank some yummy wine, listed to the Commitments and waxed nostalgic on popculture. Good times.

A big hello to Shane! I didn't know you were tunin' in, but thanks for stoppin' by!

Today is my Mom's birthday. She's a great lady and I hope to be like her when I grow up. If you see her, tell her I said so!
Mom, sarang eyo!! (I love you!)

Bow to the Pig

Today, I experienced a kind of Korean traditional ritual. All of the teachers in my school gathered outside to "Bow to the Pig". This ceremony is supposed to bring good fortune...or protection from evil. The details are a little hazy for me, but I will describe what happened. We all go outside and there is a place set aside in the parking lot with a picnic blanket and a table. On the table is...a boiled pig's head. The principal read something in Korean, then put a 10,000 Won bill into the pig's mouth (like a $10 bill) then bowed on the ground twice to the pig. Then a few other teachers did the same thing, all the while the money went into the pig's mouth or the pig's nostrils. I looked at the pig's head with horror/fascination, then quickly realized that since I was in Korea, the chances that we would have to eat the pig's head were pretty good.

Before I describe the events to follow, I will stop to remind you of Korean customs.
1) You always eat the food you are given
2) To refuse food is considered a very big insult
3) Koreans love kimchi which is ridiculously spicy fermented cabbage and/or radish and they eat it with everything.
4) A Korean "dessert" is called "ddok" and is a chewey, bland rice goo that they call "cake". Occasaionally, like today, it is covered in black beans.

(NOTE: it is quite apparent by my, uh, tone of font, that the ddok and the kimchi are not my favourite korean foods. I've had to swallow them on many occasions. I thought I was getting better at it. I was wrong...)

So, all that being said, you can imagine the events to follow.

I walk into a room with all the teachers. Sitting on the tables were plates of DDOK, KIMCHI, APPLES and.... SLICED, BOILED PIG'S HEAD. I'm handed a pair of chopsticks and motioned to dig in. I gingerly pick up a piece of pig skin... (are y'all cowering in your seats with anticipation?). I put the pig skin in my mouth and chew.

I have never had my gag reflex stimulated as instantaneously or as violently.

Let me describe the experience to you in detail. It was, infact, boiled skin that I was eating. It had three distinct layers. the two outer layers were pinkish and rubbery and the inner layer was white and slightly crunchy. Those of you who know my food habits are aware of the complex I have about food textures, so you can imagine the culinary experience I was having. Thankfully, I had enough control to chew and swallow, but that one piece was it for me. UNTIL (oh yes) the principal motions me over to eat with him. He gestures to the pig, kimchi and ddok in a "help yourself" kind of way. And help myself I did. Oh mercy.

I better get extra protection from evil after that.

beware the chocolate covered sticks!!

While today is a somber holiday for us Canadians...or rather...tomorrow for most of you reading this and today for me...or today for you, and yesterday for me...GAH! *head explodes*

Anyway, november 11th is a somber holiday for Canadians, it is a special day (but not holiday) for school kids. In a ridiculous marketing ploy by the makers "Pepero" which is a prezel-like stick covered in or filled with chocolate, they have claimed Nov 11th as "perpero day". Students gives teachers and eachother these delicious treats, for no apparent reason. And they also eat many themselves. On the 11th hour, 11th minute, 11th second everyone is supposed to confess their love to whomever is deserving. There is one girl student here who proudly admits that she is deeply in love with the technology teacher. and everyone knows it...even the teacher.

At any rate, all morning I have had students thrusting these cookies in to my hands and even into my mouth. They are all ridiculously hyper from the sugar...and now so am I. So in the spirit of this Korean day, to you all I say:

sarang eyo! (I love you)

a weekend full of waiting and children - my two favourite things

So, those of you who know me well may ask yourselves "Why on earth would Vanessa volunteer to spend her weekend with kids at a camp? She hates kids and camp!"

Well folks, the answer is this - peer pressure. It's hard to say no when your friends tempt you with lines like this "C'mon Vanessa, it'll be a blast! We don't have to do much except for talk to the kids a bit." Of course, being the naive 22 year old I am, I neglected to read between the lines. What they really meant was "C'mon Vanessa! For three days you will alternate between waiting around for things to start, being subjected to schedule changes at random, entertaining 15 year old boys and girls and then waiting around some more. And after all this, you get the luxury of sleeping in a bunk bed in a room with 6 other girls, with a toilet that doesn't work!" Jeepers creepers! That sure does spell F-U-N to me!

Actually, while the description above is not in anyway an exaggeration, I did enjoy myself at many moments during the camp. My kids were pretty cool, and I wasn't really all that responsible for them. In fact, I was just that cooky waygook (foreigner) with whom they could identify if they wanted to. Some did, some didn't. The camp had 150 kids and 37 foreigners. It was a cultural camp, so some of the foreigners were not from Canada. Most of us were...we may have been obnoxious at times, but I blame it solely on large numbers. It had nothing to do with soju, beer or maekso (which is soju AND beer together). Other countries which were represented at the weekend were Romania, Bulgaria, Tanzania, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. On Saturday morning we had a cultural cooking contest. Holy heck that food is good! I particularly enjoyed to niblets from Nepal and Pakistan. Yes, I know, another big surprise from Vanessa...liking different food *GASP*!

I have to give my mom a few minutes to get herself up off the floor as I am sure she just fell over. I love you Mom and I'm sorry I didn't eat your food as a child.

