Hope everyone is having a great day, we're thinking of you all. A longer post is to follow, but for now, here's a picture of us on Christmas Day.
Monday, December 25, 2006
We wish you a merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Hope everyone is having a great day, we're thinking of you all. A longer post is to follow, but for now, here's a picture of us on Christmas Day.
Hope everyone is having a great day, we're thinking of you all. A longer post is to follow, but for now, here's a picture of us on Christmas Day.
Friday, December 01, 2006
The kids - The good, the bad, and the ugly
One of the best and worst parts of our jobs is our students. Some brighten the day while others darken it. Some bow to us whenever they see us and others give us snotty looks and spout off in Korean if we give them homework. So last Friday I brought the camera to school and asked the students if I could take some pictures to show friends and family. So I bring you a glimpse into what we are up against Monday to Friday.
The Good:
I thought I should start with the best. Students like Izzy are few and far between. This guy tries hard, has a great attitude, and, by the looks of it, could probably kick my ass. Around 30-40% of my students are around this age.
Some more excellent students. Eve, on the right, will ask for permission before she leaves the room even when class is over or has not yet begun. Stacey, on the left, did a book report last week from a book that probably took her an hour to read, while other students her age take books with 30 words or less. By the way, one interesting part of our job is to give English names to the new students. So Stacey was the first girl that Tara named (after her friend, for those who don't know). I think I may start naming the new students after my cousins or something like that.
The Bad:
Now, when I say bad what I mean is bad behavior in class. Usually this just means excessive talking in Korean but, as I said above, some students are outrightly rude and disrespectful. Unfortunately, none of them wanted their picture taken.
Andy and Alex. Great kids. Great attitudes. But they won't shut up. Five minutes of quiet in the class would be a small miracle. Even separating them is noisy. They usually beg and beg for another chance after they already got five, and then hold onto their desks and refuse to move. When one is absent the other is very quiet and actually does work, funny how that works.
The Ugly:
Of course I don't think any of my students are ugly. But one of my students made a great face when I took his picture so I had to put it up.
June is actually a great kid although his English conversation skills are pretty much limited to talking about Pokemon. And hey, if that gets him interested in English, great.
Well there you have it, a few of the 80-90 students that I teach. I'll throw up some more pictures on flickr. Hope everyone is happy and healthy.
The Good:
I thought I should start with the best. Students like Izzy are few and far between. This guy tries hard, has a great attitude, and, by the looks of it, could probably kick my ass. Around 30-40% of my students are around this age.
Some more excellent students. Eve, on the right, will ask for permission before she leaves the room even when class is over or has not yet begun. Stacey, on the left, did a book report last week from a book that probably took her an hour to read, while other students her age take books with 30 words or less. By the way, one interesting part of our job is to give English names to the new students. So Stacey was the first girl that Tara named (after her friend, for those who don't know). I think I may start naming the new students after my cousins or something like that.
The Bad:
Now, when I say bad what I mean is bad behavior in class. Usually this just means excessive talking in Korean but, as I said above, some students are outrightly rude and disrespectful. Unfortunately, none of them wanted their picture taken.
Andy and Alex. Great kids. Great attitudes. But they won't shut up. Five minutes of quiet in the class would be a small miracle. Even separating them is noisy. They usually beg and beg for another chance after they already got five, and then hold onto their desks and refuse to move. When one is absent the other is very quiet and actually does work, funny how that works.The Ugly:
Of course I don't think any of my students are ugly. But one of my students made a great face when I took his picture so I had to put it up.
June is actually a great kid although his English conversation skills are pretty much limited to talking about Pokemon. And hey, if that gets him interested in English, great. Well there you have it, a few of the 80-90 students that I teach. I'll throw up some more pictures on flickr. Hope everyone is happy and healthy.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
A weekend in Seoul
Hello Everyone!
Sorry that it's been so long since we posted last. We had a busy week since report cards were due on Tuesday (blahhhh). Anyway, I thought you'd all enjoy a re-cap of our weekend in Seoul last weekend.
We left Saturday afternoon, which was a little later than expected due all of the buses being filled up. There's a bus that leaves every 10 minutes or so, and every one of them was filled up for a couple of hours. I simply forget sometimes how many people live in Korea!
We got to Seoul around 2:00, and were instantly amazed at the number of high-rises and smog that covered the city. As soon as our bus started approaching Seoul both of our eyes started stinging, ay yi yi I don't know how people spend their lives in that! Anyway, we managed to figure out the subway system (Andrew's innate sense of direction, so he says!) and made it to our hotel.
First we went to Itaewon, which is apparently the foreigners district in Seoul. I wanted to go there to look for a winter jacket (it's starting to get cold here!). It was such a wierd place actually. There were people from all over the world. For the first time since we got here we didn't feel like the foreigners! Anyway, they had some "normal" food, like pitas, pizzas and stuff like that. Also, they had a STARBUCKS which was very exciting to see! The American military is stationed really close to Itaewon, so you saw a lot of soldiers hanging out as well. The area is apparently really dangerous at night, so after it got dark Andrew and I hung out in Starbucks to wait for our friends to come meet us. After we all went out for supper, we headed to Nanta.
The show was absolutely AMAZING! It was super high-energy, and there was a little bit of everything in it. The "cooks" used real knives and were making music on pots, cutting boards, and metal bowls (basically anything you can find in a kitchen) while they were singing, dancing AND cutting up vegetables. It was unreal actually! I'm so surprised that they have all of their fingers intact. Two of our friends we went with (Christy and Andrew) got pulled up on stage at various parts in the show. It was great!
After the show we all took the subway to the "entertainment" district. It was basically a lot of neon lights, bars, people, karaoke rooms. We went into a Hof that one of the guys we were with said was good. Hof's are sort of like pubs with western-style food (nachos and wings) with beer. Anyway, the Hof we went to managed to be almost smoke-free and there were no fluorescent blue lights in them (it seems to be a trend here). Needless to say we had a fantastic time! We stayed at the Hof until almost 3am, which as you know is pretty late for Andrew and I!
The next morning we all hit the streets (for shopping, of course). We went first to Dongdaemun market, which is Korea's largest market. It was HUGE and had just about anything you could think of possibly wanting to buy (including dogs, awww). Anyway, we managed to score a few good deals after spending around 4 hours or more looking through the market. Also, we managed to lose each other at various points, which was a little scary.
After the market, we headed to Insadong, which is a market that specializes in silver and other types of Korean handicrafts. The stuff is really expensive but it was beautiful! Andrew loved it. We could have spent our paychecks there, but common sense ended up kicking in! It was great. Before heading back to Daejeon we grabbed some food from the street (vendors!) and had some squid balls (They're disgusting, but Andrew seems to like them), omlette sushi (it was as wierd as it sounds), and good-ol'-corn (although mighty chewy). I promised myself that I wouldn't eat from the vendors in Korea, since they're slightly sketchy. But, I must admit that it was pretty good!
After eating, we headed to the train station to go home. Unfortunately, when we got there we found out that the fast train was filled up and that the slow train had only standing seats available. We had no choice but to take the train standing - and it was brutal! About 30 minutes into the trip Christy and I resorted to sitting on the floor, which I guess was a lot better than standing for the whole trip. Anyway, we made it back to Daejeon safe and sound, but with very sore legs. All-in-all it was a really fun weekend!
This week was really tiring. I think we were tired from report cards, tekkyon and our weekend in Seoul. Tekkyon is starting to get really hard! We're learning kicks and other defense moves. I learned just the other day that Tekkyon was banned in Korea for short period of time because people deemed it too deadly! Who knew?! I managed to roll my ankle on Wednesday, however after thoroughly freezing it (with liquid nitrogen, I'm sure of it!), getting on-site acupuncture, and getting it wrapped, it seems to be alright. There is never a shortage of help or attention here in Korea!
Yesterday Andrew and I headed to downtown Daejeon for some exploring. We managed to find a market where we purchased our first Christmas tree and some decorations! It's only about a foot tall, but it'll do. We had a strange (yet hilarious) experience that I thought I'd share with you. We came across a huge group of people who were all cheering in a circle, and in the middle of the circle was a man holding a sign that said something in Korean, and underneath, "FREE HUGS." Anyway, Andrew and I were giggling for a minute or so before one Korean guy quite forcefully pulled Andrew into the centre of the circle. Everyone in the crowd went crazy while the guy and Andrew gave each other a slightly awkward hug. Anyway, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. You never know what to expect here I tell you!
