Sent Home

I slept for a long time last night but still felt tired when I woke up this morning, it was dark and raining outside so I decided to stay in bed until I had to go to work. I woke up a few hours later I had a sore throat and thought that it looked swollen. When I got to work Mrs. Kim asked me how I was and I told her that I was ok but had a bit of a sore throat thinking this was no big deal. She insisted that she take me to the doctor's right away. Being a person who rarely sees doctors I told her it was fine and that it will probably just go away, but still she insisted that I go and get looked at in case it becomes something more.

We went to a small Doctor's office that was only a 2 minute drive away, we waited only about 4 minutes and saw a Doctor. Mrs. Kim explained to him that my throat hurt when I swallowed and that it was swollen. The Doctor looked down my throat, in my ears, then the nurse pulled the back of my shirt up and he checked my breathing - finally he told me I was normal, asked me about allergies and how my muscles felt. We were given a prescription and were out the door. So now I have pills that I need to take over the next three days along with some packages of some sort of liquid. I am not sure how I feel about all of this since this is something I would never do at home.

We got back to the academy at about 2:45pm, Mrs. Kim insisted on ordering me some Korean soup. I did my regular classes for the day and all of the children were told to be extra good because Jessie Teacher is sick - this just made them concerned. "Teacher, you are sick?" "Teacher is your body sick?" "Teacher are you ok?" they are cute but this whole thing was blown way out of proportion. I might just keep my mouth shut next time.

My last three hours on Wednesday are supposed to be conversation classes, today Mrs. Kim ccacelled them and sent me home at 5:30pm with my medicine, some pumpkin soup, my vegetable/rice porridge (which of course was accompanied by kimchi), and instructions to go to bed. My boss takes such good care of me!

The down side is, now I will feel bad if I go out tonight...

So Much to Say...

Holy smokes time here has been flying by over here!

Part of my job is to correct all of students' English diaries twice a week. We have close to 130 students so that makes for quite a but of journals. I really enjoy doing this though some of them are written so bad that I have no idea what they are trying to say, this is common since Korean and English are completely different languages. I get some that are VERY well written, some of which I am sure are legit and some of which I am sure have been copied off of the internet. There has not been a time that I have corrected and not laughed out loud though. Two Thursdays ago (before our trip to Seoul) I was correcting these diaries and this is what one of them said :

- Tittle: Jessie teacher
I like the Jessie teacher because she is funny and friendly. she is my personal model to fallow she is very qualified as a teacher. The Jaci teacher are friendlier than I expected Jessie teacher is very very friendly! I love you Jassie I love you! -

How precious is that?

In another one that I recently read a student told me how pissed off they were. "I was very very very pissed off" all I thought was "where the heck did you learn that?" Another one wrote about how delicious fatback is and how much they enjoy eating fatback, I am not sure about you but I have no idea what fatback is... I later realized that it was just a bad translation but it was good for some laughs. The diaries might just be my favourite part of my job.

I have so much to write about... where to start.

After work on the Thursday before Ally, Michelle and I went to Seoul (October 2nd) I met Michelle, Trevor, E-Ru and Bu Kyoung downtown at Speakeasy (the local foreigner bar). We decided to participate in the Pub Quiz that they hold every second Thursday, each player pays 5000 won ($5) and teams of 5 compete in 10 categories of 10 questions. We thought it would be somewhat easy but it was actually pretty hard and we only scored 32%, I got really excited when they asked to question: what country holds the record for longest outdoor skating rink? I won't lie I felt proud. Good news was we won a pitcher of beer for our very creative team name "The Chugging Chugglers"- I think the guy felt sorry for us. After the Pub Quiz and a few drinks at Speakeasy Michelle and I went to my favourite place Wow and Joy, we go there quite a bit this night was not busy so the guy who works the door sat with us and had some pizza.

The plan was to leave for Seoul on the 7am bus the next day but Michelle and I stayed out too late and my cell phone died so I did not have an alarm clock to wake me up. I woke up at 11am in a panic thinking that the girls had left without me. They laughed at me when I called them and asked "are you in Seoul?" We ended up on the 12:30 bus. The bus ride was not bad at all, we went at a good time because our bus only had us and 4 other people on it so it was nice and quiet. We arrived in Seoul at about 4:30pm and took the Subway to Mushroom's (you remember Ally's friend?) apartment where we were spending the weekend while he was in Gwangju. It was nice to have a place that we could stay for free.

Seoul was great! There were so many people there. Anytime of the day anywhere you go there are tons of people. Friday night we met a few of Ally's friends from Gwangju who now live in Seoul. We went for dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant, something that you cannot as easily find in Gwangju. Then we did some shopping and went to a few differnt Soju restaurants. Seoul has everything, any store that I thought I might miss I am pretty sure I can find it in Seoul. I found a Lush, which was exciting because I was almost out of Ocean Salt. I paid an extra $10.00 but I figured that would be cheaper than having it shipped to me. Another nice change in Seoul was that there are so many more foreigners, many signs are written in both Korean and English and people don't stare and point at you like they do in Gwangju.

Saturday we did some more shopping at an undergroud shopping mall, I swear you don't even have to ever go outside in this city - it was kind of creepy. That evening was Jool's salsa competition (we later found out that Jool's group won 1st prize - 1 million won), it was held at Lotte World a big amusement park. The competition was really good there were a few group performances and at the end they had a number of dancers from all over the world perform it was very impressive. For some reason my boss called me twice on Saturday and asked me if I was in Seoul and when was I coming home, I wondered what this was about.

That night we went to this huge crowded market on the street, they sell everything food, clothes, handbags shoes. You can honestly get anything that you want at any hour in Seoul. We went to another mall where the hours were 7pm - 5am, or something like that. We didn't stay out too late that night because the plan was to get up early and go to Itaewon, we were all up and out of the house by noon, which was good for us! We went for lunch at a place called Gecko's, ally's friend Shi-Un met up with us. It was funny, shortly after we sat down at our table Amanda, the Canadian girl that I met in the airport in Toronto walked in - what are the chances of that? She lives an hour outside of Seoul and there are millions of people in Seoul. It was good to see her!

We left Seoul around 6pm on Sunday - it felt good to be home in Gwangju but I want to visit Seoul again and see more of the city.

My week after that wasn't too eventful - I think the most exciting part was the fact that I got up every morning and went to the track. I figured out that Mr. Kim had been calling me in Seoul because there were more problems with my plumbing and something was leaking. So the same plumbers from last time were at my apartment and drilling up all of my concrete floors by 8:00am on Tuesday. It was terrible I went to the track in the morning and then spent some time at Michelle's when I came home for about 10 minutes the place was a disastre, my living room, bathroom and dressing room floors were all destroyed so that they could get to the pipes... I guess, I never really knew what was wrong. When I got home after work at 8:30 they had just finished and the place was mess - dust and rocks everywhere. I spent two nights cleaning the place. I moved all the furniture and everything. I was not impressed at first but was happy to finally clean my place really well.

Later that week Mr. Kim told me that I would be having my voice recorded, I will read something and it will be recorded. He said "next Thursday I will pick you up at 12:20". I really had no idea what he was talking about but he told me that I would be paid so I agreed to do it.

That Friday Ally, Jool, Michelle and I decided to have a girl's night out. We went to Wow and Joy my favourite place - I met Ally and Michelle there, as soon as I walked in the guy at the door recognized me and said "Ah window, your friends" and pointed to Ally and Michelle. He knows us so well! We went to Buena Vista, another bar and then ended up at a Salsa bar with all of Jool's Salsa friends who I love, they are so much fun. We again drank too much Soju.

