Meow?

Phew, what a busy couple of days!

There's a new curriculum starting tomorrow and so Lucas and I have been trying to prepare for it, and get ourselves orientated with it.

Friday we got paid. Well Luc did. I wasn't. I called everyone to try and get it sorted out, but being the weekend (I discovered it on Saturday) there wasn't anything anyone could do. Friday Night Luc and I went to Emart on the assumption we had BOTH been paid. We bought blinds, i bought jeans (I'm the largest size FYI), Luc got ski gear. Yes, Ski Gear. Luc went skiing on Saturday, but I'll let him write about that.

Saturday I was heading out to Gyeonsan where Bev lives. I went to get money out of the ATM only to discover, my balance was zero. Yeah, fantastic. I needed money. I had to come back to the apartment to get some out of my stash. Anything else I would have to get from Luc. So I made it out of Daegu, and into Gyeonsan with no trouble. Bev and I toured the local market and downtown before heading back to her cozy place. We went to La Cantina, a mexican restaurant owned by a guy from Banff. I like that restaurant, it has such a nice atmosphere. I got home about 8 only to find myself totally alone in the apartment. Luc wasn't due back until 1 or 2 am. So I read, did some laundry, talked with Whitney for awhile before trying to head to bed early. Becuase Sunday was going to be a big day.

The morning started out with Lucas and I going to meet another foreigner. Why? muahah.

We adopted two cats.

Oh yeah. They didn't have anywhere to take them becuase the new people who were moving into the apartment, one was really allergic (the other one wanted them). So we decided to take them. One is an older cat, Boots, and the other is 8 months old (Koy, short for Koyang-i which is KOrean for cat). They are buying us a couple bags of food and some littler for them. Koy has come out and played with us, but Boots hasn't come out from under the bed, and he growls at lucas. I hope he warms up and comes out of the bed. They are so cute. Koy was mighty active last night, playing with random things on the floor and then digging in his litter box for no reason, other than to kick it out.

After we got the cats, we headed to C&Woobang Towerland for Emma's birthday. Oh yeah, they have an amusement park here. Of course we decide to go on the coldest day of the year. It was bitter bitter BITTER cold yesterday. And it's going to continue being cold for the rest of the week it looks like. How can the weather change so dramatically in such a short period of time? One ride, the Tambourine, was no a good idea to go on. You spin around while it shakes, and the only thing holding you in is your arms. Whitney's pants were falling off on the ride, and at one point, they were past her butt. Emma was finally able to get them to stop the ride, and we got off. Anyone who knows me, knows I would not get off a ride. I was glad to get off, I did NOT like that. Then we went on a rollercoaster and I was happier than a fat kid in a candy store. There is a gondola that takes you up to the tower which over looks the entire city. of course my camera decided to die on the way up, I was so angry. As we got up to the tower, the sun was setting and it was amazing. After, we went to a western restaurant that has a buffet. It was good, but about 4x as expensive as anything we've been having for the last month.

Tonight is New Year's Eve. Not sure what is happening. THere are a couple things that we have heard about, not sure what the final deal is. We work until 1020 anyway, hopefully we'll come up with something by then. Happy New Year's everyone!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sorry I can’t be there to go bowling with you or anything, but I hope you have a great day!.... Though I guess it’s not your birthday there for another 6 hours or so.

I really enjoyed Christmas in Korea. There was still a feeling of good will and friendliness that Christmas should be, but it didn’t have all the hype and insanity. I had random kids I met on the street, cab drivers and my students wish me a merry Christmas, I even got little presents and a card from my students. Unlike home, there wasn’t this huge buildup for Christmas though. Decorations weren’t up in November, in fact, those who put up decorations put them up the week before, and from what I noticed stores started playing Christmas carols days before Christmas… not after Halloween. There’s still a sense of being with your family and friends at Christmas, most of my students were going out for dinner or going to a friend’s house for dinner, but there’s allot less commercialism, not everyone has to buy a present for everyone else. There’s still presents, but I think it’s only for closest friends and family. Erin and I went to E-mart on Christmas Eve and it wasn’t even that busy, and that place can get crazy.