Last night we went all the way to Sintajin to visit our friends. We went out for supper to a dog/chicken restaurant. Don't worry, we made absolutely SURE that the Korean word for Dog was not said in the restaurant. I was so worried that they would mix up our orders. Anyway, the entire chicken is served in a big black pot boiling in some sort of rice/ginseng soup. It was actually really delicious! After supper we played a couple of games of poker. I won some won! The downside of winning however, was paying for the taxi home - so expensive! Anyway, it was a really good day.
Anyway, we're completely out of groceries so we have to go hit the agro-fishery market.
We miss you all so much!
Love, Tara and Andrew
XO
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Almost 2 months down!
Hey everyone!
Well, guess what today officially marks? 8 weeks of living, surviving and (surprisingly) liking Korea! Everyone tells us that the 3rd month is the worst, as far as constantly having the nagging thought "Where the heck and I, and what am I doing here?" But, I'm going to be optimistic (an eternal optimist, I know) and state that maybe the worst is over? We still get bouts of homesickness, but they seem to be quieted a bit by our little weekly routine. I'm sure next month will test our patience a bit with this place, since it will be Christmas and all... but we'll see.
So, we have posted some pictures from Halloween (most of you have probably seen them already). It was a fun day, but it was also ridiculously exhausting! The kids were all bouncing off the walls (literally!), so after 11 hours of working you can imagine how tired we were. Anyway, I must say that celebrating Halloween in Canada is much more exciting than in Korea.
If you're wondering where the pictures from Gyeryon-san mountain are, there aren't any. We forgot to bring our camera last weekend, too bad. We had a good time hiking with our directors, their kids, sisters and another foreigner. It was good times. The weather was absolutely perfect for hiking - really crisp but still pretty warm out. We loved it.
We had a pretty busy week at school. Our report cards are due on November 15th, and Andrew has 10 to do and I have 11. So, any spare time we had at work this week was spent writing up report cards. I find that report cards are really a waste of time. First of all, most of the middle school students don't even show their parents the report cards from English school. Also, we aren't supposed to use any negative words or give the kids any bad marks on their report cards. So, it becomes ridiculous writing a report card for a kid who never does his homework, doesn't pay attention in class, fails tests and makes the other students cry. Anyway, I guess it's part of the job and the culture.
Taekkyon is going great! We're both enjoying it so much. It's so incredibly challenging, it's awesome. This week we started learning how to use a weapon called a ho-pay (that's what it sounds like anyway!). It's sort of like a flat block on the end of a string. Anyway, I'm pretty terrible at it - I have next to no muscle in my arms (as you all know) so I don't have any power behind it. (Needless to say, there won't be any videos of me with my ho-pay posted) Maybe in a year though I'll be able to look fierce with it! Just maybe....
We've had a busy weekend so far. We went hiking to Gyeryon-san again this weekend (we're becoming regulars!) with one of the guys from our Taekkyon class (Ji-Hyun). We walked to the second peak yesterday which was MUCH more difficult than the first. The second peak is more like "rock climbing" than hiking. At parts we were literally scrambling over boulders next to big cliffs, so scary! Anyway, we made it to the second peak safe and sound. It was a really good hike. Andrew's pretty tired from it today. Anyway, I put up a few pictures of it on our flickr page.
Then, last night we met a couple of our friends (both from Canada!) downtown. We went to an English bookstore, out for supper, and then on a mad search for poker chips. The search for poker chips somehow lead us to a bowling alley, which was a little unexpected. Korea makes such good use of it's space, so a bowling alley seems a little counter-intuitive I think! Anyway, we had a good time. I'm so happy we're starting to meet people, it makes our weekends SO much more interesting!
We've been getting a little antsy to do some traveling like some of our friends and families have been doing lately, so we've planned a trip to Seoul next weekend. Not too sure what we're going to do there yet - probably do some serious shopping as I think we're due. Maybe start picking up some Christmas presents. Also, I found a really cool show for us to go to on Saturday night. It's a non-verbal sort of cooking show where the people use pots and pans to make music.... okay it sounds a little wierd, but everyone says it's amazing. Check out the link if you're interested! http://www.nanta.co.kr/
We're thinking of you all doing midterms (glad it's not us!), traveling, working, and just being busy with your own lives. We hope everyone is doing well!
We miss you!
Love, Tara and Andrew
XO
P.S. I'm making Pumpkin Soup tonight, isn't that Martha Stuartish of me?! I'm pretty excited!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Korean holidays, strange but true...
Hey everyone!
In anticipation of Halloween, I thought I'd make a post about some interesting things that I have found out about a couple of the Korean holidays. I have had many conversations about holidays with my students, and have found that there is no one holiday that stands out as a favorite. This is strange, since in Canada it seems like everyone's favorite holiday is Christmas hands down. In Korea, however, some of the favorite holidays are "Arbor Day" (Tree-planting holiday), "Korean Independence Day" (August 13), and my personal favorite, "Chocolate Dipped Cookie Day." That's right - they have a holiday devoted to nothing else except chocolate dipped cookies. It makes me think we might be missing out on something in Canada!
"Pepero Day" falls on November 11, which of course, is also the Canadian Remembrance Day. I had a bit of a blonde moment the other day when I asked one of my students why he wrote an essay about eating chocolate cookies on Remembrance Day... oops. Talk about a look of confusion! Anyway, apparently Pepero Day is a bit like Valentines Day. You give out cookies (chocolate-dipped, of course) to your boyfriend/girlfriend. I have insisted that Andrew and I follow the Korean tradition this year. And, there will be no forgetting!
Halloween is next week which is pretty exciting for me. Halloween has always been one of the holidays that I anticipate the most in the year. I'd like to say that it's the kids in their costumes, or the excitement, but to be honest, it's probably just the candy! We usually have a "stash" of candy in our house after Halloween until the end of November. Also, it reminds me of going out trick-or-treating with friends when I was little. I'm sure every kid did this, but we would start at like 4:30 and go until 9 or 10. I am really appreciative of the parents (including my own!) who got dragged around with us for all that time. Although, I'm sure every parent stole candy (as a "reward") from their kids, like my parents did.... right? My "tootsie rolls" and "Reece's Pieces" would always go mysteriously missing shortly after bringing them home.
Anyway, as I was saying... Halloween is next week! Koreans know what Halloween is, but they don't really do anything for it. Some kids dress up in costumes (we've seen some costumes for sale anyway) but they definitely do NOT go trick-or-treating. I explained to them last week how in Canada we go from house-to-house yelling at people in exchange for candy. They thought this was ridiculous! They were like "teacher, do people get mad?" It was funny. Anyway, Andrew and I have planned a Halloween party for the entire hagwon on Monday. It has been a lot of work since we not only have 200 students, but also have students which range in age from 7 - 17. This, combined with the fact that they only speak very basic English, makes for a tough task! Our games are pretty simple - bobbing for apples, scavenger hunt and listening to Halloween games and songs. Anyway, it should be a lot of fun BUT a lot of work. We're going to work at 10 on Monday and are staying until 9 or so at night. The teachers are going "trick-or-treating" to some of the students houses later at night for fun. I knew I'd get some candy somehow!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Halloween! Make sure to have some candy!
Love and miss you all,
Love, Tara and Andrew
XOXO
By the way, Tara's 'flu' turned out to be a mild case of pneumonia! She is all better now, but (probably due to the stress of taking care of Tara) I have come down with a cold... Maybe soon we will get a weekend where one of us isn't sick. We are going to go hiking again tomorrow up Gyereon Mountain, so we will put up some pictures of that, and the kids on Halloween as well. So, we'll post some pictures soon!
-Andrew
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Hana, Dul, Set.... Hana, Dul, Set
Hello friends!
Well we came to the realization yesterday that we have been here for over 1 month already, hard to believe isn't it? It has actually gone by quicker than I had imagined. I guess that's easy enough said with only one month down and 11 more to go - but, here's for hoping!