Saturday I worked my two hours, it was not easy... At 4:00 Cloudia picked me up by the little grocery store by my house. For a long time we had been planning a day for me to visit her sister-in-law's home and meet her nieces. We drove for about 20 minutes and when we got there we were greeted by three smiling young girls, Cloudia's sister-in-law and a very grumpy little boy who really loved yelling, screaming and stomping around. It was really nice they were so friendly and very interested in English and Canada. I showed them post cards and a book about Manitoba while we ate fresh fruit. I taught the girls how to play "Go Fish" (it has really becom my specialty) and they taught me a game with marbles, I don't remember what it is called and I was not good at it but it was fun. Then they took me out for dinner, when we go to the restaurant it was empty we were the only ones there but there was a playroom for children so it was soon packed with people. We had samgyopsal, pork that is cooked at your table with mushrooms, onions, kim chi, soup, all the many side dishes that always accompany Korean meals. I tried many new things - Cloudia insisted that I try an insect, so I did. I'm not sure what it was but I didn't like it, but like I said before I will try anything once. The soup was new to me too it had something that looked like a cow's body part in it, Cloudia insisted I try it before she tells me what it is, so I did - it was not very good either, they told me it was hardened cow's blood. I didn't even know that was possible. The rest of the meal was very good though and Cloudia's sister-in-law took charge and cooked for us and the children. On the walk back to their home the girls begged me to sing to them in English, so we sang what all Koreans know - Mamma Mia. I can't count the times that Mamma Mia songs have come up or the amount of times that people have asked me if I have seen it, which I haven't but Cloudia's sister-in-law wants to take me to see it. Next time I visit them I will take pictures!

That night we celebrated Sung Gyun's birthday at the noreabang that has all of the wigs and masks. I was stoked that they had a Michaelangelo mask since I have been trying to convince the girls to dress up as the TMNT for halloween, I don't think it's gonna fly. We were introduced to one of Sung Gyun and Seung Geun's friends who quickly drank a lot of Soju and was hilarious the entire night. He kept almost falling asleep and then next thing you know he was up dancing like a mad man. You rarely hear people swear in Korea, especially not in English - every so often you hear students swear but nothing serious. This guy would randomly yell "f@cking eat sh#t" (my apologies but it was too funny not to share). I was so embarassed because he later did this at the restaurant that we went to. This guy was so funny though, I think his name was Ju Ill and he is an instant party. On Sunday Michelle and I walked to Chosun University for a festival called Gwangju's International Community Day. There was a photo display, a bunch of different types of food, flea market, 1000 won beer, performances and a talent show. It was put on by the Gwangju Internations Center where I think I might take a Korean Language class. It was nice we had a few beers, ate some african food and watched our friend Mike perform a Barenaked Ladies song.

At 12:20 on Thursday I was outside of my apartment waiting to be picked up to go and record. A van pulled up and a Korean man jumped out and started talking to me really fast. I had no idea what he was saying and I tried to tell him that I don't speak Korean at all. He seemed to get really frustrated and then he wouldn't leave he hung out and kept trying to talk to me. So I called Ally and asked her to translate, turned out that this guy owns a gym and just wanted me to go to his gym. It really was not that important at all. Ha haha he was so worked up. A few minutes later a van pulled up and a woman jumped out "Hi Jessie, I am Rosie I will take you to record", "Ok". So we went to a recording studio and it turns out that I recorded some information for a popular cable car on Duryun Mountain. It was so fun. I had to read four pages of English so of which wasn't correct but it would have been too difficult to change so I just went with it. I got paid 200 000 won, I was shocked. They said that they really like my voice and that if they needed anyone again they would call me. That was exciting! I later met Michelle and Ally at Wow and Joy, we must go there way too often because they have started giving us free stuff!
Friday night we went downtown of course and later ended up in a noreabang in Sangmu. Saturday was the monthly Korean/Foreigner dinner, Mattie, Michelle and I went together after spending only a half an hour at the Kim Chi Festival. It was great we went for Shabbu Shabbu with almost 30 people. We met so many new teachers and some Koreans.

I am sure I have left out so much that I want to share, there is so much. It's so hard to stay on top of this - this update alone took three days to put together. I really make trouble for myself when I don't update this thing regularly, I will try harder to do that. I hope everyone is well!

Much love!

Don't worry...

I am still alive, I am soooo tired though I will fill you in soon on my weekend to Seoul and my not so exciting week I promise. I love you all!

Tigers and Wigs

Last Friday I met Grace and the gang for her birthday. I gave her a pair of earrings and a bracelet that I made, I wasn't going to bring any of my jewelry stuff with me but Gabrielle assured me it would be a good thing to do and I am so glad that I did (thanks Gab!), she loved them and put them on right away. This was the first time that I had seen an actual Karaoke Bar in Gwangju, one that is not a private room. For a while we were the only people there and then a group of older Korean men and women arrived, I guess they were not impressed with our singing because they left after only 10 minutes. Later that night I was supposed to see Jool's Salsa group perform downtown, somehow Michelle and I showed up an hour late and missed it :(Michelle thought it was at 11:00. So we ended up spending the night downtown going back and forth from upstairs, Speakeasy - the foreigner bar, and downstairs, Buena Vista - the Salsa bar. I have to say that I much prefer the Salsa bar!

On Saturday I worked 1:30 to 3:30, I had two classes. When I first started I had taught one of my classes the essay skeleton, I think my director must have liked this because she asked me to teach my 1:30 class how to seperate the book that they have been reading into introduction, body and conclusion. When I finally saw the book I realized that this would not be possible since the book was not written in that format. So I made the best of the situation and had the class write an introduction and a conclusion together. This is probably my most advanced class and I always think that I am prepared for them but they finish everything very fast so we end up playing a lot of games. My 2:30 class on Saturday is supposed to be my director's niece (Chau who goes by Jenny) and nephew (who goes by Tommy), they have both spent time living in Canada and speak English very well. For some reason this past Saturday I had a class with Tommy, Jenny and two younger students whose levels of English are nowhere near Tommy and Jenny. I was baffled as to why they were there, I guess they needed a babysitter.

Saturday afternoon after stopping at 7-11 for a few pitchers or beer and bottles of Soju, Michelle, Ally and I met Jool and Soku at Gwangju Stadium to watch a baseball game. The KIA Tiger vs the LG Twins. I thought this was a great way to spend the afternoon but the game was not very exciting, we ended up leaving before the end - no one had made it home yet.

Michelle, Ally and I were downtown by 7:30 - half an hour late for the monthly foreigner dinner that another teacher in Gwangju organizes, hopefully I can make it to the next one. We decided to go to Miller Time for a drink and some potatoes that Michelle and Ally really like. I was not really a fan, most of the food in the bars here is deep fried - it is getting really old. After Miller Time I wanted to see if I could take some money out of my Canadian account at one of the bank's downtown, I was in for a big surprise when I thought I was taking out 50 000 and it ended up being 500 000. So that was fun, it was a good thing that I had opened my bank account here and was able to deposit most of it into there. We went to a noreabang, this place was great there were different wigs and masks to dress up in and perform. Two of Ally's Korean friends joined us (Sung Geun and Seung Gyun), like most times that this happens, they were shy at first but this quickly faded after a few drink and a few songs!

On Sunday I went downtown for lunch/dinner with Michelle and Ally. We ended up eating at this Outback restaurant, it was good and I was so happy to finally have a salad with oil and vinegar instead of cabbage with either a creamy kiwi or strawberry dressing. We ate so much and then decided to walk from downtown to Home plus to pick up a few things, but no one really knew the way and we were all really tired so Ally made a phone call and turned to us and said "mu mushroom friend will pick us up", "what? your mushroom friend?" I thought this was pretty funny, then she explained that she calls him that because of his haircut. So we walked to meet him, we saw a man sitting in front of a store with a woman and a child, this man must have done something to piss some guy off because next thing we know this guy is running at the man sitting outside the store and they started fighting, I couldn't watch - it made me feel sick to my stomach, especially since the little girl was shreiking, it was very sad. When we met Ally's mushroom friend I was disappointed to see that he had gotten a hair cut and no longer had the mushroom do, but he was very nice and he drove us to Home plus.

On Wednesday night I finally made it downtown to buy a phone card to phone home, I was pumped! Michelle and I had dinner and then met up with Seung Chul, Dongmin and Suki and we finally went to the little Bohemian place by my house that we had been wanting to try out. It was cute but nothing special. My phone card was 10 000 and gave me 104 minutes, I was able to call Jenny, Dave and Meagan! It was awesome to talk to you guys but I was saddened when I tried to call mom and I was out of time, 104 minutes goes fast! I will call you on the next one mama!

