Sunday, January 6, 2008

Down by the Bay... Where the Watermelons Grow!

Wow!! That last one was a long one! Here's a break just to keep you up to date on things. New Years was pretty uneventful. Curtis and I went to a pub we've been to a couple of times before. We didn't really drink as it's not really our thing and then we went to see a movie. We saw "The Golden Compass" which wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but feel free to make up your own opinion. (Oh the title is because we've had that song stuck in our heads this past week.)

This past week, I've been trying to organize myself to help clean up the oil spill here in South Korea. The problem is it's about 3 hrs away, and while it doesn't seem like much, it's still the better part of a day off. We might go the week after next. The main things holding us up are the weather, it's been really cold here lately! New Years Eve we were down to a blustery minus 18 Celsius! I know that doesn't sound like much, but we'd been used to plus 5 and 10 in Japan! It was an incredible drop! I think we've readjusted again so it shouldn't be a problem anymore. The other issue is that the clothes we wear to clean up the oil spill will have to be thrown away after we use them. We didn't really bring any clothes we wanted to throw away since room was so tight in our bags. We are hoping to get to either a second hand store or a cheap, warm, clothing outlet to find something we don't mind throwing out. Also, it's really difficult to find train information in English here. Once you get on the train they have English signs and announcements, but we have to know the schedule in order to meet up with people that would take us out to the beach and gear us up. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Something we've been waiting a month for has also just come to pass. Matt and Amber have touched down and are in Seoul!! I'm so excited to see them and have tonnes of amazing adventures with them. We were going to greet them at the airport, but their flight was getting in a little bit late and we figured that their school was picking them up. Also, if it was anything like us, our school showed us the school before they even showed us our place!! I imagine that we'll get much bigger hugs after they've both showered too!!

Well that's it for now. Thanks to everyone who is reading, whether you're just signing in now or have followed the whole trip. It feels like writing into a big empty cavern and sometimes I just feel like I'm waiting for an echo. Your messages are like the echo that lets me know I'm not a crazy person talking to herself! ;) Love you all! Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes!

Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year!

What a busy couple of weeks! In the past two weeks we've had to prepare monthly tests, do regular grading, book report grading, test grading, posting comments about our students, and go to Japan to finish up our Visa paper work. Japan was amazing, the rest however was not. I still hold firm to the fact that we are enjoying ourselves, but the work of it all is becoming increasingly more difficult. Curtis and I also have extra classes for two months starting this week. They put it in our regular schedule, so we have more marking and preparation to do and less time to do it in. They really try to squeeze every pennies worth that they can out of you.

Ok... so that was the bad news... here's the good news. We had such a great time in Japan. Our flight was delayed so the first hour on the ground was a bit rushed because we needed to be at the Korean Consulate by 3:00 pm in order to get our visas the next day. We got turned around a couple of times but finally headed in the right direction and got there with only 10 minutes to spare! Phew!

With the bulk of the stress out of the way, we went to the Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan) which boasts the largest fish tank in the world. Now... I think they are only counting ones that actually hold fish... or non-mammals, because it's not as big as some of the ones at Sea World or other aquatic parks with mammals. It had a really neat set up though because you enter and right away you take an escalator up 8 floors. From there you see otters, some shore birds, and some turtles. You never actually see steps again because the whole thing continually spirals down for 5 floors. As you spiral down the tanks get deeper and deeper and you see what happens below the waters surface. The main central tank doesn't start until about 3 floors down and near the surface of the water you see a large whale shark - about 4 meters in length. The next floor you see a couple different species of fish and the last two floors you see rays and sharks. It's quite amazing, without nets or guides, these animals are behaving much the same way they do in the wild.

We got back to our hotel, The Dormy Inn and I decided to try the public bath. There was a separate tub for the women and the men and I couldn't figure our why until I read the English information sheet that said, "Please do not wear your bathing costume in the public bath." I was a little bit scared, but made my way there determined to experience the culture. I used a key code to get in the room and the entry way blocked the view of the rest of the room. I was certain naked people were right around the corner so I froze. The next thing I knew I could hear the key pad beep as someone else was trying to enter the room! Another young woman had just entered but looked alot more confident about what she was doing. She walked right past me a proceeded about her business as I stood there motionless. After she had removed her shoes and was about to enter she turned to me with a puzzled expression. I said, " It's my first time." She was so empathetic that she told me the proper ettiquette and regime for public bathing and had a good conversation with me. It turned out she was a Korean visiting Japan for the week and was very interested in what I was doing in Japan and Korea and just really friendly and helpful. I don't know if I would have made it past the entry way without her!

The next day in Osaka it was rainy and we didn't have anywhere to leave our bags so like heavy burdened camels we headed off to see more sights before departing for Kyoto. We saw the Osaka Castle (Osaka-jo) and were so drenched and tired that when we got to the entrance neither one of us was interested in walking through it so we admired it from afar and then headed to the train station to get out of the rain. On the way we saw an Apple store, and since we hadn't ever seen one before we did the tourist thing and took pictures of something completely normal to locals. Curtis picked himself out an Ipod for Christmas as well.