The exfoliation of a lifetime

so, yesterday Betty and I went to the Korean public bath house for a bit of pampering. It is not a coincidence that yesterday was also the day that I discovered the benefits of nudist life. The public bath house is exactly what you would think: a large place where people go to bathe publicly. Naturally, the men and women are separated, but I more or less spent 3 hours traipsing around in the buff. Now, for a girl who doesn't like to show much skin and who likes to keep her body to herself, this was quite the experience. I wasn't really freaked out by it, though, because the atmosphere is so natural. They have the right idea over here...let's not be ashamed of our bodies and share in the joy of bathing together. Betty and I treated ourselves to the hour and a half long massage option. It was quite...vigourous. This tiny Korean woman packed quite a wallop. First, she exfoliated me until all of my dead skin cells ran away screaming in terror. At first I thought it would be a painful experience, but after I relaxed it was quite lovely. Then came the massage. Again, it was quite vigourous. Not in anyway close to the nice relaxing massages of my past life. The bath room itself has several large tub options. There's is a large bath (and by bath I mean shallow pool) filled with green tea, one with plain hot water, one with luke warm water, a cold one and finally, a sauna room. Women and children come for a social time together. It's so close and comfortable that they even scrub eachother down. It's much like the "Red Tent" atmosphere for anyone who has read that book.

A note on body image: it is no secret that over here in Korea I am considered "full-bodied" at best. Pretty much, I'm a fat girl. It's no problem though, because many foreigners are fat over here. I will say, however that I was a bit intimidated by the thought of being in the same room, naked, with all these asians and their tiny bodies. Of course, reality hit me and I feel much better about the world. It turns out that most normal people (surprise surprise) do not have perfect bodies. I guess when you don't have the luxury of airbrushing/makeup artist/stylist following you around everywhere, you tend to look...well...human. And trust me, that has a beauty all it's own. The most beautiful thing about it was the sense of belonging, comfort and community.

As a side note, if you're a white girl in a Korean bath house you will get stared at. The only thing more shocking than seeing a waygook (foreigner) on the streets of small-town Korea is seeing one naked in a bath house.

Today I went for a hike up a mountain with Betty. It was delightful. Good exercise and good conversation...what more could a girl ask for?

Oh yeah, I randomly get Monday off this week as the students and teachers are away on a three day field trip. WOOT! Shopping here I come. This girl is getting a winter coat. It may still be fall, but at night, on a motorbike, winter it is.

my final message to you today: Get naked and feel damn good about it!!

Korea: Pot Pourri

Strange things I've seen in Korea:
1) a middle aged woman riding a plastic Disney tricycle around the dirt field in front of my school.
2) an H2 Hummer on the streets of Boseong. In the land of Hyundai and Kia, it is rare that one sees one of the greatest American monstrosities. I don't think the owner of said urban assault vehicle actually lives in Boseong as I have seen it only once. Indeed "inconvenient" would be an understatement if a resident of Boseong owned the Hummer...it sort of took up the entire road.
3) a brand new Cadillac at a festival in Boseong. As rare, if not more rare than the Hummer, this is the first rich man's vehicle I've seen in Korea. The owner was so attached to it that he felt it necessary to drive the car into the festival grounds where no other car dare go. Oh, the privileges of the rich.

Random cultural differences:
1) It is culturally unacceptable for women to smoke in public, so they hide in hallways, stairways and bathrroms.
2) Likewise, I believe it is rude for men to smoke in front of a man who is significantly older and/or a superior. (By the by, ALL men smoke here, and most of them love the drink)
3) You don't flush toilet paper here, it goes in the garbage.
4) Brewed coffee is a rarity...everything is instant. The most popular thing is packaged instant coffee complete with sugar and powdered milk or cream.
5) Corporal punishment is allowed in the schools. I just witnessed a girl getting hit on the hand with a fly swatter. Now, this is more humiliating than anything, but the boys schools are definitely a lot harsher.
6) No daylight savings time!! WHAT?!?!?! My world is turned upside down...inside out...'round and 'round! Wait..isn't that a song?

kids go monkey poop over stickers

Today was a big sticker day. Oh mercy. As soon as I show some of these girls stickers they fall all over themselves volunteering to answer questions. It makes me feel good when my kids are happy, even if bribery is the key to their happiness.

In other news, I just watched 15minutes of the classic movie Demolition Man. For anyone who doesn't remember this movie, it is a shoot 'em up action movie set in a distopian (I think I'm over intellectualizing it) society in the mid 21st century, starring the ever-popular Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Why is this noteworthy? Well, I found it interesting that while all the swear words are kept in tact, the only thing that was dubbed over was "Taco Bell". In this future society, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available (distopian indeed!!), but as there are no Taco Bells in Korea, they over dubbed it with...."Pizza Hut". You betcha, there are indeed pizza huts in Korea. Yet another way America is pissing off Koreans, by making them fat. Although I must say that Pizza Hut in Korea is far less greasy.

Last weekend I was lucky to experience a Pansori Festival right here in Boseong. Pansori is traditional Korean music. They equate it with western Opera. I love this music! I sat watching a competition where there is one singer and a drummer as accompaniment. I have no idea what the singer was saying, but you could tell immediately that the story was tragic and ages old. One of the most wonderful things is that the old people in the audience get so into the music that they shout things during the song if the singer really moves them. As I sat watching I was almost brought to tears because the history of this music is so tangible. As simple as it is, with one singer and one drummer, the listener can feel the tradition seeping out of it. Western music, by comparison, is still in its baby years. I'm not negating the beauty of Western music (it is my first love), but when there is 5000 years of history behind a song, one can't help but be awestruck.

This past work week I've had it pretty easy. No classes on Monday or Tuesday due to student midterms - good for me, bad for the students. It was like mid term time at Western; all the halls were deathly quiet and the students looked pretty strung out. Just think - they are only 13-16 years old! At any rate, on Monday afternoon all the teachers went for a hike and I joined them. This is what I have to say about Koreans and climbing mountains:

There is no shortage of mountains in Korea, so most of the people enjoy hiking. I get the impression, after a few hikes, that Korean hiking is slightly different than hiking up an incline in Canada. Firstly, there is no wandering hither and thither making the path smoother and easier...it's pretty much straight up. Secondly, I'm fairly certain that they don't believe in resting - just make it to the top and then go back down. I was sweating and panting like, well, draw your own picture of that one. "Vanessa you're a good climber!" Me: *wheeze* "thanks" *pants* *passes out*. Lastly, making it to the top of one peak doesn't necessarily mean that it's over and you're going back down. Inevitably there will be another peak just a little further down the road. Oh mercy. Naturally, I taught some of the teachers the meaning of the phrase "Go hard or go home" as that seems to be their philosophy.

