Korea Bound

Back to Canada

2008-12-16T08:38:00.002+09:00

Here I am, sitting in a warm house, watching CSI, and petting my cat. It's so nice to be home! Although I am quite lucky to be home. In Korea, we checked the weather to find that there was a weather advisory in effect for Kelowna. I remember distinctly that the day before we left Kelowna on November 27, 2007, there was a snowstorm the night before. We made our journey to Incheon Airport in Seoul and checked our bags in. We were worried that there wasn't going to be enough time in Vancouver to go through immigration and customs. Everyone assured us there would be enough time if we hurried. I was just so excited to go home, so everything I was doing was hurried. I was getting a little frustrated with the flight when it was delayed because of cabin cleaning. Then, I was the lucky one where my inflight entertainment system didn't work the entire trip. That was pretty lame. I tried sleeping, but that didn't go so well. How can one sleep on a plane that is completely uncomfortable? I can't sleep sitting up, and the seat doesn't tilt back so well. I was off that plane so fast when it landed, though we did have to sit on the apron at Vancouver Airport for about 15 minutes because we had to wait for the ground crew....uh huh...

We got to go through to the beginning of the line because of our flight to Kelowna. We managed to get through immigration fast, with one hiccup. Luc's suitcase came out of the plane absolutely demolished. It looked like it was in a trainwreck. Luckily, everything inside came out fine. We busted through customs and made our way to what seemed like the other side of the airport. We arrived at our gate just in time for the scheduled boarding time, but there was no one there No Air Canada employees were at the gate. Turns out, the weather advisory was delaying things. Eventually someone showed up and let us know that the captain would try to land in Kelowna, but we may have to turn back due to back weather. I just wanted to go home.

As we were waiting to land, I had a choking anxious feeling. I knew that everyone was going to be at the airport, and I was so excited to see everyone. Luc was acting so calm, but I was almost bouncing out of my seat, I swear I was the first one up out of my seat when we landed and was raring to get out of the plane. I walked as fast as I could to get to the arrivals. I was so fantastic to see everyone at the airport, thank you for being there! It is so amazing to be home. I missed things.

I went to Walmart today and was so overwhelmed by the choices. I stood staring at the body washes for awhile. There's so many! I can't wait to go to a grocery store, where I can get ful fat, half fat, non fat anything. It's going to be crazy.

Tomorrow I head to Vancouver to help out dad. There's somuch happening, and so much to do, I don't know where to start, or where to go. Now I have to figure out what to do with myself. Where do I begin?

Krabi

2008-12-08T13:59:00.006+09:00

Princes Cave Shrine

Part of the opening to Princess Cave

Rai Leh Beach

Chicken Island...get it? Though it's more like Turkey Island.

Haha! I LOVE the Christmas light contest posts! I was laughing out loud in the internet cafe! I'm imagining a big star on Uncle Moe's house, and the 3000+ lights complete with outdoor speakers on Uncle Dave's. Oh man.

Yesterday, Lucas and I went on a day trip to Krabi. We woke up to sunshine, but as the day went on, the dark clouds came in, and we were in another rainstorm. But, it was alright, as the air was still warm and we had roof over our heads. The day started at 630 am when we had some toast and coffee/tea. We were picked up at 7am by the tour company and we were back on another boat. The ride was over 2 hours long, but we made it to our first place after transferring boats. We first went to Chicken Island. You can see why it is called that from the picture. We went snorkelling here. The tour guides kept throwing in cheese or bread, and the little fish were swarming it. They were doing this right at the bottom of the ladder. It reminded me of feeding the Piranhas at the Nature Centre. And they expected me to go down the ladder right into that?? But I did, even though I was slightly freaked out about it. Lucas even did it. We didn't go far from the boat though. I bought an underwater camera, and took a couple shots, but having so many hungry fish around me like that, was not awesome. We got back on the boat, and you could see the swarming fish going wherever there was a boat. They knew that food was there. They are smart little devils.

There was an Israeli couple who started chatting us up. They kept telling me that we should go and visit Isreal. They also thought that I was from Poland because I told them I visited there once. I tried to tell him otherwise, and he said he understood, but then later, he brought it up again, talking about what it's like being from Poland.

We drove in the boat around two islands that are connected by a sandbar during low tide. There is also a tiny island in between. We didn't get to walk on the sandbar, but we went around to the second island and stayed on the beach for a bit. Luc and I did some more snorkelling and finished off the underwater camera. I don't think the pictures are going to be suberb for a couple reasons. One, it's a single use camera. Second, the water was not too clear becuase the water was choppy and throwing up sand. Phi Phi's waters were so much better, and the fish on Phi Phi were a lot more varied and colourful. This place had so many sea urchins. I was afraid to walk around there because of the amount of urchins.

We then went to Rai Leh beach. I don't know if you got this commercial in Canada, but in Korea, there was a commercial for Pepsi that had a bunch of soccer players in it, even David Beckham (let's be honest, he's the only soccer player I know). They are playing all over Thailand, even on this beach. We're coming to realize that there is a lot of places in Thailand that are in commercials and movies that we've seen. We had lunch here, and got to hang out on the beach for awhile.

Finally, we went around Rai Leh to Princess Cave. Legend has it that an unmarried princess died here. Because of this fisherman have set up a shrine to her, and are contstantly leave wooden phalluses for her. This, apparently, is to appease her, and she in turn helps the fishermen with good catches. This cave is mighty impressive, and with the water surrounding it a warm green colour, you can see why the bungalow by it is an insanely priced 5 star resort. Only the richest of the rich can stay there. At this point, it started to rain a lot, but it was the end of the tour. The trip back to Phuket was a little more somber because of the weather. For the rest of the night, Lucas and I went for dinner, and then tried to do a little shopping.

Today is our last full day here. We took our time leaving the hotel, and are now just biding time until we figure out where we're staying tonight. Since we have to be at the airport at 6am, we need to find somewhere close to the airport. We've been told there are some hotels by the airport, and so we're going to somehow make our way up there to check it out. The trick is to figure out how to get to the airport. That's our task for the day.

Karon Beach

2008-12-06T22:01:00.006+09:00

the courtyard at our hotel

Connect Four at our dinner table

Lucas likes Triceratops

Heck yes Dino Mini Golf!

We were going to stay on Karon Beach for one night. One night has turned into three. After walking for a little longer than expected, trying to find a hotel, we found a beautiful respite from the sun. Casa Brazil. The decoration in this place is fantastic, so colourful. It also has an open courtyard with a fountain a fish. And the two cats (though apparently there are three) also help. It also has the best shower, with the best pressure, compared to the places we have been staying for the last couple weeks.

Today, we were getting some beach chairs, when the lady asked us where we were from. We said Canada. And she said, "wow, you speak good English!". Uh, yes? Thank you? Being here makes Lucas and I realize how sad of a job that Canada does when it comes to foreign languages, even French. Tourists and Thais alike all seem to know English. They can all speak well, and get their point across. I wish I had the ability to speak another language, but the teaching I got in school was not very good. We're lucky to speak English, I suppose, because we can go so many places, and not have a problem talking or getting a point across. But we're also unlucky, because so many others can speak their own language, with English on top of that.

Lucas got himself a wicked burn today, and it was cloudy! Those clouds are quite deceiving. He's got the lobster-like stomach and face, and is pale ghostly white on his sides where his arms are. It's quite entertaining. It's a good thing that we bought another aloe vera bottle. Tomorrow we go on a day tour of Krabi. I bought an underwater camera because we are going to snorkel on the trip. I'm sad I didn't have one on Phi Phi with the zebra fish, angel fish, and clown fish (Nemo), and the weird sword-like skinny long fish that freaked out Lucas. We will have one more day after that, and we're not sure what we're going to do. It can't be anywhere far though because our flight leaves on the 9th at 8am; therefore, we have to be at the airport around 6ish. Spendid!

Our time is almost over. In one week, we'll be home to Canada. It's so weird to think about that. I've been missing home since I left last November 27, but it's been comfortable here. Korea's been easy. We could do what we want, have money to burn. Now we go home where there is an economic crisis and we'll be restricted on what we can do. And it will be cold. Can't forget about that :)

We miss everyone, and are very excited to see you at the airport! I'm carting around so much booty for people. I seem to buy more for others than I do myself! My shoulder are sore from carrying it. You won't get it until Christmas though!!

Little Scandinavia

2008-12-05T00:03:00.003+09:00

We're still here on Kata Beach. Tomorrow we're going to move up a few meters to Karon Beach. We discovered tonight just how close it really was as we were walking down to street trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't overpriced. The sand on that beach is like icing sugar, and it crunches under your feet. It's so soft.

On the way to finding a place to eat, we saw an elephant with people feeding him and getting their picture taken with him. He was so cute. I could go for a baby elephant. I kinda felt sorry for him though. People kept feeding and feeding him. Isn't that a form or torture? Being constantly fed? And he had a swarm of people around him, and flashes constantly going off. The elephant did catch our attention though of the place he was standing in front of...DINO PARK! Heck yes, a mini golf area that is completely dino themed. I think it's probably to coolest and well made mini golf I have seen. The courses were imaginative, and there were dinosaur scattered throughout. There was even a volcano that shot up fireballs. We had a lot of fun there.

We were talking with a hotel guy a couple days ago, and he was telling us that because of the airport disruptions, there has been 90% cancellations. It's incredible. When we were in Phuket Town, it didn't seem like much, but he said that at this time it's usually quite busy. Phi Phi Island as well had nearly empty restaurants at peak dining times. It was weird to see. The airport is supposed to be fully functional as of tomorrow.

For the entire trip, I seem to be the target of mosquitos. Canadian mosquitos don't really like me, but it appears that Asian ones do. Though the other night, Lucas was the target. He awoke one morning to find 32 bites on his feet alone. There was some kind of bug in his bed (we had two singles that night). It's a good thing I bought Tiger Balm in Vietnam, that stuff is great on bites.

Erin2, I think that Kata Beach is the beach for you. Bob Marley and Rasta Thais everywhere. This beach is fantastic and so chill. You would love it here! Like I said in the title of this post, Kata Beach is also Little Scandinavia. There are so many Scandinavian restaurants, even the place where we are staying is a Scandinavian man and his Thai wife. The majority of people here are from Norway or Finland or Sweden. There is a lot of blonde hair and blue eyes. And of course, old topless ladies. Yesterday we even got a little man bits and lady lower bits, as a couple decided to change out of their bathing suits on the beach. Oh Thailand.

Kata Beach

2008-12-03T21:18:00.004+09:00

On Phi Phi Island

The hermit crab had walked such a long way, and it kept on trekking, it had a mission, it seemed.

Kata Beach sunset

Well everyone, as fate has it, Bangkok's airport opens up the day after we change our flights. We got lucky though, in a sense. We were going to have a charge for changing the flights, because our original flight was not cancelled. But I just received an email from our travel agent, and he said the flight was cancelled today, therefore no charge! BUT, we did have to buy a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

So, here's our new flight itinerary home: It's going to be a long way to Daegu...

Dec 9: 8am flight from Phuket, Thailand to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1.5 hours)

Dec 9: 2:20pm Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ( 2 hours)

Dec 10: 1:10am Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Busan, Korea (6 hours)

Dec 10: 8am-ish Busan, Korea to Daegu, Korea (1 hour)

We'll be travelling for about 24 hours until we get back to Daegu. Awesome. But then three days later, we go to Canada!!!

We are now in Kata beach, which I believe is south from Patong. Becuase of our new flight schedule, we're going to be spending the remainder of the week here in Koh Phuket. We took the bus from Phuket Town, and once we got here, it was ridiculous trying to find a hotel. Our Lonely Planet book really let us down here as the map sucks, and two of the hotels that we tried apparently do not exist. We were walking in the incredible heat for about an hour before we found a place that was suitable (ie air cond, tv, shower). We were irritable and sweaty. The rest of day we just spent on the beach. We picked a good spot. The sand is so soft, and we had a perfect view of the sunset, as you can see. We are here at Kata for two nights. Since we now have all this time on our hands, we think we might try to do a day tour of Krabi or something else.Tonight, there is a night bazaar that we plan on going to.

Luc and I found Nemo and his dad!

2008-12-01T21:10:00.004+09:00

Its good to know that they speak Canadian here. I was worried.
Island kitty, living the island lifestyle
Lucas with a school of zebra fish

We're here on beautiful Koh Phi Phi. Even though the sun has been lacking, I'm enjoying the island lifestyle. No time limits (except on the internet because it's 2bhat a minute), beaches, and crystal water. Yesterday, we had a day at the beach. Our guesthouse is 30 seconds away. It was nice. The water is a little colder here than Patong Beach, but it was still nice. We enjoyed seeing the long boats gathered on shore. Every second you turn around, someone is shouting at you "taxi boat, taxi boat?" Luc said that after Asia, telemarketers aren't so bad. Right now, we can here the mosque calling to prayer. Phi Phi is a Muslim island, and the hundreds of cats that walk the streets are great. Everyone seems to have a cat. Yesterday, there were people walking with their kitten. The kitten was wading in the water, and comes when he's called. The cats are so friendly and obedient. We keep coming back to this Internet cafe because the cat here will come and jump into my lap for a cuddle when I call to it!

We're staying at the Pier Guesthouse. Mom and Dad, you stayed at the Phi Phi Hotel. When you were sitting at the hotel pool, did you notice the crappy, run down place looking over it as well? That's where we are staying. It's not so bad really, but the water smells like eggs. Kind of a turn off. But the room has a bed, air con, tv, and bathroom, and that's what I need.

Today, we made our way via long boat to Long Beach. There wasn't much around there, but the sand was white and soft, and the water was full of fish. I started going in the water when I was surrounded but transparent looking with with black tipped fins. I immediately told Lucas was had to rent masks and snorkels. When we did, we dove in, and were amazed. There was a school of zebra like fish that hung around us, swimming with us, not scared at all. When we went out a little further, there were rainbow coloured fish, purple fish with turquoise fins, angelfish, AND clowfish and Dori fish. It was like the whole story of Finding Nemo was playing out before our eyes. The clownfish even had a baby Nemo, and they were playing in the anemone!!! It was amazing.

We have been in contact with our travel agent, and he said we have to cal Vietnam Airlines, to get them to change our flight, since we're not going to be able to leave out of Bangkok. It's too late to do it right now, but tomorrow, I'm going to see if we can fly out of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We'd have to make our own way to KL though. It's a 13 hour bus ride from Krabi if we go that route. If we do have to do that, I would like to see KL, even if it is for a day. This whole situation is getting ridiculous. It's obvious that there are many people not happy with the current government, why can't they just call an election?? I want this sorted out now.

Phuket Safari

2008-11-29T21:58:00.003+09:00

I have registered with the Canadian government that I am in Thailand, and Lucas is doing the same. We are heading to Phi Phi Island tomorrow for a couple days, and if things aren't cleared up by the time we're heading back to Phuket, we're going to be in contact with our travel agent in Korea and see what he can do for us. Everyone here in Thailand are pretty confident that this is going to be over soon. The government here doesn't seem to be moving very fast, but no one seems to be in panic mode here. Flights do leave Phuket for somewhere like Kuala Lampur in Malaysia, so we might see if we can get things diverted to there. But I'll be very sad if I have to do that, because I quite want to go to Bangkok and see the Tiger Temple and Floating market. We still have another week for things to get back to normal, but I'm sure there is going to be quite a backlog of people trying to get out.

We made it to Phuket Town. It is definately a lot shabbier than Patong beach. There are no young and hip beach bums around here, in fact, there really aren't many people at all. I guess it's just a drop off point on your way to Phi Phi or Krabi. We did visit the outside of the hotel that was used in the move The Beach. Lucas and I have been trying to find the book, and we're going to have to watch it when we get back, I think I remember seeing it at his house... When we were leaving Patong, we weren't really sure how to get to Phuket Town. We were going to the bus terminal (that goes here), but then we were told to look for the blue bus on the beach road, and flag it down. We did that, and it was a sawngthaew, which is like a bongo truck with seats in the back. it was only 25 baht, so that was good for me! I kind felt like a chicken being carted around though.

Today, Lucas and I went on a half day "safari" around Phuket island. It was a lot of fun, once it got started. It was only him and I, and the guide was 30-45 minutes late picking us up. And it seemed like it was put together at the last minute, because she had a different brochure than us, and there were some things on there that we didn't want to do. But she made it so we did the good things.

First we went to go elephant trekking. I got to ride on my elephant!! I was a little scary at times because the elephant would go on a steep hill, and we would almost be falling out of our seats! It was a quick ride, but we had a lot to pack into the day. After the ride, we fed the elephants some bananas. They would just take it out of our hands with their trunks. The end of their trunks are quite nimble and like a finger. I got lots of elephant snot on my hands trying to feed them. There was also another elephant nearby that was dancing for us, and when we would take a picture, he would smile. Elephants really are smart animals.

Next was a monkey show. The monkey would put his hands together as if saying sa wa dii khap (hello in Thai). Then he would do random things with a bike, or coconuts. We even got to shake hands with one of them, as you can see from the pictures.

From there we went to a jewellry store. Just like Korea and China, we had to go to some stupid jewelly store and get pressured into buying something. We tried to just look, but of course, someone is hammering on you to buy something, so we just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, which we did.

We then went to the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre. This is a place where gibbons (a type of small ape) is made ready to go back into the wild. Gibbons in Phuket have been extinct since the 80's, and people here, even though it is illegal, keep them for pets or as tourist attractions. It was good to see someone taking the time to take care of them. Some of the animals would never return to the wild becuase they had been maimed by previous owners. It was horrible to see.

Beside the rehabilitation centre was a waterfall - Bang Pba Waterfall. It was a little climb through the jungle, but we made it, and it was refreshing to see. There were some people swimming below the falling water. Just just had a quick pitstop there. We then drove to a river where we went in a blow up canoe. The tide was low, and it was a mangrove forest. It was quite peaceful as we were the only ones around. There was a boat nearby that had been brought up the river from the tsunami a couple years back. We had dinner at the owner's house, and it was lovely. I love how so many things here are served with an orchid for presentation. At the house, the owner had many orchid plants, just growing wild. I keep thinking how expensive orchids are back home, and here, it's nothing. We even had a visitor frog and many geckos throughout dinner. The road out to this place was insane. A small dirt road, that was pretty much potholed throughout. The poor van we were in.... Lucas said that the van reminded him of the Suburban, becuase of the smell, and diesel, and the way that it drove.

I find it very interesting in Thailand that the majority of business have a small shrine outside, or inside, the store. They all have incense burning and offerings. There are also always a picture of the king and queen. In houses, over bridges. He is definately loved. It is unfortunate though that he is doing nothing about the protests at the airport. I can't believe that they have gone on this long really. An airport, especially for Thailand, is extremely important. Another interesting thing is that you can buy birth control pills here in the aisle of a drugstore. You don't need to talk to a pharmacist or anything. Just walk in, do to the aisle, and pay. Easy. Imagine trying to do that in Korea where you have to go to a pharmacist just to get a 10 pack of tylenol or IB profin!!! Guys in Thailand seem to have insane nails. Either their thumb, or pinky will have a ridiculously long nail on it. Seems like something that would be perfect for cocaine. I highly doubt that's the case considering the laws about drugs here. I've discovered that I really really like Tom Yum soup, a red sweet and sour soup that is beyond. Thai food is awesome!