It was still raining when we arrived in Kyoto so we found our hostel and stayed in most of the night. We went out to get Ramen noodles and found out that it's nothing to write home about. It's really fatty, rich broth with fatty fried noodles in it. Nothing like Sapporo Ichiban as I had hoped. We spent some time in the common room of the hostel and met a woman from Belgium named Sofie and talked about everything from science to music. It turned out that we were headed to many of the same sights so we agreed to keep each other company for the day. She had been to a few of them already and knew some Japanese so, I have to admit, we got the better end of the stick on that deal! She was a really amazing travel companion though and we shared similar values and sense of humor so the day was really relaxing and fun.

We went to a famous path system with red tori gates, called Fushimi Inari. It was in a forest so the walk was amazing and it was also really neat to see these red pillars like a tunnel over a few hundred meters of pathways. Next we went to Kiyomizudera Temple. We were interested in it because it was a UNESCO World Heratige Site and because it looked really neat in the pictures. The walk to the Temple was almost as much of a highlight as seeing the temple itself. On the way, it's a really traditional part of the city and most of the buildings are made out of wood and have sliding bamboo doors and the whole nine yards. They also have the tiled roofs and the wooden carved details that are characteristic of traditional Japanese architechture. We were lucky enough to spot about seven maiko which are geisha apprentices. We asked to take their photos and they graciously accepted and posed for us. It was really amazing to see though, I did not know that geishas were still around. It was like walking though another time. The women are also strikingly beautiful - not beacuase they are any ideal on a glossy magazine either, but because they are elegant and mystical.

After seeing the temple we went to the Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji). It is an old shrine that is completely covered in gold. At first I thought the concept was tacky, but seeing it is something else. There is a small lake in the foreground with little islands of small trees (I'm pretty sure they were bonsais with the way they were only 4 feet tall and how they were manicured). The shrine was about 3 stories high and even on a cloudy day it radiated. It was really amazing and I didn't think it was possible, but the shrine beautified the nature as the nature itself beautified the shrine.

The next morning, we met up with Sofie again and went out to a place called Arishyama. It was a Monkey reserve. At first we did not know what kind of monkeys we were going to see. It turns out that they are Japanese Macaques. I read a case study on them in an animal behavior class in university which was about their mimicing of humans. In the winter, these monkeys actually go into the hotsprings to warm up. The babies have also been seen rolling and throwing snowballs. It was so great to be able to see them in the wild and be so close to them. We actually were able to feed them as well.

When we finished up there we had to get to the airport to catch our flight so we said goodbye to Sofie and promised we'd visist her in Belgium one day. Two buses, one train, and one flight later we were back home. We worked New Year's Eve and we will have New Years Day off. It is currently 1:30 am so.... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Getting into the Swing of Things

Well, we just finished our second week of classes. I was amazed at how quickly some things are becoming routine. I thought I'd never figure out my class schedule or where I was supposed to be and when. I do still end up starting a class that another teacher interrupts five minutes in to let me know that in fact I am in the wrong place at the wrong time... but they usually just laugh or brush it off.

I've given 5 vocabulary quizzes, 6 detentions, about 100 pages of homework and one extra assigment. I've marked 50 book reports and that doesn't count the ones sitting on my desk. They really do know how to get their money's worth in work! I still feel really lucky though. They haven't asked me to work outside of 40 hrs a week and I have two 40 minute breaks a day. Six times a day when I walk into a classroom I'm a heroine rock star! The kids in school today thought it was really cool when I tried to speak some Korean with them on break time. Korean is a big no no in the class room and what kind of teacher would I be if I broke my own rules, so I tell them they can teach me but only on break times. I love the kids so much and they really do make the job worth it. I don't have to get up to an alarm... well unless I don't go to bed until 3am. Life is good.

In terms of life outside school, there are some experiences that are definately making me feel like we're not in Kansas anymore. Which is exactly why we moved to a different country in the first place! There are some confusing moments everyday but you'd be suprised how much food pointing and nodding can get you! We found these vegetarian rice roll type of things... think sushi without any raw fish. We also learned how to say hello and thank you very quickly. There isn't a lot of english here surprisingly. Some people look at you funny when you try it with them... but the kids go ape when you talk to them in english! The kids on the street that is! You say hello and they giggle and cover their mouths and then one of them gets the courage to say "Hi" back!

I imagine that this is the "honeymoon phase" and that soon, the cute things are going to get tiring and the communication barriers are going to get frustrating. Stay tuned!! It's sure to be exciting! :)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Official Korean Welcome

We arrived in Korea Friday November 30th, a whole day after we left Canada. It was a 12 hour flight from Vancouver but with the crazy time changes it felt more like we had travelled for 24 hours straight. When we got to the airport we already knew that we would not be greeted and that we would need to take a bus. It's crazy how you land in another country and all of a sudden your native language becomes broken and you start dropping articles and all kinds of important parts of speach which make one sound eloquent. We asked people "Ori Station?" hoping that they had at least heard of it. We founds our bus fairly effortlessly, with all credit going to the well labeled airport doors.

