6 months? CHECK.

Halfway mark today. Wow, already? And yet, Finally! It's been pretty good over here, but alsohard being away from the family and having a huge language barrier. Charades can only get you so far. In commemoration of our 6 month mark, I thought we would do a little recap of what I can kinda remember :D

Month one: I remember my initial reaction to our apartment with the area to take off your shoes and the sliding door entrance: "Oh it's so asian!!" We were lucky to have some people who had been here for awhile show us around. I am so grateful for that Whitney and Neal! I don't know where we would be without them. Probably starving and hunkering in our apartment afraid to go out. It was really scaring going into the classroom for my first time after training. I kept thinking I was going to screw up the kids, and their parents were going to call the school to complain. The other teachers were helpful as well, giving me tips, and now I can't believe I was so nervous!! We went to Woobang Towerland for the first time, and it was the coldest day ever. But you know how i LOVE rollercoasters and rides, so I sucked it up. THere was one ride, the Tambourine, where you are holding on to a bar, and nothing is strapping you in, and the ride bucks up and down. I was so scared, I hated it. And fortunately, Whitney's pants were coming off, and there wasn't much under them, so we got the ride stopped and got the heck off that ride. The kids love that ride, I don't understand! December also marked when we got our crazy babies! Bootsie Poo and Koyangi. It took a lot of adjusting to get used to their late night romps all over the bed and house. They still do it. We missed Christmas, but at least the MoonKkang expats all got together for a potluck Turkey dinner. I would have killed someone for some Turkey soup a couple days later though :D

January: As soon as we got used to one thing at MoonKkang, they changed it. January brought a new curriculum that wasn't well received at first. Now I kinda like it. I have the most interesting conversations with the kids, more so than I would have with the old Speaking class (which is done on Wednesdays now, and are horrible :D ) In January, Luc, Bev and I went on the City Bus Tour. We went to various destinations in the city, some bad, some good. It did happen to snow that day (Snow is rare in Daegu). So we were chilled, and interested, and bored all day. Though it was nice to see some spots that I know I wouldn't have gone on my own. By this point, we have made some really awesome friends, and had some good times throughout the city.

February: At the beginning of February is Seolnal or Lunar New Years, and we had three days off. Many people went to China at this time, but becuase Luc and I didn't get paid until January, we were not able to have the money in time. Instead, we went on our first trip to Seoul. Again, would have been completely lost if it wasn't for some friends, that I found out were going to Seoul when we were on the train. They literally took care of us and showed us to all the good spots in the city. It was because of them, that we were able to show Diana and Mike the spots as well. And we're going to do for Mom and Dad in a whirlwind overnighter. We visited two palaces, Insadong, had some Thai and Greek food, and visited cute little tea house. We saw Namdaemun gate hours before it was completely obliterated in a fire by a 70 year old man who was angry at the government for taking away his house becuase of taxes or something. Sure, burn down National Treasure #1. Smart man :S. That was the same thing with the Daegu Subway Fire in 2003 though, some guy was angry at the government for taking away disability, so he blew a bomb up in the subway. Anyways. We also went to the COEX mall, which was disappointing, but we did get to meet Randy Orton, Snitsky, and Trevor Murdoch (wrestlers), much to Sean's jealousy and dismay.I'm glad that Lucas and I decided not to go to Seoul, it's too big, too much. We were ready to go home a little early.

March: We have learned a little Korean at this point (though I haven't say, that we haven't learned much more by this point). We had taken Korean lessons, and can read it. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes. It's really easy to learn to read and write. But we just have no idea what we're reading, what it means. I get my kids to teach me some things sometimes. They go beserk when I say something and clap their hands all excited like, its great. March was my first paintballing experience. Luc and I are actually going tomorrow as well. And we even had people over for a potluck. I went with Whitney to Palgonsan Mountain which has a large stading Buddha statue and it was maginificent. I did like the month of march. It was getting warmer out, the sun was shining. After winter's cold, I was ready for something new. Though, once it gets to summer we're going to be absolutely dying and wishing for winter to return. Summers here are brutal.

April: At the beginning of the month, Jae Won took us to Jinhae for the world famous Cherry Blossom Festival. It was so beautiful with millions of cherry trees in full blossom. And on top of that, millions of Korean people. A sea of black hair and pink flowers was the landscape. April marked something else as well... Diana and Mike arrived! It was so great to see family again, you realize it more acutely when you see them after so long. We showed them some places in Daegu and where to go to eat. They even came to some classes. THe kids were really freaked out to havemy boyfriend's parents in class. They were giving me tips before their arrival on how to act appropriately. I think at this point, it's a little late. They were telling me I havet o use certain language, not to talk much, be very demure. Sorry kids.