So, we started something new last week. It's probably something that you would never in a million years see me (and Andrew, for that matter) doing. No... it's not eating dog! We actually started taking a martial arts class. It's called Taekkyon. We started taking it last Tuesday, and every day since then we both feel like we've been hit by a bus. It's incredibly intense! First of all, we have to stretch in ways that I don't think either of us ever have (think: basically the splits but only one leg juts out to the side. Also, you have to remain upright). Once you think you've got the stretch down, the "Master" comes along and pulls your extended leg out another 4-6 inches! Everyone usually has tears running down their faces by the end of the class. Secondly, we have to move in the funniest ways. We have only learned one step, so far, but it has pretty much left us counting, "hana, dul, set" (one, two, three) in our sleep. The "basic step" (did I mention the class is all in Korean?) is pretty much like dancing. "Dancing" automatically means that I've got a hand up on Andrew in this department. Andrew says it must be due to "all" the nights I spent at the Sutherland!
So, we're taking the class 5 days a week for 1.5 hours each day. We should be lean, mean, fighting machines by the time we get back home. Okay, I KNOW that you're laughing at us now. We'll send some videos as soon as we have some skills to show off! I'm glad that I'm a girl because they go A LOT easier on me than they do on Andrew. At one point last week the "Master" was trying to explain to us (in Korean, of course) a move where you sort of "leap" from side to side. He turned to Andrew and said, "go!" just before he started kicking at Andrew's head. NOTHING can get you to master a move than if a foot is flying at your head! I actually just about screamed! (It was honestly crazy, I had milliseconds to jump from side to side as he kicked the air where I had just been -Andrew)
We went to the World Cup Stadium on Sunday to try to go swimming (to sooth our aching muscles!). The World Cup Stadium is only about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. When we got there, there was a soccer game going on. It was only a high school game but the energy in the crowd was HUGE! I found this so funny because Koreans are pretty reserved. Anytime we've ever seen a performance of some type, Koreans just sort of smile and give a polite clap at the end. In Canada there always seems to be a lot of yelling, cheering (especially at Rod Stewart concerts!) and just generally a lot of energy. Anyway, I guess that soccer is a whole other ball game (no pun intended) for Koreans. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and just sort of cheered for both sides (hey, we're foreign!). We also went swimming, but it was definitely NOT as enjoyable as the soccer game. It was lane swimming with about 15 people per lane. Also, as per usual, Andrew and I seemed to attract the majority of the kids into our area!
I have unfortunately caught my first Asian flu (no, not THE Asian Flu, don't worry!). I have been achy and coughing since the weekend. I went to the doctors tonight and got a shot in the butt (first time since I was 5 years old I think!) and got multitude of pills to take. Anyway, the doctor says I should be feeling better by the end of this week. I like how my flu has gotten me out of "dish duty" for the week, ahhhhhhh.
Anyway, we are still doing well. We miss everyone so much. Your posts have been so great. They all make our day! We check the site about 5 times a day. I'm not joking!
Hope everything is well with all of you,
Tara and Andrew
XO
Well we came to the realization yesterday that we have been here for over 1 month already, hard to believe isn't it? It has actually gone by quicker than I had imagined. I guess that's easy enough said with only one month down and 11 more to go - but, here's for hoping!
So, we started something new last week. It's probably something that you would never in a million years see me (and Andrew, for that matter) doing. No... it's not eating dog! We actually started taking a martial arts class. It's called Taekkyon. We started taking it last Tuesday, and every day since then we both feel like we've been hit by a bus. It's incredibly intense! First of all, we have to stretch in ways that I don't think either of us ever have (think: basically the splits but only one leg juts out to the side. Also, you have to remain upright). Once you think you've got the stretch down, the "Master" comes along and pulls your extended leg out another 4-6 inches! Everyone usually has tears running down their faces by the end of the class. Secondly, we have to move in the funniest ways. We have only learned one step, so far, but it has pretty much left us counting, "hana, dul, set" (one, two, three) in our sleep. The "basic step" (did I mention the class is all in Korean?) is pretty much like dancing. "Dancing" automatically means that I've got a hand up on Andrew in this department. Andrew says it must be due to "all" the nights I spent at the Sutherland!
So, we're taking the class 5 days a week for 1.5 hours each day. We should be lean, mean, fighting machines by the time we get back home. Okay, I KNOW that you're laughing at us now. We'll send some videos as soon as we have some skills to show off! I'm glad that I'm a girl because they go A LOT easier on me than they do on Andrew. At one point last week the "Master" was trying to explain to us (in Korean, of course) a move where you sort of "leap" from side to side. He turned to Andrew and said, "go!" just before he started kicking at Andrew's head. NOTHING can get you to master a move than if a foot is flying at your head! I actually just about screamed! (It was honestly crazy, I had milliseconds to jump from side to side as he kicked the air where I had just been -Andrew)
We went to the World Cup Stadium on Sunday to try to go swimming (to sooth our aching muscles!). The World Cup Stadium is only about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. When we got there, there was a soccer game going on. It was only a high school game but the energy in the crowd was HUGE! I found this so funny because Koreans are pretty reserved. Anytime we've ever seen a performance of some type, Koreans just sort of smile and give a polite clap at the end. In Canada there always seems to be a lot of yelling, cheering (especially at Rod Stewart concerts!) and just generally a lot of energy. Anyway, I guess that soccer is a whole other ball game (no pun intended) for Koreans. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and just sort of cheered for both sides (hey, we're foreign!). We also went swimming, but it was definitely NOT as enjoyable as the soccer game. It was lane swimming with about 15 people per lane. Also, as per usual, Andrew and I seemed to attract the majority of the kids into our area!
I have unfortunately caught my first Asian flu (no, not THE Asian Flu, don't worry!). I have been achy and coughing since the weekend. I went to the doctors tonight and got a shot in the butt (first time since I was 5 years old I think!) and got multitude of pills to take. Anyway, the doctor says I should be feeling better by the end of this week. I like how my flu has gotten me out of "dish duty" for the week, ahhhhhhh.
Anyway, we are still doing well. We miss everyone so much. Your posts have been so great. They all make our day! We check the site about 5 times a day. I'm not joking!
Hope everything is well with all of you,
Tara and Andrew
XO
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
Well, after 5 days, 4 nights, 3 taxis, 2 bus trips and 1 train ride our short vacation is over. We went from Daejeon to Andong for the mask festival and then to Gyeongju for sight-seeing. I think we did more walking than anything and I don't know how I will stand all day tomorrow because my feet are killing me.
Andong was pretty cool. The mask festival was kind of like FolkFest. In addition to the displays from across Korea they had different dances from all over the world - Latvia, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Mexico.. etc.. Except in Korea they actually bring dancers in from their respective countries (maybe because there really aren't any Latvians here). We stayed in a homestay in a small, slightly touristy, 'authentic' village about 40 minutes away from Andong. The village, Hahoe (Ha-hway), also had a stage there for the mask festival.
For anyone who doesn't know, a homestay is where you stay with a local family. We had a small... tiny room that was really just a wall papered cube with a wood/paper door that opened to the outside. It was actually pretty comfortable... but I think we were a little late in booking the place because some of the other homestay places looked a lot nicer.
We arrived at our homestay at around noon on Tuesday and headed back into Andong to watch an event called a Chachan-nori (or so I think). It was pretty cool.. some kind of pseudo-fight between two teams. Each team carries a man wearing impressive armour on a log platform. They fight it out in a kind of pushing contest. I will put up a picture or two of this. We wandered around for a few hours and barely caught the last bus to get back to Hahoe. We had been given a bus schedule but when we asked bus drivers about when the bus was coming they would make an X with their arms to indicate that the bus was cancelled.
So yeah, caught the very last bus that night. Supper was pretty decent - had some fish and soup... pretty typical Korean food. After supper we took a quiet walk around the town - it was really a beautiful little place. As the town was pretty much dead after 7pm we had a pretty early night. Now as you will see in the pictures, there is no bed in the room... only some thick sheets that lay on the floor. It wasn't too bad... not really something I would want to do long term though. But anyway, I woke up after maybe an hour of sleep to find I was really, really hot. Now after trying out the saunas I realize that Koreans really like the heat, but this was ridiculous. So after throwing off the thin sheet and still being way too hot I thought maybe the floor would be nice to sleep on. Wrong. The floor was actually too hot to touch for longer than a couple of seconds. It was like sand on a beach on a hot day. I don't know how people can be comfortable like this.