The next day I went and visited a temple with my afternoon teacher workshop. Yeah, I know, tough life. At any rate, the temple was beautiful. This particular one had an enormous iron statue of Buddah. This is quite rare apparently. What's more interesting is that the iron statue is the only original part of the temple that was left after the Korean war. All of the building were burned down and the bronze buddah statues melted with them, but the iron statue remained...nice! All of the buildings were reconstructed, though and they are quite ornate. Good eye candy.

Wednesday and Thursday passed without incident, and then came today. I woke up with a funny feeling and then, when I got to school, realized what it was...I was on my own again today. Mrs Kim had to go to Seoul. YIKES! I'm happy to say that it went much better today than the first time it happened. It was so fun! I teach an extra class on friday's for students who want to learn English more. I tried to teach them the camp song "the green grass grew all around". I think I had more fun than they did! heehee

I will leave you with this quote: (I promised myself I would write down when a Korean said something funny in English but they didn't realize what they were saying. This one is awesome!)

On someone's girlfriend: "After a year we made our love more deeply." (WHAT?!?!?)
what he really meant: After a year of dating, their relationship got more serious.

why Korea is cool: reason #47

Today I saw a police man (on foot) whistle down a car that was driving away.

That's right a police man ran - no, jogged - after a car, blowing a whistle, and the car actually pulled over.

Crazy talk, I says, kuh-razy!

daeWHAT? DAEGU!

Hi everyone!! Wowsers it's been a while since I've written anything, but don't worry, I won't overwhelm you with absurd details of my lucrative life in Korea. Well, in fact, there are no absurd details and life is hardly lucrative...but it's still grood!!

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have another 4 days off. Well, technically three days, as there was a JLP (jeollanamdo language program) teachers "meeting" on Friday. It was less than two hours long, hence the quotation marks. Carol, Shona (pronounced show-na), Roberta and I all tore up several towns this weekend! Three of us (not Roberta) arrived in Gwangju (the big city of the province) on Thursday night, got a room at the Windmill Motel, splurged for dinner and ate Kimbap for a whopping $3 (that's all together)! then went to a dance bar and showed those Koreans a few dance moves they ain't never seen.

Now, I must make a side note on the Windmill Motel. It is a "love" motel, where couples (or maybe groups) go to have, well, fun. As skeptical as I was about staying in a love motel, the rooms were really big and clean and the only indicator that it was not a normal hotel was the fact that the parking lot door had little flaps hanging down so that you couldn't see who was going in or out...scandalous! In Daegu we also stayed in a love motel, though this was slightly less swank and a little more skank...fully worth the $15/person/night, though.

Anyway, Friday we went to our "meeting" then went out for lunch, courtesy of the office of education. Here we met some new friends who had been in Korea for a few years. One, Riann, was super nice and took us under his wing in a brotherly way. After drinking too much Soju and Baekseju at lunch, we headed downtown where Riann helped Carol and I get cellphones (he had a connection a one of the billions of cellphone stores). The cab ride to downtown Gwangju was definitely noteworthy. With all the Korean alcohol still coursing through us at 3pm, Roberta somehow convinced the cabby to sing us the Korean national anthem, to which we replied with a rowdy version of O Canada. It was quite amusing - the cabby loved it.

Saturday was a big travel day as we made our way to Daegu City. A bit aboot Daegu: It is the third largest metropolitan city in South Korea (next to Seoul and Busan) and located East of Jeollanamdo (my province). There is a large US army base there, housing about 2000 soldiers, so there are many more western style restaurants and such there. I asked Anne, a Korean friend who lives in Daegu, what the Koreans think of the US presence and her reply, without a blink, was "pure hatred". Apparently the soldiers think they can get away with anything and everything. And indeed they can...so they do. I hope they are proud of themselves and the message they are sending about North American culture. *growls*

Sunday we spent shopping and exploring the downtown area of Daegu. I can't even describe what the throngs of people are like. Shona, from toronto, said "this is a lot little Toronto, only times 2..or 3... or maybe 5". It was literally a sea of people. It was here that I learned I was claustrophobic - who knew? Sunday evening we decided to take it easy so we went to a DVD bang, which is basically a private movie theatre. You go in, pick a movie, and watch it in your own room with a big screen. We watched Coach Carter - it was arsome.

Monday (today) I was on a bus from 10-3:30 - nice. Naturally, I drugged myself up on the gravol. Take THAT, vomit comet!!! Mwahahaha.

Back to the daily grind tomorrow. And by "daily grind" I obviously mean my fan-spanking-great jorb!

I hope everyone is well!

lost in translation

I had a very good teacher workshop on Thursday afternoon. There are only two ladies in it, and they are always very energetic and funny. We were talking about proverbs. They would read an english proverb and then try to explain it using a situation. Some of the proverbs have a Korean equivalent. Of course hearing them...there's something a little off about them that leads one to believe that the version in Korean is a little more meaningful :P

English: Too many cooks spoils the broth
Korean: To many sailors on a boat go to the mountain (I love this one, I think it's hilarious)

English: Every cloud has a silver lining
Korean: There is sunshine in a mousehole sometimes (this one is just cute!)

