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!