Since my lovely head massage nothing too much happened at work. I do seem to be getting an influx of students though. It's nice to have a few more students in some of my rooms because then I can make teams for games and we can have a bit more fun. The problem is that I'm getting students in the classes that are already loud and require extra attention anyway, so it makes it a bit more difficult to get their attention and be effective. We'll see how it goes.
The best part of the week was Wednesday. I arrived at school to see a large box sitting on my desk!! I present!!! Well kind of. I ordered some clothes online from American Eagle about two weeks before we left Canada. Things happened so fast right before we left, I honestly thought they'd arrive at Curtis' parent's house before I left for Korea. They arrived two days after we left... argh!! Anyway- Curtis' mom being the sweet woman that she is sent them for me, but the most economical way was going to take 8 weeks! 8 weeks later to the day - here there were sitting on my desk! It's such a relief. I packed with those clothes in mind and have been living with less these past two months. I'm not really a clothes horse, but I definately like having options. :)
My second favorite part is that we were successful in getting tickets to "We Will Rock You!" I'm so excited! MK decided to come with too so on Sunday February 17th we will be dressing up to go out. I'll let you know how it all goes.
February 2nd, last Saturday, Matt, Amber, Joi (Matt and Ambers roomate from last year), Curtis and I made arrangements to go to Itaewon to see a hockey game at the Canadian pub there called Rocky Mountain Tavern. We wanted to get good seats for the 5 pm game so we decided that if we arrived at 3:30 pm that should give us time to nab good seats for all of us. We also wanted to look around Itaewon as it was Curtis first time there. The plan was to meet at the subway exit at 2:00. It takes about an hour and a half for Curtis and I to get there on the subway so we figured we should leave around 12:30.
Curtis and I stayed up late Friday night. I was playing fabulous Scrabulous on Facebook and Curtis was on Warcraft. We didn't think we'd have problems waking up at about 12:00 to leave by 12:30... We didn't actually wake up until 1 pm!! I woke up with a start remembering that I had forgotten something! Isn't that always the way a memory works??!! Anyway - we call Matt and Amber on Skype as my cell phone has no munites left on it. They are extremely disapointed and have to wait an hour wandering around Itaewon waiting for us.
Curtis and I find our way to the pub. While we're walking we are taking in some of the ambiance that is Itaewon. The closest way to describe it is that it's an excellent resource - but not an accurate view of Korea. I know this may seem a bit judgemental - but we saw so many people that we didn't ever picture leaving the comforts of home so to speak. B-boys with their hats twisted sideways, high maintenence girls who never leave home without their billions of beauty products, and other people we could tell weren't in Korea for more than a week. Another analogy that kinda works for this area is that it's like a seedy colledge campus where kids go more to party than to study.
So we get to the pub and order a burger and some drinks - just relaxing and waiting for the game to start. 5 pm rolls around and nothing is happening - nor has the place gotten any busier. Talk about the things that make you go Hmmmmm..... We decide to ask the waitress about it. She brings the question to who we think is the proprietor. They talk back and forth for a minute or two and then we approach him to ask what is going on. It turns out his sling box in Canada is down and he's been working on it for a week. He appologizes and says it should be good tomorrow. Grrrr... Oh well at least the burgers were good.
We wandered around Itaewon some more and then before long ended up feeling hungry again. We made plans to meet up with a girl that Amber met on the subway. They had chatted a little bit though Facebook and she wanted to meet some of Amber's friends. Her name is Hokunani and we also met her friend Leah. They were awesome! They are also foreign teachers but they teach at public schools. We had a great time together and couldn't believe how fast time slipped by.
Curtis and I had made a deal that we wouldn't push our luck with the trains again, so at about 10 pm when supper was wrapping up we decided that we'd head home. Hokunani and Leah were heading home as well so we didn't feel too much like party poopers. The only sad part is that Matt and Amber continued on to meet up with John and Jess and Jon and Julie to Nore-bang with them. These two couples are Augustana Alumni so it would have been great to catch up and sing a song or two with them. Curtis cried the whole way home because he missed out on Nore-bang... (hehehehe not really).
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
This is photographic evidence that Curtis really is addicted to Nori-bang!
These are some of the photos of my Saturday with the girls. Aren't they cute!
I wanted to catch up on some photos but also do a small mid week post.
Last Sunday after Taebeksan, I went to E-Mart and bought way too many groceries for one person to carry home no matter the distance. I toughed it out with 4 - 10 minute breaks. When I got in the main door of our apartment building I yelled for Curtis. My arms were so sore!! They felt like they were being ripped from their sockets. After about 10 minutes I felt fine so I didn't think much about it. The next day I could barely lift my arms to put deodorant on! My shoulders clear down to my forearm muscles - yeah even those tiny ones in my forearms!- were so stiff and sore with knots. It was almost work time so I had no choice but to suffer the first day. I went to bed early to get up early and seek out a massage of sorts. I was feeling a bit nervous because I didn't want to accidentally request a "top secret massage" or a "sensual massage". I just wanted the therapeutic type a good set of strong hands. The first place I went to I had noticed one day on our way to Nori-bang. It was 10:00 am and this place was completely dark. I'm not sure exactly what that meant, but I decided to try somewhere else.
I thought my best bet might be the place Curtis got his hair cut. I mean, in Canada - most salons also have masseuses, right? I get there and ask if they have someone who can do a massage and when you ask for something in Korea the people are bound and determined make what they have work for you - or at least try to convince you that it will. The closest thing they had was a scalp treatment with neck massage and the girl was going to rub my shoulders as a service. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it definitely took the edge off. They blow dried my hair as well so I went to school looking like a rock star. All in all a great experience.