We planned to spend the next day/night in Hahoe checking out the village and the mask dance events. So we got up in the morning and quickly realized that there was really nothing for breakfast. The fried fish and soup from the night before really didn't look as good for breakfast as it was for supper. We spent a loooong time looking for something to eat that was somewhat 'breakfasty'. We finally settled for some kind of peanut/nougat candy, a few cans of orange juice, some rice cakes, and some bibimbap (if I haven't explained before, some seaweed and noodles in a bowl with an egg on top) without the egg. For the rest of the day we explored the town, went across the river by pole boat to see an old temple/residence, and took in some Mexican and Slovakian dance shows... then spent another night in the sauna cube with the hot floors.
The next morning as we were trying to leave the homestay we found that the only family member around was the grandmother (or maybe housekeeper.. she seemed to be doing all the work) and she didn't speak any English. Since we weren't sure how much we owed so this was kind of difficult. After ten minutes of trying to communicate to her that we were leaving and wanting to pay I finally just gave her a bunch of money, she smiled, and we left. We spent the rest of the day walking around Andong and taking the train ride to Gyeongju.
We got to Gyeongju around 5 and by the time we were settled into our hotel it was 6 or so. We took the bus out to a ritzy area known as the Bomun Lake Resort. There were a ton of fancy hotels with rooms starting at $200 a night (and going up to at least $3000) and they were packed full of Koreans taking advantage of the holiday. After walking for about an hour trying to find a place to eat with food that A. We wanted to eat and B. we could afford we found a nice restaurant that had a few appetizing dishes in our price range.
It was kind of funny - it was a really fancy restaurant, with French doors, chandeliers, bells to call for the waiters etc etc. Tara ordered a fish cutlet... and we were kind of anticipating maybe a nice filet, some rice maybe... what came was: two fish sticks with bbq sauce and tartar sauce, a few mexi fries, and some corn. It is really funny when they try to make 'Western food' at some of these places.
Anyway, the next day we went to a number of really nice Silla (one of the various empires that existed in Korea around 1500 years ago) and Buddhist tourist sites including some tombs, temples, and other old things. The tombs were pretty interesting. They started by making a 3m x 3m x 1m wooden box and placed inside the deceased important person with all his belongings. They then piled about 4m of stones all around and on top of the box to form a mound. The mound of stones was then covered with 1/2m of clay. They clay was covered with 5m of earth. Apparently the method worked really well as most of the tombs were untouched when the archeologists of the 20th century started digging them up. There were a lot of these tombs too... maybe 20 that we saw, all over the city just popping up all over the place.
The next day was spent just walking around the city as there was a large shopping area. We probably walked for about 8 hours. I was really ready to leave by the time when headed back to Daejeon. We arrived back around 9 and today we went to downtown Daejeon. It is pretty impressive (minus the smog). There is a huge underground shopping area... I mean huge. It stretches for blocks and blocks. We went there with some people we met in Gyeongju who are also teaching in Daejeon. They also took us to Costco which was pretty nice. Managed to buy some things we have been missing - black beans, nachos/salsa/guacamole, dried blueberries, spices, cereal, and lots more. Unfortunately they didn't have any chickpeas...
So anyway, I'm sure this is long and boring enough. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!
P.S. I've uploaded a bunch more pictures for your viewing pleasure!
Andong was pretty cool. The mask festival was kind of like FolkFest. In addition to the displays from across Korea they had different dances from all over the world - Latvia, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Mexico.. etc.. Except in Korea they actually bring dancers in from their respective countries (maybe because there really aren't any Latvians here). We stayed in a homestay in a small, slightly touristy, 'authentic' village about 40 minutes away from Andong. The village, Hahoe (Ha-hway), also had a stage there for the mask festival.
For anyone who doesn't know, a homestay is where you stay with a local family. We had a small... tiny room that was really just a wall papered cube with a wood/paper door that opened to the outside. It was actually pretty comfortable... but I think we were a little late in booking the place because some of the other homestay places looked a lot nicer.
We arrived at our homestay at around noon on Tuesday and headed back into Andong to watch an event called a Chachan-nori (or so I think). It was pretty cool.. some kind of pseudo-fight between two teams. Each team carries a man wearing impressive armour on a log platform. They fight it out in a kind of pushing contest. I will put up a picture or two of this. We wandered around for a few hours and barely caught the last bus to get back to Hahoe. We had been given a bus schedule but when we asked bus drivers about when the bus was coming they would make an X with their arms to indicate that the bus was cancelled.
So yeah, caught the very last bus that night. Supper was pretty decent - had some fish and soup... pretty typical Korean food. After supper we took a quiet walk around the town - it was really a beautiful little place. As the town was pretty much dead after 7pm we had a pretty early night. Now as you will see in the pictures, there is no bed in the room... only some thick sheets that lay on the floor. It wasn't too bad... not really something I would want to do long term though. But anyway, I woke up after maybe an hour of sleep to find I was really, really hot. Now after trying out the saunas I realize that Koreans really like the heat, but this was ridiculous. So after throwing off the thin sheet and still being way too hot I thought maybe the floor would be nice to sleep on. Wrong. The floor was actually too hot to touch for longer than a couple of seconds. It was like sand on a beach on a hot day. I don't know how people can be comfortable like this.
We planned to spend the next day/night in Hahoe checking out the village and the mask dance events. So we got up in the morning and quickly realized that there was really nothing for breakfast. The fried fish and soup from the night before really didn't look as good for breakfast as it was for supper. We spent a loooong time looking for something to eat that was somewhat 'breakfasty'. We finally settled for some kind of peanut/nougat candy, a few cans of orange juice, some rice cakes, and some bibimbap (if I haven't explained before, some seaweed and noodles in a bowl with an egg on top) without the egg. For the rest of the day we explored the town, went across the river by pole boat to see an old temple/residence, and took in some Mexican and Slovakian dance shows... then spent another night in the sauna cube with the hot floors.
The next morning as we were trying to leave the homestay we found that the only family member around was the grandmother (or maybe housekeeper.. she seemed to be doing all the work) and she didn't speak any English. Since we weren't sure how much we owed so this was kind of difficult. After ten minutes of trying to communicate to her that we were leaving and wanting to pay I finally just gave her a bunch of money, she smiled, and we left. We spent the rest of the day walking around Andong and taking the train ride to Gyeongju.
We got to Gyeongju around 5 and by the time we were settled into our hotel it was 6 or so. We took the bus out to a ritzy area known as the Bomun Lake Resort. There were a ton of fancy hotels with rooms starting at $200 a night (and going up to at least $3000) and they were packed full of Koreans taking advantage of the holiday. After walking for about an hour trying to find a place to eat with food that A. We wanted to eat and B. we could afford we found a nice restaurant that had a few appetizing dishes in our price range.
It was kind of funny - it was a really fancy restaurant, with French doors, chandeliers, bells to call for the waiters etc etc. Tara ordered a fish cutlet... and we were kind of anticipating maybe a nice filet, some rice maybe... what came was: two fish sticks with bbq sauce and tartar sauce, a few mexi fries, and some corn. It is really funny when they try to make 'Western food' at some of these places.
Anyway, the next day we went to a number of really nice Silla (one of the various empires that existed in Korea around 1500 years ago) and Buddhist tourist sites including some tombs, temples, and other old things. The tombs were pretty interesting. They started by making a 3m x 3m x 1m wooden box and placed inside the deceased important person with all his belongings. They then piled about 4m of stones all around and on top of the box to form a mound. The mound of stones was then covered with 1/2m of clay. They clay was covered with 5m of earth. Apparently the method worked really well as most of the tombs were untouched when the archeologists of the 20th century started digging them up. There were a lot of these tombs too... maybe 20 that we saw, all over the city just popping up all over the place.
The next day was spent just walking around the city as there was a large shopping area. We probably walked for about 8 hours. I was really ready to leave by the time when headed back to Daejeon. We arrived back around 9 and today we went to downtown Daejeon. It is pretty impressive (minus the smog). There is a huge underground shopping area... I mean huge. It stretches for blocks and blocks. We went there with some people we met in Gyeongju who are also teaching in Daejeon. They also took us to Costco which was pretty nice. Managed to buy some things we have been missing - black beans, nachos/salsa/guacamole, dried blueberries, spices, cereal, and lots more. Unfortunately they didn't have any chickpeas...
So anyway, I'm sure this is long and boring enough. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!
P.S. I've uploaded a bunch more pictures for your viewing pleasure!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Well... that was... different
Hey everyone, my turn to put up a new post...
It has been a fairly slow week. Probably partially due to the new computer, or maybe because we're in shock at how much money we've spent so far. Way too much.