May: uh, HELLO, JEJU!! THe first weekend we went with Diana and Mike to Jeju. Most beautiful place in the world and I swear, it's the world capital of random museums. The weather was warm, the water tropical blue. I was in heaven. It's my first taste of tropical. We went to Love Land (you saw pictures :D), Cheonjiyeon Falls, Sunrise Peak, Hamdeok Beach, Green Tea farm.... man, I love that place! it was sad to leave, but we had to as school was the next day. We went to an Indian restaurant with some friends for a birthday. That was a bad idea. Four out of seven of us got food poisoning. And I think this was the worst case I've ever had. My whole birthday week in the tubes becuase I missed two days of school and spent the next three weeks in the bathroom. Not fun. I hate Korean doctors too. They don't listen or understand. And they give you a plethora of random drugs, but always, ALWAYS include tylenol. It's the cure all here. Kinda like windex from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

So now it is the last day of May. I am training a new teacher today and Monday. James and I are the old hats in the office. Mom and Dad come in a week. We have time booked off for China and Japan in September, and then our last teaching day is Mid November before we head off to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam just in time to get a tan before coming back to Canada. Now I must start report cards again. They are useless, the kidsand parents don't look at them. And they take hours and hours to complete.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I just got a new digital camera from Lucas :) YAY! It's charging now, I can't wait to go out and play with it! Robyn, do you have a camera now? I have my old one, and it's up for grabs I suppose. Or James.

Last night we went for dinner with Jae Won, and Luc's new partner teacher Jin Joo. We went to this restaurant that gave you free delicious drinks, and the food was reasonably priced. Then we went to the Noraebang that had a stage, and we got the VIP room. Plus an hour of service minutes, so we were there for two hours. Service is big in Korea; service = free things. When you buy fruit/veggies, or things in random stores, they throw in little bonuses. It's great. I love service items. My new camera came with service items :D Wanna know what they are? I'll tell you. A 2GB card, tripod, and case. Yeah. We paid 240,000 won for something that would cost around 300$ at home, plus Luc used his Canadian card, so he'll get it for even cheaper with the conversion. So awesome. It was 10% day at the store we bought it for, so we got it cheaper than anticipated.

Tonight is a BBQ for Luc's hapkido group. We're meeting them to buys some meats to grill. Should be a good time. I can't believe it's already Sunday though. This weekend has passed by way too quickly. I don't feel like I've had a break! Weekends are way too short.

Also, in today's news...

Here are some more pictures!

We have two videos of Bootsie Poo on drugs! This one is for you Kenna. She sent us some catnip, and we decided to give it a goon the babies. Koy did a lot of sniffing and blowing it around. Bootsie Poo meant business and went gung ho. He's very protective when it came to his pile of nip, and would snip at us when we tried to touch it, he's hilarious!

We've got my sunburn. This is from a nice cloudy/polluted day out on the baseball field. Nice.

Noraebang! Lucas singing, woot woot!

Monic - Hapkido is a Korean Martial art.

Luc's Grandad - Thank you for the magazines! The kids will be so happy to see pictures of British Columbia and Lucas and I have already indulged in reading the Beaver. We both really enjoy that magazine!

Dad - Dill Pickle and Ketchup chips make the world go round. I don't want to hear anymore of your disrespect towards them. Now go practice you chopstick skills :D

I made a Korean meal, complete with sidedishes. I made Dwenjjang Jjigae, with seasoned spinach, cucumber salad, pickled radish, and fried tofu stuffed with rice. It was really good, but with Korean food, there is a lot of waste, and you make such large quantities. Didn't work so well, better to eat out.

There's a picture there of Boots licking Luc's feet. I sprayed Peppermint cooling foot stuff on Luc and boots apparently really really likes it, he kept coming back for more!

Singing Extravaganza

It was a busy week for the students last week. On the Monday, was Buddha's birthday. The students had no school, except for MoonKkang. MoonKkang is pretty much one of the only schools that is open on National Holidays, and the kids are non too impressed. They even had to come on Children's Day (May5th). On Tuesday, was another holiday, but I don't know what for. All I know is that the students again did not have to go to school, and weren't happy with having to come to English hagwon. It was nice to be back at school though, after being so sick. It was weird, yet good. The students kept asking where I was, and they thought that I went back to Canada. They had the manager teach them one day, and they were SO happy to have me back, because the other teachers are "scary". haha.