I did miss the family and the excitement of Xmas morning, but we had a god Christmas nonetheless. We started with stockings and presents, then I went to play some ball hockey, and my team came in second (out of three teams…). Later we went to the school’s xmas party and had a great dinner. We had Turkey (which they got from the army base), meatloaf, macaroni, pasta salad, 7 layer dip and pumpkin pie, it was glorious! I also missed watching Paint Your Wagon on xmas eve, but Neal, Whitney, Erin and I had pizza and watched Elf. That movie is awesome, I almost think it should be our traditional Christmas movie, but I don’t think the family would allow it.

Rumour has it we might be getting paid tonight. Very exciting for us! Now we can buy lots of the essentials we have been living without, like blinds and a bedside table and a bookshelf and a hat rack and maybe some more dishes. I’m also going night skiing tomorrow night, and I need to buy snow pants… and pay for the skiing, so getting paid will help there.

I have a friend/coworker who has a friend giving away cats. Naturally, Erin wants them, But I don’t wanna put the cats through an 11 hour flight home and I don’t know what we would do with them when we go away on trips, so I’m not sure about that. A high percentage of teachers we know either have an animal or want an animal, but when you look at the classifieds there’s tons of foreign teachers trying to give away animals… I don’t really understand how people who are here for a year can get an animal if they don’t intend on bringing it home.

I’m still sick, but feeling allot better then I have. I think I could still avoid going to the doctor!

Middle school girls love me. On Christmas I was walking to ball hockey and five girls were walking the same direction. Once they saw me they all started giggling and talking allot (obviously at how dreamy I am). Then one of them said hello to me and shook my hand, which made all the girls even more excited, which led them to all shake my hand. Then one of them came foreword and said I was ‘cute and handsome and gorgeous.’ So yea, I’m pretty awesome. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten attention from the younger Korean ladies; I guess I just have it ;). Jae Won, my Korean partner also said that I got that Xmas card from my student because she thought I was cute, she was also middle school aged.

A Big Thank You!

Merry Christmas everyone, even though it's Christmas Eve for you!

We want to say a big thank you for the presents! Mom, you seem to read my mind with your presents. I was wondering why you didn't get me a Korea charm before I left, and the hair stuff (my hair's been horrible here, and i don't know what any of the products are because they are in Korean). I love the Korean angel ornament, and the bracelet and earring are GORGEOUS! I love my big towel, that's the way towels should be! The albums are amazing. Thank you again! Luc loves his Skittles, and so do I!

I got my kids to say something for you....

Christmas

I would never have thought it was Christmas time. I'm so used to hearing Britney Spears' and Mariah Carey's bad Christmas songs over and over. I'm used to screaming children and stressed out moms. I'm used to trees decorated, lights blinking, and Santas at every corner. I miss that.

Here, I'll see a tree every once in a while. Some of the major store have "Happy Christmas" signs up because they are a Western company. The converse store has up "No forget Happy Christmas". That's something I enjoy here, if there is English somewhere, it's usually done in bad grammar, but just to have that English is like a status symbol.

Went to the Christmas party last night and had a fantastic time. The Grampa Squares were a hit. It was interesting making them with a half pound Hersey's bar, weird marshmallows, no measuring cup, and melting everything in a metal pan over boiling water. But it worked out. I thought I had burned the chocolate, but heck no, I did not.

Here are some pictures of the Korean Teachers at my school. Friday we went out to Red Barn for food. The one in the Red sweater and the guy with the beer are my partners.

Come pay day, Whitney and I are going for 5$ manis and pedis. I'm really excited. My nails are really long, and the kids are wide eyed when they see them. One girl started to ask me about my earring at the top of my ear. and so then I was playing with it for them to see, and they were all like "teacher teacher! ouch!" made me laugh.

Isn't henchi cute? He was so calm, so unlike him.

