The Holiday Season

Well, the holiday season is over here in Seoul, and things are starting to slow down. Bob and I are currently in our second week of unofficial holidays, and we both start our Winter English Camps next week, for 2 weeks, before having a final week of unofficial holidays.

Christmas was very different for both of us this year, being away from home, and celebrating in a foreign country. We bought a $10 fake Christmas tree from E-mart (similar to Walmart), and lots of cheap decorations and two stockings. We bought the coolest Christmas lights ever, that do their own little light show repeatedly when you turn them on. Bob and I watched many, MANY Christmas movies to put us in the holiday spirit. These days, in January, Bob still sings "Meet me in St. Louis", and its always stuck in my head because of him.

The most Christmasy thing I saw:



We went to see Christmas lights at City Hall in Seoul:




We hosted Christmas dinner, which really stressed me out, but kept my mind occupied on what was going on here in Seoul, rather than thinking of everything I was missing in Canada. We wanted to eat turkey, but we couldn't find a roasting pan large enough to cook one, since most Koreans don't have ovens, there isn't a high demand for roasting pans (or turkeys for that matter). We decided to go with BBQ chickens from Costco, and no one could tell the difference. I made stuffing, squash, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and broccoli and cauliflower to go with it. My friend Jen's mom made vegetarian gravy as well. Bob and I had been busy the week before baking about 10 apple pies, for this dinner, as well as for gifts for the staff at our school. Bob is allergic to apples, and broke out in hives while peeling the apples. After giving him some Benedryl and putting him to bed, I finished the pies on my own.

Christmas Dinner (girls):


Christmas Dinner (food):


Christmas Dinner (boys):


Bob and I also continued with our yearly tradition of making a gingerbread house. The most expensive and difficult one yet. Molasses is impossible to find here, so I ended up ordering 1kg of it on the internet, only using about 2tbls worth. Needless to say, I'll be searching for molasses recipes to try and use it all up. Bulk candy isn't popular here at all either, which is good for my waistline, but bad for my wallet...I found some at Kyobo Bookstore, and the tiniest bag cost me around $15. Then after we made the dough, it was too sticky, and wouldn't firm up. When we finally baked the house, the icing took forever to dry, and we ended up sitting and holding the house together for hours, very frustrated. Santa and the chimney kept falling off, so we just pulled it off and propped it on the house later. Together, we made nanaimo bars as well, which were absolutely delicious, but didn't quite look the same as the expert ones made at home.

The Gingerbread House:


Bob's Nanaimo Bars:



Bob and I exchanged stockings and gifts on Christmas morning. I had mailed home a big box of presents to Cannington, which only cost me $50, and my family had mailed me a big box of presents here, which cost them an unbelievable $165. So, after everyone left after Christmas dinner, we Skyped Cannington, and opened our presents together. Bob and I got 2 large and awesome stockings from my family to open, which was really fun (and funny, considering Bob had drank about 2 bottles of wine by this point in the evening). My aunts as well as my grandparents also mailed me many presents - Thank you so much! Christmas was far from the same, but it wasn't lonely or as depressing as I thought it would be.

Christmas Morning:


On Boxing Day, I made some Chicken Soup with the dinner's leftovers, and then that night we went to the Korean National Ballet's production of the Nutcracker. It was fantastic, and Bob's first time watching it. The music was so great, and the costumes were fun to look at. We had a great time.

Making Dad's Famous Chicken Soup:


The Nutcracker:


For New Years, Bob and I went with friends to a wine bar called Berlin, in Itaewon. It was classy, but crowded, but we had a fun night. Later that week, we returned to Itaewon to go to "What the Book", a used English bookstore, which made Bobby really happy. We also bought backpacks - 2 for $100. They are the oldest and ugliest backpacks ever, but they are sturdy, and cheap enough, and I won't mind getting it dirty as we lug it around SE Asia.

We visited a travel agent, the cousin of my co-teacher, and we spent about 2 hours talking with her. We finally decided on our flights and our itinerary, and we're very excited. We fly from Incheon, to Ha Noi, to Saigon, to Phenom Penh, from Siem Reap to Ha Noi to Incheon - all for the low, low price of $1000. Hostels and food are dirt cheap when we arrive, so it should be a fun vacation. We've also booked a hut on an island off the south of Cambodia, for 3 nights for only $25/night. There are only 6 huts and a restaurant on this island, so it should be very relaxing.