Patong Beach

2008-11-27T20:31:00.004+09:00

beautiful

creepy kitty eyes

hahahahahahah, YES! I got to hold him. Then the guy took my picture, and tried to get money from me. Heck no, 3oo baht for a polaroid? You are crazy. And we walked away with this picture from my camera before he knew it. I want one.
In Saigon Airport, the onlky place where Lucas could find a drink. How much was it you ask? 1 USD? 2? NO, he paid 3 USD for a can of Sprite. It was good though.

Oh my goodness. This situation in Bangkok is a little unnerving. We're currently on Phuket island, and are not going to attempt to make our way up to Bangkok for about a week. I'm just hoping that this situation is resolved so we are able to fly out of the country...not that I want to leave. But I don't know what to do about this ticket I have, or where to go for information. There is a man beside me trying to talk to whoever sold him his ticket to get home, trying to change it to fly out of Phuket, to any country that will fly him home (I'm definately eavesdropping), but he's having A LOT of problems. We are watching BBC and Aljezeera News every chance we get to see what new is happening. For the time being, we are okay, and heading to Phuket Town tomorrow for a couple nights. We're not sure if we are going to go to Krabi first, then Phi Phi (Phi Phi is smack in the middle of Krabi and Phuket). We need to figure out in the next few though because we are going to book a hotel for Phi Phi at least.

We left Ho chi Minh City with a little bit of a drawback. Lucas had bought a souvenier at Cu Chi Tunnels, a plane made from old bullets, and they held it in security, called us back, and then took it from him. I can see why, but why would you sell that to the tourists, if you're going to have it taken away in the first place? Also, Lucas didn't have his "departure card" for the Vietnam customs. He threw it away. I was going to throw mine away too, I didn't know that we had to keep it, no one told us anything. But I tucked it away to do outside of the country. Lucky me! So Lucas was sweating a little, until I went up to one of the immigration officers. We got things sorted, but in midsts of everything, they were harrasing Lucas a lot about marrying me. It was pretty funny. One guy asked me if he was my husband, I said no, then he said "I assume you are of age". Yeah, like that. And I said of course, so then he was all on Luc's case the entire time we were trying to get Luc on the other side of the desk.

I got my first sunburn today! It was sunny, and really really hot for the morning at least. It was nice knowing we weren't going to have to switch hotels (which we did yesterday cuase the first one was not for us). So we just spent the day at the beach. It was fantastic. We ate at a restaurant that has it's tables in the sand, and we went right in time because there was a quick shower, so we huddled under our umbrella. I don't think I've seen so many topless women in one place as I have today on the beach. And why, might I ask you, are they all so OLD? There were no young people sunbathing topless, no I think you had to be a part of the 55+ club for that. We bought a Thailand guidebook for more informationt than our one on SE Asia could, and those topless ladies are committing a Thailand faux pas! You can also tell who is European and who is not because of the choice in swimsuits: banana hammocks vs. swim shorts. I'm all for the swim shorts, thank you.

Patong is definately a party town. At night, it comes alive with it's million bars, go go ladies and lady boys. Then you see the sunburnt tourists buying into the goods being sold on the street (I for one am one of the, I admit). I find it interesting to see all the signs designating at tsunami evacutation route. I was trying to figure out where they go, but they don't see to be useful as many of the signs point you to go parallel with the beach. I would think you would want to be as far from it as possible when the time comes? But that's just me. Thailand also has cats with the freakiest eyes. I cannot turn away from a cat, but sometimes, it's like they are going to give me night mares!

We'll do our best to keep in touch, these computers are pretty old and rickety. They have trouble with simple things. We're keeping an eye on the news, but hopefully this will clear up soon. We miss everyone and are looking forward to being home in a couple weeks!

This is a video of the traffic in Saigon. I could feel the pollution in my lungs from breathing it in for a week. It was like this in Hanoi too.

Thailand - We made it out of Bangkok!

2008-11-26T13:34:00.003+09:00

Just a quick note, we made it to Phuket!

We have been watching the BBC news here, and saw that protesters have taken over Bangkok Airport yesterday. We made it out of Bangkok JUST before they took it over. We were very lucky on that one to not be stranded at the airport.

So we arrived in Phuket, and it was dark. So basically we got onto an airport shuttle, herded into a place where we got a hotel for the night. It was interesting though. Every one of the people in the "travel agency" were very hard to distinguish what sex they were. There was one guy who looked like he was wearing some blonde page wig, but I actually think it was his real hair. Anyways, we got a hotel for the night, but it was pretty noisy, so now we have just moved to the hotel beside it, which I think will suit us just fine for two nights. Everyone wants us to pay in cash for the hotels and such which has put a huge damper on my cash. We were expecting to pay Visa for everything. I found out that my bank card works, but I can't take out money on my visa.

We will be in Patong for the next two nights, and then we will move on the Phuket town for a a couple nights I think. From there, we go to Phi Phi, and then perhaps to Krabi. Who knows what is going to happen with the anti-government protests, hopefully, we'll be able to make it up to Bangkok again, and fly back to Korea (though I'm not looking forward to Korea).

It's somewhat cloudy here, I hope it'll getting sunnier. We only saw the beach last night, so we'
re on our way there. We just wanted to let you know that we're okay and not stranded in the airport or Vietnam.

Saigon

2008-11-23T20:25:00.004+09:00

We made it to HoChiMinh City (Saigon) with only a short delay at the airport. We were getting a little chilly in Hanoi, but when we got off the plane here, we were punched in the face with humidity and warmth at 10 at night. We eventually found a hotel and the people who run it are just like moms. They make sure we hold our bags properly to make sure they don't get stolen. They did our laundry for us. Always fussing to make sure everything is okay. They're so nice. We're currently in some little internet cafe that smells musty.

Yesterday we went to the Reunification Palace, or Independence Palace. This is where communist tanks crashed through the front gates and South Vietnam fell to the North. Lucas said it looked like a place where you could listen to Jefferson Airplane and do some blow. The decor is very 60's. We also went to a market where I bought some perfume, though the one is a bad knock off that's been drowned out with more alcohol and water, and the other one is alright. The place reminded me of China and Korean markets.

Randomly walking the streets of Saigon, we ran into the Aussie ladies again. They just keep popping up everywhere! We ended up eating dinner with them at the outside market last night. As we were eating, the skies opened up and it rained like I have never seen rain before. It was amazing! Right now it is also raining. I think becuase of the humidity all day, it just gathers and at night, it returns.

Today we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, north of the city. It is here that the VietCong had a vast array of tunnels to hide from the Americans. It's been very interesting learning about the war from the other side. History is written by the victors, right? Even though the Americans didn't win the war, they always hype themselves as the good guys. That's the same thing the Vietnamese do about themselves. We got to shoot a couple of AK 47's. We bought the bullets and went to the shooting range. Dang those things are LOUD!!! Lucas wanted to shoot all of the guns : M1, Thomson, M3, Colt .45, M60, M16, and Russian Machine guns (he's over my shoulder listing them with excitement). We also went to a bar that plays ONLY Gun & Roses. No joke. ONLY GUNS & ROSES. There is only so much of that that one can handle.

Tomorrow we are going to see the War Remnants Museum. Apparently, it's not for the faint of heart as it is a very graphic place to be. I don't think you really get a feel for the way things are if you sugar coat it, or learn in a text book. I learned that when I went to Auschwitz. Also tomorrow, I'm going to get a massage from a place that employs blind masseuses. They have many things around here that help people who would otherwise have a hard time in life. There are places like the one above, and another that teaches street kids to bake so they could make a living.

Lucas and I talked, and we're not going to go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It sucks, but we really don't have the time to do that. We decided that we are just going to fly to Phuket. That's a chunk of cash to do so, but I think that it is better this way, and we have a lot more time in Thailand to enjoy ourselves on the beach and see the islands. Then hopefully we'll meet up with a friend in Bangkok - Ben, who I worked with at MoonKkang. We fly to Phuket on November 25 and get in at 5:30. From there we'll try and find a hotel. At this point, it's too late to try and book online. As we found out in Hanoi, we paid WAAAAAY too much online for a night. It's better just to walk in and ask!

Halong Bay

2008-11-20T20:35:00.004+09:00

We are back from Halong Bay, one of the most gorgeous places I've been to. I'm glad that Lucas and I opted for the overnight on the boat instead of the day tour. It took us 4 hours to get out there in the first place. The wharf was ridiculous. There were "junk" boats everywhere. Junks are the awesome wooden boats that seem stereotypically Vietnamese. There were so many tourists milling about waiting to get on one of the boats.

The tour that we went on had 12 people, and we all got along great. Many Americans and Aussies. Lucas and I were the only Canadians on board. We got on in time to have Lunch - which was a seafood lunch. Hurray.... At least there was lots of rice, and one other meat dish. And spring rolls, man I love those things.

We start our tour, have some lunch, and then make our way into the karst limestone. They reminded me a little of Flowerpot Island, only more beautiful. There is over 3000 of these islands. All of us had our cameras poised for the entire trip. We made our way to the Cave of Surprises. This is a huge cave that was made a Heritage site by UNESCO (all of the islands are also another UNESCO site). It was amazing! It was also rad to see graffitti on the wall from 1904, and sometimes even earlier! We also went to this pagoda on top of one of the islands, which was 400 something stairs up. Then I went on my first kayaking experience. It was great! We kayaked under this small cave, and into a gorgeous grotto of some sort. You could feel the heat coming off of the water.

Also, because there are so many of these "junks" on the water with tourists, there is major competition between the captains to be the first to unload everyone at various places. So while we were at the pagoda, another boat was "parked" close by us. Then you hear the sound of glass breaking. Lucas and my cabin window had been smashed through. Superb! Just another adventure. We ended up transferring rooms, so we didn't have to deal with that. Apparently though, the crew members had to pay for that out of their own pockets.

This morning we were supposed to go for a swim, and as I was turning around on the ladder to get down into the water, I hurt myself - bad. My knee. As I was turning around, I just heard - and felt - a series of pops. I couldn't move my leg for a moment, and I was scared. I can move it now, but everytime I go down stairs, it's popping, and it aches. I'm scared, and I think I've regressed. I'm glad I'm going to the doctor when I get home. This is putting a damper on things right now.

We found a hotel for the night, and wouldn't you know it, it's on the very top floor, the 5th/6th, and there's no elevator. Fantastic. Tomorrow we're going to see the Temple of Literature before heading to the airport to catch a flight to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We're probably going to have to buy a ticket to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. We don't have enough time to bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, and everything. And I have to see Angkor. It's a little bit expensive to fly there, but I think we're just going to have to suck it up and do it.

Vietnam - the beginnings

2008-11-18T17:44:00.002+09:00

We have arrived in Vietnam - safe and sound! There is so much commotion in this country, it's insane.

We went to Busan the night before - Sunday. That was a hectic day. We had to clear our apartment, get our stuff ready to go, and head to the train station. Luc and I said our goodbyes to Korea the night before. We went out with all our friends and it was great. We didn't get home until about 530. Sunday, we had to transport our enormous amount of luggage to Nadiras house where she had placed just the right amount of room for everything for us. I hope she'll be okay because there is cat hair on some of the bags, and she's allergic. It was hard to say goodbye to Whitney and Neal. They we the first people we met in Korea and the last people we said goodbye to. There were many tears shed, let me tell you. Our "love motel" in Busan and actually not bad. We ended up staying beside the trainstation, which is apparently, one of the more sketchy places in Korea. Full of Russian prostitutes and gangs. But we saw none of that, and it wad fine. It was an early morning to the airport.

We were, of course, the only foreigners on the plane to Hanoi. We also sat beside a woman, with such a cute baby. But the baby was a) sick and b) not liking the plane. So she wailed for take off and landing. When we got to the airport in Hanoi, I was surprised by the size of it! So small, for the capital of a country. Immigration too forever too. There were a lot of Koreans on the plane over, and of course the ajumas (Korean women) butted in line. Our bags took a long time to get onto the belt too, but there were so many other people still waiting, it was okay.

We took the airport shuttle to the Old Quarter where our hotel is. Vietnam used to be under French Colonial rule, and it shows in the artchitecture and language. There are A LOT of French tourists here, and many of the people speak French. Lucas hasn't really been busting out his supposed French Immersion schooling though.

This is the land of perpetual honking. You cannot go literally 10 seconds without hearing honking. There are so many motorcycles around. More so than cars, by far. Mom you would have a heart attack trying to cross the streets. There are crosswalks, but they aren't controlled. You just have to start crossing - slow and steady.

We finalyl found our hotel, after a little bit of searching, and they told us that there are problems with the room, so they have to take us to another hotel just down the street. Turns out its a nice place, and breakfast was pretty good. All the buildings here are tall and skinny, so it's hard to miss, but there are so many hotels and hostels everywhere here.

Last night Lucas and I went to explore Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the heart of the Old Quarter. There is a temple (Ngoc Son Temple: Jade Mountain Temple) in the middle of the lake that has a giant embalm tortoise on it. Apparently, there is a giant Turtle in the lake, but the last time it was seen was 2006. Legend has it that the turtle took a sword from an emporer (who got it from a god) and he returned it to it's divine origins. We also saw a Water Puppet show. Vietnam is know for it's water puppetry, and it was interesting to watch it. We also saw St. Joseph's Cathedral, which is a stone's throw from the hostel. It's been nice to hear the bells ringing every 15 minutes.

We met a couple of Australian ladies who have been travelling Vietnam for the last three weeks. They have been having a ball here, and had a lot of info to share with us. It's been great. So many Aussies. You either hear Aussie or French.

We are constantly being bombarded by people. "Hello, motorbike?" "Hello, please buy". You have to keep walking. If you stop, they pounce.

Today, we went to see a temple: Bac Ma. It has a statue of the legendary White Horse that an emporer used when he was building the wall...or something like that. We also went to Hoa Lo Prison, which is where John McCain was held as a POW during the Vietnam war. That was an interesting place to see. Very depresssing though.

Tomorrow we are going on a one night - two day tour of Halong Bay. We will be sleeping on a boat, and kayaking, and taking millions of pictures! I'm suuuuper excited to see it. Halong Bay is the place that you see when you think of Vietnam, with the crazy rock formations and the gorgeous water. Friday, we booked a flight to Ho Chi Minh. We don't have time to take a 35 (yes thirty five) hour train from here to there. We are on a schedule. I want to see Cambodia and Thailand!

P.S. Vietnamese food kicks Korean Food harder than hardcore. Soo delicious. I love this country thus far.

And so the journey begins...

2008-11-16T11:25:00.002+09:00

Today's the day we leave Daegu. I'm currently in the process of procrastinating (I learned to do that from Lucas). He's sleeping off the goodbye/Luc's birthday we had last night. I'm thinking about getting the pot and pan, and banging them together to wake him up, becuase there is only so much time left. Do you think he would be angry?

Last night we had our goodbye party, and had a lot of fun. You can't go wrong with Sam Gyeop Sal (Korean BBQ) for dinner, then Billibow (remember that mom?) and TBird's (fooseball tables) and then some Noraebang (Karaoke). I had one drink all night, and Lucas....well, he turned 24...

So now, we need to clear the apartment in a couple hours so we can catch our train to Busan. We leave for Vietnam in the morning at 10. I think this trip is going to be quite interesting, I hope we get to see everything that we want.

I'm happy to leave, I'm ready to leave. It's been great, but I want to see my own country, even if it will be freezing and snowy. I have to go shopping as my clothes are reeeeeallllllly tight and ugly and literally have holes in them. Same with Luc's. It's a little difficult to find clothes for someone my size here in Korea as the largest size in stores in a 30 if you're lucky (even in the western chains). I always wonder where the bigger Koreans get their clothes.

So I will see everyone in less than one month! Shanny, Alex...I have a countdown going too~!

Leaving on a Jet Plane in T Minus 4 Days

2008-11-12T14:20:00.003+09:00

Luc and I have started packing, the house is a complete disaster. It feels weird packing up. We've been in Korea for almost a year. We have so much here. We're packing for our trip to Southeast Asia, and it is so hard trying to figure out what I'm going to need for three weeks and fitting that into one backpack. I know I'm going to forget something, but as Luc keeps telling me, we can buy it there. That is true. I'm probably going to have to buy another bag along the way just for the things I will acquire. I like to buy things. We are trying to sell some of our things, like bookshelves, and stereos. Some has gone, but there is still a lot to go. It is amazing how much we (I, really) have bought since being here.

I'm am looking forward to coming home. It is time. I'm needed back home, as well. This has been a great experience, but it's time.

Thank you everyone who supported us coming out here, and pushing us to do so.

We leave Sunday to go to Busan, and Monday we fly to Vietnam. I'll be trying to upload my pictures and blog when I can. We're not sure about anything that we're doing over there, so it could get interesting.

We're back home to Canada on December 13th, one month away!! Ahs sah! (That means Hurray!)

Rememberance Day in Korea

2008-11-10T10:46:00.002+09:00

Actually, in Korea, they have a Memorial Day but that is June 25th. This is a day in memorial for their soldiers of the Korean War.

November 11th IS a holiday in Korea. It's a holiday that many people enjoy. It's a happy holiday. It's a sweet holiday. The stores have window displays and extra tables set up in preparation for this day. It's Peppero Day!

Peppero is the same as Pocky. Who knows what Pocky is? It's something I remember getting at friend's houses in Richmond, but never getting it at home. They are small thin breadsticks that have been dipped partially in chocolate, or strawberry flavour, sometimes with nuts put on too. They are mega delicious!

Our somber Rememberance day is their commercial candy day! I should be getting a few packages from my students.

Luc and I were walking around E-Mart when it struck us it was Poppy time. I felt a little bad becuase there was so much Peppero around, it distracted me from knowing what time of the year it was.

2008-11-08T01:19:00.000+09:00

Time is going by so quickly! Luc and I have only one more week of teaching left. This last week went by ridiculously fast, I can't believe it's already over. I have a ball of anxiousness in my belly now, knowing I have one week of teaching left. And then we go to Vietnam. Oh Lord, is it already that time again? What is it going to be like being home again?

Goodbye Kitties

2008-11-02T14:39:00.001+09:00

Good bye babies... :( I miss them

Happy Hallowe'en

2008-11-01T19:11:00.001+09:00

Trying to be strong

2008-10-30T00:17:00.004+09:00

Sunday is going to be a sad day indeed. On Sunday, the cats go to their new mommy's house. I'm writing this just after I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's and had Boots sleep on my feet the entire time, one arm draped over my ankle. These little buggers have kept me up countless hours at night with their shenanigans, but when I need them, I can count on them falling asleep against some random part of my body. Currently, they are sitting on the couch beside me, half sleeping, half watching my computer screen. They keep giving me a sleepy eyed look, wondering when I'm going to pack up the computer and head to bed. They are much more content when Lucas is not around. He's out at the bar (who would have thought he'd be the barstar?). Boots and him have a love-hate relationship. Mostly hate. Boots only loves him for 10 minutes after he gets out of the shower. Koy is becoming ever more of a suck, cuddling up to me when I pick him up. When I first start to wake up in the morning, he gives a little purred 'good morning' meow and hops on the bed, walks around my pillow then falls asleep again on my stomach or back, depending on how I'm laying in the bed. For the next two weeks, there's going to be no one to greet us at the door as if they had been sitting there all day waiting for the moment Luc and I come home. There's going to be no more incessant meowing for hours on end starting at 7am. There's going to be no more purring or scratching. Ginger Ale better give me some kitty love when I come home in December.