Last night I went out with Cloudia and Rachel (another teacher at my Academy), it was nice. Until yesterday I had thought that Rachel did not really like me but I realize now that she is just really shy. She told me that her family owns a Restaurant on Mudeung Mountain and that she will invite me sometime.

This weekend is a long weekend so there is no work tomorrow, Friday - I am told that it is Foundation Day. Ally, Michelle and I will be leaving for Seoul at 6:00 tomorrow morning, I will tell you all about it next week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Where does the time go?

I have been feeling like I have had no time at all... at least no time for this blogging business. Before I came out here I thought for sure I would have tons of time, I thought I would spend my days writing emails and snail mail to all of you. I made an effort to collect everyone's mailing address and have yet to send out any mail... sorry :P

I think that the dates on this blog are not accurate and I am not sure how to change them, I think the last time I posted something was actually Wednesday the 17th, not Saturday the 13th... unless that is when I started the post, I'm not sure. I guess it does not matter. It's been about a week then since my last post, let me try to remember the exciting things that have happened.

Last Thursday night I decided to venture out to Sangmu (a place I had never been before) and meet another teacher who is from New Zealand. I invited Michelle along, after work we met up and hoped in a cab and I tried to give the cab driver the best directions I could while showing him an English map of where we wanted to go. It didn't work out that well and like almost every other time that I have taken a cab anywhere we ended up phoning our Korean friend Ally and having her translate - she saved the day. Sangmu was a lot further than we had expected but we made it there ok. I realized that I had in fact been there before for that fun lunch with my directors! We wandered around, went to WaBar (since we like the one downtown), then ended up buying beer at 7-11 and sitting outside drinking it. Our new friend went home and Michelle and I stopped in for a couple more Obek at a place called Red Rock, we figured we may as well make the most of our long trip to Sangmu - this had been the most expensive cab ride that we had taken, 7500won (for about 25 minutes).

The next morning Michelle and I woke up and met Jool at the bank so they could open a bank account for Michelle. It was so hot out! We went to the Lotte Department store and Jool and I got manicures, we had lunch and then went to work. That night I had planned to go out with Cloudia again to her friend's resto-hof (the same one I had been at the Friday before). Before I left work that day she gave me directions, and taught me what to say to the cab driver - I was so impressed when I told him the directions and it actually worked. I was let out at an intersection that I remembered had been close to where I was going. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to find it because I can't read any of the signs, all I remembered was that it was on the second floor of a building - so I looked up and right away I noticed a bulletin board with pictures tacked to it and remembered that my picture had been put on that board, I made it! Cloudia was impressed but said she was worried about me and hadn't called because she was testing me. Most of the same people were there but this time Cloudia had brought her baby girl Sol-Mul (any ideas on what I should name her?), she is too cute! Cloudia had also invited an old co-worker of hers, Jasmine. It was another great night, after Sol-Mul had been taken to her grandmothers house we made our way down the street to a noreabang - a guaranteed good time.

I woke up a little bit late the next day (Saturday), Mr. Kim was waiting for me downstairs to take me to the bookstore. Woohoo! Mrs. Kim met us at the bookstore and I finally got some materials for my classes, I got a whole whack of story books, some activity and journal writing books and a set of DVD's to show to some of my classes and then hold discussions. I was so happy! I went for a Korean lunch of Shabbu-Shabbu (it was so good!) with Mrs. Kim and Wendy before rushing home to open my apartment so that "men could work on it", do what work? I wasn't sure but I got home and four men were waiting for me. This was also the first Saturday that I had agreed to work and had not had time to prepare anything and I did not know what to expect at all - winged it again!

Saturday afternoon Michelle had planned a party because she had received Taco Seasoning from home and wanted to make everyone Taco Dip, her party started at 3:00 but I wasn't off work until 3:30 and when I got home the men were still working on my apartment. They fixed my bathroom sink and I think something to do with my heat - not sure. One of the men spoke some English so I asked him to show me how to use my washing maching, he was happy to help and I was sooo happy that he knew how to use it, three hot weeks without being able to wash my clothes it was getting questionable. I offered him and the other man some soju, they laughed at me and accepted water instead. I didn't get to Michelle's house until just after 6:00 and everyone was already ready to move, we never stay in one place the entire night - this particular Saturday we ended up at a noreabang before 7:30 which was a first, usually we end up there way later but it was still super fun! We ended up going to about four or five other restaurants/bars after that. I agreed to go ice skating the next morning at 10:00am but it didn't happen since I didn't get home until about 5 or 6am. Madness!

Sunday I slept pretty much all day I was exhausted! I wanted to go ice skating with Harry and join Jool's Salsa class in the afternoon but neither one happened. I did however end up going for dinner with Michelle and Ally who were both just as tired so we all agreed on an early night - next thing we knew we had the bright idea of just the three of us going to a noreabang to "practice" for the following weekend. Soooo much fun but probably not the best idea for a Sunday evening.

I spent Monday night at home - I needed to recouperate.

I met Jool downtown for lunch and shopping on Tuesday. She helped me buy this device that I plug in to kill mosquitos, I guess because I am so close to the mountain I have them very bad here. I mean you think Winnipeg is bad - this is way worse. I was eaten alive this week, so much that my students thought it was fun to try and count the number of bites I had, while another one came up to me, mid-lecture, and applied afterbite to the bites on my arms. I later realized that someone had left the screen in my back porch open, so the combination of closing my screen and my new bug plug things are much better.

I stayed in that night but have been having so much trouble sleeping, I am not sure what it is but I wake up almost every hour, sometimes I have the weirdest dreams. Other times strange noices from outside wake me up. Oh I was woken up by weird foot steps on the roof of my porch again. I got a way better look - turns out it was a pigeon, not so scary.

Last night when I got off work I went to meet, Seung Chul, Dongmin, Ally at Michelle at a restaurant. I, again, could not give directions to the cab driver so Ally did for me. We ended up getting lost, the cab driver must have spoken to Ally and Seung Chul about 6 times and driven around in circles for about 15 minutes until finally finding the place - this was probably my most frustrating experience so far, I have not yet so badly wanted to be able to speak Korean. Now I will practice even more. We had dinner, went to a bar and then ended up at Wow & Joy. I declined (almost) all offers of Soju last night, it had hurt me too much on Sunday night.

Today Mrs. Kim took me to open up my bank account, I am hoping this means that I will get paid soon because we are planning a trip to Seoul on the 2nd of October to watch Jool's Salsa competition, and I don't want to have to miss it. I was offered a credit card but decided to be responsible and decline, I told Mrs. Kim I wanted to know how much I was spending. She told me I was so smart and then told me hilarious stories of all the irresponsible things that some English teachers have done. Before classes started we walked to the bakery together to buy some sandwiches. Street vendors were just setting up, women lay out fruits and vegetable to sell on the street, I watched one older woman bend over to open a cardboard box of potatoes and the biggest rat I have ever seen (except for maybe the one Jen and I saw in Peurto Plata.... Oh no no no, the one we saw in Southdale was the biggest) scurried up the street, it ran past a woman who flipped out. I laughed and was grossed out.

This evening Ally came over with an extra gas burner that she is lending me, she is so sweet! She also brought a small vacuum and did my floors.

This weekend should be fun, tomorrow is Grace's birthday and a Salsa performance and Saturday after work we are going to a baseball game, should be a good time! I will let you know how it goes...

I'm still alive!