After a very light week, I was hit with Friday... 5 classes, all students. I made it out alive, and thankfully, Mrs Kim was there with me. My first "Extra class", which is a kind of club for students who want to learn more english, went pretty well, though it's mostly grade ones and they are pretty timid. I'll break 'em if it's the last thing I do!!! And by break, I obviously mean help them be better at English and to be more confident...obviously *shifty eyes*.

This weekend Carol came to visit me and we tore up the town! The most hilarious thing must have been how two foreign girls looked riding on a beaten up old motorbike. I christened the bike "Champ" because it needs all the encouragement it can get!! We went to the Green Tea Plantation and caught the tale end of a concert of Pansori, traditional Korean music. It was the same group of women that I saw the first time I went, but they were all playing bigger drums this time. It was ridiculously awesome. Once again, we got singled out and given free stuff for being Miss Canada. Yeah, I have to share the title with Carol now!

mmmkay, it's time to get to work!
take 'er sleazy!
special wishes going out to Bern, because she's my sister and I love her!

professional development

hey hey!!

I had my first piano lesson yesterday!!! It was so awesome! I spent some time with the teacher going over musical terms in English...she wants to learn. The tough part will be losing all the bad habits I developed while doing things like Keyboard Harmony without any training.

I had an awesome time in Suncheon on the weekend. I had my first ever no rae bang experience. A no rae bang is a singing room. It's like Karaoke, but for private parties. These things are ridiculously popular in Korea. At any rate, I sang "Lovefool" by the Cardigans and "you outta know" by Alanis Morissette. I may have gotten better throughout the night, but then again, I may have just gotten drunker :S

gotta plan some lessons now!

nessie puts on her teacher face...

oh mercy! I feel like i've been put through the ringer. today I experienced my first classes without my coteacher around to translate, or keep the kiddies in line. Mrs Kim is quite sick, so I had to brave three classes of grade 1's and 2's. The grade ones were polite and gentle, which was nice, but the grade 2's....oh man. Just think of a room full of 30 pubescent girls and then add in the fact that you can't speak their language to get them to shut the F up. So, out came "teacher face" and "teacher voice". If they didn't know what I was saying, they certainly knew I wasn't happy. Oh yeah, and the apathetic kids, they didn't even try to hide it like they would in a normal class. I need to get get something hard to bang on a desk so I can scare the crap outta them if I'm ever on my own again...

All in all, while the experience was unexpected, I think I did fairly well. I got through the lesson and most people understood what I was talking about. I'm glad that it is over, and I wish Mrs Kim a SPEEDY recovery :P

This weekend is Chuseok holiday in Korea. It's like our thanksgiving, but as big as Christmas is. I get 4 days off, so I'm going to a neighbouring city, Suncheon, to visit Carol. She is the first person I met out of the group of teachers that I came with, and she is lovely. (From Sarnia!!)

happy Chuseok everyone!

more on korean culture via a random night out

hi all!

I hope you are all sitting at your computers panting and anxiously awaiting my next entry!! Well, actually, right now it's anout 3:30 in the morning in Canada, so you should all be asleep at your computers waiting for my next entry. MWAHAHA. Who am I kidding? I can see you all thinking "Vanessa? hmm, that name sounds familiar...where did I hear it again?"

Anyway, as the title promised, I'm going to tell you a bit more about what I've learned of Korean culture. And this new information I learned during a very random night out on the town. Firstly, you have to understand that a "night out on the town" in Boseong is much like calling a night out to the Rumour Mill in Grimsby a "night out on the town". *chews on a banana chip thoughtfully*

So, the last you hearn from me, I was trying not to feel nautious after a gruelling bus ride. As it turns out, I met up with some new friends that very night. I can't remember if I mentioned him before, but there is a french canadian dude named Rock who just moved out of Boseong after teaching here for a few years. He's been in South Korea for 7 or 8 years now, so he knows a lot! He is the photographer for the Boseong men's baseball team here and I've met them a few times before. OK, enough background info...

I ended up at a small japanese bar/restaurant with Rock and the members of the baseball team. They were sitting in a gazeebo of all places (3P!!!) drinking beer and soju and eating some munchies. They welcomed me warmly into their circle and made many attempts to speak with me in English, which was very nice. Y'all know I don't really shy away from being the center of attention and being a) a girl and b) a foreigner, I was definitely the center of attention.

Korean lesson number one: Girls don't pay for anything at the bar.
Number two: Don't ever empty your glass unless you want it to be refilled. If anyone sees an emtpy glass here they automatically fill back up to the brim. This isn't so dangerous with the extremely light beer I wasdrinking, but when you start drinking SOJU (korean liquor, 25%, vaguely tastes like vodka), then you're in big trouble.
number three: always hol your glass in your right hand and always pour with your right hand
number four: They will try to set you up with any single man around. There were three single guys there and two of them kept saying "me! me! solo! solo!". How subtle. The other single guy can actually speak english well, AND he even speaks some french. le sigh. Nessie always goes for the shy ones. But that's neither here nor there.
number five: When we left the gazeebo to go into the bar, there was an enormous collection of empties and left over food. We just put our mugs down and walked away, leaving two guys to clean up the mess. I said to Rock that I should probably go back and help them clean up. He said no, I would be insulting them!! Well, doesn't that just go against everything my mom taught me about manners!

*funny side story* One of the guys made reference to the size of someone else's, um, shall we say "manhood"? He says to me "Him! *points* small and down. small and down. LIMP!!" and then laughs. It was pretty funny, well, for everyone but the guy he was talking about. K back to the Korean culture lesson...

This last thing I learned about Korean culture I already had heard, but have never actually SEEN. OK, so in Korea, there is a strong focus on age and respect (comes from confucinism). Later in the evening I was sitting inside the bar with Rock, the baseball team captain, another player and one of Rock's good friends, Joe (Korean, Jo). he is an older man who is apparently a very good contact to have if I ever get in trouble here. ANYWAY, when it was just the baseball team, the team captain was the oldest person there, so all the players HAD to listen to what he was saying. When we were inside, Captain was no longer the eldest person. The captain says something to me in Korean, which I don't understand, and all of a sudden Joe starts to talk to the captain for about ten minutes. I asked Rock what they were saying and he said "just wait, you'll see".