Gatbawi Rock

2008-10-25T17:58:00.002+09:00

Gatbawi

The beautiful fall scenery

From Wikipedia: "Gatbawi (or Gwanbong Seokjoyeoraejwasang) is a Buddhist statue in Daehan-ri, Wachon-myeon, Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, the Republic of Korea. It was made in the Unified Silla Kingdom era and is well known with the name of Gatbawi Buddha (Stone Hat Buddha). It sits 4m tall, and the hat is a 15cm thick flat stone on his head,

This single granite sculpture was made up by Uihyeon, at the top of the 850 meters high rough Palgongsan and is surrounded by a screen-like rockwall as its background. It is said that Uihyeon made it in order to appease his mother's soul in the 7th ruling year of Queen Seondeok of Silla Kingdom. The legend says that a big crane flew in to guard him every night while he was making this Gatbawi Buddha. It is reputed to be a miraculous Buddha stone, which makes a response to prayers if the prayer prays for it with his or her whole heart."

Today, I made the trek with Autumn. I had kinda self invited myself when Autumn told me that she was going to go up for her birthday, but it turned out to be a good thing as her friend that was supposed to go up with her felt ill this morning. It was an early morning catching the bus to take the forty minutes ride up to the bottom of Palgonsan. You may remember, Palgonsan is the same mountain that has Asia's largest standing Buddha and Dongwhasa Temple. Gatbawi is on another part of the mountian.

Lucas kept saying to me last night, "it's going to be haaard". I knew it was a tough climb, but I was determined to do it. This is something that I wanted to see since coming to Korea, and this may be my last opportunity to see it.

The bus ride itself was an adventure, I do not know how many people were on it, but there was no way that more people could fit on it. I was wrong. The bus driver kept stopping to pick up people. I was having people flat up on me, pressing against me, with their horrible garlic kimchi breath. It wasn't too pleasant, and Autumn began to feel sick from it. We made it to the bottom of the mountain forty minutes later and it was a relief to get off the bus. There were a serious amount of people there. It is Saturday, and the Koreans are avid hikers. They are fully decked out in their North Face and Lafuma hikin gear, complete with backpacks and walking sticks. Don't mess.

The first second off the bus is a hike, and I was a little worried. I was using hiking as a physiotheraphy thing, and it was pretty steep. But there were old old old ladies booking it up the mountain, I couldn't just flake out. The first part was a steep road that led up to a small temple. It was a good point to take a break, and enjoy the scenery. The temple was about one quarter or the way up. It was beautiful, the leaves were changing, the sun was out, but it was a little too chilly for my tastes - but it was only to get chillier as we made our way up.

After the temple, the rest of the way was stairs, and it made me reminice about the millions of stairs I climbed on the Great Wall of China. These stairs were awkward sized rocks of varying shapes. Sometimes there would be a bit of a traffic jam as the stairs narrowed. Eventually we did make it all the way up.

The place was packed. Considering the amount of people we saw going up and down, we were expecting the place to be busy. But there was hardly any room to move. So many people were praying. This is a popular place for mothers to go durning test time, praying for their child to get a good score.

The time came for the climb down, and it was difficult too. Many of the stairs at the top of the mountain are as wide as half my foot, and some people were trying to get down as fast as the could, one guy almost bailed because of it. Autumn's and my legs were very shaky by the time we reached the bottom. We then caught a bus back to the city, both of us so tired. We dreamed of our warm beds and a hot shower, in that order. And that's exactly what I did when I got home.

Tonight we're going for Autumn's birthday dinner at Maya - the same place where I had the most intense food poisoning of my life. I'm sticking with the Naan bread. No vegetables for me tonight (as they were most likely the cause according to another person who got sick's doctor).

Dr. Fish

2008-10-19T11:05:00.002+09:00

On Friday, a group of friends and I decided to head to a cafe called Dr. Fish. You can see from the pictures as to the reason it is called that. For the price of 2,000 won and a coffee (with unlimited bread and jam), you can stick your feet into a tub filled with small little sucky fish. The moment you put your feet in, they rush to your dead skin and suck it off. I'm an extremely ticklish person, especially my feet, and it took a little to get used to the feeling. I was squirming and making faces. It felt like there were thousands of bubbles rising up below my feet and in between my toes. The fish really liked what was in between my toes.

I was told by one of the people that in Seattle, they tried to do this, and charged $40 for 15 minutes. But there is a law that spas have to have everything sterilized, and you can't sterilize fish, so they had to shut down.

The Jimjilbang

2008-10-08T15:06:00.003+09:00

I did it, it took me ten months to get up the courage to do so, and I did it. I went to a jimjilbang today. A jimjilbang is a public bath house. I had woken up to go hiking with a bunch of friends this morning. We climbed for a couple hours and it was the most beautiful day. Not too hot, not too cold, with a pleasant fall breeze. Afterward we had du bu (tofu) salad and pajeon (kinda a pancake with lots of green onions). Elly and I then went to the bathhouse. No one else was able to get their mind around going. I had wanted to go since I came to Korea as I was told it is the thing to do if you go here. Elly had been numerous times, and so she was a good introduction to it. We bared all. Everyone was there in what their momma gave them. There were naked ladies everywhere from all ages. The jimjilbang is a very social thing, there were groups of friends there all hanging out in the tubs. There were showers, and then a series of pools all ranging from cool swimming pool temperature to 43 degrees. We started in the middle, went to the hot, and then jumped in the cold. The Koreans go from hot to cold, hot to cold. Apparently, that's the way to do it. There were saunas there too, which we took advantage of.

Then I paid a little extra to get a "mini massage". So I'm on the table, wearing absolutely nothing. The lady, only wearing a bra and panties, pours vinegar on me. Then she starts scrubbing me down with something that smelled like wint-o-green (the best lifesavers flavour ever). She scrubbed everything. I mean everything. Between the cheeks front and back, boobs, everything, and she scrubbed it for a long time. There is no way there is a dead skin cell on my body. Then she put mashed cucumber on my face and scrubbed more front and back. Then she started to crack my shoulders, etc and smacking me all over in some kind of rhythm. She put hot towels on me and kept splashing hot water over me. After all this, it was time to oil me down. There was a considerable amount of oil used, and it smelled like white chocolate. The whole process took over a half hour, and I felt great.

When that was done, I had to shower again to get all the oil off and then I put on the lovely little suit they gave me at the front desk and went upstairs. There are dry saunas there, massage chairs, TVs, restaurants.... This building is a place where you could spend hours. Elly and I were there for two hours, and the lady at the front desk asked why we were leaving so early. We had to go because we needed to get to work! I honestly could have spent so much time in the baths. It's a good thing Elly wasn't shy! I think I am going to do it again, it was such a relaxing time. Due to a lack of bathtubs in Korea, this is the next best thing. Whole families go there. There are the men's and the lady's pools which are in separated areas, but then there is a floor where the whole family will just hang out for hours, having a nap, enjoying the sauna, or watching TV.

Japan - Tokyo and Kyoto

2008-10-06T15:23:00.005+09:00

Don't worry all, I got my vitamins from my Coke.
The crazy carp and Canadian geese
A street in the Gion district in Kyoto.

It doesn't say you CAN'T pee on the streets, but you will get a wag of the finger.
A shrine in the middle of Shinjuku
Shinjuku
Uncle Dave, you can feel right at home even in Tokyo

OH YES! Geisha!

I am currently using my computer at school. Because our internet is broken, I am bumming off the wireless at Bummeo 2. Hopefully, this will be a problem that is soon fixed.

We are back from Japan after five days. I was so sad to leave. I love Japan. It’s beautiful. It also reminded me of home so much! We arrived in Tokyo, and made it to our destination – Shinjuku – very easily. The transit system in Tokyo, and Japan itself, it phenomenal. We bought a Japan Rail Pass for $300 each, which gave us unlimited travel on all Japan Rail Systems, within a day or two, it paid itself off. We took the train everyday. Shinjuku, where we stayed for our first two nights, is a very lively district. There were neon lights everywhere, and so many people. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and tried to figure out where things were. Our hotel was super small, just enough room for a tiny desk and a double bed. And the bathroom was the size of the trailers’ pretty much. But it fit us, and it was all that we needed.

We had been travelling since the early morning, and it was now dusk, so we stopped in at a familiar place first – Starbucks. It is everywhere in Japan, and at some points, I was grateful. Because we didn’t read or speak Japanese, we had a heck of a time trying to find places to eat. When all else failed, we could go to Starbucks and get a sandwich or cinnamon roll. I got myself a Matcha Latte (I figured I was in Japan, need to have the real matcha – a powdered green tea that you whip into a frothy consistency to drink). We were starving, so our task at hand was to find a restaurant. There are many restaurants in Shinjuku, but we had no idea what any of them we serving because there were no pictures, and no English. I wanted sushi. We finally found a place that was sushi and had English. And let me tell you, it was amazing. Oh it was good. It was great to see the sushi chefs just working away. I don’t think I’ve eaten so much fish this whole year as I did in the five days we were in Japan – let alone eating it raw.

One thing that struck us while in Japan was how early everything closes. By 7:30, all the stores were closed, even in the middle of Tokyo, where thousands of people are still wandering the streets. We did so much travelling, that by the time we had time to wander, everything was closed. And nothing opens until late, about 11am. It made for some difficulties.

Our second day we were going to see Mt. Fuji. We asked the hotel what was the easiest way to get there, but he gave us directions to Fuji city. We eventually did get to a place where we could see Mt. Fuji after 4 hours of travelling, and only an hour at the destination, before we had to catch the bus back again for another 4 hours. We got to a beautiful lake, but the sun was in the wrong spot. It was right behind Fuji, so we could barely see it, and our cameras could get nothing. It is a lot taller than I thought it was. We went onto the dock on the lake, and immediately we were swarmed with carp. They wanted us to feed them. We noticed that other people had feed and were giving it to them, the CANADIAN GEESE, and swans. It was eerie because the carp were beaching themselves to get at the food. It was funny to see Canadian Geese too, made us feel a little more at home.

That night, when we were back in Shinjuku, we found a little shrine. Turns out it was almost directly across from our hotel. How did we miss that? We saw it again in the morning light, and it was beautiful. It was awesome how such a tranquil place is directly in the middle of the bustling city. Japan is full of contrasts like that. You see a woman in her kimono walking down the street next to business man, or decked out teenager. It is wonderful. We made a stop in Harajuku, which is the district where you see the crazy Japanese fashion. But by the time we got there, at 8pm, everything was closed. I wanted to see the crazy dressed up teenagers, but there were none as the stores were closed. We did go to a sushi place with the conveyor belt, and that was fun.

The next day, we headed to Kyoto. This is where we were going to see temples, shrines, and geisha! We stayed at the Holiday Inn and the room and huge compared the other one. The hotel was a little far from everything, but the bus system was very easy to navigate. We made our way to Gion, which is the traditional entertainment district. I wanted to see geisha, so this was the place to be. We got off the bus and immediately there was a bright orange temple, which we looked around. Then we walked down the street, and there was a street that was all wooden houses, it looked like it was right out of the 1700’s. We tried to find somewhere to eat, to no avail, so we walked to the nearby river, sat for a few minutes, before heading down another street. Lo and behold! The geisha we coming out shuffling to their appointments! I was thrilled! They were gorgeous.

The next day, we decided to sleep in after being so discouraged with the stores opening late. We saw a couple more shrines and temples before heading to a place to try on kimonos. We would never have found the place if I hadn’t spotted a couple foreigners who were coming out of a Japanese cooking class. We went in, and there was this cute short lady greeting us. Immediately, she took us into this small room, and got us ready. She then took us to a small community shrine while we were dressed up and taught us how to purify ourselves so we could pray, and taught us the double clap (the proper way to pray). While we were there, there was a family welcoming their baby girl into the shrine. They were all dressed up, and she had a small symbol on her forehead. Then the monk came, and the ceremony began. Right after we had to leave because we needed to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo.

We found a small hotel outside of Tokyo Station. The room was even smaller, but it was more high class. It basically fit the bed, and the bathroom was another RV size. We wandered the area, and surprise, surprise, everything was closed. Eventually we found a restaurant and enjoyed our last sushi venture. I’m surprised the Korea doesn’t really have the sushi thing going on. The next morning we made our way to Ginza, which is where you buy your Prada, Dior, Gucci, Armani, etc. We went into the stores and were flabbergasted at the price. Who would in their right mind pay $300 for a T-SHIRT. A plain ‘ol T-shirt. Craaaaaazyyyyyy. We also went into the Apple store where I had 30 seconds to check my email. I want an Ipod Touch. The Iphone is pretty rad too, Ipod Touch with a phone, so brilliantly handy.

The time came when we had to catch the Narita Express back to the airport. It was so easy to do. When we got to the airport, our airline, Northwest Air, had this thing, where you self check in, and then give the bags to the lady. No one knew how to use the terminals, and there were so many problems. We waited in a line of 6 people for 45 minutes. This was supposed to be efficient? Eventually, we got through, and went to our gate.

Japan was great. There were so many things that reminded me of home. For one, they had grocery stores. Big ones. It was great. Korea has department stores with a grocery section, or small markets. All the toilets have a bidet in them. Some even make the sound of a babbling brook (that’s personification folks, I’m an English teacher) when you sit down. The streets are super clean. You’re not even allowed to smoke while walking down the sidewalks. There’s no smell of sewer either, that was a nice break. There were a variety of cars in many different colours (compared with Korea, who has three brands of cars in three colours). I loved seeing all the Hondas, Mazdas, Toyotos, Suzukis, etc. I kept responding to things people were saying to me in Korean. I would say ne (yes) instead of hai! They say yes very enthusiastically in Japan. There weren’t any real tourist stores in Japan, which made me a little sad. I did eventually find some things.

My First Korean Wedding

2008-09-29T10:45:00.003+09:00

On Sunday, Lucas and I attended our first Korean wedding. Hyun, one of the reinforcement team, was marrying his girlfriend of six years. We were told that we should get there before the time because the weddings start promptly, and are over quickly. We were also told that the gift you should bring is money, nothing like a toaster, or what we would buy back home. So we get to the Airport Wedding Hall, and there are so many people milling about in the lobby area. There were two open rooms that you could see, one was small and set up in a traditional manner, and the other was just a little bigger and had all the seats in it. When we got there, we saw the end of another wedding. These rooms are WIDE open to the lobby, there are no doors, so anyone can see what is happening inside. Hyun was standing my the table where you brought gifts to thank people, and he was with his mother. She was absolutely beautiful, dressed in her hanbok. We said hello to Hyun then took our seats. You just sit anywhere.

So, the ceremony begins with te two mothers walking down the aisle in a spotlight, then going to the main part at the front and lighting a candle. There was this woman who was directing them to do everything, even holding their hands to basically light the candle for them. Next came Hyun, dressed up in his shiny silver and light purple suit, walking down the aisle in a spotlight, then bowing deeply to both mothers. Seung Hwa, she came next in her spotlight with her dad, then the ceremony really began. The man who was administering everything, he started talking, we had no idea what he said, all we know is that Hyun said "Ne!" very loudly (which means yes). Seung Hwa said nothing the whole time. Then, it was over. It was so fast. No exchanging of rings or anything. Then the lady who was constantly fixing Seung Hwa's dress shot confetting out of a trumpet, and the bubbles started to flow. There were two bubble machines that worked very hard throughout the ceremony. Hyun did a couple push ups with her on his back, and then Chris (foreign teachers manager) said a speech in Korean, Marla (teacher) sang a song, and two kids played music. I suppose that was the reception? It was all in the "wedding hall". Now came the picture part. First with his family,then hers, then friends, then there was just one with all the foreigners who came.

After this was done, Hyun and Seung Hwa left to do another tradtional ceremony in their hanboks with just their parents in the other room. Everyone else went to the buffet. Back home, weddings last for hours. Here in Korea, you eat and leave. You eat fast and leave. We were eating and talking, and we pretty much the last ones to leave. The whole thing, ceremony, "reception", photos, and food, took and hour and a half. Korean weddings are so fast paced, and they seem like they are not a life changing thing. You go in, you go out. Doesn't seem like anything happens really.

Andong Mask Festival

2008-09-27T21:20:00.005+09:00

This was the first superman we met in the day.

For the entire day, Autumn (far right) had a massive craving for corn dogs. She talked about it every minute. Finally, we came to a corn dog stand, and she was in heaven.
We met Superman again, but looked a little different, and with him was Spiderman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. We went to get our picture taken with them, but then the flood gates opened and children were being pushed into us to get their picture taken with the Waegookins (foreigners).

We made our own masks, mine didn't turn out that well, but it was fun while we were making it.
I did a little Korean calligraphy and put up my work. I just said Lucas (heart) Erin 2008. And then I went to put it up, and it was like a swarm. The Koreans busted out their $1000 cameras with mega attachments and were snapping our picture constantly.
Everyone was a little tired."So-Mek". This is Soju + Beer. What kind of dangerous things do you think that this can do?

Today, Lucas and I made an impromptu trip to Andong with a couple of friends to go to the Mask Festival. Apparently, this is THE festival that "represents Korea's spirit". There were many masks, from Korea and abroad. We left the house at 8 am this morning to head to the bus station. We were all pretty tired. It was SO cold out this morning. The weather in Korea has taken such a sudden shift that it's thrown me of guard. Last weekend it was muggy and hot, and then on Monday, BAM, freezing. I was wearing a jacket all day, but was frozen to the bones. I couldn't shake the chill. We got to the festival just as things were beginning to open. Korea is the land of morning calm, so it takes a little to get things going. There was a carnival like beginning with Midway games. At the end of the day Lucas played on where you get a proze depending on what number an eel will swim to (he didn't do well, his prize was a wooden finger...?).

We meandered through the many tents that were selling random masks, pottery, and papers. It was fun to wander and see the wares. I love looking at everything, much to Lucas' dismay. We saw a couple performances, including one with drums. Before this show started, however, the MC brought a bunch of kids up for a dancing competition and a yelling competition. It was hilarious! They were aged about 3-6. One little girl, maybe 3 years old, tried to get down the stage, but got scared and started crying. I was looking for her mother, and she wasn't to be seen, so I helped her down. She just grabbed a hold of me so tight! She was adorable. Her mother did come though, damn! So the dance competition begins and each kids has their turn. Then the MC called me up, because I was in the front row, and he asked me to do some "free style Canada dance". So I did the kind of dancing my kids do for laughs. The kids behind me started to as well, and then me and this one little girl had a dance off. So fun! And then I got to give all the kids a button.

At this point, everyone's pretty tired. We wandered for a little bit, but we just ended up heading back to the station. It was hard moving at the festival becuase we would be bombarded by Koreans wanting their pictures taken of us, or with us. And in the beginning, the middle school students kept coming up to us, to "interview" us (basically, what is your name, where are you from, can we have a picture with you).

Now, we are exhausted. Tomorrow Lucas and I get our first taste of a Korean Wedding. Apparently, they are somewhat tacky and fast paced, but a great time. The first face we saw in Korea, Hyun, is getting married to his girlfriend of six years. Looking forward to it.