We have been exploring our area (Noeun) quite a bit and yesterday we went for a short hike through some nice hills that are only about a 5 minute walk from our place. We hiked for an hour or so, stopping to chat with some Koreans, as well as some other foreign teachers. As was the case with Gyereongsan (the mountain we hiked last weekend) it seems like Koreans really like the whole outdoor/hiking thing. And since we found out that there are at least 8-10km of trail right by our place... we don't really have any excuse not to get into good shape. It was really quite nice there too... lots of trees, and a few nice places to take in a good view of the city.
So for anyone who didn't know, today (Sunday, October 1st) is Tara's 22nd birthday. To celebrate Tara's day we had a nice day doing whatever Tara wanted. This is usually the case anyway (not that I'm complaining... ), but she liked the idea. And so did I, because I haven't had a chance to buy her anything.
So, the day started off with a nice relaxing morning while we decided which of the many, many spas we should go to. We live in part of the Yuseong district which is supposedly world famous for its hot springs. So we decided to go to the spa in the hotel Yousung, one of the older spas. We hopped on the bus (let me sidetrack a bit. The bus system here is great. You never have to wait more than 5-10 minutes for a bus and the fare is only around 20 cents per person.) and were on our way. We got to the spa at around 1:40... the admission was pretty cheap, ~5$ each, and the spa had separate areas for men and women. We decided to meet back in an hour.
I have to say I was a bit apprehensive. I had heard stories... and yeah they were pretty much all true. The change room was fairly standard - you get a locker for your shoes and a locker for your clothes. The spa is basically a large room with a number of wading pools - some hot, some cold, some with different herbs infused into the water. There was also an outdoor area with a few small pools. There were around 7 or 8 rows of showers. There were also two types of saunas (both extremely hot... breathing if my head was held too high felt like my lungs were being cooked). And there were naked men, young and old. Everywhere.
As I said, I was a bit apprehensive. But really, it just seemed really normal. Everyone just kind of did their thing... and hey, when in Rome. The most uncomfortable part was worrying that I wasn't following proper etiquette somehow. Or that I was white and got at least one really disapproving glare. Everything went fine though, and I came out feeling refreshed. Maybe I'd even go again. Maybe. I made it out 10 minutes earlier than was planned, and Tara was already waiting. From what she told me, the womens side was similar. Only the naked women on her side tried to engage in conversation with her. I felt pretty happy to have been spared that.
So, we walked around looking for a decent restaurant... and when we didn't see anything particularly exciting we took the bus back (20 cents each! I love this whole not driving thing) and continued the dia de la Tara.
So anyone who knows Tara can guess what came next. Hair salon time. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. It was a really nice looking place: Tara got a nice haircut/styling and hand massage while I waited at a table beside her eating complimentary popcorn/fruit and drinking complimentary juice. And Tara was happy with her haircut... which is important to her. And it was cheap... which is important to me.
So as far as interesting things go, that's about all I've got for now. This week we have 4 days off while the Koreans celebrate Chuseok (kind of a Korean Thanksgiving). We head out on Tuesday morning for a 5 day trip to the eastern side of the country. We'll have lots of good pictures and stories from that I'm sure. It has been nice to read all the comments everyone has been leaving. Keep it up! Tara checks the blog for new comments probably as much or more than some people check the blog for new posts.
So look for a new post next Sunday. Merry Chuseok everyone!
It has been a fairly slow week. Probably partially due to the new computer, or maybe because we're in shock at how much money we've spent so far. Way too much.
We have been exploring our area (Noeun) quite a bit and yesterday we went for a short hike through some nice hills that are only about a 5 minute walk from our place. We hiked for an hour or so, stopping to chat with some Koreans, as well as some other foreign teachers. As was the case with Gyereongsan (the mountain we hiked last weekend) it seems like Koreans really like the whole outdoor/hiking thing. And since we found out that there are at least 8-10km of trail right by our place... we don't really have any excuse not to get into good shape. It was really quite nice there too... lots of trees, and a few nice places to take in a good view of the city.
So for anyone who didn't know, today (Sunday, October 1st) is Tara's 22nd birthday. To celebrate Tara's day we had a nice day doing whatever Tara wanted. This is usually the case anyway (not that I'm complaining... ), but she liked the idea. And so did I, because I haven't had a chance to buy her anything.
So, the day started off with a nice relaxing morning while we decided which of the many, many spas we should go to. We live in part of the Yuseong district which is supposedly world famous for its hot springs. So we decided to go to the spa in the hotel Yousung, one of the older spas. We hopped on the bus (let me sidetrack a bit. The bus system here is great. You never have to wait more than 5-10 minutes for a bus and the fare is only around 20 cents per person.) and were on our way. We got to the spa at around 1:40... the admission was pretty cheap, ~5$ each, and the spa had separate areas for men and women. We decided to meet back in an hour.
I have to say I was a bit apprehensive. I had heard stories... and yeah they were pretty much all true. The change room was fairly standard - you get a locker for your shoes and a locker for your clothes. The spa is basically a large room with a number of wading pools - some hot, some cold, some with different herbs infused into the water. There was also an outdoor area with a few small pools. There were around 7 or 8 rows of showers. There were also two types of saunas (both extremely hot... breathing if my head was held too high felt like my lungs were being cooked). And there were naked men, young and old. Everywhere.
As I said, I was a bit apprehensive. But really, it just seemed really normal. Everyone just kind of did their thing... and hey, when in Rome. The most uncomfortable part was worrying that I wasn't following proper etiquette somehow. Or that I was white and got at least one really disapproving glare. Everything went fine though, and I came out feeling refreshed. Maybe I'd even go again. Maybe. I made it out 10 minutes earlier than was planned, and Tara was already waiting. From what she told me, the womens side was similar. Only the naked women on her side tried to engage in conversation with her. I felt pretty happy to have been spared that.
So, we walked around looking for a decent restaurant... and when we didn't see anything particularly exciting we took the bus back (20 cents each! I love this whole not driving thing) and continued the dia de la Tara.
So anyone who knows Tara can guess what came next. Hair salon time. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. It was a really nice looking place: Tara got a nice haircut/styling and hand massage while I waited at a table beside her eating complimentary popcorn/fruit and drinking complimentary juice. And Tara was happy with her haircut... which is important to her. And it was cheap... which is important to me.
So as far as interesting things go, that's about all I've got for now. This week we have 4 days off while the Koreans celebrate Chuseok (kind of a Korean Thanksgiving). We head out on Tuesday morning for a 5 day trip to the eastern side of the country. We'll have lots of good pictures and stories from that I'm sure. It has been nice to read all the comments everyone has been leaving. Keep it up! Tara checks the blog for new comments probably as much or more than some people check the blog for new posts.
So look for a new post next Sunday. Merry Chuseok everyone!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Two weeks down...
Yay, our shiny new computer has arrived! Well to be honest, it's not very shiny or new (since it's used) - but, it's arrived nonetheless! We are very excited that we won't have to frequent the smokey internet cafe's anymore. Anyway, I think you will be "seeing" quite a bit more of us!
Well we're settled in now, and actually this little apartment is starting to feel like home. You'd all be so impressed at how clean we're keeping the place - no creepy crawlies here (well at least that we know of). The job is also starting to become a bit easier. The hardest part is getting yourself organized every day. It's like this: We have to send out report cards every month and we must have at least four test results for each class. It gets a little confusing when you have lesson planning, marking, book orders, book reports and monthly schedules to do on top of making tests and doing report cards. Then repeat for each of the 15 or so classes we both have. Luckily we don't have to do report cards until next month. We haven't been fired yet, so we must be doing something right (orrr, maybe they're giving us ONE more chance!)
Last week was FANTASTIC! I must admit that we had some very strange experiences but I'll let you be the judge. I'll give you all a play-by-play:
Ping-Pong: So, the week before last we kept on hearing what sounded like ping-pong in a building across the street. So one night we ventured up to the 4th floor wearing our work clothes and were pleasantly surprised to find an entire gym of ping-pong tables! Slightly distracting was the fact that all of the "pongers" (apparently that's what they're called) were dressed in uniforms. So, not only are we the whitest, tallest and gangliest people in the room - we are also the most unappropriately dressed. Anyway, we sucked it up and rented a table. Until the first serve was played out (compliments of moi) you could have heard a pin drop - and I'm pretty sure I heard one cricket chirping. Anyhow, we showed them pretty quickly that we indeed did NOT know how to play ping-pong. They, on the other hand, were AMAZING! They moved their whole bodies when they hit - very cool!