Back to Seomun

I went back to Seomun Market this morning by myself. It was nice to go alone, just me and my ipod. I went to find the one guy who had a lot of the Korean goodies that I would be able to send back home. I couldn't find him at first, so I bought some other things from another lady who's prices were a lot higher. Then FINALLY, after going into random doors (I still don't know how I got there) I found him. I bought waaay to much stuff. I'm glad that on Wednesday, I learned the word for discount :D some vendors will give you a discount if you pay cash. There was this guy at Seomun, who had no legs, and he was pushing himself with his hands on a trolley and he was selling beans. He was a little creepy looking. Made me think of all the horror movies I used to watch.

Last night my branch had a get together downtown. There was lots of beer, and more sea snails. It was quite funny to see my Korean partners get drunk. Especially Jae Kyung. He's hilarious!

Tonight is Whitney and Neal's Christmas party. I have to make grandpa squares, but I am lacking a big dish to melt the chocolate in and a pan to put it in. Luc and I are going to make a quick trip to E-mart to pick those up. Then I need to nap. I was up all night coughing. It was like every breath I took made me cough. Luc slept through it all. Lucky him.

Tried something new

Yeah, I tried another new food. Korean Sea Snail. You heard right, snail. You could see the sucker things on it where the slimy stuff comes out. It was really chewy, like I had just put a piece of bubble gum into my mouth. *gag* did not like that one either. But again.... at least I tried it. Lucas didn't mind that much.

Went to Costco again, and saw this monster can of tuna, hungry?

Luc and I went downtown this morning. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be, and I didn't see any tourist shops. I'm thinking about going back to Seomun Market and trying to find this one guy who had some cool stuff ridiculously cheaper than everywhere else I have seen.

I think there is a fire somewhere close. For the last two days, the air has looked like the Okanagan Valley in 2003, and there is a slight smell of smoke. Either that, or ridiculous pollution all of a sudden. I'm going to ask one of the korean teachers today.

Tonight is apparently a welcome party/get really drunk party for our branch. I'm a little scared. My cold has finally progressed a little, now Luc and I have the same cough, a nice, phlegmy, persistant one. at least it's slightly better than before.

My Kids!

Here are two of my classes. In total I have twelve, but these guys are my absolute favorites. We joke, laugh and have a lot of fun in class. I wish that all of my classes were like that, as I have some classes where the students could care less about being there. I do try my hardest to get them involved, but they are older kids, and would rather be doing something else. Aren't they the cutest?

Sunday blog on a Tuesday

Yesterday Erin and I got our phones. We are super excited. Now we can communicate like normal people, instead of living through facebook, e-mail and other people’s phones. They’re pretty high tech phones too, well for me they are, I’ve never owned a cell phone before (wow, Grandma was years ahead of me on that one). For Korea it’s just an average phone, but it’s got a camera, it’s an MP3 player and a bunch of other stuff I can’t figure out. There’s like a 100 page instruction booklet…. but it’s in Korean.

I’m also pretty impressed with the internet here. We’ve been downloading stuff at 1MB per second. That’s about five times faster than the internet at home. Our friend Neal says it’s possible to download faster, but our computer wouldn’t be able to handle it. The crazy internet speed almost makes me want a really good computer, so I could play games over the internet, but that’s just the nerd in me coming out. I’ve heard people here say that Korea’s only two exports are brain power and technology. The memorization skills of the students have shown me their brain power, and now the phones and the internet have shown me their technology.

I enjoyed the Seomun Market. The market was how I pictured most of Korea would be, lots of people and lots of exotic goods. My Korean partner teacher (Jae Won) says Seomun is like old Korea, so it’s like how Korea used to be, he says that lots of Koreans now find Seomun dirty and skuzzy. He says lots of people prefer the cleanliness and convenience of places like E-mart. Though I’m glad all of Korea is not like Seomun, it was a good experience to see this side of the culture. We also now know where to get a giant octopus if we need one. The Market wasn’t all exotic goods, it also had allot of western things, there was a couple Christmas stores, lots of places selling art we all knew (from pictures of Jesus to African paintings), some toy stores, and lots of different clothing and accessory stores.

