The Festival

October 23, 2008

Oh, so I will try to keep this one short.

Today I didn’t have any classes except for my extra ones (again) because today was the actual festival. I missed a little bit of it because as usual, they did not bother to tell me when it started, but luckily I did not miss much because I realized that everyone had disappeared.

I almost can not put into words the insanity of this festival. Some of the acts were cute, the little kids in costumes or uniforms and playing their instruments, and one of my co-teachers, Shin-Sook, put on a short Peter Pan play with some of my 4th graders.

The part I have a hard time with is for some reason, some of the teachers saw fit to put many of the children in skimpy costumes and have them dance suggestively. One 4th grade group did a belly dance that was a little disturbing, but some of the 6th graders also did a belly dance that was worse because they were basically wearing sequined bras with their belly dancer skirts. One girl even has some fake tattoos on her belly for the dance. *Shudder* Weird.

The most disturbing acts had to be my Kindergartners. They were all in crazy outfits and doing nasty dances. One of the groups danced to an english song and did some really suggestive moves in their acts. I can’t explain it, you will have to see my videos to believe it.

Videos:

1. 1.http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45124662
   

2. 2.http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45123710
   

3. 3.http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45126366
   

4. 4.http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45124896

School Festival Dress Rehearsal

October 22, 2008

Today I did not teach any classes because the whole school is doing a dress rehearsal for the festival tomorrow.

All month my school has been preparing for a festival. I have no idea what is going to happen. All I know so far is that Shin-Sook, one of my co-teachers, has been preparing some kids to do the play Peter Pan in English. My other co-teacher, Eun-Su, has been preparing some of the 3rd graders to sing the "Mr. Golden Sun" song and the Barney "I Love You' song.

Each child participating gets a outfit for their performance. The 3rd grade boys received velvet blue,red, and white pants and jackets with sequins on them and long gauzy sleeves. Most of the girls got red and white velvet dresses with sequins and short gauzy sleeves. There was another outfit, but I wasn't able to see it very well as they weren't in the classroom for long.

I am very curious to see what is going to happen tomorrow because on the way to lunch I saw two other horrible cute but awesome costumes. My only class today was my Kindergarten extra class and I even caught a glimpse of some gold sequined outfits with glittery top hats.

Korean Taxi Drivers

October 22. 2008

Taxi drivers are insane here. Half the time you speak Korean to them asking where to go, and they look at you like you don't know what you are talking about. You keep repeating the same phrase to them and usually they will figure it out after pronouncing it exactly the same way.

The most annoying this is when I try to take a cab to school. 75% of the time the cab drivers only need me to say "Iro Chodem Hakyo" (or Iro Elementary School) once or twice and then they take me to the right place.

10% of the time they do the annoying pronouncing the phrase the same way and then they get it.

The other 15% of the time I say my phrase and they either repeat it back the same and take you to the wrong place, or repeat it differently and won't listen to you at first, thinking they know better than you.

It's not just going to school either, it's any time you take a cab to a place that there is another place with a similar name that they think you meant.

Last week Cody and I were on our way to a restaurant called VIPS to celebrate Fallon's birthday with her. We told the cab driver the phrase that means take me to VIPS, as well as the phrase for restaurant. It took us 3 cabs to actually get there because 1 cab had no idea what we were saying, and the other one actually said "No speaka English," even though we were speaking Korean. Believe me, it is more than frustrating

Rice

October 21, 2008

So I came to a realization today. I now believe Koreans have so many side dishes because they want to try and add flavor to the ever present rice. The rice they serve is always the same. Sometimes they add things to it make it look different. Sometimes it has something in it to make it purple, little yellow things, and sometimes sesame seeds. But it never tastes any different. I've discovered the best way to eat any of the rice they give you for lunch is to eat some with Kimchi or soup, or one of the many side dishes. The only rice I've had that is any different is when a lot of stuff is mixed into the rice (like Bibimbab). I'm starting to get tiered of rice. not because I don't like it, I love it, but Koreans eat rice the same all the time.