After about 10 minutes of straight lecturing, the team captain gets up, bows to Joe, to Rock and to me, and then leaves the room. Joe then turns to me and said "He said something rude to you, so I had to scold him for it. Afterwards, he had no choice but to leave."

WOW! that just doesn't happen in Canada, instead, there would be a good ol' fashioned bar fight. Naturally, I was quite thankful to Joe for looking out for me.

All in all, I had a very fun night; I learned a lot about korean culture, met many new friends, and developed my first crush on a Korean :P

I hope everyone is well!
ness

korean bus = the vomit comet

At first glance, one would think that the Korean bus system is amazing!! And indeed it is when you look at the frequency and cost. However, if you are on a bus for any length of time, you will soon come to wish that you were somewhere more enjoyable, like at the dentist getting a root canal (at least then you would have the luxury of nitrous oxide, but I digress). City bus or express bus, it doesn't matter, you'll still feel like yacking up all the kimchi you just ate. Here are a few reason why:

1. the buses are all standard, so you get that inevitable push and pull of sloppy gear shifting
2. bus drivers think that speed is number 1, so while any run-of-the-mill Canadian would slow down to avoid cars ahead, bus drivers (and taxis) prefer to SWERVE without reducing speed. Even into the opposite lane of traffic. It's thrilling.
3. Unless you're on a good express bus route, none of the roads in Korea are straight. So, again, the speed thing comes into play. Rather than taking all the curves nicely, at a decent CONSISTENT speed, there's just a lot of turn-correct-turn-correct-turn...you get the idea.

So, needless to say, I stumble off the bus thankful that I didn't actually spew out any vital organs, like a kidney, or my pancreas, but still feeling as though my internal organs are a little out of place.
All that being said, I don't think I will be making many more day trips to Gwangju by bus. I'll wait for the train.

please excuse me while I try and find my spleen.

harmony...

...not just an expression for music geeks!

I had a very interesting conversation tonight with one of the teachers in my workshops. She was telling me a bit about Korean culture, and while most things, like the roles of women and men, are outdated in the eyes of Westerners AND in the eyes of many Korean women, I thought this little bit was lovely:

The Korean alphabet, called Han'geul, is based on three basic shapes, a horizontal line for the earth, a vertical line for humans, and the circle, for the sky or heavens. All three of these work together to create harmony. She told me that in Chinese art, nature is always bigger than man; in Japanese art man is always bigger than nature; but in Korean art, man and nature are always in harmony. Now, while this is a nice sentiment, I want to see some different art to judge for myself ;)

Another thing she told me I thought was quite beautiful. It is a poem, or just poetic advice, that one of her teachers said to her, and she translated it into English:

Grow like a tree Keep your roots strong and deep, but stretch your branches far. Also, be independent.
Respect like water Without changing what it fundamentally is - water - it is able to change based on what or who it encounters. The water in a river will change differently if is comes across a pebble than if it encounters a big rock.
Change like fire Fire can be both useful and dangerous - so can people. While we have passion in us that may burn brightly, it is important to change selfish, negative passion into an energy that can benefit others, not just ourselves.
Live like wind Wind is always moving and unable to hold onto anything. In this way we should not be concerned with how much we can gain, or holding onto grudges. Just live like the wind from day to day.

So, take it or leave it. I like it - somehow philosophies connected to nature are a bit more meaningful to me.

On that note, I'm reading the Fellowship of the Ring (again) and I will leave you with one phrase that stood out to me:
as young and as ancient as the Spring

sorry to disappoint!

Well, for those of you who were waiting anxiously for exciting stories from typhoon-land, alas, Boseong remains untouched. In fact yesterday (tues) and today are some of the nicest weather I have seen here. Currently there is not a cloud in the sky! Nabi did, however hit the southeastern shore of Korea and was pretty devastating to southern Japan. I consider myself lucky.

In other news, I had two very successful adult workshops yesterday and one moderately successful student class. My lesson, I learned, was a bit too difficult for grade 1 students. Noted. I'm not worried about it, though. I'm glad to have learned more about their levels of English.
As for the adults, I had lots of fun with them...the second group more than the first. Sometimes making conversation is like pulling teeth. I did a "who would you choose for a new colony" exercise - it was quite interesting all the differences in opinion.

Later in the evening I met one of the teachers from the workshop who speaks English very well and we went for a walk - it was so great!! She has been teaching much longer than I, but I can already tell that we have the same philosophy about teaching and learning. She's definitely is one of those teachers that inspires her students. I hope for many more walks with her.

Time for more teacher workshops! Today I am in Boseong for the morning, then I travel to Beulgyo fo rthe afternoon. Let's hope there's no car sickness this time!

ta!

nabi should be interesting

For those of you who keep up on current events here in the far east, we have a little something called Typhoon Nabi headed our way. (Nabi actually means butterfly in Korean) Two days ago, ye old meterologists were comparing the strength of Nabi to that of Katrina. Oh yeah, typhoons are the same as hurricanes...just a different name. Thankfully, in the past few days it has dropped from a level 5 storm to a level three, although experts still feel it necessary to call it a "super typhoon". At any rate, this puppy's gonna hit Korea (after it comes up through Japan) either tomorrow (tues) or the next day. From what I've read, its path is sort of north east of Pusan, so it sounds like my area is going to get the outside of it and not hit directly. Also, thankfully, it's supposed to lose some power by the time it gets here as well. Pretty much I'm expecting a coupla really windy rainy days ahead. Tonight, after work, I'm going to buy a better umbrella because a small breeze will turn the one I do have inside out. Don't worry, I'll keep y'all updated on my first typhoon! (ps, mom, don't worry!)