Teaching has been going pretty well. There are definitely some classes I like more than others. Sometimes I can’t wait to get to class, and sometimes I know the class will be a struggle. It’s not discipline issues, it’s just that some classes don’t like to talk or participate. They are the most frustrating; it will take some of them a full minute to answer a simple question. I think I have more of a fun style of teaching. I like to try and get them learning without them realizing it. That seems to be the best way to get the frustrating classes to participate. With this, I think the challenge will be keeping everyone in-line and on task while they are having fun. It’s the balance of being strict and fun that will be the challenge. I know I am already not as strict as the teacher I replaced, but he had a more regimental, less fun style. That style worked for him, and it kept the kids in line, but I think I need to have more fun.

The end of the month is the end of the public school year for the kids, so all the classes will get mixed up then. I’m disappointed because I’ve been told that it takes a month to get to know the kids and the system, but come January our classes will change (because all the kids will be moving up a grade), and the curriculum will change (our school is doing a big changeover in January), so we will just be getting settled and everything will switched.

There was no hockey on Sunday. I figured this out when I got to the parking lot we use and found it full of cars. Apparently there was testing at that school on Sunday, but they didn’t tell the new guy. It won’t happen again though. Now I have a phone!

Seomun Market

Luc and I finally made it to Seomun Market. 4000 shops, that's for sure. There was so much going on, it was hard to keep it straight, and it was hard to figure out where we were. We were there for 3 hours, yet did not see all of it. I think though, that it is hyped up more than it should. I found only one place had had some traditional stuff, and I know there is more, I just couldn't find it. I only spent 7.5, and I brought a lot more to spend. I found some really nice fabric, but didn't buy it just yet, it will be there for awhile. Some owners do not want to sell you just the fabric, they want to make a whole traditional outfit for you. What am I going to do with that?

We went down the seafood district, which was interesting. A lot of rather large squid and octopi, fish on strings, etc. We went down the meats section, where there were huge pheasants, rabbits, etc ready for the taking. We did see puppies in cages, as you can see from the picture. The puppy I'm holding wasn't for the eatin' but her was the size of my hand, definately not ready to be sold. But he was only 15 bucks! 15!! My puppy was brave, the one Whitney held was shaking something fierce. I wanted to take him! Koreans only eat one type of dog, a traditional dog, which is apparently pretty ugly.

Then, we went down another aisle, and there was this Korean drag queen. Koreans are so conservative, and so it was really weird seing this completely lewd drag queen stripping. He took off one pair of underwear, then another, and lifted his shirt to show fake boobs, and then of course he comes up to the foreigners, grabs MY hand and puts them on his boobs, then he tried to get me to touch his woohoo, and yeah, that wasn't happening. All this and young kids were watching, everyone was laughing. Yeah, it was weird.

I'm going to have to go back to the Market to really spend some time looking. It's hard when you're in a group, everyone wants to move on. I had planned on going downtown today, but I'm pretty sick. my throat is ridiculous, I still don't have my full voice. I can't get a proper sleep here becuase we have no blinds, and the sun shines directly into our bedroom. First paycheque we're getting blinds. I'm going to spend today cleaning and napping. Tonight we're supposed to be going over to Bev and Rod's for spaghetti.

Internet!

OH baby,oh baby, we have the Internet. But now we need to get a router so we can use both our computers. We also need to get another adapter so we can have both our computers in at the same time. But it is so nice to have the computer on the table and not on the floor. Much better on the body. We're going to coax Neal into taking us to the computer store to help us find what we need becuase he's very smart when it comes to wiring.

I have no voice. It sucks. It's going to be interesting teaching today. Thank goodness it's Friday, I'll have all weekend to recover it.

Next Saturday we're going to Whitney and Neal's Christmas Party and we're bring dessert. But I really don't know what to make. Any suggestions/recipes? It's hard to find the typical things that you need to make anything, so I'm at a loss.

Woohoo!