So, as far as our current holidays go, Bob and I have been visiting places in Seoul that we're normally too busy to get to. We also took a 1 hour subway ride to the port-city of Incheon, on the West Coast of Korea, where our flight landed. It was horrible - it was cold, windy, and very industrial. I wanted to make it to the ocean, but it was impossible to get to.

Yesterday, we went to the Vietnam Embassy, if you can call it that, to get our VISAs for our vacation. It looked like a run down strip motel off the side of a highway on the I-75. It was crowded, smelly and very unorganized. I'll be thankful if I ever get my passport back from them. The guy is trying to charge us $78 for a VISA, which doesn't sound right, so we're going to have to harass him when we pick them up on Thursday.

We met friends for Indian food last Friday night - and it was delicious, but very, very spicy. Indian restaurants are plentiful around here, if you look hard enough. Naan bread is a secret addiction of mine. Speaking of addictions, I have decided I'm going to give up soft drinks for as long as I can hold out. Day 2 and I'm still successful.

Last night we went back shopping at Costco for groceries. Spam is very popular here, and Costco is capitalizing on it, with many gift sets available to buy. They didn't sell out at Christmas (hard to believe, I know), and are still on the shelves at Costco.

Bob with the Real Stuff:


Maureen with the Knock Off:


Today Bob has to finish planning his Winter Camp, and I'm going to make a lasagna, without cottage cheese which is impossible to buy here, which should be interesting. Tomorrow we're going to go to Sahruga, the local grocery store, and I may try to bake some bread. I think I'm also going to try to plan a group trip to the Horse Races here, for Bobby's birthday, which is coming up fast on the 19th.

It's bright and sunny today, and slightly warm. It's only snowed twice since we've arrived, and it never stays on the ground. We hear Canada has been pounded with snow, so I guess that's one good thing about being here.

Bobby in the Snow:


Here is a picture of my Extra Class I taught. They're a grade 5/6 class:


Bye for now!

WEDNSEDAY DATE NIGHT

Last month, Maureen and I came up with a geeky idea that we now call WEDNESDAY DATE NIGHT. Basically, we take turns planning a night out for the other, and keep the destination a secret.
I will quickly go over the Wednesday Dates that we have been on.

1) Namsan Tower
I am scared of heights, Maureen knew this and that is why she took me to Namsan Tower on our first date. The toughest part for me was to take a cable car to the tower. The darn thing was filled to its capactity and it shook (as I cursed) the whole way up.
Jokes of vertigo aside, the view of Seoul from Namsan reconfirmed my belief that Seoul is a huge metropolis.

2) Movie Night - "The Last Duchess"
Maureen had been talking about this movie called, "The Last Duchess" and so I decided to surprise her with our first movie experience in Seoul. We went to a massive twelve storey high theatre in downtown Seoul. There are two differences worth noting between Canadian and Korean movie theatres; first, snack foods are much cheaper in the theatre; second, Koreans use an evil thing called assigned seating. As we walked into the theatre (fully equipped with theatre treats) we noticed that there were a dozen people sitting in one big clump. Our ticket numbers recquired us to clump ourselves to the clump, thus adding to the clump. Maureen and I broke away from this pattern of thinking, and decided to choose our own seats. This backfired when the owners of our new seats showed up. We got the boot. Having noticed that Koreans take assigned seating a little too seriously, we proceeded to clump ourselves to the clump. I enjoyed the movie.

3) Cirque Du Soliel
Maureen wrote about this date in her most recent blog.

4) Bau House
Earlier in the week, Maureen mentioned that she really missed her pets. Her comment got my creative wheels turning. I did a little clacking on the Internet, and somehow found a ridiculous solution to her little problem. I took her to Bau House, a cafe packed with noisy, smelly, drooling dogs. There were at least thirty dogs of various shapes and sizes running around Bau House. The tables were chewed, the couches were ripped, and the place reeked of dog. Shortly after the beagle urinated on our table our cheesecake arrived.

5) The Old Tea House
Continuing with the animal theme, Maureen took me to a bird cafe on the next date. The Old Tea House had a quaint setting, littered with candles, old books, paintings, and bird droppings.
This is an example of the type of business that might have thrived eighty years ago in Canada, but still exists and thrives in Korea.

6) E-Mart
Writing this now, I realize that the dates I prepared are kinda lousy compared to the ones Maureen prepares.
Last Wednesday I took Maureen to an E-Mart. E-Mart is this place that is alot like Wal Mart, but it has several floors of shopping madness. The prices are fairly cheap, and the selection is great. We bought a small Christmas tree and some decorations for our apartment.