Getting Excited Again

2008-09-21T13:30:00.002+09:00

Lucas and I have spent the morning trying to figure out what the deal is with Japan. We booked 3 out of four nights thus far, and on the last night, we're not sure what we're going to do. We fly into Narita Airpot on October 1 at 145. Then we have to somehow make our way from the Airport to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is the area we're going to stay in as it had good access to the railways and there's some good things around it. We're going to spend the first day just orientating ourselves in the area. Day 2 we're going to take the train out to Mt. Fuji, and check out that area. Day 3 we go south to Kyoto, where there is mass Temples, Palaces, Shrines, etc. All the good stuff. Day 4 we'll go back Tokyo in the late afternoon or evening. That night, we're not sure where to stay. Day 5, our flight leaves at 620 at night, so we have to day to do whatever we want.

It's only a week and a half until we go. I'm pumped!

I'm not sure if I said this already, but we found a home for our cats. A girl from our baseball team is going to take them. The cats have been super cuddly lately, I think they know whats going on. They are intuitive cats.

Sweet Relief

2008-09-20T04:08:00.003+09:00

I am sooooo ecstatic. Oh my flubbabkejhak -.

I got my China pictures back. Neal downloaded some program and recovered all my pictures.

Holy mother, I cried. I'm so happy. They are backed up like there is no tomorrow. That memory card is the devil.

Good Reviews

2008-09-18T11:17:00.003+09:00

Okay guys, I might be lacking on the postings, you are lacking on the comments! That was a seriously long post about China, so that makes up for what I missed.

Luc and I got our 9 month reviews back, and they were both AWESOME. I'm so happy about it. My 3 month review I was upset about, but hurray on this one! So now we were offered one position at a YoungJae School (Genius), and one at a regular. Unfortunately, these positions were for January 6th, and so we can't take them. Toria's birthday is at the end of January, and we're going to Disneyland for it (so excited about that!). Hopefully, there will be something in February or March that we will take. This will give us some time with the family.

China

2008-09-15T22:48:00.004+09:00

We are back from China. It was an early morning today, wake up was at 430 because of an early flight. Luc and I were surprisingly okay today considering that. I've been so excited to come home and post my pictures, but as it turns out, my computer did something to my card, and now I have none of my photos. NONE. I can't even begin to describe how I feel. Luc took photos with his camera too, but its different. We took pictures of different things, some things only I had, and the colour, etc is different. I can't believe this happened. Why couldn't it have been something trivial that this happened to, but no, it had to be my fricken China pictures. I need a punching bag, I can't get those things back.

The trip itself was a whirlwind, everything happened so fast. I'm glad we took a tour because we would have no idea where to begin, there was so much. The trip began with an early morning train ride to Busan where we were to meet our tour group and fly to Beijing. Lucas was still drunk from the night before, as he didn’t get home until about 430. He went to a friend’s going away while I played responsible and tried to go to bed early (didn’t work out so much as I was too excited to sleep). We did make it to Busan though. The group was awesome, 15 people, mostly New Zealanders. There was one guy there who really got on people's nerves as the tour went on, you'll find out later why. We flew out of South Korea without a hitch, and arrived in the "Dragon". Lucas and I learned all about Beiijing's new airport terminal on TV a couple weeks ago - it was built to resemble a dragon, and was opening just in time for the games.

Immediately we were greeted by "the Jerry". Our tour guide was hilarious, and as Luc said he is a "perfect example that you don't need to know grammar to speak English". He repeated his sentence twice everytime and referred to himself in the third person, and like to talk about the "respections". He was awesome.

Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven, where one would go pray to the emporer. We walked into the gates, and walked down "the Long Hallway". There were so many people there, and it was rad to see people playing instruments and playing cards. They were just hanging out. The temple was a circular building. Here we got our first taste of Chinese imperial design. It was like Korea's, only there was a lot of gold leafing. You don't get that here. We hung out there for about 20 minutes, taking photos, and then headed to our next stop, which was dinner. A local specialty - Peking Duck. Many people enjoyed the duck, I didn't think it was anything special. It was my first taste of duck in general, and it just reminded me of a fatty, greasy version of dark chicken meat. The other dishes that accompanied the duck though were fantastic. All the restaurants we went to were major tourist trap type, absolutely huge. Dinner was served with Jasmine Tea as that was the big thing in Beijing - to wash the oil down (seriously). We went to a Chinese acrobatic show afterward. I swear some of the things that they do there were inhuman. It was ridicously how they twisted their body - and the balancing! A lot of the performers were children - even in the second show we saw a couple nights later. I wonder what kind of schooling that they get, academically, because the training for their stunts would take up so much time. After the show we were introduced to our hotel. A phenomenal 5 star. It was like I should have been wearing a fancy dress to get through those doors. We were so tired from the long day we just wanted to sink into bed - and thats what we did becuase the pillows and duvet were like fluffy clouds. Heaven. I wanted to take the bed home as a souvenier.

630am wake up call. Time to get ready, eat breakfast and start the day. We hit another tourist trap first, a Jade factory. I love the 5 minute demonstrations and then the 40 minutes in the gift shop. Subtle. They had some interesting things, but it was expensive. I'm not in the marker for jade, thank you. I was excited for the Great Wall. We got to climb a section of it. It was beautiful. I made it most of the way, but I was hauling myself up because the steps are so uneven. Some stairs were small, others quite large. I was worried about my knee, but really, how often am I at the Great Wall of China? I got up there, and bought myself a tacky tourist shirt saying "I Climbed the Great Wall". I love it. We were lucky the day was cloudy, because it would have been so hot, it was warm the way it was. We were given a certain timet o be back at the bus, and everyone was there in plenty of time, minus one. So we waited. 40 minutes later, he still hadn't shown up. And apparently, just before we were supposed to be back at the bus he was spotted super close. We were all secretly hoping he had hurt himself, or had some good excuse for being so late. It's incredibly rude to hold up something like that, when he had a huge watch on his wrist. 45 minutes later, he was spotted on a lower level getting into a car, which took him to the bus. He had no excuse. He is one of those kind of people who just annoy you fromt he get go, by the way he spoke, and so this put him over the edge for a lot of us. One hour late, we finally move on to our next destination, lunch. At every restaurant we went to, we sat at large circular tables with lazy Susans. I think every table should have a lazy susan, that was such a brilliant invention. Loads of food were always brought out, and there's no way anyone could finish it all. This restaurant was situated ontop of an enamel factory. They have huge spreads of wares to buy, and there were so many people buying.

After lunch, we made our way to the Summer Palace. This is where the royalty went for a couple months, and I could see why. In the middle of the grounds was a huge man-made lake. We walked all around, snapping photos, and enjoying the scenery. There were paddle boats all on the lake, and so many people. There was a super long corridor that we walked and at the end was the Marble Boat. It was beautiful. Then were went across the lake on a boat that had a big dragon on it. Right after we made our way out of the palace, we were thrown into another tourist trap (that you wouldn't know existed had it not been for the tour, they put these places in the middle of nowhere). We went to a Pearl Factory, and had our 5 minute demonstration and 40 minutes inthe gift shop. It was neat, they opened up an oyster there for us, and gave some on the pearls to people. Unfortunately, I never got one :) Pearls aren't my thing anyway. We then headed to a Mongolian Restaurant. It wasn't bad. When we were finished, we were supposed to have a show, but it was an hour late becuase of a function on another floor of the restaurant, and it wasn't very good when it started, so we ended up leaving. People were so pooped because of the early morning, and the intensive exercise climbing the wall. It was nice to get to the hotel, have a bath. Oh how I miss baths, that is something that Korea has done wrong. The whole shower/bathroom in one is cool, but give me a bathtub. I wanted to go in the pool, but you needed a swim cap, and I didn't care that much to bother.

Another 630am wake up call and we were on our way to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Everyone's legs were sore from the day before and we had a 3 hour walk in front of us. There was security check to get into the Square, and it was jammed with people. It was neat to learn that the Chinese People don't know what happened in 1989, they know there was a protest, but they don't really know much more because the government won't release any information about it. In China, you cannot go on the internet and research about these kind of things, many websites are blocked. Thank you communism. So guess who got lost again – that’s right, the same dude who got lost at the Great Wall. Honestly, you’re in a group tour, stick close by and make sure you can always see the group. Anyways, Tiananmen Square was a part of the Forbidden City, which is where the emperor lived. It is now a huge open museum, just like the palaces in Korea. It was large and historical and all, but I felt like I had seen it all before as it looked just like those in Korea, just in a different colour scheme. When we had made our way out, there were people trying to sell us the fake Rolexes (it actually happens :D ) and Beijing 2008 gear. They swarm from all angles and come at you many times. How can you tell us apart? All Westerners look the same. We had Shanghai cuisine for lunch and then headed off yet again to another destination. On the way we passed by the Birdnest and Watercube, and had a brief glance at the burning Olympic Torch. Currently, the Paralympic Games are on. It was pretty neat to see it in person, though we were on a tour bus and never stopped because of the traffic control.

Our last major destination was Yashow Clothing Market. It is here that you should be able to swipe sweet deals of any kind of clothing or souvenier. They start out at a ridiculous price, and you coax them down to something lower. Sometimes, you get the better or them, and other times you do not. There were so many people “Hey Lady!” –ing me, I was getting stressed out. I’m not a haggler. And when they take you buy the arm and drag you to their stand, it gets a little tiresome. Luc and I managed to walk away with a few souveniers and some clothing, but I needed an ice cream after that experience. There was a place that is just like Marble Slab Creamery, so I was there in a flash. Our final dinner was Hot pot, where you throw meat and veggies into boiling broth to cook it. This was my least favourite meal by far. And it was especially bad when I woke up and spent a couple hours super sick in the bathroom. After dinner, we went to a Kung fu Show. The things they did in the show were super awesome. We all styles of King Fu – Monkey, Mantis, Tiger, etc. And they broke cement, wood, and steel over their heads. There was a bit of a story that went along with it, but that part was sooooo cheesy.

After the Kung Fu show, it was time to head back to the hotel for our last night in heaven. I didn’t want to say goodbye to that bed and room. Knowing that I had to wake up at 430, I wanted to get to sleep right away, but then BAM, I felt super sick, and spent the next while in the bathroom. I didn’t get to sleep until about 2-230. Nothing I could do about that, I was just happy that I packed the Pepto – and I think that’s only reason I was able to get to sleep at all.

I was sad to leave China, but this trip made me appreciate Korea so much more. China seems inaccessible in many ways, and there is no way I would even be able to be begin to learn the language and the writing. Its so complicated. What is nice, is that there are so many bicycles pedaling the city. I think a lot of it is also due to the clean up for the Games, but still, the city is huge. How do you get from A to B conveniently?

So here I am now, at home, with only a few of the photos. At least I have something, thank you Lucas, but it can’t replace what I had. I’m going to try and go to a camera shop, but I feel hopeless, I wish I was home, it would be easier where I could speak English to someone and have them understand. I’m not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Luc and I have our observation by the foreign teachers manager. This is one of the big observations, and it makes me and the kids nervous, so you don’t get a feel for how a class really is. I just want to spend a day in bed, drinking my authentic Chinese teas that I bought. I’m sore and tired, but this trip was so well worth it. Now I will spend my next two weeks trying to plan my Japanese vacation. Here we have to do everything on our own, we don’t know where to start. Might be a bit bumpy.

Sorry!

2008-09-11T09:36:00.003+09:00

I'm sorry, it's been an incredibly long time since I have written anything Please don't be mad, but Luc and I haven't had anything to write about. It's been pretty lame around here lately. Luc's been playing his new games constantly, since he got X Box Live, and I have been reading, fiddling around the house, and not much else. I took off my brace on Sunday, and have felt such a wonderful feeling of freedom. I still walk a little funny, but I'm sure that will decrease with time. My knee is going to be sore for a long time I think, but it's another thing that will go down with time. I'm just working on practicing to walk normally again, and to do squats to make the muscles come back. When the physiotherapist told me to do them at first, I thought he was kidding. I couldn't do them BEFORE the surgery. Koreans do squats without lifting their heel when they go down, and I can't do that. Koreans are crazy :D But I'm not doing physio anymore, and I have been meaning to get to the doctor for the past week. I will go today.

But tomorrow....

I'M GOING TO CHIIIIIIINA!

I'm a little bit excited. We have to catch an 8:43 train to Busan in the morning because we fly out of there, and so I'm hoping I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. Luc is going to go to a friend's going away party, so he's not going to be getting much sleep I think.

We won't be able to blog while in China. Being a communist, etc country, there are restrictions on the internet. You cannot even reasearch China in CHina. The Internet is super slow because it goes through so many walls to make sure you're not doing anything bad. So hopefully, I'll be posting lots of pictures on Monday when we get back.

I wonder how my knee will hold up. Whatever.. I'm going to CHINA.

Jumping/Falling from the Sky

2008-08-29T13:59:00.005+09:00

Yesterday, Lucas got the opportunity to do something I'm totally jealous of. He did the SkyJump at Woobang Towerland. The SkyJump is a thing where you jump from the tower, connected by lines, drop 123 metres. I wanted to do it. Luc got free tickets from Thunderbirds (his Fooseball connection bar) and went with a couple other MoonKkang'rs. I was sad because I wasn't able to go 1) to take pictures 2) to participate. You have to walk up a nasty hill which of course I can't do, and apparently, the landing part isn't so good (which would have killed my knee). So I told Lucas to get someone to take pictures or I will kill him. You know me, I have to have pictures of everything (thanks for that DAD...) Luckily, the people at Woobang did the whole picture thing for me. He got a folder with two pictures and a certificicate for free (you have to pay lke 20$ for that back home!) AND they emailed the pictures and then some to him. That's awesome, so not I have the opportunity to put them up on the blog.
Today on the walk home I got a glimpse of the process in which Koreans demolish buildings. They use what looks like a crab pinscher. They grab a hold of something and pull. Only, the have a guy standing a couple feet away, underneath, with a garden hose, watering it down so there isn't so much dust. This waterer does not wear a hard helmet, only a truckers cap. There was a storey hanging precariously above him, with a lot of debris falling, yet, no hard hat, just watering to his hearts content. I was sad I didn't have my camera with me, but that was until I spotted someone taking pictures with his camera phone! GENIUS! So I busted that out for everyone can have a look see.

In other news, today, I had my brace changed to the maximum, 120 degrees, and I am no longer using the machine tht bends my knee. I have the doctor bending my knee and PUSHING and PUSHING my knee more. Until there is so much pain I want to be sick. So he does it a little more. fantasic. But yesterday I was at 135 degrees. I'm about 5-10 degrees away from what my other knee is able to do, only a lot more painful. Mom, I got a thingy from the doctor saying what he did to my knee, but he is definately ESL, so it's short, and has bad grammar. But it's the best we're going to get. I sat there for 30 minutes while he attempted to write it, busting out his cell phone a couple times to look up a word in the dictionary.

Quick Update

2008-08-25T14:24:00.003+09:00

I think it is official, I am the worst sewer in history. Nana and Mom, you would be ashamed :D I sewed a Canada flag patch onto my new backpack, and yeah, pretty bad.

At physio today, I got my brace adjusted so I can now bend my knee 90 degrees in the brace, but in the physio machine I am at 115 degrees. Slowly coming along.

Luc has been playing the XBox a lot, he's thinking about getting XBox Live, so I don't know if we'll see him again for awhile... :)

Luc and I will be paying for China this week, and picking up our passports with the China Visa. We're ridiculously stoked about going, only three more weeks!!!

Sorry, there really hasn't been much happening lately. On Saturday, we went to see a friend's band play, and they were really good! Went to a Noraebang after than because we were pretty pumped on the music and a couple of the people we were with had never been.

Japan and China

2008-08-19T15:00:00.002+09:00

Lucas and I are crazy! Today, we booked our flights to Japan. We're set to go to China and Japan all in a few days. Oh baby. Now we have to figure out where we're staying and such in Japan, but I've got my Lonely Planet bookmarked with various things to see there. We're going to fly to Tokyo Oct 1, and leave from there Oct 5, but in between we'll travel around the area. We are probably going to do a weekend trip later to Fukuoka and Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

So excited...!!!

Rainy Days

2008-08-16T14:21:00.004+09:00

Thank you for being the weekend. It has been a long time coming. This whole week I have NOT wanted to be anywhere close to work. There's been many little things lately that have made me not want to be there. The days were going by so slow, I just wanted to lie in bed and rest. I have to be somewhere everyday, so I feel like I have no time for anything. So, hurray, the weekend has finally arrived.

Yesterday, I went to the hospital for physio, only to find out it wasn't open because it was a national holiday. People should really tell me these things so I don't spend the money on cabs to get there and back. This was the second time that it happened. Also, yesterday afternoon it was crazy raining. Coming down ridiculously hard. I loved it, and wanted to be out in it, but it started while I was at work. I still haven't had a chance to wear my rainboots, because this year's rainy season did not really come (I'm actually really disappointed, I was looking forward to donning my gumboots and wreaking havoc on the puddles). But then a fun thing happened. The academy above my MoonKkang flooded. Oh yes (4th floor of a 5 storey building), it was flooded. Because of this, water seeped through the walls into MoonKkang. There was a waterfall (no joke) coming down the staircase in the front and back of the building. There was two leakes in the jaeshi (retest) room and there were another two in the hallway. The walls looked like they were crying because of water dripping down them. I was kinda hoping that because of this, the school would be closed for the day, but I was sorely disappointed.

Today, I got the bandage taken off my knee for good, and so I will, for the first time in a long time, be able to shower like a real person. No more bags duct taped to my knee! I'm looking forward to it. Since the staples came out I'm not frankenstein anymore. I'm now Raggedy Ann :D I went around with Lucas today trying to find some Vitamin E oil or even some fancy pants scar reducing cream, but I could find nothing. It's silly how you can't go and buy a small jar of Vitamin E oil.

Lucas and I made it out to the American army base Camp Walker to the travel agent there to give them our passport. We paid for our China Visa today. Next week, we're going to pay the balance owing, and we'll be set to go! I'm so jacked up on excitement. China!!!

Lucas bought an XBox 360 off someone who is leaving here, and he and I have been playing constantly. We got Guitar Hero 2 and 3, with two guitars so that is why I am playing it. I can't figure out the controller for the XBox, so Guitar Hero is all I can muster. But I LOVE that game. For those who don't know, Guitar Hero is a game, where the controller looks like a guitar, and you press buttons and strum according to what is on the screen. It's highly addicting and super fun. Though my fingers and wrist are sore from strumming furiously.

Lazy Sunday

2008-08-10T16:08:00.001+09:00

Hey everyone, Erin and I are enjoying a lazy Sunday, and because it’s so lazy I have no excuse not to make a post.

Things have been pretty busy for me lately. Because the kids are out of school, they come to our private academy in the morning to study! They are all very happy to spend their summer vacation in academy (not), but my job is to make it as fun as possible for them. It’s a nice break for me because Moonkkang’s regular curriculum has little room for fun activities, but with the material I have in the morning I get to include all sorts of new entertaining things. It’s tiring and the kids don’t wanna be there, but it is a nice change from what I’ve been teaching for the past 8 months.