Luc and I finally got our Alien Registration Cards today and our passports back. Oh yeah!! My picture looks like I am about to murder someone. I wish the picture for my visa was on my card. *sigh* We set up our bank accounts today with Hyun (he's the guy that picked me up from that airport, and helps us with whatever we need). Our paycheques will go directly into our accounts. Now that we have that, we are going to set up another account which we can transfer money into, and then that account with automatically transfer it into our accounts in Canada. No need for wiring. It's going to be so simple. I just wonder how I'm going to do it when we leave Korea and they will still owe us money? I don't have to figure that out right now. Now that we have our Alien cards, we can get internet, cell phones,and cable. We can now rent movies and get a Costco membership. Internet and phone automatically will come out of our accounts which is handy. Internet will come out of my account, and luc will just pay me money. Cable comes in the mail, but we would just take it to the bank, and pay it there.

Only one more day of teaching, and then we're hoping to do some exploring finally this weekend. We are hoping to go to Seomun Market on Sunday, yes Bev, it is open this weekend. Then on Saturday, maybe a tour of Daegu, if plans with James come through. Looking forward to it!

I've pretty much lost my voice. Luc got me sick with his coughing fits and runny nose constantly. As the day wore on today, my voice got huskier and huskier, and now it is little more than a squeak. I haven't lost my voice for a looong time.

Hey mom, I'm quite sad. You do not comment on my blog. Did you forget how? Remember how I taught you, and then you wrote it down? :( You need to get msn.

Drunk businessmen and letters

Last night Lucas and I went with some people from work to the Fun&Joy. It is a place where you order large portions and share it among others at the table. Along with the food, we ordered Soju cocktails (like margaritas, but with soju a vodkalike drink). But apparently, there wasn't enough soju so Ben ordered two extra bottles of soju to put in the one cocktail. yeah. And then a drunk businessman came up to us trying to hand us his business card. He works at Daegu Bank and wanted us to go to his branch to set up an account. Later, him and another man came up and told us to open an account at a different branch. It was quite a good time, and everyone was joking about.

I got my students to write me letters in class yesterday. I am quite flattered by some of them. I know they are sucking up, but that is okay. I plan on bringing them home with me. Apparently, I'm thin (being thin is a big deal in Korea, they freak out if they gain an ounce, it's more ridiculous than at home), i'm pretty like a doll, and am very kind and funny. I love my kids.

I've taken a liking to aloe juice. When Bev first told me about it, I was not wanting to go for it. But it tastes like white grape juice with floaties in it (the floaties being aloe). MMM

Hey mom, I tried eel tonight.

It was nasty.


But I still did it.

Luc again

Erin has the every day blogging covered, so I will try and blog at least once a week. Sunday nights has worked so far.

I spent this week doing assorted training, and teaching. I observed Erin for half the day Monday, and then taught the second half of the day. Tuesday I taught, Wednesday I observed the teacher I’m taking over for and then Thursday and Friday I acted as a ‘floater’ teacher and went to Chilgok to teach. Chilgok is like a suburb of Daegu. Each day I was driven out there and I cabed back with another floater teacher. It was a bit of a trip to get there, probably a half an hour drive each way, and the subway lines don’t go there. The travel was a little inconvenient, but I’m glad I got to go out there, see a different part of Daegu and see how a different branch does things. Also, at the other school, I could screw up in front of the students and it didn’t matter, because none of them were going to see me again anyway.

Tomorrow I get to start teaching my own classes. I’m glad I’ve had this practice with other students because now I have a better idea of how they react to different things, and I know what kid of English to expect out of the different levels. The teacher who I’m replacing, Toby, was pretty strict and got great reviews from all the managers, so I’ve got big shoes to fill. I know it will take me awhile to become as good of a teacher has him; I just hope I can be as strict as him. In our observations we saw allot of styles of teaching, and they all seemed effective but Toby’s classes seemed the furthest from getting out of hand, which is a plus. I’ve heard it’s very hard to get strict after being lax, so I want to go in there pretty stern.

I’m still sick. I think it was at its worst on Thursday or Friday, but it won’t go away. The weird sleep patterns can’t be helping, but going to bed late and sleeping in is the way most Teachers live in Korea.