I have really been slacking on this blog business, this is what has been going on:

Friday night the staff from my academy was supposed to go out for dinner together - we had to cancel because the directors were too busy so instead my supervisor Cloudia "the Queen of Obek" (Obek is a pint of beer) invited me out with her and her husband. Their friend owns a bar so we went there for a few drinks, the owner had closed the bar for the holiday so we had it all to ourselves. When you go for drinks in Korea it is customary to order side dishes - so along with lots of drinking comes lots of eating, we often go to three or four places in a night and there is always plenty to eat and drink on the table in front of us. Cloudia asked me what I wanted and I told her to order her favourite dish - she chose tak pal, chicken feet. I had never had these before nor had I really thought about trying them but I am in South Korea I am going to experience everything that I can while I am here - so far I have been doing a pretty good job at this. They were not bad - very chewy, not sure if I would order the same dish again but at least I can say I tried it right? Cloudia's husband and his 4 friends don't really speak English and Cloudia's isn't that strong so we sat around and drank maektchu, her with her dictionary and me with mine. The guys were drinking soju and got pretty hammered, we started playing drinking games. My first night out in Korea I was introduced to a game using the soju cap - the object is to use your thumb and fore finger to flick the brim of it off (next time I will take a picture to better explain this), we played this until Cloudia's husband flicked the brim off right into another guy's eye. He got mad and left the table, I think he was crying.

They were all so nice to me Cloudia told me she would teach me to cook Korean food and her husband wants to take me to Suncheon and show me around. The owner of the bar made me promise to go back and drink with my friends. Cloudia put me in a cab around 1:00am because she knew that I had to be up and out by 11:30 to go to Wendy's grandparents house. As soon as I got home Jool called me, she was downtown with her dance friends - I decided to go for one drink with them and then home to bed. As if that plan never works - I met Jool and Vivian and WaBar, we went to another small Korean bar - there was a group of about 15 people there (all of them dance Salsa with Jool) it was so great to meet so many new people. Korean people are so much fun! We moved and went to another small Korean restaurant that belongs to the family of one of the girl's that was out with us so we were well taken care of. It wasn't long until we were at a noreabang and everyone was drinking, singing and dancing! I didn't get home until after 5:00am. This is madness!

This past weekend was a holiday weekend in Korea - Chusoek, which is comparable to Western Thanksgiving. I was told that the main day of Chusoek is on Sunday when people usually visit their ancestors graves. The day before it is tradition to make songpyon - a Korean rice cake (Janny, Delanie and Amanda - we had these at folklorama), this was what I went to do with Wendy's family.

I woke up around 9:30am on Saturday and freaked out thinking I was late I wasn't. I even had time to pick up a Chuseok present for their family. It is customary to give gifts for Chusoek, Korean people are very practical so the gifts should be useful. For the past little while store shelves have been filled with gift sets - of soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, spam, teas, juice, cookies, etc. On friday my directors gave me a beautiful bath set! I bought Wendy's family a box of different juices and a bag of candy for the children. When they picked me up I met her father for the first time he said "I am amazed at your gift". Wendy's family is very nice - her mother and father are both different types of doctors, her and her little brother are both wonderful students to have. They are all very interested in Canada so they ask me a lot of questions - I am sometimes ashamed to not know the answers but for the most part I do ok. They told me that they want to show me many places in Korea!

I thought that we were going to the country but I was wrong we stayed in Gwangju - but went to the west side of the city. Wendy's grandparents house was lovely, they have a small but very nice front yard with so many different plants. Their house was a lot bigger than I expected. The grandparents, though they spoke no English, were very welcoming and did whatever they could to make me feel comfortable. Chusoek is always a lot of work for Korean women, they work very hard for days preparing for the holiday. Wendy's mother and grandmother were busy the entire day. Wendy, her brother Dennis, her mother and her grandmother (I can't remember many Korean names) taught me how to make Songpyon, sesame filled rice cakes. They say that if you make them well that you will have a beautiful son and daughter. We then ate a Korean lunch - it was so good!

Saturday was sooooo hot and Wendy wanted to take me to some sort of park in the city - of course I could not say no. When we got there we rented this little buggy bicycle thing. There were a few people out riding bikes we got one that we could both peddle and drove around the park. There were trees, paths, hills, and a small body of water in the middle of it. It was 35 degrees outside and she wanted to peddle as fast as we could - good grief. It was so much fun though, I felt like a kid.

Later that night Michelle came over and, after a quick stop at her place and a bottle of soju, we ended up going to Trevor's place because he was having people over. I met Ally's brother, Eru, his girlfriend Bu Kyoung, Dong Min, Suki, Cassias and Sam, I was impressed when I mentioned Canada he named some cities and Winnipeg was one of them - he is the only Korean I have met here who not only knows Winnipeg but has been there. This whole group is so great they are a lot of fun! They decided to take us to a bar/restaurant on Mudeung Mountain - it was spectacular! We could see the entire city of Gwangju! We later went to one of the University campuses and of course to a noreabang - good fun!

Sunday I was supposed to go to my director's house for Chusoek but she told me she had gotten a flu so i ended up staying home - which was nice I caught up on sleep. Later that evening Michelle invited me to a party at her place. I went and the same people from the night before were there plus two - Ally and Sung Cho (Dong Min's brother). We sat around and drank for a while and I taught the group how to play Animal Farm - they loved it! (Really who doesn't?) We ended up going downtown to meet up with Mattie at a Soju bar - this was good I was so hungry because I hadn't eaten all day - we ate great Korean soup! We went to Wow and Joy and then of course to a singing room! Nights out seem to be ending the same everytime but it is always a blast! Most were ready to leave around 4:00am but Michelle and I opted to stay downtown and wander for a bit - we tried a couple of bars but the ones we tried were closed so we took a cab to her place.

The next day I got home in the afternoon, did a little bit of cleaning and then figured out how to watch TV on my computer - I watched the entire second season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, it was a VERY unproductive day!

I slept a little bit late on Tuesday and was awoken by Mr. Kim phoning me - I could not really understand what he wanted, then he asked me if I was alone so I knew he would be coming over. Finally he and some other man were looking at my bathroom sink that had been clogged since I got here - they didn't really deal with the problem they just detached my drain hose and directed it to go down the shower drain now. Oh well, I am just happy that it drains. Then it was back to work ugh! We had our staff meeting at 1:30pm this time Cloudia sat next to me and translated as much as she could for me (I am glad that I went out with her on Friday, I think we really bonded). It was not a bad day for teaching. I had made a list of things I wanted to address with my boss 1) I would prefer to work only 2 Saturdays a month - she said she will talk to the student's parents and see. 2) I need to know how to use my washing machine - it's hot here and I could only pack so much - she came to see but doesn't know how to use it so will have to call someone... GREAT - I will have to keep waiting. Then there were a few other odds and ends around my place that I hope will be taken care of.

After work I went for dinner with Grace, her friend Jairan, Ally and Michelle. We went for fried chicken and beer, this is so popular here! We went across the street to a Soju bar and started playing drinking games - I had originally planned on this week being my detox week, so much for that plan... Grace told me she would teach me how to make Kimchi jigae, so I am excited to go over to her place!

This morning I got up at 8:00am, the night before the five of us planned to go for a hike at 8:30 Ally and Michelle didn't make it so it was just Grace (Ally's mother), Jairan (her friend) and myself - I think I was the youngest one on the mountain. It was so beautiful! It was hot and the hike was hard work - but it felt great. At a couple points in the hike there are excercise machines set up for anyone to use - no need for a gym pass, on our way down we stopped and used the machines for a short while. These babes are quite a bit older than me but they are in such good shape - I think they do this hike every morning I hope to go with them. (Next time I will take pictures!)

I'm exhausted!

I haven't spent one night at home this week. It's been great but I am soooo tired...

On Tuesday I walked to Michelle's place and we walked to Home Plus and got groceries. On our walk home we found the "Red Light District" - many little shops down an ally with women all dressed the same, wearing a lot of Make-up and high shoes, oh and little toy puppies dressed in the same outfits as them. I wanted a picture but thought I might get into trouble.

I went downtown on Wednesday night, met up with Michelle and Mike (another English teacher from Peterborough). We sat at WaBar and drank beer and had nachos, this other foreigner approached us and asked if he could join us - his name was Rob and he just happened to be traveling through Gwangju, he is the first foreigner that I met who is not teaching English here. We ended up at another bar called Wow & Joy and started drinking Soju - I have decided that this stuff is dangerous, it creeps up on you. It ended up being a really late, really drunken night... way too much soju for sure!