Erin has become a lot more mobile since she got those staples out. Her stair climbing time has increased dramatically and we can now cross the street before the crosswalk runs out! Maybe next week she can re-claim her litter box cleaning duties, I have assumed those duties since she went down, and I have to say it’s the worst job in the world. She’s going to physio everyday now (except Sundays), and should be able to bend her knee 10 more degrees everyday, so we are seeing progress. Our goal is go have her well enough to do the Great Wall of China in September, so every time she pushes herself too hard I bring that up.

Those pictures of the family reunion are great! That guy seems like a really great photographer. Mom and Dad do look lonely without their wonderful children there though, maybe Jessica and I can make it into the next family reunion picture. I hope we’re not banished from Nanny and Grandad’s fridge because of it. I can’t believe how old all of the cousins are looking. I guess it has been over a year and a half since I’ve seen them. Are their any boyfriends/girlfriends in the picture for them yet??

I’m watching the Olympics on TV now. Handball just finished and now it’s woman’s weightlifting. It’s a lot less exciting when they’re not covering your country though. I think the Koreans are going to get more medals than us…. Hul, my students won’t let me live it down. As long as we beat Korea in baseball I’ll be happy though, one of my students keeps saying Canadian baseball sucks… well, he says “Canada baseball down,” he’s a fairly low level… but his English isn’t good enough for him to understand me when I say our best players don’t play in the Olympics because they are busy in Major League Baseball.

I tried watching Canadian coverage on the CBC website, but people out of Canada aren’t allowed to watch. It’s really hard to find any video of the games on the internet; I guess the Olympic Committee is very good at protecting its media. I saw a little bit of the opening ceremonies on You Tube and it looked spectacular. They are good with fireworks here in Asia.

I hear the Farkel family went to the Cabin for BC day. I wish I could have gone to the Cabin this summer, I think that’s what I miss most about home (aside from the people). You just can’t beat the Cabin in the summer. I will have to go when I get home, but it will be winter and cold. Skating on the lake will be a blast though. When did you guys put the new fridge in? Is it glorious?

Okay, time to eat lunch! I hope I post again soon!

From Frankenstein to Terminator

2008-08-09T13:19:00.003+09:00

Frankenstein....
Terminator

What a relief to have the staples taken out. I mean, it wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, to have them removed, but it's good to know things are coming along. I was supposed to get them out on Thursday, but becuase there was no one to take me to the hospital it had to wait until Friday. So I get picked up on Friday, and we're on our way, when we get in a car accident. There is a dangerous intersection by us where people park this way and that and make it so you cannot see a thing. The guy who I was driving with went right through the intersection at the same time a scooter came bombing through. Direct hit. The guy was someone who was already sick, and very weak looking, his skin almost looked green (he had a blood problem I found out). He's okay, just a massive bump on his shin. Luckily we were heading to the hospital, so my driver just piled him into the backseat and took him with us. It's a very different scene, dealing with car crashes in Canada and Korea. I should know. The guy was fine. His scooter was banged up, and my driver's headlight is gone, but thats it.

So, stitches, staples, and splint gone, now I head to physiotherapy. They stick my leg in some machine that bends it back and forth for 30 minutes. Everyday, they will increase the angle that it bends. I have to go everyday. Today they put on some pads (that were first sprayed with water) that sent electric shocks into my knee. I did not like that machine, it hurt a little. It was like getting poked with many needles constantly for 15 minutes. Ugh, not looking forward to more of that tomorrow.

I have a rather large brace on my leg now, that cost 200,000 won. I was originally 250, but my doctor pulled with waegookin (foreigner) needs help card, and I got the money off. Today was the first time I have been able to wear shorts, it's so great. I have worn the same two skirts since this whole incident happened! I showed my kids the brace and they were like, "ooooh Teacher! Terminator! Robocop!" I laughed. See what they show on television here? That and King Kong over and over and over.....

I need to work hard at this physiotherapy thing though. I have this brace on for one month, and one week after it is off, Lucas and I head to China. Today we are going to get out pictures taken so we can apply for our Chinese Visa. So close!

Ice Cream Goodbyes

2008-08-03T12:42:00.006+09:00

Luc and Dave love ice cream. How sweet.
I love this shot, it's so classy. Beer and ice cream all in the same hand. He was so happy.
Part of the fire show.

Last night we went to a goodbye for some really good friends that we made. Brielle and Dave are heading out on Thursday. They will be going for a lovely jaunt in Vietnam and other countries before heading back to New York. I managed to suck up the pain in order to go, there was no way I was going to miss the party! We started out with some Sam Gyeop Sal (Korean BBQ, remember dad?) and then went to a bar. The great thing about this bar was Bri brought Baskin Robbins, so we were mowing down on those for awhile. In a couple bars that we've gone to, they have "show drinks". You pay 25-30,000 won, and they put on a 20-30 minute fire show. It's pretty crazy, but after a little while, you want them to hurry it up a little. I'll upload a couple videos to show you crazy Korean bar shows. After that bar, people were heading to a place where I just couldn't go in my state, and my ankle and knee were hurting. I headed out, and Lucas moved on to another goodbye party where he had the opportunity to get free beer if he won at fooseball. I believe he got one free drink and was pretty happy about that. Hopefuly we'll see Bri and Dave one last time if we are able to get tickets to see the new Batman movie. It doesn't come out until Wed here, but has been out back home since the 17th or something! BOO.

Back from the Hospital

2008-07-29T13:32:00.004+09:00

This was my hospital bed, my trusty wheelchair with one flat tire, I am off the IV for the night, hence the capped taped needle in my right hand.

Well, I had about a half an hour to get ready for the surgery, there's no wait time here really for anything. So we did all the fun tests before surgery, etc, and I got into the ever flattering hospital pjs. They took me to the operating room, which is NOTHING like I would have expected. There were two, and both doors (sliding) were left open the whole time as the nurses were going between two operations, andthere is a small two person wash stand for the doctors. I had an epidural which is not the most comfiest thing every, frick. So I was awake, and watching it on a little screen (they were using a scope for some of it, so thats what I was watching. I was in there for 2 hours.

I paid an extra 100$ for some good pain killers that went through my IV, and when I came out of surgery, and the numbness was going away I needed it. I couldn't breathe well becuase of the pain from the epidural (had to lie flat, couldn't move anything, not even my head), and the pain in my knee. I had to use a bedpan, which is so humiliating I might add. I was told to press the button when I needed the pain killer, and I did that, but it wasn't doing anything. I wasn't until over 12 hours later that they realized that it wasn't on properly, so I had just done that time with no pain killers. Frick again. After that, it was okay. I couldn't move, wasn't hungry, just laid in bed, uncomfortable, until the next day when my butt was super sore from the bed. But Icouldn't turn on my side or anything because of the whole knee issue.

After a couple days, they took away my pain medicine and my IV. I was so happy to be rid of the IV so I actually use the bathroom in my room rather than the wheelchair bathroom (I had to use a wheelchair to get around, I have a new respect for wheelchair bathrooms). But the next morning, they came in the give me my IV again becuase of the antibiotics, so i had the damned needle stuck in my arm again. First time, before the surgery, they put it on the side of my wrist, which is an awesome place because I could my my hand and wrist fairly freely. This time, my veins were hard to find, and so he put it on the underside of my wrist (like where you would cut yourself if trying to end your life), and it hurt, I couldn't move my hand, or fingers, or anything, after a couple hours, i asked them to move it. so he put it on the back of my hand. This was after several tries. Not cool. Then at the end of the night, when they were taking the IV again, he capped it so it wouldn't have to happen again. The next morning though, it wouldn't work, so we had to go through the whole ordeal again, putting it on the other hand, with the IV cord going across my body. GRR. I have a nice big bruise on my my hips from intermuscular injections too.

5 days in the hospital was bad. The food, nasty becuase it was mostly seaweed soup and fish. awesome. Thank god lucas was around to bring my fried chicken, muffins and kiwi juice (sooo good). I was discharged today at 2 and went to work at 4, though I shouldn't have, because im feeling pain and exhaustion. Back atter tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who came to see me at the hospital. Saturday was a right hospital party! You have no idea how much it meant to me!! I have received all the well wishes from my blog and email too, and it's helping me. Thank you again, everyone.

Even worse...

2008-07-22T23:41:00.002+09:00

So, some of you have already read your emails. I have to have surgery on my knee now, here in Korea. Excellent. I will be in the hospital for five days, one month with a cast, and then physiotherapy. My emotions are in complete turmoil. I have been pretty upbeat about all of this so far, until I was told I was going to need surgery. I asked when, and the doctor said this week or next. So soon! I'm freaking out. I'm in a strange country when I don't know the language, and will be in hospital for so long. I didn't tear my ACL or major ligaments, which is good. I broke my kneecap and there is a piece floating around in there. There is a big bone bruise, and bleeding around the bones. I had an MRI, which is such a creepy machine, and so loud!!! but I almost fell asleep. The ridiculous loud banging and vibrations started to lull me, but then i would open my eyes and be so disoriented. Then I had a CT scan, and more Xrays. Frick.

I am teaching summer session, but it doesn't look like that is going to be happening any more becuase of this little shindig. That's money that I needed flying out of my hands. This sucks. My ankle looks like something out of a zombie movie, even my toes are bruised and crazy looking. Very scary.

I'm glad Luc is here to be with me, but still, this is not the ideal place to have this happen.

Bad bad bad....

2008-07-17T23:56:00.002+09:00

So I have hurt myself pretty bad. Last night I went out with some people from my branch to say goodbye to one of the korean teachers. We had some cocktails, I will not lie. We ended up going to the noraebang (singing room) and busting out some tunes and dancing. I was dancing with my old Korean partner, and she dipped me, but I went down the wrong way. I heard some popping sounds and then I couldn't move my knee. Not good at all. I thought I was going to get sick from the pain. Then when I was trying to prevent putting weight on my left knee I ended up rolling my right ankle and tearing some ligaments. So now, I cannot walk. I cannot bend my knee. I'm a complete mess as you can see from the picture. I was at the hospital today, spent 60$ there. I have to go back tomorrow to get an MRI done, and that's going to cost me $350. Good thing I have a Visa because I sent home money this month, and don't have the funds in the Korean account.

Lucas and I are also going to be teaching summer session starting on Monday, so this injury came at a bad time. I am teaching drama (who thought that was a good idea?). I have to teach the kids a play which they will them perform at the end of summer session. So there is a lot of pressure on the drama teachers becuase of the parents watching. Summer session is one month long (the kids are on summer vacation) and it's from 9am to 1pm, then I have regular work at 4pm. It's going to be very tiring. I just hope that my knee heals enough for me to walk over the weekend.

Mud...Glorious Mud!

2008-07-13T18:09:00.006+09:00

This weekend was the 11th annual Boryeong Mud Festival, and according to one of the most cheesy promotional videos I have seen, it is Korea's most popular. I don't think I have seen so many foreigners in Korea in one place. There were people left and right covered in Mud. The point of the festival is to show how good Boryeong Mud is for your skin. So they have vats of mud everywhere and mud body painting stations. The festival took place on Daecheon Beach, a 3.5 km beach in west central Korea. The beach was beautiful and the water lovely. Apparently, a couple years ago, people couldn't go in the water because of a surge in Jellyfish, but they weren't a problem this year.

Tyler had a thing for burying my feet and Luc's feet. This was the second time he did it. See that lovely straw hat? I was DYING because the heat was so intense, so I bought this lovely four thousand won treasure. When I woke up this morning to pack, it had somehow disappeared though. The two mountains on our feet turned into a mountain range, which then turned into one big mountain on top of Lucas.

Near to the end of the day, randomly, these women dressed in white walked down the beach with the white lotus lanterns. And then they started to throw something into the water that was attached by white fabric. No one knew what they were doing. After throwing the white things into the water and pulling them back in a couple times, the ladies left. Everyone just stood around wondering.

To top off the day, laying in the ridiculously hot sun, we had a wonderful barbeque and then there were fireworks. Man, these fireworks were incredible!! Way better than anything in Canada. We also went to an amusement park, but it was 3,ooo won per ride, so we just went on one. Unfortunately, we were staying in a Pension. That is like a suite in a way, but there are no beds. We basically had a mattress pad and a pillow and slept right on the floor. Not particularly comfortable. At least it was only one night. Lucas didn't even get a pillow becuase there were a lot more people sleeping in the boys room than there was supposed to be. Next door was a bunch of rowdy army guys, and in the middle of the night, one of them came into the girls room. Liz, quickly told him to get out, and he sauntered away drunkenly. Apparently, some of the army guys crashed with the boys upstairs (hence why Lucas didn't get a pillow).

Boryeong was an interesting experience. I had a lot of fun minus the intense sunburn I aquired on the back of my knees, thighs and bum. We accidently left our towel behind though. Didn't realize it until we were halfway home, and unfortunately, no one picked it up (even though it was with everyone else things, wouldn't someone have noticed that there was one thing left behind?). To top it off, I bought myself some mud masks, just because I had to.

Friendly Fun

2008-07-10T11:07:00.003+09:00

So here is Lucas at our baseball tourney. He's looking particularly happy as we had just lost our one and only game. We were good sports though and stayed for the entire day, we only missed the first game. It was great to have this softball league. Many Koreans came out to see the crazy waegookins and were surprised by how far we hit the ball. We would have random kids, soccer practices, and old people on motorcycles come into the field (that we had paid for) and do their thing with no regard for us telling them to get off the field because they would get hit with the ball or get in the way.

This is my new haircut. Got a colour, trim, and a relax for 65$. Not too bad. We went to this place that is apparently the best for foreigners. Luc got a cut too, but the lady didn't want to cut too much off. One of the stylists thought that he looked like a model (he likes to tell people this). After we got this done we had our baseball banquet and then headed to a friend's birthday party. We were fashionably late for the party, a little too late, as we missed the "motel party" of it. Everyone was leaving the motel as we were arriving.

I love this picture. Luc looking particularly nerdy. We went to Brielle's for a potluck dinner (where she made the most amazing food), and Dave had just bought this hat. Brie had the glasses laying around so we were all taking turns trying them off.

I am super, duper, over the moon excited. Lucas and I just signed up to go to CHINA!! Yay! On September 12, we're going to head to Beijing for four days. OH man oh man oh man! We're going to see the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace as well as see an acrobatic show and go to a market. All meals and hotel are paid for. We're staying at a Holiday Inn, but apparently, it's absolutely swanky. WOO!

Humidity Woes

2008-07-07T23:18:00.002+09:00

Are we crazy for being here in the summer?

Daegu is experiencing a heat wave. It's incredible. I can remember wishing for summer to arrive in the winter. I was looking forward to the heat and sunshine. I'm somewhat regretting it, wishing for spring to come back.

Another teacher and I have made a pact to go walking everyday in an attempt to lose some weight. We meet each other at noon, and walk for two or so hours, just around the area, talking. We started this on Thursday. But I don't know if I can continue this in this heat!

The weather has been hot, as I have been saying. Today reached a high of 37 degrees, with a humidity of 79%. It's the humidity that is kicking my butt. The second we go outside, we are coated in a layer of sweat (so attractive). It's hard to breathe because the air is so thick.

To top things off, the air conditioner sucks. We have it on all night, and it isn't that cool. It throws out a half cool breeze, but nothing that I would consider air conditioning really. It make a grinding noise, and drips. Not only does it leak when it is raining (the fan is on the roof, and water goes down the pipe into the apartment), but it also leaks probably from condensation. We have a rown of buckets on the floor, but it is not long enough.

We shower, but we never dry. It's insane, I've never been in such humidity before, and I don't particularly like it. I say I am going to be hom during the summer sitting under my air conditioner, but since it doesn't work so well, I'm going to have to find another hang out.

We did buy freezies though - Korean style.

Happy Canada Day!

2008-07-02T10:36:00.003+09:00

Yesterday, it was Canada Day in Korea, though you folks back home are celebrating it today. I had a great time. In the morning, before work, I baked cupcakes, and decorated them with white frosting, red sprinkles, and mini flags (Thank you Kenna and Chris!). I brought them to work and shared them with all my coworkers. I had on my Canada socks and Canada glitter tattoo (Thank you Mom and Dad!). I put a flag through my hair as well. The kids absolutely loved it. I made a mini Canada quiz that I gave all the students. If they got 10/10 I was going to give them Jaeshi Myun Jae (detention free). I asked them:

What country am I from? America, Canada, or Zimbabwe.

What picture is on a penny? Maple leaf, the President, or flowers.

Where is Canada? South America, North America or Europe.

What are Canada's colours? Red White and Blue, Purple and Orange, or Red and White.

What is Canada's national animal? Polar bear, elephant, or beaver.

What are Canada's sports? Soccer and Tennis, Wrestling and Hapkido, or Hockey and Lacrosse.

Name the three oceans around Canada. Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic.

What 2 languages do Canadians speak? Korean and Canadian, Canadian and English, English and French

Does Canada have provinces or states?

and I can't remember the other one. Most students got 6/10, though I did have many 8's and even one 9. The kids tried really hard though because they wanted that Jaeshi Myun Jae. I gave out soooo many prizes too. very student got a flag and a pencil, and we playd games from bigger prizes of balls, bigger flags, and many other delights. I think I just have some stickers left over, and those will be used up quickly. Thank you everyone who sent things for this Day! I hope you all enjoy the fireworks back home. There weren't any here, but apparently, the American Base - Camp Walker - has fireworks on Independence Day (Friday). Maybe I can coax people into going to those?

At the end of the day, Lucas and I kicked back with some Molson Canadian (ha ha, thank you again Kenna and Chris!)

Hapkido

2008-06-28T17:54:00.005+09:00

This morning was Luc's first test in Hapkido. I went along to capture the moment with my camera and to be supportive. We walked to the Hapkido studio in the pouring rain. it did not make for a pleasant walk, as I have no water repellant shoes, so my feet were drenched. There was one other foreigner testing today, Lee, who is the foreign teacher manager of MoonKkang branches outside of Daegu. Luc was testing with a bunch of really young kids and there was one other who was a little older. Unfortunately, all the kids got to test in groups of three, except for Lucas. They kept looking at each other to see if what they were doing was right, and Lucas never had that. That's okay though, Lucas did great being in the spotlight all by himself with everyone watching :D Luc did kicks, punches, take downs...it was quite well done. He's been practicing on me for the past while because he's been really nervous about today. There were these guys who were using nunchucks and it was awesome. Lee did them too. That's something that Lucas, I think, is looking forward to. They didn't award belts today though, which makes me sad, I would have liked to see that. He'll be getting it on Monday, though he's not sure if he passed (but I'm sure he did). Then we had to walk back in the rain, which decided to come down harder, making even bigger puddles in my shoes. I wonder how long it's going to take for them to dry out in this humidity. I'm going to have no shoes by the end of the rainy season!!

Tomorrow is the baseball tourney, though we're not sure if it's still going to be on because of the weather. The field is going to be a mudbath, as it is all dirt. nasty. Who knows what is going to happen.

I've been making myself sick. Now I have a cold. I haven't been sleeping much and I've been eating really unhealthy. I know I should do better, but I've been lazy. It's so much easier to eat junk food than to find something decently healthy. And the temperature outside has either been nasty rain or nasty humidity and heat. So I do nothing.

Monsoons

2008-06-19T10:19:00.003+09:00

Yesterday gave Lucas and I a taste of what a monsoon is like, and apparently, we haven't seen anything yet. It had been raining all day, and of course, our air conditioner leaks. It now leaks onto our curtains, which is nice.