Today Erin and I went and ate at a restaurant on our own for the first time, without any other people to order for us. It was at a place we’d been before and there were pictures on the menu, but it’s a step. Our goal is to be able to order Korean BBQ (Galbi) before our parents come to visit, Galbi is a little more confusing to order, but I think we can do it. My learning Korean is going very slowly, it took me a long time to get Hello and Thank You. Now I am working on giving directions to cab drivers. I know straight, left, stop, the area we live in and the name of the big intersection by our house. I think I could get home on my own if I had to… as long as we don’t have to make any right turns. The problem is getting the driver to understand why I’m trying to say. Nest I want to learn how to say excuse me and ‘I don’t speak Korean.’

11th Anniversary Party

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the school. There was a company wide party which I didn't really want to go to. It included watching our boss play soccer for four hours against a team which he paid to lose. It was freezing outside, and everyone was not impressed with the chill. Many people had brought hot chocolate with Baileys or coffee and Kahlua to pass the time. Luc and I have neither thermos, coffee, hot chocolate, or liquor. After that, we went to EXCO (exhibition and convention centre) for a dinner. The dinner was pretty good, a lot of different food. Luc tried Octopus, they were just sitting there on a platter, all the tenticles. Purple ones. No thank you. There was a talent show, where the winner would win 1million won. Our friend Melanie did a fire dance which she learned in New Zealand. I'll put up pictures and maybe a video. IT was amazing. But she didn't win! Mel came in 5th! But then the WHOLE EVENING was in Korean. All the announcers, presentations, everything was in Korean. All the foreign teachers didn't know what was going on.

After soccer and dinner, we went home for a quick change before heading downtown. This was the first time Luc has come out to a bar on his own free will. I was very impressed! We went to a place called Old Skool. THe whole bar was foreigners, which was nice. The music though was pretty much all rap. *sigh* I really don't like rap, but i made it work. Everyone smokes in Korea, and you can smoke inside. So within an hour, the bar was so smokey, my eyes were watering and I had to go outside for a few to actually breathe. Now all my things smell like smoke. It was pretty nasty. I don't understand how anyone can do that! *hint hint* It made me miss the smoke0free restaurants and bars in Canada. Not that I'm a bar person. Everyone was tanked last night, I was the only sober person. I'm not much of a drinker, I don't like the feeling of being drunk or the feeling the next morning. I had fun nevertheless. We left the bar at 3, though apparently, that's really early, usually you leave at 5. I wouldn't be able to do that, that's a little too much for me. I like sleeping at night :D We went for galbi afterward (Korean BBQ). Mom, Dad, Diana, and Mike, we're going to be taking you to one of those when you are here!

So now, today is laundry day, and Luc is heading out to play hockey again. He is planning on posting every Sunday, and I'm allowed to yell at him with no retributions until he does!

Week One done, Fifty One more weeks to go.

Week number one down pat. Oh yeah baby. Luc starts with his own kids on Monday. He keeps asking me whether I set up rules or not. I'm a strict teacher, I want everyone to be quiet when I am speaking or when a student is speaking. If a student acts out, I put their name on the chalkboard with an X. If they get another X, they are sent to Jaeshi, which is Retest (Study Hall). When my kids are very good, and ask a lot of questions, I give them candy. I've given out some pins and I ask them what country this is, they get all excited, "Canada! Canada!" Today, I gave a couple of girls who won a game one of the shiny Canadian Pennies. They were thrilled! The rest of the class quickly surrounded them looking at it. I was very happy about that reaction! I actually had a couple students, Ice Rink and Monkeyman (Those were the names they picked for themselves) stop me in the hallway to say hello and goodbye. They love me ;)

Teacher! Teacher, Here Teacher!

I feel like a teacher! After one day of teaching, I find myself talking to others like an ESL teacher. Slow, deliberate, short sentences. Luc and I call each other "Teacher" as the students call us. It's hard to switch back to talking normally.

This morning, every teacher from the school had to attend a workshop because in January, they are changing the curriculum. It is going to be the most boring thing to teach in the world. Before, there were activities and the kids had fun through games. Now, there are no games. They read articles. And we have to prep at least 14 questions per article (3-11 articles depending on level a day). There is going to be a lot more prep time, lame. We get used to one way of doing things, and they change it on us.