7) ????
It's Maureen's turn for date night. Where will she take me? What will happen? Ohh... the suspense...

Cirque Du Soleil, Ice Bar and Everland!

Hey All! I wrote this blog at school on Thursday, and haven't had a chance to post it until today, Sunday, but I hope that won't matter.

I taught 5 grade 5 classes today, and now I have the afternoon off, so I'm writing e-mails, listening to my iPod (mainly to drown out the religious and off-key singing by my older co-worker), and reading news on the BBC. Yesterday all my grade 6 classes were cancelled due to a field trip, so I studied up on my travel plans, and have been reading extensively on the countries we plan on visiting.

We have 2 weeks off (although Bob's school won't confirm his dates), and we plan on flying to Ha Noi in Vietnam, visiting Ha Long Bay with its karst topography, travelling down the Vietnamise coast to Saigon, hitting some beaches along the way, and then going through Cambodia to see Ankor Wat and the royal places in Phenom Phen, and into Thailand, where we will go to Trat

(beachy), Bangkok to see more royal palaces and shopping, then to Phuket and the Similan Islands to lay on the beach for about 3 days. Sounds busy, but I want to see as much as possible in those 2 weeks, as it will probably be my only chance in this lifetime.

We have another 2 weeks in the summer, which I want to spend in Japan, China or Hong Kong. We'll plan that when the time comes though.

Today I found out that I'll be teaching 2 weeks of Winter English Camp, from January 5 - 16, 2009. The rest of January I have to goof off in my office, where I'll read several books (that the school will buy), label my travelling pictures, watch movies, write e-mails, and probably do my nails. This job is pretty sweet, but culture shock is starting to sink in. I'm very happy here most days, but other days I go nuts. People constantly push into you, and past you in line for food or the bus. It smells here, and there is no possible way I could eat another grain of rice. I am very cautious around ajumas, old Korean married ladies. They think they run the world. They are noticeable by their comfy shoes, black slacks, and floral print blouses, and are usually wearing a big, black visor. The visor is like the rattle of a cobra - if you see it, you know you're in danger. They are very pushy, and usually pretty grumpy. Watch out, or you'll get an elbow to the ribs.

Last night Bob and I went to see Cirque du Soleil – Alegria, for date night. It was so amazing. I cannot even begin to put into words the description of each act. There were contortionists, trapeze artists, a fire baton twirler, and a hoola hoop girl, and a trampoline act, among many other acts. The set and costumes were beautiful. Our tickets were not that expensive, and definitely worth the money. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures inside the tent, but I tried to smuggle a few.

The Circus Tent:

Some Circus Pictures:

Friday night we went to Hongdae to the Sub Zero Ice Bar. Basically it was a room filled with ice inside a meat locker. For the 15,000 won you paid to get in, you get a parka, mittens, and a free drink. Bob convinced us all that a Jagerbomb would be delicious. Unfortunately, the Koreans don't seem to understand the 'bomb' part of the drink, and instead, we all had to sip away at straight Jager shots, rather than having them with Red Bull. The bar was really empty (and cold!), so we only stayed for about 15 minutes, which made it a really expensive trip. We left early that night, and went home to bed.

Some Canadian Eskimos:

Our Ice Drinks of Jager Shots:

Bob Dancing:

Saturday morning our downstairs neighbour, Ho, and his 9 year old son Kevin, drove us to Everland, the Korean version of Walt Disney World (and a fairly good version at that). Ho told us the drive would be about an hour. Three hours later we arrived. Everland was huge, and pretty fun, although we would have had much more fun if we were there alone. We did one roller coaster with Kevin, Racing Coaster, which was a runaway train ride. The line up was about 40 minutes, and the ride was about 30 seconds, but it was fun, and Kevin has a lot of fun. Due to the immense lines at the park, this was the only ride we did all day, but Kevin still had fun, and munched on very delicious sweet popcorn as we strolled around the park. Everland is currently celebrating Christmas, and has decorations everywhere and is constantly playing Christmas carols. I definitely know where I'll go if I get upset at Christmas time! At night, there were fantastic fireworks, and a Moonlight Parade. We left around 9 pm, and the ride home was about 1.5 hours, and then we went straight to bed.

Maureen in Everland:

Everland Christmas Area:

Today Bob and I toured around Samcheong-dong, which is a very artsy area, relatively close to where we live. We had some really great peppermint tea and a blueberry banana waffle, and strolled around the streets appreciating the yellow ginko baloba trees and browsing the various art galleries.