At work, it is fine, there is air conditioning. So you think, outside is like this. As soon as you leave the floor where the school is, you are slapped in the face with such an incredible humidity, it's hard to believe. In an instant you are clammy and the air is thick. It was weird. I had to walk into that everytime I went to the bathroom.

When we got off work, we were going for dinner at an American style chinese restaurant. It was a torrential downpour!! I loved it of course, and wanted to go splashing in the puddles. When I walked out, it felt like it was raining from the ground up, it didn't seem like my plastic umbrella was doing much. Within two minutes, my Vans were soaked through and through, so I went splashing in the lake sized puddles anyway to my delight. We didn't exactly know where the restaurant was, so it was fun trying to tell the taxi driver where to go. Luckily, we had a rad taxi driver who was enjoying himself having a carfull of foreigners. We got there and gave him a tip. There was shuch a short distance between the restaurant and taxi that i decided to run for it. My umbrella is a bit of a hassle to get back down. But in someplaces, there is marble on the sidewalk, as decoration. As I ran over it, because it was so slippery, I fell butt over heels. It was pretty funny, and I sat there for a moment laughing. Also, this marble bit was in a puddle. So I'm not completely soaked in my jeans. It was quite uncomfortable for sitting in a restaurant. I just wanted to be home and take it all off. The food was pretty good, expensive though (being foreign). I ate a really really spicy pepper though, and was not able to get the burning out of my mouth for the life of me, so I couldn't finish.

Gum Boots Fantasy

2008-06-18T10:25:00.002+09:00

So I went to work yesterday, and when I got to my building, I went to go up the stairs. But there was something in the way of the stairs. I thought to myself, "This is interesting". I wondered if I should do something to move what was in front of the stairs. But I nixed that idea. I looked around. AHA! There's the culprit!

There was a man passed out at the bottom of the stairs in my building lying next to a bottle of soju.

Korean buildings are open to anyone pretty much. You can go into a building and use their washrooms, unless they have it locked like if there is a restaurant or something that uses it. There are rarely security measures in the buldings. So this man decided to come in to our building and pass out. I mean he was OUT. But one question: why did he pick a school to do so?

The Korean teachers said nothing about it. When I brought up the issue, they just said that they knew. Isn't that NOT a good thing to have a school, where there are many young children. And parents are coming in to pay for next month's lesson.....bad impression perhaps? Nope, no one did anything about it. hmmm....

P.S. Yesterday was the start of the rainy season, and rain it did starting last night. Our airconditioner fan is on the roof, so rain gets in it, and that water travels down down down into our bedroom, where it makes it's final departure to my floor. But now, it also leaks onto the curtain, so the curtain is soaked and we have two big bowls under the conditioner which are filling up. *sigh* It's going to be a long rainy season. Today my task is to find some gum boots :D And then to find some big puddles and jump in them with my new gum boots.

Goodbye Mom and Dad

2008-06-16T14:34:00.004+09:00

Well, Mom and Dad are off on their way to Seoul and then to Thailand. I tried to stay strong as they were leaving, and as soon as they got into the car, I turned my back and cried all the way home. I'm feeling low now. I even tried to watch a scary movie to cheer me up, but everything is so blase. Now there are no more parents visits to look forward to. Before, after saying goodbye to the parents, there was so much new stuff here in Korea to keep me distracted. I don't have that anymore. I've been feeling pretty frustrated lately, dealing with Korean everything. I don't want to have to deal with the cab driver who doesn't understand my tryings of Korean. I want to know what I'm buying at the grocery store. Things like that, gets really tiresome. I know it's part of the experience and all, but just some times...*sigh*

Yesterday, we made a day trip out to Gyeong Ju, which is the historical capital of Korea during the Shilla Dynasty. We took them to Bulguksa Temple, which is somewhere Lucas and I had never been. It's apparently one of the best temples in Korea, and it was pretty impressive. Many places where you weren't allowed to take photos though, I think Dad was a little saddened by that. We also went to Anapji Pond and the Tumulus Park. We had the tour down to a science after Lucas' parents :) That night we had to go back to Galbi for dinner, because I think that was Dad's favorite part of Korea. BBQ on the table :) Both Mom and Dad thought that the city we live in, Daegu, was the best one of all, and that's what Lucas and I think too. The people are friendly, everything is fairly easy to access, and we have a good round of friends and support here. I'm glad that Lucas and I decided to come here instead of Seoul. Good thing Bev pointed us this way.....only to disappear too early, but at least we got here ;) Now it's back to work today. I don't want to go. I don't feel like it's time to go back.

Whirlwind Trip

2008-06-14T22:36:00.004+09:00

I know, I know, it's been awhile since anything has happened on here. Lucas and I have been so incredibly busy with Mom and Dad. Their tuckered out, and are looking forward to sitting on a beach in Thailand not having to worry about where their daughter is going to herd them off to next. Today, we got back from an overnighter in Busan. It may be the second largest in Korea, but there really wasn't much to do other than sit on the beach and go to the aquarium. But man, that beach was NICE. There were some stupid guys in g-strings who were on ski-doos coming within a few feet of the swimmers (me included). They were just driving everyone out of the water. I did not want to get out of the water though. It was the most perfect temperature. Lucas, of course, thought it was cold, but that's because he's so skinny, he has nothing to keep him warm. It was ocean water so incredibly salty, but it was heaven. I love the ocean, I miss it after living in Victoria, even though you never want to go swimming in Victoria water :D We also went to a lovely aquarium, where we waited for awhile as some old man and woman were doing something at the ticket office. While it was our turn, they seemed to have decided that something was wrong, so they were trying to get in and talk to the ticket lady while we were there. They didn't understand the waving off and dirty looks I was giving them. Korean elderly have a talent for cutting in line, and doing basically anything they want. They could probably get

away with murder, and people will know, and curse them in their heads, yet do nothing about them.

This week we have done Mt. Palgongsan, which Mom and Dad really enjoyed. This is the place where there is Dongwhasa Temple, and the largest standing Buddha in Korea/Asia. That I think was the one place that mom wanted to go. It was a beautiful day too, so clear. It has been real stuffy and smoggy here for the last while, and then you wake up one morning and there is nothing. We've taken them downtown and to the local museum. Shopping and history: what could be better?

Mom and Dad have been enjoying the bad English on signs and the incredibly polite and helpful people around. We've eaten at a lot of Western places since they've been here. I don't think in my whole time in Korea, I've eaten in as many western places as I have while they were here. It's been so nice having them here, even if it has been exhausting for everyone involved. Now I just have to hold out until Christmas. I have a China and Japan trip, as well as Southeast Asia, and then I'm home; 5 more months.

I want to try something: try this link to see if it connects you to a facebook page that has a photoalbum on it that you can view the pictures. Let me know if that works, because that would make this whole posting thing of pictures A LOT easier on us.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086589&l=f0940&id=122502180

Alive and Well

2008-06-10T00:16:00.002+09:00

Don't worry, mom and dad have made it to South Korea. Its been pretty whirlwind the last couple of days, so I haven't had a chance to do much. I should be sleeping right now in preparation of waking up earlier than my usual time to take the parents around. Mom and Dad were supposed to get here Thursday night, but due to sold out trains (it was a long weekend, and so people were getting an early start) they were unable to make it. So we picked them up Friday morning, dropped off their bags at our apartment and headed out to Seomun Market where we picked up some fabric and random other little things. Seomun is Seomun, it wears you out becuase there is so much in every direction you turn. Saturday, we headed to Seoul for another whirlwind tour. We saw Insadong, did some rad shopping there. I got my name in Korean put on a wooden stamp. I'm super excited about it! And I got a couple more scroll pictures to go with my big one. Unfortunately, i got them in a smaller size because they didn't have them bigger. We also went to Itaewon for dinner (foreign district) and then to Namdaemun Market. While on our way home from Namdaemun, we came across protesters who were protesting about Mad Cow (surprise surprise) and along with that the ousting of the president Lee Myung Baek. Mom and Dad were getting all freaked out. Where's the excitement? The next day we breakfasted at McDonalds and then went to a palace. Mom and Dad were awed by the size of the place in the middle of the city. Then to Seoul Tower, and YES! Luc and my lock is still there! There is a lot more locks around it then there was a month ago! But that was really neat to see that it was still there. At this point, Dad and Lucas, Mom and I separated. Dad wanted to see the war museum, and mom and I went shopping in MyeongDong. There were so many people out shopping, but as we were doing so, the skies opened up, and it just started to pour! We had to buy an umbrella, which is now going to be my work umbrella. We had a lot of fun in Seoul, but we were sooooo pooped after going going going. We got home and slept like the dead. Today was a chill day, just Emart and coffees. Tomorrow is going to be the museum and maybe a quick trip to Woobang Tower to over look the city, depending on the clearness of the day. Lucas is working in Hapkido towards getting a higher belt, so he's going to be working extra hard in the next two weeks. He'll spend a little bit in the morning with us, but then he'll head over to Hapkido. I hope he makes it for the belt. Apparently I get to watch, so I'll be there :)

Crazy Cow

2008-06-01T23:57:00.002+09:00

As one of our friend's put it, Korea is a trend obsessed culture. We have seen that with weird fashions and the music. One song comes out, becomes a huge hit, and it is played over and over and over. You think songs get overplayed in North America? Come to Korea, you'll change your mind. When we first got here, there was a song called "Tell Me" and the kids would go one and on singing whenever you asked them to tell you something in English. Right now, it's "Baby One More Time" and the kids will even do the dance for you. Anyways, the Korean president just opened up to allow US cows back to Korea. They stopped for awhile becuase of the Mad Cow outbreak. But now, there are ridiculous protests against it. It's completely media driven and it seems that the whole of Korea is enraged and freaked out about Mad Cow. The kids in class are all "crazy cow! crazy cow! Chang Yeon has crazy cow teacher!". (They call it crazy cow, becuase thats the translation). Tonight, after our baseball game, we were on our way to see Iron Man (totally a wicked movie!!), when we pass a candlelight vigil. We were curious what it was for...China Earthquake victims? Myanmar? NO; MAD COW!!! are you serious? Aparently it passed by some friends, as it turned into a march, and the people were protesting down the streets! C'mon guys. Give it a rest.

Paintballs and Birthday Balls

2008-06-01T12:10:00.003+09:00

Yesterday, Lucas, Neal and I went paintballing with some of the Korean teachers at Bummeo 1. Turns out, we were the only foreigners going. We ended up paying a lot more than I was expecting, but oh well, just go do it. We were heading the Gyeong Ju, where Jae Won took us with Diana and Mike. It was a hot hot day, and when you're paintballing, you have to wear full coveralls, and they happen to be black. This place was a little different than the one in Pohang that we went to in March. You could do head or body shots, and it was in quite an open space. The losing team had to buy everyone's lunch, that was the bet of the day. But thanks to ME, our team won! That's right. Some of the teachers were cheaters though. I hit some in the head a couple times, and they just wiped it away, pretending like they weren't hit. I just had to hit them again, or three times before they gave up. It was a good time with the teachers, even though they were speaking mostly Korean, and we had no idea what was going on.

Then we came home to shower (which was desperately needed, phew!) before heading out to our next social event, Tyler's Birthday. We were going to a restaurant called Dijon, which is a french place that was supposed to be very delicious. We got there, and the atmosphere is so great, and one of the waiters looked like Guy Pierce, Korean style. His hair was peanut butter coloured, and there was just something odd about him. Anyways, I ordered sirloin (it would be my first steak in 6 months, i had been dreaming of it all day) and a margarita. I got my margarita (8$) and it came in a liqueur glass. Like two sips of margarita for 8$? I was a little sad. It better have been some mighty fine tequila in that dinky little drink I tell ya. Then I got my steak. It was a watery looking steak with a grilled bit of zucchini, mushroom, and tomato. That was it. The steak wasn't anything special either. i could have just gone to outback and had a waaaaaaay better one for cheaper! I was somewhat saddened by this. I should have just ordered the pasta which would have been more than half the price. *sigh* It was an experience anyway, right? The night in the end was pretty fun, we headed to a jazz bar, and a live band was playing when we came in. THen to another bar just to chill out. It was lovely.

6 months? CHECK.

2008-05-30T11:49:00.008+09:00

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!

2008-05-25T15:50:00.002+09:00

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...

2008-05-19T23:44:00.006+09:00

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

2008-05-19T14:44:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-17T16:25:00.001+09:00

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

2008-05-12T00:32:00.008+09:00

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

2008-05-04T16:32:00.008+09:00

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.

Happy Birthday!

2008-05-01T11:07:00.003+09:00

Happy Birthday Aunty Kathy and Aunty Jo! It's May 1st here, so that's why I'm saying it now, and Aunty Jo, I'll be on Jeju Island for your birthday, so you get it early as well :D

The pictures are Donghwasa Temple and there are thousands of lanterns because Buddha's Birthday is in two weeks.

Congratulations!

2008-04-26T21:44:00.001+09:00

Congratulations Daryle! I just got wind of that fancy award you received! Well done sir!

The Missing Pictures and Gyeongju

2008-04-26T21:06:00.003+09:00

Mike and Diana make it to the Gu

2008-04-26T00:20:00.002+09:00

It's Friday, and Mike and Diana have been here (in Korea) since Wednesday. We picked them up from one of four bus depots yesterday. It was a trial and error situation trying to find the right station. Eventually, there was success when there were two waegookins waiting for us. We took them to the motel, and there was a nice situation trying to figure things out, but thanks to Jae Won, we got it settled. The room is fantastic! It's better than the hotel that we stayed in in Seoul. It even comes with complementary razor, toothbrush, and condom. There's even some sexy mood lighting. Yesterday, we took them for lunch and acquainted them slightly with the main drag we frequent. Today, we took them to Seomun Market and discovered many an alley and random crap. Mike and Diana also watched two of Luc's classes and one of mine. My kids were completely freaked out by my boyfriends parents. They were telling me yesterday, certain ways that I should address them. I have to be extremely formal, demure, and mouselike. Its a little late for that I think :D Mike's been having some fun with the metal chopsticks. It's not going to well. Diana told me that he was practicing this morning with toothbrushes !

Tomorrow we're heading out to Gyeong Ju, the historic captial of Korea. Jae Won is driving us. Should be quite a lovely time. Getting the camera ready currently. I am posting some pictures of some of my kids. There is one girl, Hyo Ji (Annie) in her girl scout (not girl guide, this is a different organization) uniform. The one that the two boys (Nam Hyeop and Young Wook) are holding is Min Seok. He is the cutest little bugger, he literally comes up to my hip and is one of my smartest kids in the school. i want to take him home. He wouldn't let me get a decent picture though, which is sad.

okay, the picture thing isn't working, i'll try to do it in another post

2008-04-21T23:14:00.002+09:00

I'm breaking down, I am finally going to go to a Korean doctor. I'm in week two of this nasty cough, and I cannot lie down without coughing myself to nearly getting sick. I finished off my cough syrup that I brought with me, and went to get some Korean cough syrup, only to be surprised and sorely disappointed. It's the viscosity of water, but tastes like vanilla. Did nothing. So then I was told, "why don't you get pills?". So I did, they did a little. Not enough. So here I am, waiting for my ride.

Now, I am back from work, back from the doctor. He gave me a grab bag of drugs. Here, they package all your pills together, in serving size. I have 5 pills in one bag... Back home there would be a pill that covered it all. He also gave me amoxicillin. I'm glad that the package had English on it. I told the doctor I was allergic to Penicillin, and he still gave me this. way to go doctor. Trying to kill me?

Diana, could you please bring some cough syrup (Contact complete) and Fishermans Friend? Anything but cherry flavour. Luc and I are so excited for the visits! He's working on his report cards now so he doesn't have to do them while you are here. I finished mine on Thursday. I'm so efficient.

Aren't my kitties cute?

2008-04-16T23:36:00.006+09:00

Erin got a Perm-a. Aye cap'n. I have wavy hair now. The day I decide to do it, it rains too. Oh well. Yes, i went for it, almost chickened out.

So here are a couple shots. Seomun Market, Bev trying on jeans at Seomun market under a skirt becuase there are no change rooms. And my babies. Koy and Boots immediately came up to me and were sniffing sniffing sniffing. "Are you my mommy?" My hair smells like the perm a bit, so they don't really recognize me. And one picture that Toria and Scott sent me for my birthday, i love it! Luc and I are in search of the raddest english shirt we can find. You can find kids walking around in shirts with swears, and vulgar sayings but they don't know what they say. I found this one, and was tempted to buy it. When i took a picture of it, the lady at the shop was not pleased.

Waegook in Daegu

2008-04-13T12:34:00.000+09:00

Sometimes it can get pretty tiring being a waegookin in Daegu. I'm constantly stared at and criticized. I'm considered obese here, I wear the largest size pant, IF I CAN FIND THE SIZE. Yesterday, on the subway, som lady was blatantly staring at me. I'd look at her now and again to find her still staring at me with a stink eyed look. Finally I stared back at her, and gave her the "okay now, you can stop" look. She still stared for a few seconds then looked away. When I looked back again, she was staring. When I'm walking down the street, the ajumas (old ladies/married ladies) look me up and down out of the corner of their eyes. When they see me looking at them, they usually quickly look away. Even the really old women who sell their veggies on the street point and laugh. awesome. Makes me feel real good about myself.

Though when you try and speak Korean with them, they usually are suprised, and compliment you profusely on your good Korean. Yesterday, at Seomun, Bev was trying on some jeans, and becuase there are no changerooms in the marketplace that doens't have enough space for you walk, she had to use a tiger striped stretchy long skirt. It was quite entertain, and there are some things that are universal. I was doing the pornstar music, and the seller was laughing. Bev and I were talking the limited language we know, which is mostly numbers, and i was interpreting some things, just based on what we were doing and he hand gestures, but I think the lady thought I could understand everything she was saying. I got maybe a word (a number). Even when sellers are telling me about their product, I pretend like I understand, that way they don't try to repeat it over and over, because I don't know where to start to understand the details of the language. I know enough to roughly get me buy. Charades is the biggest skill one needs to have to be in a foreign country.

At Seomun, I wanted to see the animals, they usually don't bother me. It sucks they are in cages, but I know what to expect. This time as another story though. When we got there, so guy had a cat by a chokestring pole, and was holding it up buy it's neck. The cat was clawing in the air becuase it was choking, the string was so tight. I had to get out of there fast becuase I was starting to cry. Even the people who were buying the cat were telling the guy to stop. Bev told me that the cat ended up passing out in the end after I ran away. It was horrible. I was crying as I was hurrying away. I had to get out of there fast. I've never gotten like that before. I can't believe it. I came home and spoiled boots and koy with treats, hugs, and kisses. Any time before I saw was they sellers picking the animals up, not choking them almost to the point of death. You hear about this all the time, but it's quite another thing seeing it. I kept thinking about it all last night. I love my kitties.

I'm looking forward to Diana and Mike coming out, and then Mom and Dad. I can't believe it's been nearly five months here, we're almost at the halfway mark. It's gone so fast, but yet, thinking about it, there's still a lot more time to go. I need to see my family again. Luc and I have been talking about coming back again. I want to be home for Christmas, and then in January, we're going to Disneyland with Toria for her birthday (SUPER excited about that). I'm going to break even when I get back. Just making enough to pay off my student loans. No money made for me. Lucas will be ahead though. Student loans kicked my butt, they suck. Have to come back just to make some money! There are other countries that would be good to teach in, but you can't make as much money as you can here. We'll see what happens later.