Duh duh duuuuuuh

Hey Robyn, trying using THAT to go to the bathroom!!!


P.S. You can't flush the toilet paper because the plumbing is bad. You put your used toilet paper in the trashcan. Lovely.

alright, more pictures! So the first one is Whitney, and then Dalia and Neal. This was on the way to Costco. I figured you'd want to see who they are so Luc and I weren't making them up.

You see this cat? Oh my god I wanted to take her home on the spot. THey had cut her fur in the "Lion Cut" and made it so there were no stray hairs or anything, like the perfect shape. Then they put BLUSH on her cheeks and dressed her up. She looked like the most perfect anime character. She was so lady like too. Unlike the cat below her who was freaking out, and the cat above her who looked exactly like an old Japanese CEO stereotype.

I posted some pictures of the street. It's sensory overload here, signs every which way you turn. At night it's even more so becuase all the signs are lit up and so many places blast music. Cars who have their music on is also super loud. dad would freak out. "You shouldn't play your music so loud, it's a distraction". Yeah well you know what dad? There are no road rules here, so i don't think they care. :)

Korean BBQ, that's Rod poking at it. It was mega delicious.

And the infamous Henri Kimchi (aka Henchi). Isn't he just the cutest? He's getting neutered next weekend, hopefully he'll calm down somewhat!

So, I've had some requests to take pictures of the bathroom at the school, I'll do that today. We're off to our first classes, will post about that!
-Erin

Luc Here

I Played hockey today with about 12 other teachers from the area. There were teachers from lots of different schools, but most of us were with the company Erin and I are working for. It was lots of fun, even though it was pretty rainy the whole time. I kinda forgot I was in Korea for awhile there because we were just playing and talking about hockey for three hours. The only time I realized I was in Korea was when we had to go off the parking lot to find the ball.

I’m not finding a hugs difference between Korea and Canada. They speak a different language and the food is a little different, but other than that it’s pretty similar. Neal and Whitney took us to downtown Daegu tonight and it was just like downtown Vancouver. The side streets are narrower, and the shops don’t have as much to move around in, but if you change the signs to English it would be pretty familiar. Tell Grandma that it feels like living in Coquitlam :).

Sometimes I wish things were a little more different than they were. Part of the reason I came here was to experience a different way of life, but I think after long enough the diversity will become more obvious.

The language barrier is sometimes enough difference, but in the end it’s mostly an inconvenience because we can get what we need, we can usually find a restaurant with pictures on the menu, and sometimes the person at the store will have enough English for us to work something out. There’s definitely more English here than I expected. There was even a whole English section in the book store, it had all the popular and classic books you would need. Lots of signs have English on them too, it doesn’t always make sense, but you usually get the point of what they are trying to say.

Walking home from hockey today it was still raining pretty good. I had gotten pretty wet while playing, so I wasn’t worried about getting wetter. Apparently, Koreans hate the rain, and will have an umbrella up at the slightest sign of it. While at a crosswalk a lady asked (gestured) if I wanted to go under her umbrella, so I did. She then gestured allot across the street and I thought she was telling me I could get an umbrella over there. Once we crossed, she got under the umbrella with a friend and then gave me hers. I refused, but she insisted, and I got a new umbrella :). I just thought that was a nice story about a Korean lady helping a foreigner. You guys should tell grandma that one too.

At last!

Hurray! We don't have any more suitcases on the ground. I finally got hangers, though i need to get more, but I had the chance to put away all our clothes. It is lovely not jamming my toes into suitcases at night :)

I hung out with Bev and Rod today, and it was great seeing them. They are jealous of our place, muahah, because it's big.

Luc went to hockey today, though it was raining, and still is. He'll tell you about that. Apparently, this is the first time it has rained in like two months. We're supposed to go downtown tonight, it's going to suck because of the rain. It's no fun. Everything looks murky because of pollution mixed with hazy rain.

Today was a good opportunity to try out the washing machine. For the first time ever, i used liquid fabric softener. Of how i miss dryers and bounce sheets. At least the washing machine beeps when it needs the softener. I do like hanging my clothes though, it looks like I've done something useful.