Seafood Restaurant: On Friday night our director let us leave half an hour early to go out for supper. She recommended a seafood restaurant that was about a 10 minute walk from the Hagwon. I must explain that in Korea seafood restaurants are just about on every corner (in between each corner there are another 5-10 non-seafood restaurants). The problem with the restaurants is that while indeed they have giant eels and fish swimming around in tanks in front of the restaurant, they look a bit grungy. And of course me being a Microbiologist, I have slight reservations against eating seafood in a place where there is more scum in the tank than I've seen in any toilet.
ANYWAY, we took our directors advice and went to the restaurant. So first impressions were good - lots of people and the tanks were really only slightly scumy. The menu came and of course it was all in Korean. So we pretty much did the "eeny-meanie" thing and landed on something that cost 30,000 dollars... I mean won. Within a few minutes about 15-20 dishes arrived. There were 6 or 7 different types of fish, soup, kimchi, salads, vegetables.... everything! Just as Andrew made the comment "If one more dish comes I think I will scream", another 10 dishes came out. We soon found out that the first 20 dishes were just appetizers. Needless to say we enjoyed it thoroughly and were very, very, very stuffed.
Made a Friend: One of the most surprising things to me since I've been here is the total lack of foreigners living in our area. I've only seen two so far. But, you will be all very happy to hear that we made a friend! There is a guy that lives near the World Cup Stadium (about a 10 minute walk) who is from California. On Saturday night he and his wife showed us around the area. The best part about it was that now we have finally met a foreigner who is completely happy living in Korea. Before I left I was so worried that Andrew and I wouldn't like it here and we'd sort of be "stuck" in our jobs. So, it was nice talking to someone who likes it and plans on staying here for a while (he's already been here 3 years).
Hiked a Mountain: This was my personal highlight of the week. On Sunday morning bright and early we hiked one of the mountains (I don't know the name) that is about a 5 minute drive from our house. It took us about 4 hours total and it was absolutely beautiful. Andrew will put some pictures up of the hike. We did one of the easier hikes as we are not in the greatest shape. Maybe in a month we will try a harder one.
Well, so far things have been great. This weekend I think we might go to the spa (world famous Yuseong Spa!) for my birthday, and next week we only have to work on Monday. There is a Korean holiday next week and we are going to take off for 4-5 days to see more of Korea. We plan to go to a Mask Festival in Andong (www.maskdance.com) and then to Gyeongju. Gyeongju apparently has a lot of things for tourists to see.
Being busy has helped us keep our minds off of being homesick, but trust me, we are! Send us a post or an e-mail if you get a chance. We miss you all!
Tara and Andrew
Well we're settled in now, and actually this little apartment is starting to feel like home. You'd all be so impressed at how clean we're keeping the place - no creepy crawlies here (well at least that we know of). The job is also starting to become a bit easier. The hardest part is getting yourself organized every day. It's like this: We have to send out report cards every month and we must have at least four test results for each class. It gets a little confusing when you have lesson planning, marking, book orders, book reports and monthly schedules to do on top of making tests and doing report cards. Then repeat for each of the 15 or so classes we both have. Luckily we don't have to do report cards until next month. We haven't been fired yet, so we must be doing something right (orrr, maybe they're giving us ONE more chance!)
Last week was FANTASTIC! I must admit that we had some very strange experiences but I'll let you be the judge. I'll give you all a play-by-play:
Ping-Pong: So, the week before last we kept on hearing what sounded like ping-pong in a building across the street. So one night we ventured up to the 4th floor wearing our work clothes and were pleasantly surprised to find an entire gym of ping-pong tables! Slightly distracting was the fact that all of the "pongers" (apparently that's what they're called) were dressed in uniforms. So, not only are we the whitest, tallest and gangliest people in the room - we are also the most unappropriately dressed. Anyway, we sucked it up and rented a table. Until the first serve was played out (compliments of moi) you could have heard a pin drop - and I'm pretty sure I heard one cricket chirping. Anyhow, we showed them pretty quickly that we indeed did NOT know how to play ping-pong. They, on the other hand, were AMAZING! They moved their whole bodies when they hit - very cool!
Seafood Restaurant: On Friday night our director let us leave half an hour early to go out for supper. She recommended a seafood restaurant that was about a 10 minute walk from the Hagwon. I must explain that in Korea seafood restaurants are just about on every corner (in between each corner there are another 5-10 non-seafood restaurants). The problem with the restaurants is that while indeed they have giant eels and fish swimming around in tanks in front of the restaurant, they look a bit grungy. And of course me being a Microbiologist, I have slight reservations against eating seafood in a place where there is more scum in the tank than I've seen in any toilet.
ANYWAY, we took our directors advice and went to the restaurant. So first impressions were good - lots of people and the tanks were really only slightly scumy. The menu came and of course it was all in Korean. So we pretty much did the "eeny-meanie" thing and landed on something that cost 30,000 dollars... I mean won. Within a few minutes about 15-20 dishes arrived. There were 6 or 7 different types of fish, soup, kimchi, salads, vegetables.... everything! Just as Andrew made the comment "If one more dish comes I think I will scream", another 10 dishes came out. We soon found out that the first 20 dishes were just appetizers. Needless to say we enjoyed it thoroughly and were very, very, very stuffed.
Made a Friend: One of the most surprising things to me since I've been here is the total lack of foreigners living in our area. I've only seen two so far. But, you will be all very happy to hear that we made a friend! There is a guy that lives near the World Cup Stadium (about a 10 minute walk) who is from California. On Saturday night he and his wife showed us around the area. The best part about it was that now we have finally met a foreigner who is completely happy living in Korea. Before I left I was so worried that Andrew and I wouldn't like it here and we'd sort of be "stuck" in our jobs. So, it was nice talking to someone who likes it and plans on staying here for a while (he's already been here 3 years).
Hiked a Mountain: This was my personal highlight of the week. On Sunday morning bright and early we hiked one of the mountains (I don't know the name) that is about a 5 minute drive from our house. It took us about 4 hours total and it was absolutely beautiful. Andrew will put some pictures up of the hike. We did one of the easier hikes as we are not in the greatest shape. Maybe in a month we will try a harder one.
Well, so far things have been great. This weekend I think we might go to the spa (world famous Yuseong Spa!) for my birthday, and next week we only have to work on Monday. There is a Korean holiday next week and we are going to take off for 4-5 days to see more of Korea. We plan to go to a Mask Festival in Andong (www.maskdance.com) and then to Gyeongju. Gyeongju apparently has a lot of things for tourists to see.
Being busy has helped us keep our minds off of being homesick, but trust me, we are! Send us a post or an e-mail if you get a chance. We miss you all!
Tara and Andrew
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Rain drops are falling on my head...
Hello!
I thought I'd update the blog quickly to let you all know that we are alive and well. Actually "well" only pertains to me at the moment because Andrew has unfortunately caught his first cold here in Asia. He's doing alright though - no need to worry (mom's and dad's!).
The rest of our work week went suprisingly well! I'm starting to get used to the kids and the culture... well slightly anyway. I've started to make some "buddies" in my classes and I must say it's nice to have some allies! This one little girl I teach named "Kally" brings me doughnuts or cookies every day - such a cutie. On the other hand, I've made a few enemies as well. Andrew caught me telling this one boy ("Terrence") on Friday that if he continued to punch his friend and throw gobs of fun-tac at the girls that I was going to call his mother. If the kid only knew that I can't speak a stick of Korean, so calling his mother will never happen! Oh well, the fear tactic seems to be working quite well on him anyway.
You all may find it very funny and surprising that Andrew thinks he's found his "niche" teaching in Korea. He loves it! I had thought before coming here that I was going to end up liking the job much more than Andrew did. But in all honesty, I think he's enjoying it more than me. Needless to say, I may have to drag him kicking and screaming home at the end of this year. Time will tell anyway!
We didn't end up doing too much this weekend - partly due to the rainy weather (Korea got a typhoon yesterday!) and partly due to Andrew getting sick. We did, however, go downtown for the afternoon yesterday. It's quite scary leaving our little district not knowing any Korean. Me being the worrier I am, always wonders "what happens if we need help?!." I need to get over this paranoia I think since we both want to venture into Seoul in the next couple of weeks. Downtown Daejeon was pretty quiet actually, nothing like what we saw of Seoul. We went to a few department stores and into a few malls.