As for school, today was my first day of real teaching. Wow, what a fun class! We did greetings and then a fun game. The game didn't take as long as I had hoped...these girls, once put in a competition, are FIERCE. you would laugh if you could see how quietly they sit and listen (most of the time) and then how loud they are once pitted against eachother!! At any rate, I feel that my first English lesson is more or less a success. By the end of the week, I hope to have students saying a range of greetings to me, rather than just "hi" all the time. One of their favourites in class was "yo!" and "what's up!"

This past weekend, I met the other foreigner in Boseong. Her name is Betty and she's quite lovely. We went for a hike on Sunday and then we had lunch. Later that evening she invited me over to watch Ladder 49. It was then that she found out that I am a crier at movies. She was bound to find out at some point!

mirror, mirror...

So, I've noticed that most Koreans (warning!! generalization ahead!) are very concerned about their looks. I'm not saying this is bad, just different. For example, where people in North America steal glances at themselves in mirrors or super-shiny surfaces, koreans purposefully put mirrors everywhere so they can check themselves out. There is a mirror in every classroom in the school as well as in the hallways. I even had a teacher give me a little pocket mirror today so I could primp during prep. I chose not to though...mostly because it's scary. I'm quite aware that I'm a sweaty beast - I don't need to confirm it with a mirror!

Other fun things that happened today:

I met the new principal. One of the first things he said to my co-teacher was (in Korean): She needs to lose weight. Ouch. But, it was expected...they are all so TINY! ***CLARIFICATION*** All the teachers that came here were warned that Koreans will point out ony physical "flaws" out of curiosity. Also, I was told that Weight is equated with heath, so the principal was telling me to be more HEALTHY...At any rate, I was in no way offended!

I was also called beautiful more times than I can count, both by my students (grade 1's are so cute - that's grade 7 to us westerners), and by other teachers at the welcome dinner for the new principal. Naturally, these teachers first put on their "soju-goggles" before telling me! (Soju-goggles, as you may have guessed, are very similar to beer-goggles)

if i had balls, i'd be sweating them off

hey y'all! It's f-ing HOT in this joint! Thank goodness for me fan.

To all you people who are doing o-week right now - I'm there in spirits, dudes! Although, I'm sure you won't read this until afterwards, because you're disgustingly busy.

So, I just experienced the equivalent of junk mail, only in Blog comments- WTF, mate?!?! People advertising everything from dental insurance to penis pills. If only I had the money for those magic little pills...*le sigh*

things are still good, but no new stories...yet! I think on saturday I'm going to visit a famous buddhist temple YAY!

ness
ps - a big what's up to my TP friends!! You're the only people who understand when I say that something "souces". I did meet a random french canadian here in Boseong, though...*weirded out*

*Blank Stare*

Hi Everyone!!
I had my first day of classes yesterday, and I'm currently in the middle of my second day. Here's how yesterday went:
Staff meeting in the morning, I introduced myself to all the teachers...I got many smiles (which were hiding blank stares). My first three classes were all grade 3s (that's grade 9 to us westerners), so that means they are the older kids in the school. I think the presentation went over pretty well. Koreans must have very good hearing because everyone speaks so quietly here! This coming from the girl whose voice you can hear two floors away in the Music Building!

The 4th class I had was a grade 2 class and they were much more energetic. When I was showing them pictures of my family the common concensus was that Sam was "Very goodlooking" and Bern looks "sexy" and "like a movie star". You two are now famous in Boseong County!!

After the first day of classes, beside spending the day SWEATING, probably more out of excitement and nerves than actual heat, I was POOPED! I ate dinner with Mr Son, then went home and decompressed. I vedged and watched Law and Order...yeah, they have lots of random English movies and TV shows on here.

Today I had my first Teacher's Workshop in the morning from 9:30-11:30. Out of a possible 8 eight teachers, NO ONE showed up! So I spent the time reading through teacher resources and planning next week's lesson. After that I had a grade 1 class...my coteacher translated everything I said, which I guess is good since they can't understand, but the class was SO timid. Ms Kim (co teacher) said that that class was known for being the quiet one. There was even one girl who wouldn't say her name out loud! But apparently she's very good at English, she's just ridiculously shy. I wonder if I can help that without scaring her to death...

This afternoon I have another teacher workshop where I know at least two people will come! Hopefully more than that, though!

After school today, there's a "ladies' dinner out" with all the female staff...looking forward to it!

a strange combination

Soju and kahlua. Yep, that's what Mr Son has fed me two nights in a row - as well as a balanced meal :P

This one is for all my music geeky friends: Tonight, he played some music for me...he has quite an eclectic collection of CDs. At any rate, who would believe that while in Korea, eating a Korean meal I would be listening to Kenny G playing Christmas classics!!! I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed it!!

K, tomorrow's the big day! I can't let the little buggers smell my fear :S

Nah, I'm not scared really. Actually I'm quite excited..my very first class!!

Lee, last night I think I met the man who may give me my half-breed child. His name is An something something...then again, all three men I met last night were called Mr An. yeesh

I love E-Mart, because it gives me peanut butter!

Hi everyone!

So I'm in my new appartment, and I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit of a dive...but it's MINE so I love it and call it home. I have a small bedroom with just a bed (well, I bought a cheap shelf for books and "homey" things, like Farley), then a kitchen with a stove (they don't have ovens here) fridge, toaster oven, microwave. Then I have the living room with TV VCR desk, leopard-print chair for the desk, strange orange sofa and a smaller love seat. My armoire for my clothing is in the living room, but that's OK, I can walk around naked after a shower to find my clothes. My first shower here was a little chilly because you have to turn on the heat to get hot water and I'm still learning that one. Oh yeah, and water pressure? pretty much non-existent...so much so that I don't have or need a shower curtain in the bathroom :P

I have my own washer, but apparently it needs repairs so I may be getting a new one. I've done two washes...my slothes seem ok.