Tonight we lesson planning like fiends, trying to get ready for the upcoming week. We've been very inconsistent, if not invisible on the blogging front lately, but we're going to do our best to improve.

Miss you all,

- Maureen

Too Busy To Blog

Sorry folks, on my recent lack of blogging. I have taken a second job in the afternoons, which I've had to develop a curriculum for, so I've had some intense work lately. They let me pick a textbook for the class on Friday, and then wanted my entire curriculum (72 lessons) planned for Monday. Surprisingly, I had it to them by Wednesday, which is not bad. I get $50 for an 80 minute lesson, with only 14 kids, so I really can't complain. I teach Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 3:30-5, so technically I'm getting paid double in my afternoons, considering I'm getting paid both for teaching at Hongeun (my main school, even though I'm not there) and Inwang (my second job) at the same time.

Fall has finally hit Korea, and its definitely welcome. The weather is now in the mid-twenties, and sunny everyday. Mosquitoes are still out in full force though. Yesterday I killed 7 in the bathroom alone. My immune system is still not used to this particular species, and I'm constantly covered in huge, itchy welts.

My birthday was great, and I got all your presents in the mail just in time. Thank you everyone, so much. Bob and I celebrated with a Pizza Hut pizza, and a Paris Baguette chocolate cake. Bob sang me several songs as well, including Happy Birthday. He also bought me a gorgeous ring. It was different not being with family on my birthday, and not something I'd like to do frequently. All my teachers were really great about my birthday. I had an amazing hat, and was forced to wear a goofy hat while they sang to me. My students were so nice as well, and they shouted and squealed "Happy Birthday" all week whenever they saw me. My kids gave me so many gifts, including an awesome pencil case, a pen, a carton of milk, 2 boiled eggs in a container that said "I love you", and 3 pieces of great cake. One class brought me 2 pieces of cake, with candles, and sang to me before class started. I really love my students.

Blowing out the candles on my cake (which we ate by picking at it with chopsticks!)


Mi-young, quiet Korean girl, Sam, Alicia, Sonya (probably not her actual name), and me!

We finally have cell phones. For $10 we got the sweetest phones imaginable. It's a camera phone, it has a subway map, it has a Korean-English dictionary (which is somewhat helpful), and, the best part is, it has free TV, which connects almost anywhere! We signed a contract for 1 year, and its $15.50 a month. I'll send my phone number out when I have a change at school. Canada can call me (I don't know how much), but I can't call Canada. Convenient, I know. Canada has to get on the ball in the technology department. I also bought a portable external hard drive. For $120, I got 320 GB, which I think is a great deal.

Two weekends ago, Bob and I went to Doksu Gu Palace (or something like that). Its close to City Hall in Seoul. We went just at dusk, and the palace was lit up beautifully. We were able to take some great pictures, although I think we need to invest in a tri-pod, as some of the pictures were pretty blurry, without the flash on. We also ventured to the Yongsan Electronics market - which is a blaze of colour and light, and Koreans trying to sell you electronics. Most are pretty cheap there, and this is where I bought my external.

Bob in front of the palace at night.

Maureen in front of the palace at night.

Last weekend, we ventured to the Demilitarized Zone. It was pretty barren and desolate. We went to the Dora Observatory, where our tour guide told us that we could take pictures, but only behind a yellow line. I, of course, forgot, and was promptly spoken to by a Korean guard, in fatigues, who made me delete a bunch of my pictures. Apparently there is top secret stuff going on just over the boarder, but its okay if you look at it, and take pictures 3 feet back from the ledge, but anything closer just doesn't fly. Bob thought my reprimanding was rather amusing, and took pictures of me and the guard - behind the yellow line of course.

Bob, with North Korea in the background.

Bob, pointing out the useless yellow line.

The North Koreans have dug several holes towards Seoul, and the South Koreans have found 4 of these tunnels, the last one being discovered in 1990. We went for a tour of the 3rd tunnel, which consisted of walking straight down the tunnel for 73 m, or 25 floors of a building. The tunnel was very narrow, and just over 5 feet talk. I could walk, barely, but I definitely knocked my head on the granite ceiling several times, and once so hard that it knocked my hard hat off. Bob must have had a bad back after leaving the tunnel. A very cool experience though, unless you're xenophobic or claustrophobic.

