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