*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.