I had sort of a funny experience the other day in one of the malls in our district (about a 2 minute walk from our apartment). I was looking at a pair of jeans and a sales lady came up and started talking to me in Korean. Then she sort of did the "once-over" and grabbed the biggest size on the rack! I must say that even though Andrew and I are pretty large here - we definately won't fit the largest size! Anyway, that was pretty funny for both of us. We were joking that maybe I should just buy 2 pairs and get them sown together and hopefully that'll fit. Oh, funny stuff.
Anyway, I should get back and tend to the "sickie." We're going out with our director for supper tonight.
Hope all is well with all of you!
Love, Tara
I thought I'd update the blog quickly to let you all know that we are alive and well. Actually "well" only pertains to me at the moment because Andrew has unfortunately caught his first cold here in Asia. He's doing alright though - no need to worry (mom's and dad's!).
The rest of our work week went suprisingly well! I'm starting to get used to the kids and the culture... well slightly anyway. I've started to make some "buddies" in my classes and I must say it's nice to have some allies! This one little girl I teach named "Kally" brings me doughnuts or cookies every day - such a cutie. On the other hand, I've made a few enemies as well. Andrew caught me telling this one boy ("Terrence") on Friday that if he continued to punch his friend and throw gobs of fun-tac at the girls that I was going to call his mother. If the kid only knew that I can't speak a stick of Korean, so calling his mother will never happen! Oh well, the fear tactic seems to be working quite well on him anyway.
You all may find it very funny and surprising that Andrew thinks he's found his "niche" teaching in Korea. He loves it! I had thought before coming here that I was going to end up liking the job much more than Andrew did. But in all honesty, I think he's enjoying it more than me. Needless to say, I may have to drag him kicking and screaming home at the end of this year. Time will tell anyway!
We didn't end up doing too much this weekend - partly due to the rainy weather (Korea got a typhoon yesterday!) and partly due to Andrew getting sick. We did, however, go downtown for the afternoon yesterday. It's quite scary leaving our little district not knowing any Korean. Me being the worrier I am, always wonders "what happens if we need help?!." I need to get over this paranoia I think since we both want to venture into Seoul in the next couple of weeks. Downtown Daejeon was pretty quiet actually, nothing like what we saw of Seoul. We went to a few department stores and into a few malls.
I had sort of a funny experience the other day in one of the malls in our district (about a 2 minute walk from our apartment). I was looking at a pair of jeans and a sales lady came up and started talking to me in Korean. Then she sort of did the "once-over" and grabbed the biggest size on the rack! I must say that even though Andrew and I are pretty large here - we definately won't fit the largest size! Anyway, that was pretty funny for both of us. We were joking that maybe I should just buy 2 pairs and get them sown together and hopefully that'll fit. Oh, funny stuff.
Anyway, I should get back and tend to the "sickie." We're going out with our director for supper tonight.
Hope all is well with all of you!
Love, Tara
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Well it could be worse, right?
Hey Everyone!
Well I think today was the first day that we had the sudden and disturbing thought of "where the heck are we and what are we doing here?" Homesickness is creeping up on us fast. We're just glad that we're in it together!
So, we had our first day of teaching two days ago. It started out well - we went for supper at a traditional Korean restaurant with Ms. Kim and one of the foreign teachers we are replacing (Conor). A traditional Korean meal involves sitting on the floor and barbequing meat/vegetables in the middle of the table on a grill. The amazing part of the meal though is the number of side dishes that come with it. There were probably 20-30 different side dishes that accompany the meal. There was so much food, it was unbelievable!
After the meal were both pretty excited to start work. We got to the school and were shown how to use the computers to teach the classes - no problem, right? Maybe not for a computer scientist, but for me it was a very steep learning curve. Then, at around 1:30 one of the Korean teachers came running in on Andrew, Conor and I and told us frantically that I had to teach a class. Talk about being unprepared!
The first class didn't go so bad because Conor helped me out. It was just amazing to me how much of a language barrier there was. The simplest words such as "purse" involve props/pictures/sherades... very complicated. The kids are good for the most part, but there are definately a few monsters in the crowd. Those few kids are usually the smartest ones in the class and seem to also be the leaders. There have been various occasions in the past couple of days where you say something to the class and one kid will yell out something back in Korean. This usually results in all of the kids laughing hysterically at you while you're just sort of standing there thinking "what the heck just happened?" Anyway, the past few days have definately erased the sterotype that asian children are well behaved, disciplined and extremely curtious to their "elders."
Other than that, Andrew and I are starting to adjust to our new surroundings. We've located the nearest grocery store, found garbage bags (sorry fruit flies - your home is now elsewhere), found a coffee shop, a really beautiful park and a mall. This weekend we're just planning on exploring Daejeon - maybe take a trip to those glorious hot springs everyone talks about.
Anyway, we miss you all.... please e-mail us, WE'RE LONELY!!!!
Love, Andrew and Tara
Well I think today was the first day that we had the sudden and disturbing thought of "where the heck are we and what are we doing here?" Homesickness is creeping up on us fast. We're just glad that we're in it together!
So, we had our first day of teaching two days ago. It started out well - we went for supper at a traditional Korean restaurant with Ms. Kim and one of the foreign teachers we are replacing (Conor). A traditional Korean meal involves sitting on the floor and barbequing meat/vegetables in the middle of the table on a grill. The amazing part of the meal though is the number of side dishes that come with it. There were probably 20-30 different side dishes that accompany the meal. There was so much food, it was unbelievable!
After the meal were both pretty excited to start work. We got to the school and were shown how to use the computers to teach the classes - no problem, right? Maybe not for a computer scientist, but for me it was a very steep learning curve. Then, at around 1:30 one of the Korean teachers came running in on Andrew, Conor and I and told us frantically that I had to teach a class. Talk about being unprepared!
The first class didn't go so bad because Conor helped me out. It was just amazing to me how much of a language barrier there was. The simplest words such as "purse" involve props/pictures/sherades... very complicated. The kids are good for the most part, but there are definately a few monsters in the crowd. Those few kids are usually the smartest ones in the class and seem to also be the leaders. There have been various occasions in the past couple of days where you say something to the class and one kid will yell out something back in Korean. This usually results in all of the kids laughing hysterically at you while you're just sort of standing there thinking "what the heck just happened?" Anyway, the past few days have definately erased the sterotype that asian children are well behaved, disciplined and extremely curtious to their "elders."
Other than that, Andrew and I are starting to adjust to our new surroundings. We've located the nearest grocery store, found garbage bags (sorry fruit flies - your home is now elsewhere), found a coffee shop, a really beautiful park and a mall. This weekend we're just planning on exploring Daejeon - maybe take a trip to those glorious hot springs everyone talks about.
Anyway, we miss you all.... please e-mail us, WE'RE LONELY!!!!
Love, Andrew and Tara
Saturday, September 09, 2006
And 6000 miles later here we are!
Check out our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/21121589@N00/
Well, the plane ride went really fast, as with the 3 hour busride to Daejeon, our employers seem really friendly, and our apartment is nice! So far, so good!
We arrived at 3pm Korea time (midnight our time) and got on a bus at about 4pm. I'm sure it would have been a very interesting bus ride but we were both so tired we hardly stayed awake for more than an hour of the trip. I think we have figured out how they manage to have 21 million people in the Seoul area - thousands and thousands of massive apartment buildings! (I will try to get pictures up of this).
We arrived in Daejeon and Mr. Moon and Ms. Kim (our employers) were waiting for us at the bus stop. They were both very friendly and spoke English well enough to ease our fears. They took us first to the school - very modern and clean. We each get our own classroom and desk! Since by that time it was around 7pm in Korea - 4am SK time we went to our apartment from there. Which happened to be extremely close to the school. Maybe 50m. From the school we walk through a short alley and half a block down the street and bang-there we are.
Anyway, we were quite happy to see our apartment is pretty reasonably sized (maybe 500sq ft?) and quite nice. It has a small deck and spacious kitchen/dining room. The only things that are really small are the appliances (i.e. the fridge/freezer is maybe 3 feet tall). It also has two bedrooms (which Tara is happy to report are both larger than the one she left at home), one with attached bathroom, and another larger bathroom. The bathrooms are pretty interesting but I'll let Tara describe that.