I felt pretty rough all day at work today and was practically falling asleep so I gave all my classes word searches to complete, win win - they loved them and they took little energy on my part. I wish I had text books...

After work today I met Jool downtown - we shopped around it was great! I really like her we made so many plans for things that we are going to do! Shopping, manicures, pedicures, hiking, jogging... Her boyfirend's parents have an orchard that she is going to take me to also. We met her boyfriend and his two friends for dinner - they don't speak much English so it is always fun trying to communicate with them. They told me one of their names is Tree - I guess his name translated to English means tree and the other is Uuunnng Sa - they kept stressing the "UUUUUUng" and then laughing really hard and kept wanting me to say it. I'm not really sure why but it's funny! We played a couple of drinking games. These guys are so responsible, they each had about 2 or 3 beers and then called for drivers for their cars - I was so impressed most people I know still drive after a few beers.

Other updates:

*For some reason I agreed to work Saturdays - I couldn't say no my boss is too sweet. So now I will be working Saturdays from 1:30pm - 3:30pm... could be worse.

*I found out that my American friend left - I wonder why... Haven't heard from him, I hope everything is ok. :(

*Wendy's mother invited me to the country with their family on Saturday to make rice cakes - this is one of the their Thanks giving traditions. I am looking forward to it!

I think that is all for now... write to me, I miss you all (most of you at least :P)

I'm pumped!

Last night when I got home from dinner my neighbours were in the elevator with me. The first four floors of my building (I think) are academy floors, English is taught on the first and second floor, Math and maybe another suject are taught on the third and fourth. My apartment and one other apartment are on the fifth floor. I had just set up to check my email and there was a knock at my door, my sweet neighbour Mrs. Cheung came to introduce herself and brought me a bag of apples - she is very sweet! Now I feel even more safe living here!

Every Monday we have a staff meeting at 1:30, today was my first one. I sat in a classroom with Mr. Kim and the six Korean teachers while they bantered back and forth in Korean - I couldn't help but think that there were so many other things that I could have been doing... I guess immersing myself in the language was good at least. I later asked if there was anything important that I should know "one student is unhappy because the classes are boring" isn't school like that for every child? "Mr. Kim wants everyone to go out for dinner on Friday". "Hahahah that's it??? I could have slept another hour".

Teaching was great today I am excited to be learning the students names... I am even moer excited to shop for (and have) workbooks for my classes... my god I am running out of material. Today I gave my older classes spelling tests and then had them make up sentences with each one of the words - it was great: "I want to book" "I threw the cucumber at the trash can" "I want to be marker" "When I grow up I want to be bag". Poor kids, a lot of the time I am not even sure what they are trying to say but we can generally figure it out together.

After work I called Michelle to see if her and Ally wanted to meet up for dinner, Ally was out with other friends but Michelle and I decided to meet up anyways. This was intersting because neither of us had been out without any Korean people yet. We decided to walk and meet at the restaurant that we had gone to the night before since we both had some idea where it was... but not really. We made it though! It was only about a 20-30 minute walk from my place which is lovely! Michelle showed me around the area a bit. The went to eat, we managed to order a pitcher of meaktchu and some BBQ chicken, it was not bad at all. It was nice! Michelle is great she is from Wisconsin, she majored in French and Teaching ESL so she offered to give me some of the resources that she brought from home to use in my classes. I was pumped! After dinner to a convinience store and bought some more beer, then went to her place to hang out and she gave me a binder full of material... can't wait to use it. Around 3:00 she walked me half way home. The walk was so nice there is this one stretch of my walk that has so may trees, it makes for very nice shade during the day! I feel so good about this, now I feel like I can get anywhere!

Man I have never seen so many older women drinking beer, this stuff is way more common than water. Ah and Soju - you can get a bottle of it in the Supermarket for less than 1000won ($1.00).

Wow, it's 4:21am... I'm going to bed.

Wish you were here!!

Where the maektchu and soju flow!

Wow!

Saturday Wendy took me downtown on the bus. I was so happy to learn how to get there! It's simple: bus from the corner of my street, 1000 won, about 15 minutes and voila I am downtown! Downtown is insane there are so many stores and vendors on the streets! It's like there are no backlanes, shops, restaurants and bars everywhere! Wendy and I wandered around, she really wanted to buy me something but I told her she didn't have to do that, I felt bad. But in the end she bought me a cover for my cellphone. So I bought her a pair of character socks, socks are very popular here. Before we took the bus home we took sticker pictures together. I am lucky to have such a great student, I leaned so much from Wendy.

Later that night I had plans to meet Jool for her birthday. I was kind of nervous and didn't know what to expeact, I ended up having a great night! I met Jool and her boyfriend at the corner of my street, we took a cab downtown to a noreabang (karaoke room), there I met so many of Jool's friends (Korean and foreigners). I met two foreign teachers who work with Jool (Michelle and Trevor, both American). It was so nice to get out and meet new people. Everyone was so friendly! We stayed at the noreabang for a few hours, ate dinner and DRANK. Holy moly, Koreans know how to party! None stop maektchu and soju, it was great! I was taught some new drinking games. Most of the karaoke songs were Korean but I mustered up enough courage to sing, I sang the Loco Motion and a few other English songs with the other foreigners. It was so much fun - no one's glass was ever empty, in no time we were all up dancing and singing! After a few hours we made our way to another pub/restaurant, again maektchu and soju - never an empty glass. Later some of us decided to make our way to Speakeasy - a fairly popular bar downtown, specifically populare with foreigners. There we continued to drink and dance. I was able to meet a lot of people that up until that day I had only been in touch with via facebook and e-mail. One of Jool's friend's, a Korean girl (Ally) lives about a three minute walk from me, which was great because I was able to share a cab home with her and Michelle. Downtown was fabulous, so busy there was so much going on. I didn't get home until 4:30am when I did I went for a short walk around my neighbourhood.

At 2:00 this afternoon, my co-worker Sunny and her sister Jean picked me up. They took me to Damyang - a county about a half hour from Gwangju. Damyang is known for it's bamboo, we visitied the Bamboo Park (http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/scholla/416). When we first got there I noticed a white man with two Korean guys, they Koreans saw me and started tapping the white guy and gesturing towards me - so we stopped and talked for a bit. Sunny, Jean and I watched a Korean Folk Performance, during which I received a surprise phone call from JENNY!!! It was so nice to hear from her but the music was so loud and it was an awkward time to talk (sorry the conversation didn't last longer Jen). Then we wandered around the paths of the bamboo forest. It was beautiful! It was a very hot and sunny day but the bamboo created nice shade for our walk. The paths were rough at times, they were steep and had a lot of rocks and I was amazed that a lot of the Korean women I saw there were still sporting their high heeled shoes. I thought it was insane that they could handle the paths in them.

We had lunch at a noodle house that was outdoors, it was nice. Korean portions are a lot bigger than I am used to so I have a hard time finishing any meal, this makes people think that I don't like the food and they worry that I am not eating - I spend a lot of time reassuring them that I am fine, I like the food, I am full.

On our way back to Gwangju we went to the Gyeongyeolsa Shrine, a memorial for General Jeong Ji (http://bukgu.gwangju.kr/language/english/B_culture3.htm). It was also beautiful. Korean is a very beautiful country, very green and lush with beautiful mountains! Then we drove around Mudeung Mountain, a well known mountain in Gwangju.

Sunny and Jean are both very sweet! They were going to show me around one of the University campuses but I was so tired from having been out so late the night before so we decided to go home and they agreed to show me another time!

Not long after I got home Michelle called and invited me out for chicken and beer with her and Ally. Ally's mother, Grace and the two girls picked me up and we went to a restaurant not far from my place. We ate fried chicken, drank maektchu, Michelle and I had a chance to learn/practice Korean. It was great, Grace (our Korean mother) is a very nice lady! I gave her a pair of earrings that I made she was very excited and put them on right away "Beautiful!"

Side note: I have pictures and video to share but my camera's battery is dead and I need to find an adapter to plug it in and charge it - stay tuned!