Thursday was Teacher's Day. The students give their teacher a present at school. I got a couple, apparently, the students think I need socks as I got four pairs of them. I also got some earrings, and a paper flower. It was very sweet of them. It's all the younger kids, as the middle school students couldn't care less.

This weekend, Lucas and I went to the Ariana Hotel for the all you can eat and drink buffet. It was pretty fun, but I couldn't indulge because I'm still not fully better. THe boys certainly did and were absolutely smashed by 8. Luc kept sticking forks into the cracks in the table. It threw everything off being drunk so early. We ended up going to the Noraebang afterwards too (again, first time for Lucas and I). Noraebangs are infamous Korean singing rooms. Basically, it's a place full of rooms each with a karaoke machine. It was so fun. I was the only sober one in the bunch, but it was pretty wild. We ended up finishing the evening at midnight. Which is pretty sad by hagwon teacher standards. Usually a night will end between 3-6am. As Luc has so proven with his Fooseball night romps.

Yesterday, baseball started again. We weren't doing good. At the end of two innings, we had no points, the other team had nine. It was looking pretty back. We barely had a game because of a lack of players (on both sides). So we recruited some other people, and played. In the end, we made a come back, went into an extra inning, and won the game. Yay!

Saturday blog by Luc

Well Mom and Dad are in China now. They arrived the day after the earthquake, so no worries there. I think their cruise in China will take them into some of the affected area, so they might have some neat stories when they get back. From what I hear, the internet in China is highly censored, which obviously makes it difficult to work with and very slow, so I wouldn’t expect to hear from them until they get home. I know you can’t read blogs from China, so I know they won’t be posting on here until they get home.

It was great having them here and showing them how we survive in a foreign country. We did our best to impress them with our skills in speaking and reading Korean. Dad’s attempts at Korean reminded me of mine in my first weeks as an expat.

I really loved Jeju. I’ve never been to a real Tropical Island but Jeju had everything you think when you hear Tropical Island, palm trees, beautiful blue water and warm weather. I could have used more than three days there. Everywhere you turned there was something to do. Sure there were lots of corny museums and tourist trap type things I wouldn’t want to see, but there were also tons of beaches and supposedly some good hiking.

Seoul was a whirlwind again. It’s such an overwhelming city. If you count Incheon, where its main airport is, it has 20 million people. However, this time Erin and I were the tour guides and I think we did an adequate job. We knew the area we stayed in and had no problems getting around; I was impressed with our taxi skills. By living in Daegu, I think Erin and I have developed better Korean than most foreigners in Seoul. There’s so much English there that you would never really need to learn any Korean to get around, I think we even suprized a few cab drivers with our English.

I liked the DMZ tour more than Erin. Sure it was a tourist trap, but it was still worth seeing. There’s no real other way to see North Korea, or a North Korean soldier. Not many people in Canada can say that they have seen a North Korean village, or a statue of Kim Jung Il. The whole tour was a little strange, but lots of things in Korea are strangeJ, and we were in a military control zone, so of course it would be regulated.

Dad said he really liked my foosball league. Apparently it’s the most competition he’s seen in 25 years. I actually beat him once too, so I guess I got better J. He was in Korea for three weeks and managed to come to three weeks of foosball. He was a very dedicated player. The guys were calling him the best front man in Korea, so I think he’s a legend of sorts at the Thunderbird Lounge.

I have been going to Hapkido for two weeks now. So far it has been pretty fun and I’ve been getting some decent workouts. I will definitely get more flexible in time. We do 20 minutes of stretching every Monday, and have to try and do the splits every Thursday. Every time we kick (which is allot) it also stretches most muscles in our legs, so eventually I won’t suck at kicking. I’m always sore now though. The Thursday boxing at Hapkido combined with the foosball Thursday nights has also made my hands sore. I need nurse Jessica to look at my arthritis hands.

Well, I’m off to an all you can eat and drink buffet (yes it’s all you can drink beer for $20). Should be a good time!