Alright, now for the fun part:

So, on Thursday when we all got picked up by our co-teachers, mine wasn't there...the supervisor was! I thought, great, what an awesome way to start off - my coteacher forgets about me. At any rate, we get to Boseong and I go to the school first ,meet my co-teacher, Mrs Kim, then meet the principal vice principal, head teacher, etc, etc. The principal is very kind and can speak some english, unfortunately the next day was his retirement ceremony so I have to meet a whole new principal on Monday when I start! Anyway, Mrs Kim brought me to my appartment and we started to clean. I was pretty much useless because I was so tired, but then Mr Son came over. Oh Mr Son! He is an old man that lives in Boseong and can speak English very well. He loves chatting and making friends with the foreigners here. He has been so good to me these past two days. Mom, he's like my guardian angel, i think. You would like him!

The very first time we met, Tursday night, he re-wallpapered part of the kitchen that had some mold on it, then he took me and Mrs Kim out to dinner. After dinner, Mrs Kim and I chatted and got to know eachother. No one here can believe I am only 22 years old (one of the first questions you get asked by korean people, right after "Are you married?"). Apparently I'm the youngest english teacher they've had here. It's true, during orientation I only met on other person who was as young as me...

Anyway, I slept like I was dead that night and woke up to start cleaning and unpacking. At about 8:30am, Mr Son called to come over because the internet guy was coming. Mr Son has set everything up for me and is my own personal interpretter! Then, get this, he showed me my own motorbike! Yeah, I didn't have to pay for it, it's here for the use of foreign teachers because in a small county like this, it's pretty much necessary. We went to a stadium so he could teacher me to ride his scooter before I learned the motorbike. It's very fun!

Of course, in true Vanessa fashion, I embarass myself on my first day in a new place by accidentally scratching a lady's car :S. Thankfully Mr Son was with me so he could talk to the lady (the car was parked, by the way). I just had to pay for the repainting, and it's all good, no harm done. Don't worry Mom! I'll be very very very very careful, and I've learned my lesson. Actually, I'm going to have my own scooter AND my own motorbike. The scooter is for around the downtown, because it's lighter and easier, and the motorbike is for more long distance stuff because it goes faster, so I'll use that when I want to tour the countryside.

At any rate ,on Friday, MR Son showed me all around town and then unexpectedly dropped me off at the school (at the point I was dressed casually and un-showered). I attended the principal's retirment ceremony and then went out for lunch with the faculty. They ignored me for the most part, but I'm sure they'll warm up! I'm not really warming up very well to Korean food, though (big surprise), though I'm trying very hard. I do like eel, though! What do ya think about that, Bern?!?!

After lunch Mrs Kim (co-teacher) and I drove to Gwangju City to get my alien registration card application done. After that we went shopping for various things and had a great time. She told me on the car ride home that at first she thought I was too young, but now she sees it as a good thing. She says the students will love me because I am enthusiastic (and I think she's warmed up to me a bit more too!!).

I'm really excited about the first day of class on Monday - I want to make a good impression on the kids. OH! here's my basic schedule:

I'm teaching three grades, three classes per grade in Boseong girls' school. Then, on Wednesday afternoon and thursday all day I take a bus to Beul Gyo, another town in Boseong county, to teach teachers. I also have some teacher's classes in Boseong. I think I teach 4 classes/day, which Mrs Kim says is very busy!

Today I woke up and decorated a little bit. Then, Mr Son came over with the internet guy, so I am able to write this for everyone now!! After that was done, Mr Son took me to the stadium again to teach me to ride the motorbike (instead of the scooter). We're going to have a few more lessons before he let's me loose on the town, but it's pretty easy even though I have shift gears. Then he took me on another tour and to the market, where they pretty much sell everything, even the kitchen sink. In the afternoon we went to the famous green tea plantation. It's a very busy tourist attraction, especially since it's the weekend. I didn't have my camera, but I will definitely go again and take pictures - it's absolutely breathtaking. I won't try to describe it, but I'm certain it's like nothing anyone has ever seen (unless you've been to a green tea plantation). Lucky for us, a music concert was going on, so I got to see some traditional Korean music and dance. Mr Son and I were sitting at the fron, so the MC pointed me out to everyone and gave me a prize, just for being from Canada!!

Whew! I'm pretty tired after that, but it's non-stop. Mr Son and his neighbour are making me dinner soon (I have to go over there and peel onions and garlic) and then we are going to a party for a foreigner who is moving away to Suncheon City, which is close to Boseong. This guy is from North Bay, is a frenchie, and has been in Korea for 8 years! At any rate, Mr Son said it would be a good idea to go to the party so that I can meet some Korean people. Non STOP! But I think i's better this way because I haven't had time to be lonely. Maybe he'll let me take a bit of a break tomorrow!!

Wow, this was a along one, but a lot has happened, and I'm sure I've missed somethings.

Special messages: Mom and Dad, don't worry too much about me, I'm being well taken care of!
Say hi to al lthe arnolds for me at the family reunion! Tell me when it is, and maybe I can call!
Sari *HUG*! If you see Tini, let her know about the blog and tell her I miss her.
Laura...good luck with O-WEEK!

I don't know who else reads the blog...but hi to you too! LEave a comment sometime so I know you're reading!

ness

This is a roof tile on which we could write our name, home and good wishes. I shared my tile with Heather, who coincidentally shares my birthday (we found that out after). The Korean underneath mine is my name in Han-geul 

Buddist Temple - Baekyang-sa 

Oh no! Not the big chicken again!