Now it's time for baseball in the middle of Duryu park. It's a large park across from Woobang Towerland (amusement park). We play in a collesium like place, and many people watch the crazy foreign baseball league for an afternoon's entertainment. Last week, one of our team mates almost beamed a family with his hit (he can hit real far).

I am alive!

2008-04-11T14:34:00.000+09:00

Hopefully this is the start of more blogging for me, but we’ll see. Thanks for the long comment Monic! Hopefully the anonymous thing will encourage more comments, but we do have to blog more ourselves. You should come out to Korea Monic, everyone with a four year University degree should, it’s a great experience and an opportunity to make some money. Oh and yea, of course I have the better students.

I am pretty angry at the Canucks for missing the playoffs, they completely blew it. It didn’t even look like they were trying for the last 10 games. Though Trevor’s send off was great. I thought it was handled very well by both the Flames and the Canucks. It was one of the only things the Canucks did right all year. I wish the Canucks could have played with more heart on Trevor’s last game though, maybe honour him that way…. I guess not though. Dad, what are Grandma's thoughts on the Trevor Linden sendoff?

A month or so ago I told Neal that I would join Hapkido if the Caucks missed the playoffs, cuz I was pretty sure they were going to make it… now I guess I have to join Hapkido. Hapkido is “a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes) (Wikipedia). From what I know, it’s a combination of a few of martial arts known to Korea. I am looking at is as a way to get into shape. It could be fun, but it’s an every day commitment. It will be intense I guess.

I had Foosball last night and it was pretty fun. It’s a great time filled with drinks, Guitar Hero and me kicking ass. Well, they put me in the lowest division because they didn’t know who I was, so I tend to win most of the games. We play best out of three every time and my team has only lost one game, but never a series. And we only lost that one game because the bartender was filling in for a missing opponent; the bartender/owner is good. I wish I could go into a higher division, but I guess I’ll just practice in non-league sanctioned games. Dad, I told them you were pretty good and that you would come one Thursday, so you better get practicing. Oh and I said I might be able to get you guys to bring some foosballs. They’re not easy to get here. So could you guys bring some with you when you come? Balls just like the ones you have at home. We have this one ball that’s way too light, and it’s hard to play with, so don’t any that are too light. Apparently we can get free drinks if you bring some foosballs too. So a pack or 2?

On that note, I’m beginning to put together a list of stuff you can bring (or anyone can send if they feel the urge). Here they are in order of importance:

Foosballs
Herbal Essences conditioner for curly hair
Hockey balls; the orange ones you get at Canadian Tire, not the hardest ones you can find, but the second hardest. Well anything will do, I’ll leave that up to you.

And

Chips; Ketchup, Dill Pickle and/or Doritos would be sweet; they only really have Pringles here in the potato chip department…. And some knock off Doritos.

Dad, Are we booking the hotel in Seoul? Or are you?

And the rain keeps falling, falling, falling....

2008-04-10T11:43:00.001+09:00

We're on day two now of literally non-stop rain. This, I believe, is just a preview to what we will be expecting come the rainy season. I definately need to get some boots, as I don't even have waterproofed shoes. I do love my umbrella though, it's a clear plastic one. Brilliant. Last night we went out for dinner with Whitney and a couple friends for her birthday, and tonight, Lucas is going to head out for his Fooseball Tourney. I don't think I'm going to go this time round, we were there until 3 am last time. I went to play Guitar Hero 3, but I didn't like having to share it, so tonight, I'm going to have a night by myself, watch a movie, read a book, and just be. This week has been filled with many things. We went to Costco finally, we needed litter and some other things, and on the way, there was this hospital. I was reading the name of it in Korean. It was the She-Tee hospital. Read it fast. I don't want to go there.

MONIC! Hey! Nice post on the last one. You rock! Miss you tons! Come out to Korea, it's great! The kids are hilarious here when they try to explain something to figure out a word. And they love talking about blowing things up, and playing computer games (Starcraft and Sudden Attack). They have PC rooms here that the kids live in when they are not in school and just play games. I feel sorry for some of the kids though, when they can't keep their eyes open because they didn't sleep due to getting their homework from school and many hagwons done. The kids are completely overworked.

46th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival

2008-04-05T23:16:00.000+09:00

Lucas and I just got back from an eleven hour day. But what a beautiful day! We went with his co-teacher Jae Won and Whitney and Neal to Jinhae, about two hours outside of Daegu on the southcoast. It was the weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival and it was easy to see why this was the city to host the event. When you're on the highway, you come out of a tunnel to millions of cherry trees. It's absolutely crazy. Kids had little shovels and they were scooping up the fallen petals. Thousands of people were walking along the roads that are lined with Cherry blossoms. We did get lost in the city. Jinhae was where Jae Won's father was born, so he called him a couple times for directions. We passed by a military base that had soldiers out front just chillin' with their assault rifles. Awesome. The base overlooked the harbour and there were rigs and ships galore. The festival itself was on the Naval Base. As you can see in the pictures, there were a couple battleships, but we were 10 minutes late to be able to go on them. Jae Won tried to tell the guy a sob story about how we came all the way to Canada to see this festival, and how could he turn us away? He did. Oh well. Got some pictures of the ships, cute kids, and a pink and blue whale. We then made our way to find some food and I threw a couple handfuls of petals at Whitney and Lucas. It kinda made me think of in Sleeping Beauty, when Merriweather and such are trying to change the colour of the dress from blue to pink, and I just kept imagining that sound their magic made when I was throwing the petals. Anyway. After dinner, we climbed up a mountain that had a monument on it that was originally made as a memorial for the Russo-Japanese War, but then that was destroyed because it was made by the Japanese, and Koreans don;t exactly LOVE them. But it was rebuilt as a testament to Korean courage, or something along those lines. It was a good hike, I think there were 365 stairs, and then the pagoda style building. You could see the entire city from there, it was gorgeous. We tried some coconut. Some guy had a stack of coconuts and was drilling holes in them and then put a straw in it. You just drank the milk. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be...We stopped to watch the Army and Navy bands play some music. We were a little lost in the city, but eventually made our way back to the car, and back to Daegu. It was such a perfect day for the trip, the weather was lovely. The cats missed us all day though. They looked sad when we left. They know that Saturdays are the days they get more time with us :) So now they are both hanging out in the computer room with Luc and I making sure we don't leave again! P.S. Yes, I stalk Korean babies.

Kickin' it in Geumchon

2008-04-01T00:09:00.000+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM

This will make some of you laugh. It made Luc and I laugh. Some guys in Geumchon made a video rap about their time here. Enjoy!

Hurray!

2008-03-26T23:31:00.000+09:00

Lucas and I (and all MoonKkang'rs) just got a 200$ raise starting in May. It comes in the form of a credit card and we can spend how we wish. How rad is that? I'm pretty stoked. Going to buy some new shoes...some make up...some random things, any thing I want. Oh yes. I can see the possibilities....

A Rainy Sunday Morning

2008-03-23T11:41:00.000+09:00

It has been raining constantly since 930 last night. The rain was such a comforting sounds when I was reading. Yesterday, we spent the day with Bev and Rod; practicing our throwing for baseball today. I'm happy that I can say I can still throw, but my arm is protesting me this morning. They had some news for us, which made me quite sad. They will only be in Korea for one more month. I fully and completely understand the reasons, but it doesn't make it suck any less. So no baseball games against them. We're going to try and take them out to Palgongsan and Woobang before they leave, since they have not had the privilege. We headed out with them to Kyobo downtown to get some books that Rod will be giving as presents. I bought another book (even though I just got 6). One about a man who was in the North Korean Gulag for 10 years, and then escaped to South Korea. Luc and I then went for our White Day date at Italy Italy and then Luc signed up for his Fooseball League. He's excited about receiving an actual jersey for this, and it was only 25$ instead of 40$.

After that, we began to head home. The rain was just beginning. We hung out with Whitney and Neal, playing Super Smash Bros. on the XBox. I headed upstairs a couple hours before Luc as I wanted some quiet reading time. The rain outside fell constantly, never letting up. When I awoke throughout the night, the rain was still falling. This day will give me an excuse to clean, do laundry, read, and cook. I'm going to attempt one of my coconut tapioca dessert recipes. Luc's my guinea pig, even though he has no choice.

Sometimes, it's nice to have a rainy day. Now I just need to put on some chill music, and try and get better (I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose....ColdFX, work your magic!)

I have an address too!

2008-03-21T13:32:00.001+09:00

I finally figured out my branch address and mom and I had a test run with it. The card arrived and so now I feel confident to give out the address!

Erin Scott
c/o MoonKkang Foreign Language Academy
Nambo Building 3F
212-10 Beomeo-4 Dong
SuSung Gu
Daegu, South Korea
706 822
Telephone (of the branch): 53-746-3543

This weekend is Luc and mine's first baseball game. We're pretty excited. Meeting up with Bev and Rod tomorrow afternoon for lunch and some ball throwing. I just hope I'm not too sore after tomorrrow for the actual game. It's going to be interesting trying to find where we're playing Sunday, so we'll have to leave early. I feel kinda sorry for Lucas becuase he's now going to be missing what's left of hockey to play softball. Muffin. BUT. He's going downtown tonight to pay 50$ to join a baseball pool, and then tomorrow night pay 40$ to join a fooseball league. HA. Good Luck Lucas.

Shafted!

2008-03-18T14:06:00.000+09:00

Lame-o. I sent money home yesterday, but it was 100$ less than last time because of the stupid money markets. I just lost 100$!!!! ARRRGGGH!

Palgongsan

2008-03-16T23:17:00.000+09:00

What a beautiful place. The weather was glorious, a tank top and capris were the way to go. I had been prepared to do some hiking, busted out the Merrels and all. But we drove to the top of the mountain, no hiking. Though there were a few hills and lots of stairs to get to where we were going. I was the most in shape person in our crew of Whitney and Jeong Hui, and what does that say??? Let the pictures do the talking. All I have to do now is figure out how to get there without a Korean driving us in their car! I got a bit of a sunburn, so today I went out and bought some expensive clinique sunscreen for my face, and some nivea sunscreen for my body. (the Nivea stuff was all I could find, it was weird, but it'll do the trick smashingly). Need the sunscreen for next week because baseball is starting up. I even bought myself a hat to wear. Pink with a sparkly pink cat on it. Oh yeah. I'm set. Hopefully on Saturday, Luc and I will meet up with Bev to get our gloves and practice a bit...but not too much so we are not sore for our first game! Luc and I are on the team "The Holy Grillers", so we went there for dinner tonight to meet a few of our team members. The captain of our team is actually the league's coordinator, so we've got the in on things.

Well, as no interesting movies came out this week, Lucas and I are heading off to watch "Bee Movie". We saw The Kite Runner last night. Unfortunately, the majority of the movie is in Arabic, and being in Korea, the subtitles were Korean, we didn't get much of the movie. Fortunately, we had both read the book. And the book, by FAR was way better. The movie did not do the book any justice. We were both somewhat disappointed. What can you do. All I'm waiting for is The Other Boleyn Girl to come out. Mom, can you imagine how excited I am for this movie? Henry VIII, Anne and Mary Boleyn; Lord have mercy! :D Except it's called 1000 Scandal here. OOOOooooh.

Fat Free Fried Chicken. They did it! coughcough. I had chicken soup. Yes, that is a whole chicken, in my soup, bones and all. I felt sick after eating it.

What's That?

2008-03-13T12:23:00.001+09:00

Here we are in another week, just have to sit through twelve classes of presentations, and it's the weekend again! The weeks here just fly by. One day it's a Monday, the next, a Friday! Luc and I are almost halfway through our fourth month, I have trouble believing it.

Yesterday, we finished our second round of Korean lessons. I don't know about Lucas, but I still can't say much. We did end up going to an all you can eat bibimbap place, and it was mighty delicious. Guess where we are taking you parents!

For the last couple days, we have been waking up to find it looking foggy out; or rainy; or snowy; or very polluted? But is it really? We go outside, only to find it beautifully warm. I actually busted out my capris! Oh yeah! WOO! We began to investigate this interesting weather phenomena with our Korean partners. Every one who is outside is wearing masks, and there aren't as many people out as usual. What is it, you ask? YELLOW DUST. The Yellow dust season has began. The dust is from the Gobi Desert. Yeah. The Koreans already think China is dirty (which, apparently, it is, at least Beijing), and I'm sure this does not help. This yellow dust is insane, you can't see very far, it warms up the place (think of the greenhouse effect), and when you blow your nose, it doens't look very decent. Last night the moon was blood orange becuase of it, and the light that gets through the dust is the same colour on the ground.

And yes, the pizza "Mr. Pizza" 's slogan is "Love for Women". I had a laughing fit over it. It's not chocolate.

P.S. Koy plays fetch.

Potluck

2008-03-09T12:26:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, Lucas and I hosted a potluck at our house. I spent the day cleaning, and lucas and I made another trip to pick up more alcohol at Emart. A few people couldn't come becuase a friend's birthday was also yesterday.

The party turned out to be a lot of fun! The food was rad, we had gimbap, spring rolls, salad, casserole, peanut butter cookies, grandpa squares, cake, chili, apple crumble, and quite a lot of wine, vodka, and soju. The music was playing, i ate sweets (i'm trying not to, in an effort to try and lose some weight), and the liquor was flowing. At 11 we headed downtown to meet up with the birthday party at Old Skool. I only had a mint choco shot ("there was alcohol in that???") and I was done. I wasn't drunk, at least I thought I wasn't (turns out this feeling I have this morning means I actually was). Luc was out of control last night :D He had the mint choco shot, plus a tequila shot, AND a southern comfort shot. All this after beer. Remember kids: beer before liquor, you've never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear. When we got back to the apartment, he went to bed, passed out with an angry look in this face, and stayed that way all night.

I did a little tidying before I headed to bed, which made for a better morning for me. I just have a headache, ug. And i'm doing laundry because I spilled kimchi on my spring coat, which I just busted out for the first time yesterday. It's been so beautiful here I can get away with a thin canvas jacket in the day time. I hope it lasts and doesnt go back to those stupid cold snaps.

I was just on castanet and saw this huge thing for Bust'n Loose. And right there, I see Aunty Janet. hah, nice!

Koy is driving me crazy.

2008-03-04T10:06:00.000+09:00

This weekend was so gorgeous out. The sun was shining, and it was the perfect temperature for paintball. Didn't need a jacket, ah, lovely! I was awarded two lovely bruises, one on my arm (which my students are impressed about), and one on my leg. I was telling my kids about it, and how I was a pretty good shot, and they were all scared of me, it was great. There was a duel at the end, which I wasn't really down for, and Luc was disappointed becuase he wanted to shoot me.
Koreans have a thing for rest stops, as Luc said before in his blog about going skiing. These stops are huge places. One of them, out in Pohang (where paintballing was, two hours away from Daegu), was right on the ocean. Can you imagine, sunset, beautiful bright blue ocean, and me not seeing the ocean for four months. I definately put my feet in. It wasn't very cold, but the Koreans were looking at me like I was crazy. But the waves were rad, and the view was amazing.
Sunday, I also didn't bother with my coat, it made me happy. If I can walk around in my Lulu hoodie and be comfortable, I'm happy.
So today, I wake up becuase of the cats, and it's SNOWING. It's been SNOWING all morning. What the heck? Where did this bad boy weather come from? SNOW?!?

So Koy is still peeing on things. How do I stop this??? I thought getting him fixed would solve the problem. No he peed all over my belts this morning, and quite a lot too. I noticed that the apartment smelled pretty bad, and when I got up to clean the amassed pee, I noticed poo track marks. Oh yeah, Koy had stepped in his poo, and walked all around the house. Today was not a good morning. These cats were going bonkers all night, not letting us sleep.

Paintballing

2008-02-29T11:42:00.000+09:00

In about a half hour, Im going to head out with Whitney to the US Army base, Camp Walker. Well, around it. We're going for pedicures to treat ourselves as we were paint yesterday. We're not going to get manicures though, becuase we will ruin them tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're going an hour and a half outside of Daegu to Pohang. I am going to attempt paintballing. Yes, it's true. Tonight I'm going to have to go to E-mart to buy some clothes that I won't mind getting dirty. I'm a little nervous. It's pretty expensive here, and you hardly get any rounds, but I think it will be fun nonetheless. Hopefully I'll get some rad pictures.

After we get back into Daegu, I'm going to have to head downtown becuase I'm going to sign up for softball here. I need to get some exercise desperately. I'm a slave to my books. I'm reading so many books, at such a fast pace. The books tell me what to do..... :D I just ordered 6 more books from Seoul. As my waist expands, so does my brain. :)

Alex, I'm so glad you received the post card, and I'm SOOOOO excited to get a letter from you!

Ipod woes

2008-02-24T14:36:00.000+09:00

So my iPod is screwing up. I went to plug it in, and it froze. iTunes wasn't recognizing that it was plugged it, and I couldn't disconnect it. I have disconnected it, and it's frozen. I can't turn it off, I can't play it, I can't change the song. Luc and I are hoping once the battery dies, everything will be okay. But this isn't good. I use my iPod so much. Why am I being punished?

On the lighter side of things. Luc and I have just feasted on some KD. It was glorious. Thank you for that!
Luc says: Thank you so much for the package Nannie and Grandad! It was some much needed KD.

It was much needed too after last night where Lucas and I made a on the spot decision to head out to Gyeonsan where Bev and Rod were going to their nice little Mexican restaurant. We had some margaritas, and I bought a round for everyone. Then we went back to their apartment to drink many Tequila sunrises, my first time. Oh man those are deadly delicious drinks. We drank quite a bit, and then taxi'd home, where I left my cell phone. I guess I tried to put it in my pocket, and missed unknowingly. We knocked on Whitney and Neal's door, and that's when I discovered my missing piece of hardware. Lucas called the phone and the taxi driver picked up. He spoke a little English, so he came back to drop off the phone. He wouldn't take any money in thanks, but made me give him his phone number, to practice his English i suppose. We've had a couple people ask for our phone numbers, which I feel really weird giving out like that. I try not to. At least in the end, I got my phone back, thank goodness!

Luc and I are both sick again. It's so lame. Sniffles. We're Vitamin C w****s. Which reminds me, our kids, instead of sighing or rolling thier eyes, they say "Heurrrrrr". We like the kids to say that as it reminds us of the above word.

****EDIT**** The iPod is working again after running out of juice and then plugging it back into the computer. Apparently it made clicking noises before turning off though, Luc was in the room. That's a little worrisome. At least my bluePod is back in working order. I love this little contraption.

The Neutering Aftermath

2008-02-21T11:12:00.000+09:00

Koy was not very happy when he went to the vet, though Bootsie certainly was. He took over the house like it was no one's business. He had not had a night without Koy since Koy was a kitten (we've recently seen pictures of him as a kitten, Oh Lord, he was adorable). Bootsie was sooo quiet, and he slept on the bed, sleeping horizontally over my side, so i had no leg room. He was quite content.