Friday Night

I had an interesting lunch today with Mr. and Mrs. Kim, they took me to another American style restaurant. Mr. Kim kept asking me if I like pork cutlet. I have been hearing about this a lot lately, in class when I ask the students what their favourite food it so many of them say "pork cutlet". We opted for the fish lunch speacial, a cream soup, salad and fried fish (with kimchi and pickled radish - like all meals). Mr. Kim left and went to immigration for me. This left Mrs. Kim and I, which was nice she is a lot of fun. Mr. and Mrs. Kim are complete opposites - he is nice, reserved, serious and strict, she is a lot of fun, loves children, beer and karaoke.

Today was not a bad day for teaching I was able to use the same card games for most classes because they were ones that I didn't have yesterday. My last two hours were two 50 minute "conversation classes" these ones are more challenging because they are longer and are with older kids. The first one was with only two students who are very keen on learning how to write essays so I whipped out Mrs. Toews' essay skeleton. Her crazy skeleton has helped me more often than I ever thought it would, maybe the most valuable thing I learned in high school. The last group that I had is my toughest one, they are hard to keep focused, on the spot I came up with a trivia game - boys against girls, I wrote a category on the white board and they had to take turns naming something in that category (colours, animals, food, occupations, etc) when one team can't answer or repeats a word the other team gets a point. They love games. Next I made them play the game "I went to the store and I bought _______" alphabetically each person has to finish that sentence, the next player repeats what was said and adds to the sequence. I was relieved that this took the entire period.

Now it's Friday night, I was hoping to get out but I am tired and a little too nervous to venture out on my own. Hopefully tomorrow in the daytime I will learn how to get downtown and then will not be so scared. I guess I will stay in.

Grapes and Heineken

Koreans pay way more attention to detail than Canadians do. Before class this afternoon I walked down the street with Cloudia to get my pictures taken. The photographer did not speak any English, he sat me down on a small stool, very gently he flattened my hair, lifted my glasses, adjusted my sweater, removed a piece of lint and went behind the camera to take my picture. I guess I did not smile right because he came over and adjusted my mouth and lips and later the positioning of my head. This made me think about getting my grad pictures done at Wal-Mart, the photographer there was so careless, she did not take any time at all.

In every one of my classes today I used the farmyard animal flash cards that I bought at Dollarama before I left - they saved me. The younger students were asked to tell me the names of the animals and then we sat on the floor and played memory. For the older students I made up a game that was similar to 'Go Fish' - this seemed to go over well with them.

The other teachers are starting to open up, today over lunch one teacher told me how much she likes maektchu, beer, I was shocked because this teacher seemed so innocent. She told me she was "Queen of maektchu"! We decided that one night we will all go out and party! I can't wait! Another teacher, offered to take me out on Sunday and show me around - she is one of my favourites, she has been helping me out so much with everything! I am excited for the weekend!

I stayed after class today and corrected Wendy's essay for an essay competition. While I was working with her Mr. Kim gave me my pictures that he had picked up for me -they look creepy I am sure they were airbrused or something. He also gave me two huge bunches of grapes, I remember mentioning that I liked grapes earlier that day. I am sure these people think that I am not eating enough, they are so thoughtful. I had grapes and Heineken for dinner.

Mystery Caller

Yesterday before school started I experienced Home Plus. Mrs. Kim took me there to get pictures taken, when we got there the photographer was on lunch so we left. The place was huge - they sell everything there from hgh heels to cereal, it was insane and super busy. We made plans to go back at 8:30pm when school was over.

Most of the other foreign teachers I have talked to who teach at other school are given a text book to follow - not me, this makes things pretty hard since I have never done this before. Yesterday I spent the first three hours of my day split between 6 different classes - I spent 25 minutes in each one sometimes the Korean teacher stays and other times she does not. This week pretty much all I have done is play games - I am supposed to be assessing the student's levels of English... ok sure - this is way easier said than done. The second half of my day was split into three different periods, I had three fifty minute classes - this felt sooo long compared to the 25 minutes I had gotten used to. Never in my life have I experienced so much awkward laughter, what happens is I try to explain something in English, the kids speak in Korean and ask me questions in Korean, I am sure I display a puzzled look and they laugh so then I laugh and they laugh harder, I say "OK" they reapeat "OK" and it starts again with me trying to explain the same thing differently. I am sure this will get easier with time... at least I hope it will...

After my last class I ran into Wendy, a student of ours who is 14 she spent a few months in Calgary studying English so she is very good to have around. She introduced me to her mother, who is very sweet and told me about how much she wants to go to Canada. Wendy lives close to the school so she offered to take me on a walk around the neighbourhood and show me around on Saturday.

Mrs. Kim and I went back to Home Plus, we took Wendy with us this time. The photographer again wasn't there he was gone to a birthday party. Mrs. Kim was not impressed but she bought me groceries instead... I was still worried about my fridge and had not yet plugged it in. We bought: milk, cereal, orange juice, pineapple juice, croissants (they really wanted me to get bread), pomegranate and kiwi yogurt, sushi, Korean rice cakes, and a six pack of heineken (Meghan: doesn't my fridge remind you of 86 1/2?). It's funny Korean people keep making me buy bread and bread products - Mr. Kim was the same way on the first day.

My American friend had told me that he was going to try to phone me in the evening, when I was at Home Plus I missed a call so when I got home I called the number back - it was not Kevin but some Korean child trying to speak English to me all I could make out was "I want to be your student but not this semester" I was really confused, I could not understand anything and I am sure this child could not either. I finally got off the phone and the same number called me back they asked me who I was, I tried to explain the situation but of course had no luck. It was another child on the line they asked me if I was alone, that's all I could make out. It was the weirdest thing... I wonder who it was and how they got my phone number. What an experience being in a place with such a different language!

Strange Things

I stayed up too late last night. This morning I was woken up at about 6:00am by a weird loud clicking noise. I opened my eyes and noticed the back side of a strange animal, it was running across the plastic roof of my porch right outside my bedroom. This freaked me out, I am not sure what it was it had claws and a long bushy tail - that's all I got.

I woke up to a phone call at 9:50am and needed to quickly shower, in the washroom I was greeted by a huge bug - like an inch and a half huge bug. So many strange creatures today. I killed it - not good.

Just after 10:00am Mr. Kim took me to the Chosun University Hospital, on the way he told me that I need a photo of myslef - luckily I had an extra passport photo in my wallet. At the hospital I had to do a physical - this was interesting and cost me 150 000 won, all of the staff were very nice but spoke very little English. I first answered health questions, then was taken down the hall and given a dixie cup that I was told to pee in. I was put in a small bathroom stall, there was no toilet but a sort of urinal built into the floor. For the life of me I could not perform, luckily I had a bottle of water in my bag, I chugged it... still nothing. People came in and out, did their business... still nothing. The nurse came into check on me... still nothing. Someone came in and ran the water for awhile... still nothing. After about 25 minutes the nurse came back in and told me I would do it later. She then took me to another area, I was told to change into a robe. I was pressed againt a metal machine - chest x-ray. In the next area I was told to remove my top and lay down, the nurse put a clamp on each of my arms, one on each of my legs and a bunch of suction cups all over my chest. When this is done I am taken to another area, my blood pressure is taken, eye exam, height, weight, other measurements recorded and they took blood. The nurse stood me in front of the water cooler "drink". I drank about six cups of water took my dixie cup and went back into the stall, SUCCESS! I opened the little cupboard that I was shown to put the cup into and there are about 11 other cups of urine sitting there, good grief. On the way out I found out that I was supposed to have 2 photos for the physical, which I think I may have mailed to the school awhile ago - I will be taken tomorrow to get 5 extra photos.

I spent the rest of the day teaching - it was fun today I am starting to learn the students names. Highlight of teaching today: singing "Head and Shoulders" with the youngest class. They don't speak much english at all but got the song and loved it!

I feel brave today!