This was the final line of the Korean movie they were showing on the bus yesterday. The basic presmise of the movie is a little blurry to me, as I slept through most of it, but I believe it goes like this: Guy buys a house. House is haunted and he gets freaked out. The ghost is actually a devastatinly beautiful woman. Now, at this point, one would think that the movie would somehow end with these two people "getting together", but that presents itself with many problems, the biggest one being that whole "She's dead" business. Then I thought, well, their love could bring her back together! Hey, it worked in the Matrix :P Anyway, it ended up that the guy just helped her find her long lost love, who died at the end of the movie, so they were together. How sweet.

So why was I on a bus?? Well, we went on a field trip to a Temple and then to a folk village. The Temple was amazing. While it was a tourist site, it was a Tuesday so it wasn't busy at all. The Folk Village was nice as well, but by that time we were all pretty wiped out, mostly because we had had next o no physical activity for a week prior :P After the trip we were taken out to dinner and had duck. Not only that, but we were served three coures of duck! I must say, it was pretty tasty, though I didn't eat too much due to bus motion sickness *yeesh*

Interesting tidbit of information: So, they have "squatters" in Korea instead of Western style toilets. In the hotel, our appartments, and a lot of touristy places they have western-style, but I think for the most part, they use the squatter. After a few uses, I've pretty much mastered the fine art of squatting and not peeing on my pants, that's just embarassing. Although, I must say, I have no idea how anyone can poop in a squatter, perhaps I'll learn. Other toilet talk - they don't flush their toilet paper here; all washrooms have garbage cans beside the toilet for toilet paper. Kinda gross, but hey, I guess it's better for their water purification, so I'll get used to it.

H'ok, now I have to figure out how to get pictures on here for y'all to see!

Tomorrow we all take off for our respective new homes YIKES!!! So it may be a while before I can say hello again! I hope everyone is well!

A special hello goes out to Mya and Bella the cutest nieces a girl could have! (and to Sam and Danielle, the folks who made Mya and Bella!)

The countdown is on!

So now we're officially over halfway through orientation. We're all more or less comfortable here now, but it really doesn't feel like we're in Korea as we are all together in a hotel all the time. The reality check will come on Thursday when we pack up our stuff and go our separate ways will our various co-teachers. YIKES! I used to be just really nervous about, but now I'm pretty excited. I'm quite aware that the first few weeks are going to be really frustrating, but that it'll get better.

Personal triumph - I finally slept through the entire night!!!! yesssssssss *pumps fist*

I also learned that there are two - count 'em TWO - Costcos in South Korea, where I can various novelty items such as cheese and peanut butter! There's a little place that sells PB around here and it's about $13 for a 1kg jar. I'd happily pay it.

We had a couple of sessions of orientation on reading and writing Han'geul, the Korean alphabet. The lady who lead the class, Mrs. Park, is going to be in one of my teacher work shops!!! I'm really happy about this because she's very enthusiastic about English, and I'll see one friendly face the first class. She also told me that my co-teacher is really nice, so that's a load off too.

k, until nest time my canucks! (hmm, and Noah, the almost Canuck!)

Prease give him big hands...

Cutest quote of the day! He obviously wanted us to clap, but hey, I can give big hands too!

I don't think I told you guys about the cute lil ol Korean Lady on the plane - The only English word she new was "OK", and I couldn't speak any Korean, obviously. When it came time for the first meal, we had a Korean dish called Bibimbap (sp?). I was fairly tasy for plane food. At any rate, she motioned for me to wait to eat mine and to watch her so I could imitate the correct process for eating this stuff. Then, when she was done, she helped me mix all the stuff together and opened up packages for me. When she was done eating, she patted her stomach and pretended to be fatter then nodded, giggled and said "OK!" She was so pruod of herself. IT was ridiculously cute.

Today, I think I experienced what jet lag does to a person. Not really in a bad way, just more of an annoynig way. Both my roomate and I were awake at 4:30am. Wide awake. After reading for a while and more failed attemptes at falling back to sleep, we got up at 6:30ish and went for an adventure walk. We were very lucky and found this gorgeous nature path in behind an art museum. The weather was quite bearable at that time of the morning and as a result we saw many Korean people out exercising as well. On our way back, we saw a lot of Korean kids heading off for school - this is at about 7 in the morning. It's pretty shocking, but a lot of the kids here go to school from 7am-10pm!! And during their very brief vacations, they still go to school. Talk about hard working. I think my head would a-splode!

Tonight, a bunch of us are going to check out the Western bar in downtown Gwangju...there's a rye and coke comin' my way! Here's hoping that I can sleep until at least 7am tomorrow!

Ta!
Nessie
ps - good luck with the move Sari and Sari's parents!

Korea'd!!

Hi everyone! I'm currently sitting in my new home (read: hotel room) for the next 9 days. It's 1:30 am here, which I think makes it about noon for y'all. It'll be interesting to see just how jet lagged I am after a bazillion hour trip with little sleep.

Hey! Here's a boggler for ya, the BUS ride was WAAAAAAY more comfortable than the plane ride. Weird. Oh yeah, and the plane - ENORMOUS! there must have been about 300 or more people on it.

I don't think that the longevity of my trip has really sunk in yet, and I don't know that it will until I'm actually in Boseong in my own appartment.

I've meet some pretty nice people already - there are a surprising number of couples who came together, which is cute. One just hopes that there's no messy break-up 6 months into the contract :S.

Anyway, here's my shout-out for the day:

Hi Mom, Dad, Bern, Sam, Danielle, Mya and Bella!! Family rulez! and you should all be proud of Mom at the airport, she held herself together nicely!

love you all!
Nessie

testing testing

this is my test blog. i've crossed over to the dark side. I'm not in South Korea yet, but it's coming up quick, and I figure this is the best way to keep in touch with everyone on a more regular basis than mass emails. And let's be honest, who likes mass emails anyway?!

I leave in 5 days, so a big toodle-oo to everyone!

I don't know what else to type, as I know that no one is actually reading this right now. Weird.