We were very unsure of where Ori station was but were so completely exhausted that we fell asleep on the bus, never for more than 10 minutes at a time due to paranoia. People filtered off the bus and before we knew it we were the last people on the bus and it was stopped. We looked around and all of a sudden a young woman boards the bus and approaches us and asks, " Dana?, Curtis?". To which we replied, "YES!!"

It turned out that the young woman was a secretary at our school and has been sent with a school bus to come and fetch us. PHEW!!! She took us to the school first to meet the other teachers and directors. We then took our things to our humble abode and chatted with the teachers we were replacing as they packed the last of their things. It was such a tearful goodbye for them, it definately had a lasting impression.

Today was our first full day of classes after one day of observations. At times I felt completely comfortable and at others I felt like I was disorganized and unprepared. Luckily for me the former was more so than the later. After the long day, Curtis and I decided to be adventurous and try some authentic cuisine by ourselves. We walked by a couple places and looked at the picutes displayed outside. We stopped at a Japanese food restauant and a head poked out the window and said, "Come on in!" The cook was trying to tell us what kinds of food he could make and then a lady from inside close the the door chimed in as well trying to help a bit in English. We decided to take the plunge seeing as they were so welcoming and friendly. The lady was sitting at the bar with a friend and invited us to sit with them. We did, thinking, hey, we don't want to be rude. The night was amazing !!! It may have had something to do with the whiskey she was drinking, but she was trying to ask us what we liked and helped us order a few different dishes. Curtis got a really good steak dish and I got a couple of different soups and an egg dish with squid. Everything was an experience! The steak was excellent, the egg and squid was good, and the soup was alright. The best part was just trying to communicate with this lady and the cook who were all trying very hard. Huge hand guestures, expressive faces, simple words. It was perfect. When we got up to leave we discovered that when the ladies had left about 5 minutes prior, they paid our bill. I was shocked. The cook looked at me and said " Korean heart" and made a big heart shape over his chest.... wow!!! There couldn't have been a better way for anyone to say "Bienvenidos!"

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Saying goodbye

This last week has been a little bit more calm. Now that we know when we're leaving we've been able to visit with some people and say goodbye. We've been doing some shopping as we were warned that it's very difficult for Canadians to find clothes there as we tend to be bigger people in weight and height. It's very difficult to plan a wardrobe for a whole year! Other than that it's been making sure we'll have medical insurance, tying up loose ends here and there and tying to fit in as much visiting as possible. Curtis' cousins Joe and Nikki came up from Texas this week and it was also a great chance to visit with them. Auntie Roseanne and Uncle Rodney made the trip out from Kelsey to wish us well. It wasn't too hard to say goodbye because we haven't seen some of these people in over a year, and the distance won't be felt as much. When it came time to say goodbye to Chris and Ferd though, it was so difficult. Maybe because we've been staying here and it's been so nice to be around them. We're just starting to get used to being close and now we're off. I'm sure it will be very similar when we wave Mom and Dad off at the airport. We're really excited about going, but saying goodbye is always bittersweet.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

So here's a breakdown of our roller coaster ride. Looking through contract after contract that was... serviceable. Finding one that looked really great. Hearing from the recruiter right away, everything seeming promising. Not actually hearing from the employer - the position has been filled. Modifying our search criteria and starting from scratch. We even found this great job where Matt, Amber, Curtis and I would work together, and we were minutes behind the competition. We decided to settle for a position where everything on the surface looked good. We dug a little bit for more specific information and it turned out that the overtime was going to be much more than most schools. Back to the drawing board, again!

OK, so after all of that, we've signed a contract! We FedEx it tomorrow and we're already being set up with plane tickets. This is how quick it can go too. We saw the job posting Sunday night and applied. The recruiter called Monday night and we had an interview the same night. We asked to speak with a current teacher and about 1 hr later we talked to Julie (she's the one we're replacing). Monday night was figuring out the contract and making sure there were no loop holes. Tuesday morning was spent making sure we had all the appropriate paperwork and printing good copies of the contract and signing the next year of our life away.

We're really excited about our job acutally. The hours are great and they are actually in our contract! Also, this school doesn't make you do extra hours during the intensive sessions - basically they don't make you do 11-12 hr shifts 3 or 4 weeks in a row. Phew! We're only 40 minutes away from Matt and Amber in a suburb that is around 700,000 people strong. Not bad, hey? We fly out of Calgary Nov 29th... it's so soon!! It's no wonder why some people decide not to go... I mean, that's crazy timing... but we said we wanted to leave in November so we are honestly getting exactly what we wanted. Ok... so the next time you'll hear from me I'll be in YongIn City!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Waiting... good thing I didn't hold my breath!

So after much packing and organizing we are currently unemployed and homeless. We are still waiting for that perfect opportunity in Korea and we are still getting offers that aren't exactly what we want. I think this is what patience is... really... I thought it was enjoying standing in lines at the grocery store or not loosing your cool in traffic. Really, this... standing on the edge and not having any idea what's going on, this is patience. It's also exhilerating, stressful, evokes feelings of powerlessness... so if anyone asks how I'm doing lately, take your pick. We're not hopeless... not yet, and we might even take one of these "not quite right" jobs by the end of the week. We'll keep you posted.