When I got here on Saturday there was a weird smell in my apartment and I could not put my finger on where it was coming from. When Mr. Kim showed me aound the apartment he also noticed the smell (I am sure that is why he went straight for the Febreeze and the hippopotamus air freshener when we went to the supermarket). I later realized that it was coming from the fridge... gross! The second time I went to the store I picked up some cleaner, when I got home I doused the freezer with it and quickly closed it... it was awful! So I left it.

Yesterday, Sunday was quite uneventful. I spent the entire day in my apartment unpacking and emailing - I also downloaded Skype, everyone should get it. I was exhausted so I went to bed early and slept for almost 12 hours. I had really weird dreams about being back in Winnipeg, in one of them Meagan and I were shot but we survived it was so strange.

Today I woke up fairly early and convinced myself that I would get out and explore my new neighbourhood. I got ready and went out, I felt brave. Right away I tried to locate a landmark that I would recognize from far away to help me find my way back. I soon realized that there was no way that I could see it, there is just too much surrounding me. But I made it without getting lost. I walked for almost an hour then it started to rain so I went to the store and picked up a few things on my way home.

It was good that I headed home when I did because when I got back there were people looking for my keys so they could get in and wallpaper the joint (woohoo) and Mr. Kim wanted to take ne to get a cellphone. This was somewhat overwhelming I had no idea what was going on but I bought a nice Korean phone for $4o.oo. When I got it it was all in Korean but I figured out how to change it to English all by myslef!

At 1:30 all the teachers were supposed to meet to discuss the students before they arrive at 2:30. Today we met but were busy cleaning the school as there were a lot of renovations that had just been done. I was pretty much just thrown into the mix with no direction, it was pretty overwhelming at first. For the first few hours I went back and forth from the Tiger class to the Lion class, I was expected to teach whatever I wanted... I had no idea what to do, the kids yelled "GAME!" The first group was really young and spoke very little English, the first thing that came to mind was Stella Stella Ola - which was probably not the best choice since it doesn't really contain any English words but it was fun and they loved it. The classes are very small, no more than 8 students which is nice. The next four classes were pretty much the same deal only they were a little older so instead of Stella Stella we played Hangman and I showed them postcards of images of Winnipeg "WOW!" they all screamed. It was precious! At 6:30 I was told that I was on my own, I had a class of three girls who were about 13, they speak fairly good English so together we decided that they would each create a children's story book over the next little while. Hopefully that is ok with the Kim's - I have no idea what I can/can't/should/shouldn't be doing. So I figure I will do like I did at MSP and do what I want until I am told not to. The next class was good, mostly students I had met in the Tiger and Lion classes - they asked me questions and I answered then I went around the room asking them questions. My last class was the toughest, there were 5 boys and 4 girls they sat on opposite sides of the room and made fun of eachother the whole time - this 50 minutes seemed to drag on forever. We didn't do too much but I did end up making a couple of the boys change spots because they would not stop punching eachother, sometimes it's so hard to keep a straight face. After school while talking to another teacher I learn that I was supposed to bring books and resources with me, I had no idea. Mrs. Kim says we will go pick out books on Saturday, for now just talk with the children.

When I was done i was exhausted! I came upstairs and my apartment had been wallpapered it looks way better! I am excited to unpack! I did have to clean the floor though because it was full of small pieces of wallpaper, wallpaper glue and a few blades from the knives they used - and I am not supposed to wear my shoes inside - good grief! I was also happy to see that I now have internet in my bedroom, so no more sitting on the floor! Some of the things on my computer are different than I had them and I can't change them back - not a big enough deal to try and explain though.

I was tired but I tied a bandana around my nose and mouth and tackled the fridge. It was so bad - I pulled all of the shelves out of it and layed them on my bathroom floor/in the shower and hosed them off and doused them with cleaner. I took a rag and cleaner and went scrubbed the entire thing - I have cleaned up so bad things in my day (shout out to IPDA!) but this was bad I would not wish this on anyone. It does not smell so bad now and I have left it open to air out until tomorrow when I think I will plug it in. I feel brave today!

Then I wiped down my shelves and put my living room back together, at this point I am sweaty and feeling gross and there is a knock at my door. Mr. Kim's sister and her husband (I will learn their names soon) are here to check out the wallpaper - they speak no English but I can tell that they love it! I show them my burnt out lights, they understand and I am sure they will be fixed tomorrow - I am so well taken care of here. They leave, ten minutes later another knock at the door - she is back only with Mrs. Kim, Chau and her brother, they all want to see. They look around my apartment and really like all my labels - they are impressed that I wrote them all when really I just copied them out of a dictionary. I show them my cell phone and Chau asks for my number, her brother wants it too - I give it even though I really don't want a call from either of them, I can't be mean they are too kind! Mrs. Kim notices that the bedroom is not wallpapered and she is not impressed she says she will get it done tomorrow and asks for my list of things that I need she will get them tomorrow too. I feel lucky to have her!

Here Goes...

I have decided that the best way to keep in touch with everyone - keep you updated and share pictures of my adventures overseas - would be to keep a blog. So here goes!

Brace yourselves this first post is gonna be a long one:

After about three (long past) going away parties, I was becoming frustrated with not knowing when I would be leaving for South Korea. I found out on Tuesday the 26th that I would be leaving for Toronto that Thursday morning at 5am. When things happen they happen very fast! I should have been prepared since I had originally planned to leave on the 10th of August, but being the procrastinator I am, I was not. Luckily Jenny was able to come over and pretty much pack for me.

At the airport in Winnipeg at about 4:15am I found out that my luggage is too heavy, so heavy that there was no way they could take it so I would have to cut it down. We had thought ahead and brought a garbage bag for my mom and sister to take home whatever had to be taken out. I ended up parting with a large towel (I later regreted this when drying off with hand towels), a pair of shoes, a bathing suit and a few random pieces of clothing. My mom then paid $100.00 so I could keep the rest. My flight left Winnipeg at 5am, this young kid was sitting next to me on the airplane, I sparked up a conversation with him. It turned out that Clayton had played football with my brother Dave at Kelvin - small world - he was moving to Toronto to go to school to become a famous actor. I slept most of the way.

I got to Toronto at about 8:15am and missed Winnipeg as soon as I realized that the luggage carts at the airport cost $2.00. Once Clayton and I got our luggage we parted ways, he was brave to venture downtown on the subway with his huge hockey bag. I started walking towards the taxi stand and was approached by a man "looking for a cab miss?" I reply yes and he gestures me to follow him. This was a little sketchy, he led me to to the parkade very fast and popped the trunk of an unmarked car. "Why is your car unmarked?" "oh some are just like that" and I say "why don't you have a meter" he says "oh it's just a flat rate, where are you going?" At this point we are driving out of the parkade and I am exhausted, a small part of me thinks that I am being kidnapped. To make matters worse I gave him the address that I am going to and he had no idea where it was. We call Dorothy's (my mom's cousin) house - no answer, we try again, no answer. We try her at work - no answer. Then I remember that Meagan had printed me off some google maps of the places in Toronto that I had to get to. Good old big sis, saving me even from so far away - I miss her! After a very nervous 20 minutes we get to the address and the driver insists that I make sure someone is home before he lifts my monster suitcase out of his trunk. My uncle Gord is home, I wake him up and the driver struggles to carry my luggage to the door. I later learn from my uncle, a former cab driver, that I had been "scooped" and ripped off - it was illegal of him. Lesson learned - I was happy to be there.

After a two hour nap I met Alex on the corner of St. Clair and Avenue at 1:00. Alex and I had lunch and cider at a little pub called Scallywags close to Yonge St before my interview at the consulate.

My interview was at 3:00, Alex walked me there and we said goodbye. The Consulate was busy, full of people trying to get their visas. I met two girls also waiting for their interviews - FACEBOOK! My interview was probably four minutes, Why do you want to teach in Korea? How will you be good at teaching children? What will you do to motivate your students? The man doing the interview was happy that I was going to his home city, Gwangju. By this time it is 3:04, my visa would not be ready until after 4:10. I took off and explored downtown Toronto for a little while, I was hoping to buy a watch... somehow I had no luck. I did however have a blended iced chai latte from Second Cup... no good, I chucked it. Headed back to the Consulate at 4:05 and was put in a room to wait for my visa, there were three guys waiting with me and I recognized one of them, turns out his name is Richard and he is also a Menno Simons grad - again, small world! By 4:30 I was sitting on a bench outside visa in hand waiting for Dorothy to pick me up. While I was waiting I was approached by an older lady named Theresa who is also moving to South Korea to teach English. Dorothy picked me up and after a quick dinner with her and her son Jamie I was on my way back to the airport.