The exchange rate is killing me. When we came to South Korea, the won was stronger that the dollar, which meant I spent more $ for less won. Of course, now that we're here, and being paid in the won, our dollar is stronger than the won. So if I get paid 2 million won per month, instead of being over $2000, it is now currently sitting at $1500. Just our luck. Anyone have any ideas of getting around this problem? Should I pay my debt using my Canadian Visa, and then try to pay my Visa from Korean won? Can I keep a bank account here, even after I move home? I need all you accountants and financial advisors on this problem for me, stat.

Teaching so far is fantastic. I get such a kick out of all my kids. They are hilarious, and always filled with energy. I can never stay in a bad mood when I'm teaching these goof balls. I think they enjoy my teaching too.

Bob wants to go to a concert this Friday, which I'll probably attend as well, but I have dinner plans with Lisa first. Hopefully we'll hit up a Korean BBQ. I'm not sure what is in store for Saturday and Sunday. Bob and I have been talking about booking our holidays lately. We're hoping for 2 weeks in February (16-28) to visit Laos, Vitenam, Cambodia, and Thailand, and then another 2 weeks during Summer Break (mid July until late August), to travel to possibly Japan, China, and Hong Kong. Any holiday suggestions or tips would be wonderful, since nothing is set in stone yet (although nothing is ever set in stone in Korea).

Here are some other photos from around Seoul:

Bob appreciating some art work:

That's all for now. Please post some comments and tell us what you're up to!

- Maureen

Dr. Fish

So Lisa, Jen and I decided to try out the Dr. Fish, that are to be found here in Seoul.

Basically, you go into a coffee shop, order something to eat, and say you'd like the Dr. Fish as well. It cost around 8000 won, or about $8. I ordered a Belgium waffle for $5.90 and then the Dr. Fish cost $2.

While your food is getting ready, you are ushered to the back of the restaurant, where you are told in broken English to wash your feet. Next thing you know, you are sticking your feet into a tub of water with hundreds of small fish in it. These are the Dr. Fish.



They swarm around your feet, sucking off all the dead skin, essentially giving you a pedicure, if you can keep your feet in long enough - due to how much it tickles! You keep your feet in there for 15 minutes and then you wash your feet again, get sprayed with alcohol, and you then go back to enjoy your delicious Belgium waffle.


Now it all sounds very calm, but it is so ticklish that its nearly impossible to stick your feet in and not squeal, panic, and remove your feet very quickly. Keep in mind there is a quiet coffee shop behind you, watching the whole ordeal. This all lead to hilarious results.

All in all, it was really fun, and a good pedicure. I'm definitely going to go back, and drag Bob along, just to watch him try to stick his feet in and squeal like a girl.

- Maureen

Some pictures

Fun Fact: South Korea is a world leader in Artificial Intelligence and states that there will be a
robot in every home by 2030.



I found a hat with "Bob" written on it



A view of Seoul with the Mountains in the background


The Bus Tour gets "Two Thumbs Up"





Mom. I've joined the Korean amry. Don't worry... I've seen Rambo

Ouch! A post...

ME BOB... ME BLOG/SILLY INTRO
----------------
I decided it's about time that I contributed to the blog. Over the last week or two, I have become accustom to telling people (colleagues and strangers mostly) that I blog... That I have a blog. That I am a blogger.
Truthfully I do not blog, never have blogged, and don't know what a blog is.

Maureen on the otherhand has been blogging up a friggin storm.
Turns out that if I tell people that I blog... then I should in fact blog. I shouldn't be making Maureen toil over this nifty site, while I sit back and reap the rewards.


TEACHERS
-------------
My teachers are nice. They speak better English than I do, but that's not saying much...
One teacher in particular has been very helpful; she is like my Korean mother. She's about 4 ft 5, 85 lbs, and has the energy of a hummingbird. She is constantly going out of her way to make my transition to Korea an easy one.

TEACHING
---------------
Lesson planning has been interesting. Coming over to Korea, I was thinking of the adventure aspect, and I kind of forgot that I was here to do a job. With that said, I have been easing myself back into teaching. I have it pretty easy here, I teach conversational English to kids that think I am a national celebrity! Seriously, they crowd around me in disbelief, and expect me to do something spectacular. I just sorta stare back at them, and smile.

FOOD
-------
Food in Korea is something else. It's hot like lava, and everything has a fishy taste to it. But I don't mind it. Seriously, I don't. The only thing I've eaten that has made my stomach turn was a bowl of caterpillar soup. A colleague bought it for me as a gift. I took a bite of one and it crunched in my mouth.