Okay... so the bathroom is pretty much a tiled room with a toilet (western style - thank god!) and a shower - which is attached to the sink. As Andrew put it so eloquently "This is awesome - I can use the toilet, brush my teeth and shower all at the same time." I can't say I'm as enthused as he is... it'll definately be something to get used to! Other than the wierd bathrooms, however, the apartment is really nice. It's clean (no unwanted roomates so far) and pretty cosy. We have a TV, phone, dressers, desks... life is good.
So today we woke up REALLY early.... like 7 am. This was after forcing ourselves to go to sleep for another few hours at 4am. I keep thinking about the time as in Saskatoon time - so at 4am it was actually 1pm. Anyway, we got up at 7 and had some peanut butter/banana sandwiches (compliments of Ms. Kim) and spent a few hours unpacking and cleaning. I cleaned those bathrooms top to bottom - they were a bit grungy. After that we (I) got ready and set out to get groceries. We got to the corner and were standing in front of a giant map looking like confused tourists when a man stopped his SUV and came up to help us. Koreans are probably the most helpful/kind people I have ever met. There is the biggest language barrier, yet the second you start looking confused they are right there to help you. Anyway, we somehow got the message across to him that we were looking for a grocery store named Carrefour. He told us where it was but said it was too far to walk - and then offered us a ride (which we happily accepted)!
The grocery store was something else. The store itself was on the 2nd floor, but the rest of the building was a mall. It was beyond overwhelming! Even finding the simplest thing - say, garbage bags (which we still don't have) took forever as the packaging for goods is usually entirely in Korean and the pictures offer no help as to what the product is - maybe a cute cartoon character/space ship on a carton of cleaning supplies. We were basically like spinning around in the aisles looking clueless. We did manage to get cleaning supplies (Andrew's got some tidying to do), some cooking supplies and I found a FABULOUS straightener (cheapy, cheapy). The seafood section was AMAZING - it was all fresh, cheap and in HUGE amounts. There were fish in there that I had never seen in my life. We're definately going to be cooking some of those up when we get more settled in.
So, we took a cab back from the store and dropped our stuff off and went to 7-11 (7-11!!!!) to buy phone cards. Butttt, we realized that there were no public phones in sight - so we'll have to wait until our phone is hooked up to call home.
We just came from a restaurant which was recommended to us last night by Ms. Kim. It was quite good and very cheap. I had my first taste of Kimchi (Andrew already has eaten it).... it was good but very interesting. I think we'll both have to watch that we don't eat too many spicy foods for the first while.
Well that's all we have for now. Hope to hear from you all soon!
Miss you already!
Well, the plane ride went really fast, as with the 3 hour busride to Daejeon, our employers seem really friendly, and our apartment is nice! So far, so good!
We arrived at 3pm Korea time (midnight our time) and got on a bus at about 4pm. I'm sure it would have been a very interesting bus ride but we were both so tired we hardly stayed awake for more than an hour of the trip. I think we have figured out how they manage to have 21 million people in the Seoul area - thousands and thousands of massive apartment buildings! (I will try to get pictures up of this).
We arrived in Daejeon and Mr. Moon and Ms. Kim (our employers) were waiting for us at the bus stop. They were both very friendly and spoke English well enough to ease our fears. They took us first to the school - very modern and clean. We each get our own classroom and desk! Since by that time it was around 7pm in Korea - 4am SK time we went to our apartment from there. Which happened to be extremely close to the school. Maybe 50m. From the school we walk through a short alley and half a block down the street and bang-there we are.
Anyway, we were quite happy to see our apartment is pretty reasonably sized (maybe 500sq ft?) and quite nice. It has a small deck and spacious kitchen/dining room. The only things that are really small are the appliances (i.e. the fridge/freezer is maybe 3 feet tall). It also has two bedrooms (which Tara is happy to report are both larger than the one she left at home), one with attached bathroom, and another larger bathroom. The bathrooms are pretty interesting but I'll let Tara describe that.
Okay... so the bathroom is pretty much a tiled room with a toilet (western style - thank god!) and a shower - which is attached to the sink. As Andrew put it so eloquently "This is awesome - I can use the toilet, brush my teeth and shower all at the same time." I can't say I'm as enthused as he is... it'll definately be something to get used to! Other than the wierd bathrooms, however, the apartment is really nice. It's clean (no unwanted roomates so far) and pretty cosy. We have a TV, phone, dressers, desks... life is good.
So today we woke up REALLY early.... like 7 am. This was after forcing ourselves to go to sleep for another few hours at 4am. I keep thinking about the time as in Saskatoon time - so at 4am it was actually 1pm. Anyway, we got up at 7 and had some peanut butter/banana sandwiches (compliments of Ms. Kim) and spent a few hours unpacking and cleaning. I cleaned those bathrooms top to bottom - they were a bit grungy. After that we (I) got ready and set out to get groceries. We got to the corner and were standing in front of a giant map looking like confused tourists when a man stopped his SUV and came up to help us. Koreans are probably the most helpful/kind people I have ever met. There is the biggest language barrier, yet the second you start looking confused they are right there to help you. Anyway, we somehow got the message across to him that we were looking for a grocery store named Carrefour. He told us where it was but said it was too far to walk - and then offered us a ride (which we happily accepted)!
The grocery store was something else. The store itself was on the 2nd floor, but the rest of the building was a mall. It was beyond overwhelming! Even finding the simplest thing - say, garbage bags (which we still don't have) took forever as the packaging for goods is usually entirely in Korean and the pictures offer no help as to what the product is - maybe a cute cartoon character/space ship on a carton of cleaning supplies. We were basically like spinning around in the aisles looking clueless. We did manage to get cleaning supplies (Andrew's got some tidying to do), some cooking supplies and I found a FABULOUS straightener (cheapy, cheapy). The seafood section was AMAZING - it was all fresh, cheap and in HUGE amounts. There were fish in there that I had never seen in my life. We're definately going to be cooking some of those up when we get more settled in.
So, we took a cab back from the store and dropped our stuff off and went to 7-11 (7-11!!!!) to buy phone cards. Butttt, we realized that there were no public phones in sight - so we'll have to wait until our phone is hooked up to call home.
We just came from a restaurant which was recommended to us last night by Ms. Kim. It was quite good and very cheap. I had my first taste of Kimchi (Andrew already has eaten it).... it was good but very interesting. I think we'll both have to watch that we don't eat too many spicy foods for the first while.
Well that's all we have for now. Hope to hear from you all soon!
Miss you already!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
T minus 35 hours
My intentions were to start this blog when we received our plane tickets. For the past few weeks we were under the impression we were leaving on Sunday, Sept. 10th and our tickets (the school is paying for these) would arrive 1-2 weeks in advance. Well this morning (Wednesday the 6th) I awoke to an email with e-tickets saying we are leaving on the 8th... giving us barely 48 hours notice.
So right now this is our situation:
We are leaving for a year to teach conversational English to 6-15 year olds. The city we are going to be living and working in is Daejeon, South Korea. It is in the middle of South Korea, which will be really nice because we would like to travel around the country as much as possible when we are there. In addition to paying for our airfare the school is also providing us with accommodations. We were told it will have two bedrooms, one living room/kitchen, and two bathrooms (two bathrooms?). Our teaching hours are between 12:30 and 8:30PM and this also includes prep time.
So, barring any more last minute changes, we should arrive in South Korea on Saturday the 9th. We really want to hear from everyone throughout the year, so email us or post comments. We'll try to keep this updated as much as we can. Also we will set up a photo gallery as soon as we get to Korea and get some pictures taken. Have a good year everyone!
So right now this is our situation:
We are leaving for a year to teach conversational English to 6-15 year olds. The city we are going to be living and working in is Daejeon, South Korea. It is in the middle of South Korea, which will be really nice because we would like to travel around the country as much as possible when we are there. In addition to paying for our airfare the school is also providing us with accommodations. We were told it will have two bedrooms, one living room/kitchen, and two bathrooms (two bathrooms?). Our teaching hours are between 12:30 and 8:30PM and this also includes prep time.
So, barring any more last minute changes, we should arrive in South Korea on Saturday the 9th. We really want to hear from everyone throughout the year, so email us or post comments. We'll try to keep this updated as much as we can. Also we will set up a photo gallery as soon as we get to Korea and get some pictures taken. Have a good year everyone!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