Blue Skies over Pyongyang

Many of you know by now that I have been extremely sick for the past week. It's been one nasty something or other, and I'm not even sure what it is! I'm on the tailend of it now...I hope, but I'm slowly starting back on actually eating. Being anorexic-like for a week certainly takes it out of you. The Barkers were going to be heading to Seoul, and I was bad. I missed two days of work, and barely made it through the other two that I did go to. Friday was supposed to be the day of departure, but I was not in a good spot, I made them leave without me with the hopes I'd be able to meet them in Seoul. I went to see my thrid doctor in one week Friday, and it was my worst day by far with cramping and dizziness. But this is the miracle drug doctor. I got an injection in my butt and some fantastic drugs that actually made me feel somewhat human. The next day (Saturday), I decided I was ready to make it to Seoul. I didn't want to miss out on it, and it would have been the last time I see them Barkers for 7months. Plus, Sunday is Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day Mom!), and it will be nice to see one of the mothers.

I missed one day in Seoul, but I caught up with the Barkers after they had visited Changdeokgung Palace (which Luc and I saw in February). We went to the War Museum, which is more boy stuff than for me. There was a lot of stuff which didn't seem to fit in, like things from the Neolithic, etc, and also, the Dead Sea Scrolls are there, but it was waaay to much moola to see that, besides, we ended up walking around the museum for 3 hours, past the closing time. We then headed to Itaewon to get some Greek Food. It's the only Greek restaurant we know of in Korea, and its Luc's favourite food, so there was no question. Mom and dad, that should be fair warning, we're taking you there too. We had to head back afterward though becuase it was going to be an early morning. We were heading on the DMZ tour which was to pick us up at 7:20, but for the first time in Korean history, a driver was there 15 mintues early!!!

We did a bunch of bus transferring, and whatnot, checked out Freedom Bridge, and saw some trees that had yellow ribbons on it (for families in the North). Then we went to the 3rd infiltration tunnel, which was a climb down, many Chinese tourists walking iwth their thumb up their butt real slow, and then a crazy walk uphill back to the hop. Especially after having eaten so little for a week, I was feeling a little lightheaded after it, and definately winded. Then we went to an observatory, where you can see North Korea in the distance. Freedom Village and Propaganda Village were visible. Propaganda Village is in North Korea, and has the tallest flagpole in the world, but nobody lives there, it's for show. Freedom Village in South Korea actaully has farmers who apparently make famous ginseng. There were a lot of rules a regulations regarding photography, and such, but personally, the DMZ tour was overpriced, you didn't get to stay and really look at anything. But this is becuase the tour bus has a time limit. There's too many tourists. On the way back into town, you stop at a random amethyst place, where they get you to buy buy BUY! of course, I did, I had to get a present for a certain person, so there was the prime place. They only took American or Korean Cash, or foreign credit cards, it was a little weird they wouldn't take a korean credit card.

We then headed up Seoul Tower. It was SO busy, and you had to pay to go up, so we just looked around the area. We were noticing locks everywhere with writing on them. It was quite interesting. We were wishing we knew about this beforehand, so we could do it, and low and behold there was a lady selling some locks. So Lucas and I put our names on a lock, and put it on the fence next to thousands and thousands of others. I put it where there was moselty brass locks becuase ours was metallic blue. Luc and I both have a ket on our keychain. I'm sure they cut them down after a month or two, but that's okay, I have pictures to remember it.

It was time to head back to the hotel for an hour's rest before going out to see the lantern festival. Unfortunately, we were lead astray as to when the parade was (last week, not this), but we went to Jogyesa Temple where there were thousands of lit lanterns hanging. Tomorrow is Buddha's Birthday, and you could tell they were getting ready for a monstrous celebration. The lanterns were phenomenal. We walked further down the road to a river channel promenade that had lanterns hanging above that, and stayed for a while, drinking it in, before we had to say goodbye. Diana and Mike have one more day in Seoul before they head to China for a week. The definately had an experience and half and I hope my parents get to be able to do some of the same things as them. Mom and Dad beware, you're going to be trained on metal chopsticks. Get used to them for Korea.

Jeju-do

Okay, so I don't know if I'm going to have the energy to do this properly. I've been uploading and reaaranging photos for the past two hours. I've sent a bunch of photos to mom from Jeju LoveLand. They are of racy nature, so I couldn't post them here in fears of corrupting my younger cousins. Jeju is a honeymoon destination, and Koreans are somewhat ignorant of sex, so Love Land is the place where one becomes comfortable with sexuality.