Can you imagine?
It crunched... in my mouth. Ye-hoo-ewwwww-lll




Hmmm... What else.


MY FIRST IMPRESSION
----------------------------

Let me tell you about my first (big) misadventure.


Saturday night.

I arrived in Seoul late Saturday night and I was very tired. At this time my co-teacher showed me my apartment, the school I would be teaching at, and the bus route I would be taking to and from school. Seems simple enough, but I was tired, and I wanted to sleep. And so, I got them to write down a few details: bus number, street name, major landmarks, etc.
NOTE: The route I described is a 5 minute busride, or a 30 minute walk.

Sunday.

On Sunday, I looked at the notes my teacher had written for me, and I thought it would be smart if I gave my bus a trial run before the big day. The trial busride worked to a tee. We caught the bus at the bus stop... check. The bus made a left at the Kia dealership... check... We got off at a sign that said Sports Centre... check... I walked up the hill (more like a mountain) and alas... there was my new school! In total, it was not even a 5 minute busride. No worries.


Monday (the big day)

I woke up early. It was pouring buckets outside.

NOTE: If you know me, it's not surprising to note that I did not pack a raincoat or an umbrella. (I thought maybe Maureen would pack two)

A dress shirt would have to suffice. Luckily, getting to my bustop is quick and easy. I walk down my hill, make a right, and - badabing-badaboom - I'm waiting for my bus. And so the story goes.

7:50am.
I'm waiting at my busstop. School starts at 9:00am. No problem.

7:55am
I'm still standing at my busstop.
Where is my bus? Yesterday, bus 03 went by every 2 minutes. What is going on?

8:00am
I am panicking... and getting soaked. Where the hell is the bus?

8:01am
Oh... phewf.
Here comes my bus now.

8:01 am
Why is the bus so packed?

So, I am on my bus. I notice that there are alot more people on the bus today, and each stop, more and more people pile on. Until finally I'm thinking, there are way too many people on this damn bus. To make matters worse, I have to stand up and it is hard to see out the window. To make matters even WORSE, the rain is fogging up the windows. To make matters even WORSE, traffic is immense. We're caught in a massive traffic jam.


8:15 am
So here I am, trapped on this damn bus. I probably should be getting off by now, but the bus has not moved. I am stuck on this damn bus.


8:40 am
Ok, the bus has moved a little, but I have not seen my sign or anything. WTF?
I'm on a bus... cramped to the ceiling... with no idea where I am... With no measurement of time... who farted?

That's it I'm getting off at the next stop.

8:42 am.

The bus has not moved. I hate life.
I look at my watch. I have been on this damn bus for 40 minutes... I should have been there 20 times by now! So I say screw it. Let me off this bus!!!!


MY DAY GETS WORSE
--------------------------

When I stepped off that bus, I had no idea where I would be. I was hoping, somewhere reasonably close to my school.
When I gathered my bearings, a feeling of dread hit me. You know the one... Like maybe you will get fired, lose your visa, and have to fly back to Canada defeated, type of feeling.
I was standing in front of my house!


8:44am.
I am running.

8:50am.
I am running and panting
I panic. Should I hop back on another bus? Impossible... Traffic is unbearable. I have to run.
It's pouring rain. The streets are crowded with a thousand little Asians. And I am barreling down the street, with my laptop bag, with 20 minutes to get to school.

8:51am.
I don't know where I am. Should I slow down? I am soaking wet. Should I catch a cab? No, it's a traffic jam dammit!
I have no idea where I am going. I've been running for 5 minutes and I have no idea where I am going. I am getting tired, and I have been running way too far, I should have turned by now. I give up and turn back. I'm soaking wet, and I'm the saddest guy with a mullet.

8:55am. I'm as good as late anyways. I will go back to my apartment, take a shower, and take the bus... I have admitted defeat. But wait... I notice a hospital, A LANDMARK I'M FAMILIAR WITH. I make a right. There is hope. I begin to run again.

I run as fast as I can. Past the bakery. Past the Kia building. A right at the Sports Centre sign. Up a mountain. Ok, half-way up the mountain and then I power-walked. And into my school.

9:02am.
I made it. I am only two minutes late. I am soaking wet.
My co-teacher sees me and quickly greets me "JERRY! You made it. You are soaked. Come with me. First we must introduce you to your new principal and you must give a speech".
"Uh, ok" I reply.