Dante

Octover 10, 2008

So we now have a kitten, it didn’t take us very long to miss having a cat around. We did not just go out and find a kitten to buy, we rescued one.

The day before Chuseok Fallon called us to see if we were thinking about taking in a kitten (which we were). She told us that one of Wim’s students had found a tiny kitten separated from his mother. Without committing to anything, we went over to check out the poor baby.

Once we saw this poor baby, skinny, tiny, and dirty, we could not resist. I hadn’t had a kitten around in a very long time, and Cody has never had a kitten around.

We didn’t name him for about three weeks because at first he was so small and frail, we were afraid he wouldn’t last very long., but I told Cody if he survived, he would be able to pick the name.

Luckily for us, Dante gained strength quickly and started acting like a normal kitten. We took him to the vet after he had gained some strength, and he was healthy, but he had some sort of a fungus (like mange) that made some of his hair fall out. Now, after about two weeks, shampooing, cream, and medicine, his hair is growing back and he has grown at least twice his size. He can now climb the furniture and the stairs and is now always trying to attack us in his sleep.

We came here thinking we wouldn’t get any pets, but we obviously didn’t last very long. We will be taking many more pictures of Dante as our little monster gets bigger.

Seoul

October 6, 2008

So we went to Seoul this weekend and it was absolutely amazing after being in Mokpo for a month. Don't get me wrong, I love Mokpo, but there is not very many English restaurants or stores for someone who is any larger than size 12 pants or a medium shirt. In Mokpo we have McDonald's, Dunkin Doughnuts, and Baskin Robins. That's it. The moment we arrived in Seoul there was Cold Stone, Starbucks, The Hard Rock Cafe, Burger King, Quiznos, and on and on. The most exciting part was to be able to eat things I am used to eating again. The first full day there we couldn't stay away from Quiznos, Burger King, and a Mexican restaurant that was a little expensive but so worth it. The last night there we were so excited to go eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Again, way to expensive, but after not having a decent burger for a month and a half, I think they were the best burgers ever!

Friday I went with Tanya and Kristina to a hair salon in Seoul and spent four hours getting my hair done with red low-lights and blond highlights. It turned out fabulous. I have to say I absolutely LOVE my hair now. After the Salon we hit Burger King and then headed down to meet Cody and the rest at a huge outdoor market. The market was fun because there was a really interesting fashion show going on and there were so many booths to buy from, it was insane. I actually found a pair of warm boots for the winter that fit me, which makes me so excited! I also found some things for my halloween costume, a purple scarf, a new backpack, and a awesome hat (I usually can't find hats that fit/look good, so this is kind of a big deal for me). After the market we took the Subway home, which was kind of cool since we only have the Max at home and it's nothing like the Subway. We the made our way to What the Book, which actually has english books (so exciting) and then went to the Mexican restaurant. I can't tell you how great it was to have mexican food again! Oh, we also went to a foreign foods market near there and got some western necessities. I got some ranch, some Pho soup bouillon cubes, some BBQ Sauce, and some Crisco. I am so excited!

On Saturday we got out of bed fairly early and headed out to meet our DMZ tour group. The DMZ was cool, but kind of crazy because there was a dress code and we had to sign a release form saying we realized that we could die. We headed out on the bus around 10:30 am and the tour lasted until around 5:30 pm. It was the coolest thing ever. We got to see the Freedom Bridge, The Bridge of No Return, and we got to technically be in North Korea for 3 minutes. We got some pretty great pictures while we were there too. At the end they took us to a souvenir shop where I got a korean mask and some magnets. Cody bought us some North Korean Brandy and Blueberry wine. We haven't tried them yet, but it's cool anyway.

After the tour we headed out to the Seoul Electronics Market, which was pretty insane. There are electronics everywhere and your supposed to haggle for them. We didn't end up buying anything so we made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe and had the largest, cheesiest hamburgers ever. Afterwards I purchased some new clothes at a store that actually had my size and then we took the five-hour train back to Mokpo. We wanted to take the KTX, which is really fast, but there were none heading from Seoul to Mokpo.