I was checked in and already waiting to board by 8:45, had a lot of time to kill so I scanned the area and decided to introduce myslef to a couple of young people. Turns out they were on their way back to South Korea for their second year of teaching. Jason and Amanda were really nice, I learned a lot from them. Jason was wearing a t-shirt that said "foreigner" in Korean characters and ALL of the Koreans loved it. He had a bag of gummy worms that he offered to this little Korean girl and she and her grandmother became our friends instantly. The little girl's name was Alice and she kept saying "I am so happy!" she had been in Canada on vacation for a lon time with her grandmother and could not wait to see her mother - in the airport in Incheon we saw her mother carrying her and she was crying, it was very sweet!

I thought that the 14 hour flight would be awful but it wasn't bad at all. I had a lot of room and I must have slept for a total of 10 hours. I woke up to eat Bibimbap - Korean food that is very tastey. Slept, listened to music and slept. I was woken up for breakfast I decided to try the Korean option, it was a rice porridge that you mix this green tea powder into, it was terrible - I couldn't eat it.

The plane arrived in Incheon at about 2:00am, customs did not take long at all. I sat with Jason and Amanda for about a half an hour until their friends got there to pick them up. I was on my own - for about three steps when a Korean lady said hello to me. Everyone is so friendly - her name was Jo and she and her husband Chris, a Canadian who has taught in Korea for 6 years, were on there way home to Busan. I sat with them for a couple of hours and talked they shared stories and pointers and insisted that I share their Korean crackers and some sort of sweet corn chip thing - it was nice. I left them at about 5:30am to make sure that I knew where to catch the bus to Gwangju. It was not hard at all, the airport (like Remik assured me) was very organised! I bought my ticket at 6:00 and waited in the fancy bus shack for 50 minutes - the bus shacks have automatic doors and flat screen tv's in them, not even bolted down - that would never fly back home. Oh and in the washroom at the airport the toilet seats are covered in this plastic wrap like stuff and it changes itself when you flush it... what will they think of next?

At the bus stop I met a man named Paul who is orginally from Gwangju but lives in Pheonix. He was nice and made sure that I knew what I was doing when the bus stopped at the insanely busy rest stop for 15 minutes. The bus ride was about 4 and a half hours, I slept about half the time and listened to music while enjoying the beautiful sites the rest of the way. At one point the man sitting in front of me turned around and asked me to help him find a job, he was a Korean man from Canada, he asked if he could be my roommate and get a job with me, I told him I was not sure he would have to ask the school. When I got off the bus I was a little worried that I would be forgotten in this crazy place, I was pulling my huge luggage with my little back pack on it, had the huge back pack on my back, was carrying my purse and man was my hair greasy! Sure enough this Korean man approached me saying my name, I said "yes are you Mr. Kim Young Jun?" "yes" - "yes" - "good" - "ok". The two of us kind of had a hard time understanding each other the entire way to the school, it was funny and frustrating at the same time. He told me that we are in an area where there are not many foreigners. I will have to learn Korean! We went to the school which is on a street that looks like a back alley, it is a private school so the students have class today, Saturday. We took my luggage to the fifth floor where my apartment is. Back downstairs, he showed me around the school and introduced me to his sister, some of the students and the other teachers - all nice Korean girls. Everyone is very sweet! I sat down in the office to eat some rice and bulgogi with Mr. Kim's niece, she is nine and has the highest level on English so far as she spent a year in Calgary on an exchange program. She is a very cute chubby Korean girl, she tells me to call her Cho. The conversation in English is nice.

Mr.Kim and I went to the store where I was in search of a towel because I so badly wanted to shower after my long trip and the humidity here. On our way to the store there were five little girls who yelled hello and chased after me speaking Korean, I had no idea what they were saying. All I know how to say in Korean is: hello, foreigner, some foods and thank-you. The girls followed us around the enormous store asking me questions in Korean, I could tell that Mr. Kim was not impressed and he muttered something to them in Korean and they went away - but continued to yell bye-bye everytime they saw me. Too cute! I picked up a garbage can, a hand towel (the biggest one I could find), a package of about six other small towels, a shower puff, a bottle of water, Mr. Kim grabbed febreeze and a cute pink hippopotamus air freshener. He then insisted that I needed food in my apartment and picked out some Korean buns. He paid, then turned to me and said "I pay today but then no more".

Finally I got to have a shower, the water was freezing. I was worried but it slowly warmed up. There is no shower stall it is just a shower hose over the open tile floor in the bathroom. I was so happy to have shampoo and conditioner from home and my Flying Fox. I kicked myself for a moment about ditching my towel at the airport. I went back down to the school after my shower, class was over and Mr. Kim wanted to take me and the three other teachers out for lunch... what? didn't I just eat lunch with little Cho? We went to an American restaurant - I think that is what they thought I wanted. Mr. Kim, Janie, Clair and Claudia (the English names they have chosen), none of them speak very much English and my three Korean words don't last too long, I felt a little lonely and realised that I really do need to learn Korean. We ate soup, salad, pizza, spaghetti, steak, kimchi, pickles and coke for some reason I also got an orange juice (I think they are trying to make sure I was pleased). For Korean meals all of the dishes are put in the middle of the table and shared, there was so much food and I was not that hungry but I ate as much as I could to be nice.

After this second lunch they drove me back to my apartment and Janie and Clair came upstairs. They are both very sweet, Janie is younger and lives with her family, Clair told me her family is in a differnt province and she is single and lonely I told her we should hang out and that I miss my family too. Then they left. I was alone.

I later decided to go back to the store, I thought of a few other things I could pick up and I wanted to take a little walk around the neighbourhood. On my way out I ran into Mrs. Kim she was in the academy with a couple of students and their mother. I felt releived when I met her, she is so nice, very sweet, she speaks very good english as she has been to Canada to study. She later came to my door and asked me if I need anything, she told me if I do just make a list and she will get it for me, she invited me to dinner and told me if I would be more comfortable I could stay with her or her cousin for for two nights. I accepted the dinner invitation (it seemed better than the left over pizza I had planned) but told her I would be fine to sleep at my place. I drove to dinner with Mrs. Kim she told me she will help me learn Korean, she will drive me places if I need, she will take me to get a cell phone on Monday... anything I need just ask her she keeps insisting. She said that she wants me to feel welcome because she had felt scared at times in Canada. I really like her!

We had Korean Sushi for dinner, in attendance were: Mr. and Mrs. Kim, their son and daughter (very cute), Mr. Kim's mother, Mr. Kim's sister, her husband their daughter Cho and her brother. I can't remember everyone's name yet, most of the names are Korean which makes it even harder for me. Mrs. Kim asked me to help her choose english names for her children. The meal was interesting, thinly sliced raw fish - a few different kinds, leaves, kim chi and other side dishes, rice, soup, wasabi, soy sauce, pepper sauce. Mrs. Kim sat next to me and explained what everyhting was in Korean and in English. The children were so cute, they were running around and at one point stood in front of me singing, they sang some Korean songs, a rainbow song and Cho and her brother sang A Whole New World. I let them take pictures with my camera, they loved it! Cho's brother wanted me to sleepover at their place, I told him maybe antoher time... kids are crazy...

Back at my apartment I spent some time on the internet then went to bed.

This morning I went through my Korean-English dictionary and wrote out the Korean words for things in my apartment: door, window, bed, bathroom, computer, etc... I hope this will help me learn.

I am sure that not all of my posts will be this long, once I started typing I could not stop - there is so much to tell.

I hope you are all doing well and not missing me too much just yet :P