I am taken into a dark room. I see a tall Asian man, and he bows to me. I bow back. He shakes my hand, I shake his getting his hand wet in the process.

My teacher introduces me: "Jerry. Meet your new principal"

In broken English he says "Jerthy... Our school... iz appy... to have you"

"Thank you" I respond.

My co-teacher tells me to turn to my right.
I do... and I am staring at a camera. To the right of it, I see myself, and I am on a television screen. Next thing I know, I have a microphone in my hand. I look at my teacher. She is whispering "Jerry... speech... give a speech to the school"
I look back at the TV screen. I smile. My hair is wet and standing up... I look like a goofball. I am a goofball.

I muster up the quickest speech in history, hand the microphone to the principal, and rush out of that situation.

The day improved from there.





Other than that, I don't know what to say. I will keep adding my thoughts and adventures as they come.

-Bob

The Staff Meeting

Last night at 4:20 we had a staff meeting at our school. I sat for about 20 minutes not understanding a thing, until Sam, one of my co-teachers, leaned over and explained to me how the vice-principal was telling teachers that they must obey human rights, and to stop hitting their students. Incredible. I explained how we would go to jail in Canada for hitting students, and she thought that that rule should be in Korea as well.

Here is a picture of my school:

My classroom is the one above the swing set, with no curtains which sucks in the afternoon sun:

I've been fairly busy lately, lesson planning and teaching. It's easy, but it takes a lot of time. I taught 5 grade 6 classes yesterday, and another 5 grade 5 classes today. They're very cute, and actually understand about 80% of what I say, which is impressive, considering I understand about 0% of what they say.

I've been given my own classroom, which is fantastic... except for the traditional Korean painting teacher, who's class was cancelled so I could have her room. Somewhere in this school, a teacher is very upset with me, I'm sure.

I've started decorating my room, which is really fun. I have a day, date, month, season and weather board all set up for the kids to use. In the back, I'm going to create a bulletin board on Canada, one for new vocabulary words, and one on each holiday. I'll need everyone back home reading this to send me holiday classroom decorations and stickers. Anything you can find and stuff in a box and mail to me (for cheap) would be great. Halloween is coming up, and I could sure use some fake spiders and cobwebs, etc....

I found my first Western toilet in my school today - just as I was becoming accustomed to using a squat toilet (which I never thought I'd get used to). There is just no toilet paper in the washroom with the Western toilet, but that's okay, I'll bring my own from home.

It was about 32 degrees today in Korea. Incredibly hot, so the vice-principal made the call to turn on the air conditioning around 1 pm. Too bad it doesn't seem to work in the Teacher's room where I'm spending my afternoon.

Lunch today was interesting. Rice and kimchi, tempura soup (which I didn't try, based on the look of it), and some mushrooms with bok choy. What I did end up eating was delicious. Its always weird having to brush my teeth in the teacher's room after lunch with all the other teacher's watching and doing the same thing. Sometimes students come in and the teacher's have entire conversations with them, with a toothbrush sticking out of their mouth. At least we don't all have bad breath though!

Bob went out with his teacher's last night (hopefully he'll post about it, although he doesn't seem to have a good track record...), while I stayed home (alone) and went to bed at 8:30. I watched FOX for a while first, which airs old shows you could watch in Canada, like Monk (non stop) and some Law and Order. Normally I wouldn't watch these shows, but I was desperate.

If I finish my lesson planning today at school, I may go with Bob to Insadong tonight, which is a big open market where you can buy traditional Korean goods. I can't wait until pay day, which is the 24th of each month.

I'm looking forward to Chuseok this weekend, which is like Korean Thanksgiving. I get 5 days off in a row. I was trying to plan a trip to Busan, a resort beach town in the south of South Korea, but I hear the train has already been booked up. Maybe the following weekend when it is less busy.

- Maureen

Our First Korean BBQ

So Bob and I decided to go shopping last night, at Sinchon Station. It is so amazing there. There is so much to see, and do, and so many people. It felt like walking through a never ending carnival. It was hard to focus.



It seems as though you can buy anything here. We spent a lot of time looking through a stationary store, and then we just strolled the main street (we had no idea of the street name), or rather, we were pushed along the street with the rest of the constant crowd.

I dragged Bob into 3 makeup stores, such as the Face Shop, Etude House, and the Herb something or other. Makeup is pretty cheap here, so I think I'm going to have to buy some more suitcases to move everything I buy home.