Anyways. We arrive in Jeju, and I see ORANGES! I totally wanted to pick an orange, but never did get the opportunity. Mike rented a car, which is probably the best thing to do if you're going to Jeju. The drivers are insane, and don't know what a red light was (Mike was loving the running, he was getting into it), but in order to see and do everything, it was necessary. As soon as we got out of Jeju-si (Jeju City), we came upon Mysterious Road. Here, if you put your car into neutral, it appears that your car is moving forward uphill, it's neat. There were a bunch of other people doing the same thing. Right after Mysterious Road was Love Land. Mike was a little hesitant at first. But man, that place was fun! Penises and Va Jay Jays everywhere!

We drove through the middle of the island to our town of Seowipo, and through haphazard drivers, found our motel. It was a decent place, a little mouldy, but it sufficed for the amount of time that we were in the place. We walked around our immediate area first of all and found a tourist destination at our fingertips. Cheonjiyeon Falls was right below us, and it was a pretty walk. Then we walked along the water front and there were many fishing boats that had pretty amazing bright lights on them. They go out at night fishing, and if you look onto the water, in the distant you see the incredibly bright lights from the fishing boats. Luc and I found a Sam Gyeop Sal (Korean BBQ) place for dinner, and bought some beers to drink on the roof of our motel. It was an early night as we were all pretty tired, and we only had one full day to get everything in for Lucas and I.

The next morning we dined on Frosted Flakes before heading out to the first place. Our goal was to make it around the island, stopping at places we thought was interesting. First stop was a little beach, Pyoseon. Immediately, you see black rock (it's a volcanic island), white sand, and tropical water. It was beautiful. But this was just a five minute stop, enough to get my feet in and walk around. We were heading to Sunrise Peak.

Sunrise Peak (Seongsan Ilchubong) is an extinct volcanic crater that you can climb. I was wearing flipflops, and everyone wanted to go up. It's really tall, and I wasn't keen on doing it. But I was following the pack. I'm so glad now that I went up. It was stairs, which was nice, but it was a tough climb. It was so high, hot, and muggy. You look up, and it's almost a sheer cliff! But once you get to the top, it was amazing.

After decending Sunrise Peak, we made our way to the next tourist destination Manjuggal Caves. This is the world's longest lava tube cave, and we walked it. As you decend into it, the tempterture takes a dramatic dive. We were prepared though with our sweaters. Water drips from the top of the cave into many puddles. It's dark and cool. There are some lit up signs which tell you about what you're seeing, from stalagtites to rockfalls to lavaflows. It was really rad. And at the very end, you come to a lave column, this is one of two in the entire world.

We were searching for one of the infamous black sand beaches, and went to one where I was told, and it wasn't black sand. That was a bit of a disappointment, but it was a white sand beach, with turquoise waters, and black rocks jutting into the water. I brought my bathing suit and went swimming into the ocean. The water was so gorgeous. I could have stayed there awhile. I managed to burn the tops of my feet, but of course, my legs, no mattter how much sun exposure, got absolutely no colour. Stupid legs. This beach was called Hamdeok Beach, and is one of the famous ones on Jeju.

We wanted to make it to the western part of the island before sunset, but we stopped for dinner, and didn't quite make it. We managed to catch the last three minutes of the sun before it went down luckily. We finished driving around the whole island, and buy the time we got back to the motel, we had been gone for 12 hours. We grabbes some dinner and went to bed early.

This morning, we only had a limited time as Luc and I had to catch our plane to come back.The weather was definately not as good today. We went to a tea farm/museum which wasn't what I was expecting. We walked along the green tea plants and then hopped back in the car to make it to the airport.

Jeju is South Korea's Hawaii. It was absolutely gorgeous!! I'm so tired now though. I just want to sleep. But it is Neal's Bday, so we're going out to an Indian Restaurant. I don't know how Keen Luc is on that as it isn't his favourite food, but he'll get over it. Diana and Mike are still on Jeju until Thursday, where they will stay with us for the night becuase the next day we do to Seoul :D

Tomorrow is Children's Day here in Korea. It's a National Holiday, and kids have the day off from school, but they still have to go to MoonKkang. They are not at all happy about it. Children's day is where the parents give the kids money or presents and they just get to play all day. Thursday (my birthday) is Parents Day where kids give their parents a carnation. Then Next Monday is Buddha's Birthday. May is known as the King here becuase of all the national holidays.

Alright, need to make myself look not so tired.