The next day, when we picked Koy up, Boots HISSED at him! And he's been hissing at him since! I think he's upset becuase Koy came back. Koy, has been weird. Though he's kind of coming around. He's slinking around a lot, sleeping more. But he has come back to sleeping on my lap. That is until it's time to give him his medicine.

There has to be a better way for this. I don't think he's getting any of it. The first time, he got a little. THe second time, he threw up right after, and the third time, he was foaming it out of his mouth. I have a million scrathes on me, and then he hides under the bed not talking to us for hours. THe medicine is 2x a day for five days. This is not going to work.

We finally managed to book two days off to spend time with Diana and Mike. We have May 2nd, and May 9th off. That took some wrangling. So Mom and Dad, you need to get on the ball here. Beginning of June is good, it will be getting hot at the end. Make your choice.

Poor Koyangi

2008-02-18T11:31:00.000+09:00

I feel so bad!

I took Koy to the vet today to get chopped. He's started to pee in corners, and so I figured it was his time to go in. On Saturday I went to a vet by us, discovered:
1) he does deal with cats. It is hard to find that here, most vets will only deal with dogs. Cats are not a popular pet.
2) he speaks very good English.

So I brought Koy to the vet pretty much the moment I woke up. He went into the carrier willingly, but soo regret it. He doesn't like being carried in it, and he's heavy, and the box is awkward.

I took him out of the box when we got there and he clung to me, didn't want to let me go. Now I'm having visions that he's not going to like me anymore. He's not going to come up to me when I'm reading and fall asleep purring in my lap. He;s not going to come onto my pillow at night and try to give me a bath. He's going to be some eunich recluse under the bed and never come out.

I feel so bad!

Boots, who is apparently not fixed, will be going in soon. I say apparently, becuase his behind looks like Ginger-Ale's. There's nothing there! And Koy, he was extremely well endowed in that area becuase they stuck out close to an inch behind him.

I hope Koy will forgive and forget.
I pick him up tomorrow.

I love you

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000+09:00

I love you family.

We got the package.

I love love LOVE you!

Can you Say, GOOD TIMING?

2008-02-11T11:16:00.000+09:00

So remember that picture of the Gate at night? Namdaemun? That we saw Thursday night, and coming home on Saturday. So yesterday, that gate burned down. Arson. Holy poopernickel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/10/AR2008021001995.html

Good timing.

Seoul; Soul of Asia (that's the city's tagline)

2008-02-10T12:18:00.000+09:00

We are back! We made it!

Alright, so Seoul for Solnal (Lunar New Years). I'm still sad that we never got to go to China, but it would have been uber cold, and I would have been miserable. It was freezing in Seoul. We got there, and taxi etiquette states that you have to take the taxi at the front of the line. THe taxi in the front of the line was a Deluxe one, which starts the meter at 3x the regular rate. Boo. Luckily, where we were staying wasn't that far away. We got to Seoul by the KTX. It goes about 300km/hr. You would think that it would look like we were going lightspeed, but it didn't. It really didn't feel like we were going that fast at all. But the ride was incredibly smooth. I like trains.

We were staying in Insadong, which is the cultural district of Seoul. It's really only a small street, but it's got some really rad vendors, and if you want souveniers, that is the place to be. When ever we would be looking for somewhere to eat, I would get so distracted, very fast, at all the trinkets and everything, and Luc would go all bonkers becuase he was so hungry. I can't help myself. I LOVE trinkets and gadgets, and tourist traps. It's not my fault. I swear. I have to look at everything. So the first day we checked into the Hotel, the Crown Insadong, and then met up with Brielle and Dave, who just happened to be staying the same area. We owe them so much, Brielle knew her way around, and she showed us the way. So we then went and had some food at a really rad restaurant off the beaten path.

We then went to see the Van Gogh exhibit that was in town. I was mildly sad that Starry Night wasn't there, but there were some other beautiful paintings there. We felt so sophisticated going to an Art Gallery show. We then bought a bunch of stuff from the art store. After that, we navigated our way through the Seoul subway system, which is completely ridiculous. Daegu is so much more organized. We went to Itaewon, which is more the bar district. We went to a Greek Restaurant called Santorini. Can you imagine Luc's excitement when we went to a Greek Restaurant? It's pretty much his favorite. Diana, all he was talking about was your Greek food :D We have Souvlaki, Gyros, and Baklava. Fantastic!

After Santorini, we went to the Canadian Bar, Rocky Mountain Tavern. It was in our Korea book, but it was a little disappointing. There weren't many Canadian beers, just Moosehead, Big Rock Traditional Ale and Grasshopper, and Alley Cat. The interior was pretty rad though., There were Haida carvings, framed Jerseys (Hockey and CFL), and license plates from every province and territory. But the people who were there reminded me of college drunkies. Once we had a couple beers we went to another place, where I swear to God, I had the best hot chocolate of my life. I'm imagining it now, and i'm starting to drool. After, we were pretty pooped, so we headed back to our hotel. Lucas and I slept like the dead. The bed was soft, the pillow was fantastic (though Luc wasn't too thrilled about the pillow), and strangely enough, there were no meowing all night long.

We woke up the next morning feeling so refreshed. Which is good, becuase Lucas had a long day ahead of him, with me tourist shopping. We first refueled with some lunch, and then I shopped down Insadong for a good three/four hours. A lot of the stores have the same thing, but I still like to look at it all. Once that was finished, Luc and I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. We got there just in time to see the end of the changing of the guards. It was sweet. We wandered the place for about an hour, but it was so bitterly cold, we headed out. We missed a little of the palace gardens, but we were more concerned about keeping ourselves frostbite free.

We dropped off our bags at the hotel, and then met up with Brielle and Dave to go to a cute tea shop. You would never know it was there. There were birds, and the interior was so cozy. We'll be taking you parents when you come. Then we headed again back to Itaewon. We weren't very hungry at this point, so we went to a DVD room. DVD rooms are places where young folk go to be alone. It's basically a comfy couch, where you have a big screen, you pick a DVD,a nd the guy at the front plays it. Youcontrol the sound. We watched Welcome to Dongmakgol. It was set during the Korean War and there is this village that has no idea about guns, war, or hate. North and South converge here, and it the movie was AMAZING. I seriously recommend this movie. The tone of the movie is slightly humourous. Please, see this movie.

We then went for dinner at Buddha's Belly, a Thai place. Megadelish. Bought a bottle of wine, wanted a lot more, but it was pretty expenive to do so. I had already spent about 250$ by last night. Once dinner was over, we went to find a place to have some drinks. We went to a place called Helios, thinking it was maybe a gay bar. We got in, and it definately wasn't. It was crazy club, where the boys had to pay, and women were free. We stayed about two minutes. We then went to a Latin place where were had beer, margharita, and mojitos. That was more my atmosphere.

THe next day, Lucas and I had to check out, meaning we had to haul our bags everywhere we went. First we went for a sandwich and then to Changbokgung Palace. This palace is a world heritage site, and you have to go on a guided tour. So while were waited for the English tour, we went to Dunkin' Donuts. This was my first Dunkin experience, and I must say. Timmy's is better. Dunkin' is saltier. So went on the tour, which was an hour and 20 minutes, got lots of pictures. Then we needed to warm up, so we took a taxi to the CO EX mall, which is supposedly the largest underground shopping or smething. IT was a disappointed. I swear, 80% of the stores are restaurants. But we did have a little thrill. Randy Orton and Snitski (Wrestlers) were walking around. So we got our picture taken with them, we wanted to make Sean jealous.

We still have about 4 hours until our train left, but we went to the station to see if we could change our tickets in to leave earlier. We were tired, and wanted to to home. The tickets got switched, we chugged back home, got some dinner, and looked at our treasures.

Lots of pictures, lots of tourist stuff. I spent 300$. Oops.

Daegu with Jae Won

2008-02-06T21:49:00.000+09:00

Today Erin and I and another teacher at my school (Nicola) were taken around town by my Korean partner Jae Won. First we went to the Arboretum. It wasn’t the best time of the year to be going, but we got a small sampling of Korean plants and had a pretty nice walk around. There was also this greenhouse full of desert plants and cacti that was pretty kool. Jae Won picked us up at my school and drove us out there. We got to see lots of the city by driving out there. Usually when we travel long distances we take the subway, so we miss lots of the sights, and don’t learn our way around the greater Daegu area. With Jae Won we learnt, amongst other things, where the American army base was, it’s a fairly big landmark, and people use it to give directions all the time, so it’s handy to know. So yes, there is an American army base here, but I don’t know if anyone knows what the soldiers do all day. We see them at the pubs at night and they are usually pretty rowdy, really… what’s the point of having American soldiers in Southeast Korea? On a side note, American fighter jets fly over the city every day. You can only sometimes see them, but I think it’s pretty kool, they’re fast and noisy :).

After the Arboretum, we went to Jae Won’s College, the College where he got his undergraduate degree. He got his degree English and Literature and is in the process of becoming a public school teacher. It’s a Christian College, so it had a church at the top of a hill, and from the church was a pretty good view of most of Daegu. It’s a pretty kool school. It was designed by an American, so all of the buildings have a Southern Colonial feel to them. There were a couple traditional buildings too, I think Jae Won said they were built to be a mock up of a traditional Korean town.

From the College we dropped Nicola off downtown and then went to Costco. Jae Won wanted to use us for our Costco memberships and we wanted to use him for his car. It was a win win. It was a great day all in all. By talking to Jae Won out of the office we learnt allot about the Korean way of life, and he helped me with my Korean.

Erin and I failed our Korean test on Tuesday. We felt so confident going in... then we bombed. The test was all writing though, and we weren’t really taught how to write during the class, it was mostly speaking oriented. It was the first time the teacher had taught the class, so he realized the mistake, but I think Erin and I should take the class again, so we can learn how to write. We know how to pronounce most of the characters (except for the confusing combined vowels), we just don’t know exactly what to write when things are said to us.

Erin and I are going to Seoul tomorrow! We get Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off because of Lunar New Year, so we have to take advantage of it. We are taking the fast train and will be traveling at over 300 KM/H. Apparently the train isn’t that thrilling, but I am excited for itJ. We don’t now exactly what we are going to do in Seoul, but we are staying in a Hotel in the cultural district, so we know we will have enough to do. We want to see some temples and we want to go downtown, and it might be worthwhile to go to the Canadian bar in Seoul, but there’s so much to do there I don’t think we’ll be disappointed. Apparently there’s a Van Gough exhibit in Seoul now too, I would like to see that if we could.

So no blog until Saturday night (our time), but I’m sure the next blog will be a good one. And sorry for not blogging about cultural differences, I’m saving that for when we have nothing to write about.

6am Adventure

2008-02-05T10:28:00.000+09:00

The cats have kept Luc and I up all night since we got them. Last night was a real treat. Koy has taken to jumping on the fridge. I have to get him down, and spray him with water. I keep having this nightmare that the fridge is going to fall over. So we put things on the fridge to bar him from getting up there. He stopped for a couple weeks, but within the last three days, he's doing it again. Last night, we heard a LOUD noise. I started freaking thinking that the fridge was falling over. Lucas jumped out of bed like a hot tamale and started jumping in circles saying "what! what!". Thanks for saving me Lucas ;) We got up, and it turns out that Koy had jumped off the fridge, hitting his carrier on the top and sent it bouncing around. Koy and Boots KNEW they were in trouble. After Lucas and I had scoped things out, the started to slink out from under the bed, with big eyes. I clapped my hands, not very hard, and they both GUNNED it back under the bed. They stayed there for a little while, and i saw one of them starting to come out again, made a sudden movement, and he dashed back under the bed. They were quiet for a half an hour before they started their incessant meowing. The whole night, they are meowing. They do not stop!

I'm still makng fun of Lucas' hopping around in a circle last night. Eheheh.

Groundhog Day

2008-02-04T10:39:00.001+09:00

Did the groundhog see his shadow? Becuase I'm about done with this coldness.

Communes Trivia

2008-02-02T10:48:00.000+09:00

Last night, Lucas and I went to a bar that we had never gone beofre. We went to Communes, and hurrah, the music didn't suck! It was trivia night, and we got a team together and played the game. It was a lot of fun, until we realized that the winning team was a team of 8. You were only supposed to have 4-5 on a team. We would have had a team of 8, but they told us we had to break up. Apparently, this large team wins everytime, and they get away with the size because they are friends with the people running it. So people were getting a little miffed. Whatever, it was fun nonetheless for me.

On Wednesday, I got together with the guys from work to work on making questions for the new curriculum. For every article that we do, we have to write a series of questions. If we did this on our own, that would be 200+ questions, and countless hours of work.

Lucas and I have been trying to plan our Seoul vacation. We booked a hotel over the Internet in Insadong. Insadong is the cultural centre in Seoul where there are palaces, marketplaces, and history galore. I'm very excited. We are going to be packing a lot into two days I think. I'm so excited! And we're taking the KTX there which goes super fast.

Last night, a Korean guy sat down to talk with me as Lucas was over talking with some friends. He wrote his name in Korean, and I read it, and he was all impressed. See that? I can impress the Koreans. Though it's not hard. They praise you on your chopstick skills. One lady said I was relly beautiful, especially in my Columbia jacket (I was in the Columbia store). Last week, I was walking down the street by myself, and this Korean guy was like "excuse me, could I walk with you wherever you are going? I'm learning English and would like to practice." I was literally at the last stop on my walk, but becuase I'm so kind, I walked an extra three blocks in the completely wrong direction. This guy had awesome English, and he had learned on his own, becuase he just liked the language. It was quite impressive.

Luc is yelling at his computer. He's watching hockey, and the announcer apparently knows none of the Canucks names, and he doesn't know his hockey draft picks, etc. He yells at his computer a lot. That's how I know he's watching hockey. Do not disturb him during the game, or he will yell at you. Heads Up.

Valentine's Day

2008-01-28T23:18:00.001+09:00

Aunty Kathy, I got your package today, and it's AMAZING! I'm so ridiculously excited to give the stuff to my students! I had a little party by myself when I opened it :D

So remember how I was told that it rarely snows in Daegu? They lied. It's been snowing all day (since 3) and it's beginning to stick. Our front steps to our building at polished marble. Yeah, that makes it's very dangerous to walk up them. No matter how careful you are, you slip. It was really bad.

Luc says: "Thank you Grandad for the letter, and sorry for the lack of blogging"

He forgot to put that in his last post.

Korean Lessons # 3 tomorrow. I should do some studying, but I kinda want to watch a movie. Last night we saw Sweeney Todd, which was pretty interesting. And we bought 30$ speakers, which are totally awesome, by the way.

Finally, a blog from Luc

2008-01-28T01:17:00.000+09:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, but as Erin said before not much new has been happening. We’ve settled into more or less a routine. In the mornings we either laze around, or go somewhere like E-mart or downtown for some shopping. We do have time to do things in the morning, but it’s not enough time to undertake a major excursion like a city tour or a trip to the giant Buddha. After work we either grab a bite to eat, or head to E-mart because it’s open until 12:00. E-mart conveniently has a McDonalds, so if we want some cheap western food it comes in handy. After eating it’s usually like 11:30, but with our schedule that’s usually enough time to watch a movie before bed, and thanks to the speedy internet we download plenty of movies.

The McDonalds isn’t exactly like home, but pretty close, it’s Australian beef so it definitely has a different flavor. They don’t have exactly the same menu either. They don’t have a quarter pownder, instead they have a Bulgogi burger. Bulgogi is their standard beef meal, where they serve low grade beef with vegetables and rice (so basically it’s a stir fry). The beef isn’t that bad, it’s just not the best cut, but I like Bulgogi, it’s one of my favorite Korean dishes, though I haven’t tried everything yet. So a Bulgogi burger is a paddy with lettuce and some sauce that’s apparently supposed to mimic the taste of rice, so you are supposed to feel like you are having Bulgogi in a burger… I think… it’s not bad, but I prefer the Big Mac.

Because Erin and I haven’t been up to anything exciting for the past bit, I figure I’ll just blog about the differences I’ve noticed between Canada and Korea. In my first week here a friend asked me what the biggest difference was between Canada and Korea, and it got me thinking, I don’t know what the biggest difference is, but here’s a couple things I’ve noticed so far.

It’s cheaper to eat out. Well, maybe it’s not cheaper, but it’s definitely not worth your while to stay home. In the end it probably costs the same to go out as it does to make things yourself, but there’s not many dishwashers here… so then you end up having to do dishes. If you ask me, it’s far more practical to eat out. If you want Korean food, a meal will run you between 3000 and 8000 Won (about $3-$8). You don’t tip, and there’s no tax. Most traditional style restaurants will keep the side dishes coming until you stop eating them. These side dishes usually include Kimchi, pickled onions and a turnip type thing; other restaurants might have a beef thing that tastes like beef jerky, veggies or even some soup. With the cost of eating out, it’s no wonder that there are so many restaurants; people must not do a ton of cooking for themselves. Western food is a different story. It’s definitely a luxury. The prices aren’t that much different than prices at home, but when you can pay $3 for a meal it’s a shock to pay $20, and they add a 10% tax at western places, that counts as your tip. I guess you’re still tipping less than at home, but it seems like allot when you get the bill.

A big difference here is the heating of our apartment. I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this before, but our apartment is heated through the floors. We have central air at school, but in the homes I’ve been in heated floors is how it’s done. It’s a bit inconvenient for us because only the floors in our bedroom are heated, but it’s really nice in the bedroom when the floors are on. Also, we don’t run on hot water tanks. The hot water system is similar to the one we have at the cabin. It’s hot water on demand, when we turn on the hot water it turns on the gas and we get hot water on the spot. It seems to me like allot more efficient system than at home.

The disposal of garbage is allot more efficient here. We have three different garbage’s, Food Waste, Recyclables, and Other. Food Waste is like the compost, but all food goes in it. We keep our food waste in a bag in our freezer, and then it gets dumped in a big tub outside of our apartment building. Most pieces of garbage here have a symbol on them that tell you if the piece is recyclable. Glass (we think), bottles, paper and whatever has the recycle symbol on it goes in random bags that go into bins to be recycled, and the rest goes into special see through bags we have to buy. The fine for mixing up garbage is ~$500 and half of that fine goes to the person that told on you, so you have to think about every piece of garbage you throw out. Definitely a different mindset than at home, but Korea doesn’t have the space to waste on landfills like Canada does.

Well I don’t know how exciting this blog was, maybe next time I’ll talk about cultural differences. Those are endless; I learn cultural differences from my students every day. The other day I learned that they thought I was poor because I had longer hair and it’s not brushed perfectly. They don’t understand the concept of curly hair and they assume I had a perm. I learn so much just by observing them and by striking up conversations with them. The new curriculum is good for that, we can get into random conversations every day now.

Nanny: I just got Sherree’s e-mail yesterday. It had been directed to my junk mail as I’m getting more junk mail than usual lately, but I will write her back in the morning. Mom had told me about Carleigh, very sad to lose someone so young.

Amy: How’s my use of than/then? I feel like I’m screwing that up allot… I feel like my grammar and use of big words is worsening every day I teach because I have to make everything so simple…. Also, the Korean teachers teach the grammar, they know the rules allot better than us foreign teachers.

Mom: Erin wants Cover Girl, Volume Extract, Black.

Oh and I'm using Canadian change for an activity in class, so if anyone wants to send rolls of pennies they would come in handy. (Actually dimes work best, but that might be allot to ask)