After drifting along for a while, we decided to take one of the brightly coloured neon lit ally ways, to see where we'd end up. We passed many restaurants, such as seafood houses, that advertise their wares by keeping the fish, groupers, tube works, clams and squid, etc. swimming around in giant aquariums outside. Its fun to look at, but I could never imagine ordering something to eat out of an aquarium. The tube worms looked especially disgusting.

So we ended up down a darker ally way, with no real idea where we were, when a woman persuaded us (in Korean) to come and eat at her restaurant. We sat down at a little table on the crowded patio, and then waitresses started bringing many dishes. They lit a little propane torch, and put a big metal pan on top. Next they brought raw pork, and started cooking it at our table. This was a traditional Korean BBQ. Once we cooked the pork, our waitress appeared again (with soju for us - Korean booze that tastes like vodka), and started cutting up the pork with scissors. We then ate it buy rolling it up in the lettuce leaves already on the table. We had no idea what we were doing, but its been the best meal I've had yet in Korea.

We eventually found our way home, hiked up the mountain to our house, where I soon crashed.

I taught all morning at school - 4 grade 6 classes. The kids are so cute. Very eager, and not at all shy to use their English. We have very, very basic conversations, but I think I'm getting through to them, and I'm definitely making a difference. I walked from my bus stop to school with my vice-principal who speaks no English, at all, but I think we had a broken conversation about how he was going to give me my own classroom. Getting my own room is great, because then I don't have to hike up 4 flights of stairs to get to my classes, but daunting at the same time, because I have a room all to myself that I have to decorate!

Today we had rice and kimchi (of course), spicy tofu, special soup that is always served at birthdays, and chunks of fried fish, which I keep accidentally burping up as I write this. I wonder how long my Rolaids will last me here in Korea... At least I ate it today, and I found lunch pretty enjoyable. The principal appeared, only to make fun of how I struggle with chopsticks, in Korean, of course. I figure if I can get food from my plate to my mouth, I'm making out okay. I'm actually getting used to chopsticks, and am impressed how good (I thought) I am.

Tonight, we're planning on going grocery shopping, so I don't have to eat digestive cookies from a corner store, on the bus for breakfast tomorrow. I need to catch up on my sleep, but I also said I'd have lesson plans to my teacher's tomorrow. They should be easy to write - I hope. I think I'm the only foreigner who has to write lesson plans, but I don't mind. I'm just basically copying the Teacher's Guide to their textbooks, and adding in my own games when I can.

Keep posting comments!

- Maureen

The Medical Check

So we've cracked, and decided to create a blog. Rather I have, but I'll force Bob to post often.

Bob and I had our medical check at a hospital in Seoul this morning, and then returned to school for the afternoon. Can't say I've ever given a urine test in a Dixie cup before, but there is a first time for everything, right? Such as squat toilets....

The hospital was very new, clean and bright. We had our chests x-rayed, our blood pressure taken, our hearing checked, our eyes check (colour blindness too), our weight and height recorded, a urine sample taken, and our blood taken, all within 1 open room, with many other patients watching. I guess South Koreans aren't used to privacy.

We were then taken downstairs to have our teeth checked. They found my first cavity ever. I'm not very happy about it, but the doctor told me that it would cost about 10,000 won, so it will be much cheaper to have fixed here than in Canada. I'm nervous though - hopefully they'll understand when I show up at the dentist!

We then met with a doctor, who spoke very good English. He was very interested in our lives in Canada. He also asked us if we were crazy, and if we were paedophiles. Hopefully we passed that test.

We did all this at the hospital, in under an hour, and without an appointment. I think the Korean medical system is fantastic.

We then went for "secret coffee time" with my co-teacher, Ja-young Lee, and her husband, who is a lawyer. It was special coffee time, because we were supposed to go back to work right after the examination. She's really cute, and her husband is really nice. He is always driving us around in their brand new car, and he doesn't understand any English. They are both very young.

Now I'm at school, where I've been since 11:30 am. We had rice, curry, pizza, and concord grapes (that are everywhere here) for lunch. It was really good. I was very nervous about eating lunch every day at school, considering they served clear noodles with octopus legs in it for the first lunch I was here. I didn't eat much, and they noticed, and we haven't had seafood since, which is fantastic, although I feel a little guilty.

I get to ride the bus home at 4:40, just before rush hour starts for the afternoon. I'm going to do some serious lesson planning tonight, to make up for all the goofing off I've done all afternoon.

Please post a response!

- Maureen