All in all the weekend was awesome, and the food was great. We all spent way too much money, but it was worth it.

Chuseok

September 14, 2008

Chuseok is a sort of a Korean Thanksgiving. We got the weekend off and took off to Bigum-do for some end-of the season sun and surf. We rented some cabins to stay in with 14 other people that he have become friends with here in Mokpo.

The weekend was so much fun, except for the sunburn I got despite all of the sunblock I put on. We went swimming a lot as well as sunbathed on the beach. The owner of the hotel we stayed at provided us with some “servica” which is something Koreans often do. It means that they often add on something extra when you purchase an item or service. In this case, he decided that he would drive us for free along a tiny road to heart beach, which is the most popular beach on Bigum-do. It certainly was pretty.

Both nights we gathered enough wood for a small fire and hung out around the fire while we worked up the courage to go night-swimming. When we finally did both nights it was worth it because there is phosphorescent plankton in the water that leaves trails of sparkles when you swim through them.

There were only three bad parts about the whole weekend, my sunburn, Cody and I accidentally broke our camera, and the weekend had to end eventually. I have decided that Bigum-do is one of my favorite places to go so far for beaches, but I can’t really decide because I haven’t visited any other beaches.

Training Week

August 24, 2008

So the plane ride was long but not as bad as I expected. Cody slept a lot and I watched a lot of movies and slept. Korean air is so far the best ever airline I have ever been on. The first thing they did was give us little packets with socks, a sleeping mask, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, as well as headphones, pillows, and blankets. Each seat also had it’s own TV screen where you had the choice of about 20 movies and a few video games to play as well. It was pretty great.

Well anyway. We flew out of PDX at 7:00 AM on 8-15-08 and three planes later we arrived in Gwangju at 10:00 PM 8-16-08. We got to bed around 11:00 PM only to get up for breakfast by 8:00 AM and officially start training at noon.

Training week was pretty great, even the classes were OK. We met most of the new teachers coming into Korea to teach who were employed through Canadian Connection. We had the opportunity to visit the Nagan Folk Village, a Buddhist temple, and the Gwangju National Museum. We also had the opportunity to explore Gwangju quite a bit.

We visited a few western-style bars, one of which was the Germany bar, which had home-brewed Germany-style beers. We also explored the underground shopping mall in Gwangju, it spans many blocks underground in central Gwangju and is pretty awesome.

That’s about it so far. I’ll add more when I have time to blog about it.

Leaving Friday

August 13, 2008

So, I am so excited. I'm Flying out at 8:00 am Friday. I found out that I'm going to have a studio apartment, but I'll have a loft area where my double bed is. I also have one of the few apartments that actually have a washer AND dryer. most places only have a washer and they hang-dry their clothes. I'm not sure, but maybe i'll get lucky and have air conditioning too!

I also found out I can make between $300 and $1200 extra a month doing extra classes. that's exciting!

Anyway, that's about it for now, I'm off soon!

Itenerary

So, it turns out we are NOT flying with Fallon and Wim so here's what our flight plan is going to look like:

~Arrive at PDX around 5:30 am.
~Depart for San Francisco at 7:59 am
~Arrive at SanFrancisco at about 9:51 am
~Go through customs and generally hang around the airport for EVER
~Depart for Seoul Incheon Int. at 1:40
~Arrive at Seoul Incheon at (according to the itinerary, but this is were the times get all messed up and confusing) 5:40
~Pick up baggage, take a taxi from Seoul Incheon Int. to Seoul Gimpo (Seoul has one airport for international flights and one for domestic), Meet Fallon and Wim somewhere along the way
~Depart from Seoul Gimpo for Gwanju at 8:40
~Arrive at Gwanju at 9:30
~Go to where our training will be

Almost Gone

August 8, 2008

Cody and I are almost there!

We have less than 2 weeks until we're done at work, we'll be done in August 8th. In less than 3 weeks, August 15th, we'll be on an airplane for almost 24 hours to Korea.

I am so excited!!