This week at school has been really different too. It's the first time we've had to administer tests. Test days are great - for teachers that is. They are so quiet and mellow. I mean, I wouldn't want class like that all the time, it would be too boring. I do, however, love it as a break for a couple of days.
My cell phone has been super handy lately - I text people and send them little faces. It's pretty fun and it really does keep you connected with people. Speaking of which - we met Naomi today. She is the person I was connected with in order to help us find the church we're interested in. She's so cool and nice. It was great to talk to her and know another person here. It also turns out that we have similar quirks like wearing our heart on our sleeves and telling people our emotions right away. I like her lots. :)
We've been planning to see the musical "We Will Rock You". It's coming to Seoul and I love Queen so I thought it would be amazing. Gisela told us about it when we first met her at Amber's birthday party. I was on line and ready to buy tickets today - MK was helping me as everything was in Korean - and it turns out you can only purchase them if you have an Korean credit card because it asks for this crazy pin number that my credit card didn't have. I'm going to wake up early to see if I can go down there and purchase tickets at the venue. Other than that, I'm not sure what we can do. I hope it all works out. Cross your fingers for me!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Six vs Mt Taebek!
This weekend was amazing! But before I get to that, on Wednesday I finally got my cell phone set up. We bought a second hand cell off our academic director for a really reasonable rate. I had a suspicion she was going to give it to us, but I insisted that we pay something. This is the same woman that gave us a rice cooker and showed me how to make the yummiest Korean food. I really feel grateful that she's been so generous, accommodating, and helpful.
Having a cell phone is really great. Especially here where everyone has one and plans are made spontaneously. We've felt so much more connected and I've been able to call up coworkers and hang out with them more frequently. Not to mention that if we're meeting people, they are so much easier to find when you can talk to them. I don't know if I'll get one in Canada yet - I think it's a novelty we could live without there. Here it is definitely more like a necessity. Maybe I feel that way because I didn't even have a land line for almost 2 months.
Ok, on to the main event. Gisela and Eddie, friends of Matt and Amber, found out about this amazing Winter Festival that was going on at a famous mountain and that there would be ice sculptures from artists around the world. We thought it sounded amazing and said that we would go with. We were supposed to meet at 8:00 and the bus was going to leave at 8:45. Curtis and I arrived at 8:20 and Gisela and Eddie arrived at 8:30. We headed to the bus station with plenty of time to catch our bus. We asked when the next bus headed out and they said 10:30. The one we'd hoped to catch had sold out and that was our next option. So we bought tickets and killed time at a coffee shop nearby. Matt told some stories about language learning that made us all cry and we just had a great time.
It got closer to 10:30 an we headed for our bus. We found it pretty easily and the next 3 and a half hours we spent between sleeping, listening to music and chatting more. I found out that Eddie and I have a similar sense of humor and we both made each other cry with silly little jokes. We got there at 2:00 and decided to buy return bus tickets so we didn't run into the same problem on the way home. Our choices were to leave at 6:00 or 11:00 so we decided it would be best to leave at 6:00 and be back in time to have a nice meal together and get the train back home.
To get to the festival we had to take two taxis, 3 people in each. When Matt told him where he was taking us he started to raise his voice and and was talking really fast and shaking his head. Matt understood from some hand gestures that there was terrible traffic and that the cabbie didn't really want to go up that direction. At first we didn't really understood what he meant until we got much closer. Traffic was a stand still and we were constantly stopping for pedestrians. The cab let us out when it looked like we'd get where we were going much faster on our own two feet. We walked the rest of the way - almost an hour through snow and ice paths with crowds of Koreans. It honestly felt like a pilgrimage because we had no signs of the ice sculptures or any neat sights until we got to the very top.
It was 4:00 by the time we reached the main attraction and we decided that we should start walking back at 4:30 to make sure to catch our bus. With half an hour to buzz around seeing all there was to see - we took pictures and posed with the white snowy background. The sculptures were pretty neat. They were mostly of characters though - like Optimus Prime from Transformers and Davey Jones from The Pirates of the Caribbean. We started to head back down. Everyone was starving because we hadn't had time to look for food. At every little tent or kiosk we were looking for things we could carry and eat. We found some barbecue chicken on a stick. I'm sure anything would have tasted like heaven, but I've never had chicken that good I swear!! We kept walking and walking and walking. We passed the point where the cab had let us out and weren't seeing many cabs going back toward town. We probably walked another hour until we saw our first cab. It was loaded to the gills with people who were waving at us as they passed. Cheeky buggers! We waited what seemed like forever waiting for an empty cab. By that time more people were crowding around and they were flagging cabs before we could. We thought we'd never catch a cab to make it to the bus station in time let alone two. A little while later - I flagged an empty one that was headed the other direction. It signaled and attempted to turn but traffic was too blocked. He turned up the road a bit and came around to get us! We all sighed a huge breath of relief. Since none of us were willing to stay behind and wait for a second cab we all piled in and promised the driver double of what we were charged on the way there. He agreed and we got to the bus station with 10 minutes to spare. None of us could believe we actually made it on time.
We were back in Seoul by 9:45 and were hungry enough to turn cannibal. We decided that close to Matt and Ambers would be a good place to have a bite since we were all headed that direction and wanted to see their appartment. We stopped at a place that served sangupsal which is a pork cut similar to bacon but not as salty. It was really good. Some of the side dishes were salads with different dressing or spice on them. We missed our train and ended up taking a taxi home. Matt came with us and spent the night so he and Curtis could play Magic together. I went to bed right away.
The next day Amber joined us and we played boardgames in the afternoon. I cooked curry for supper and we had homemade chocolate chip cookies for desert. We headed out to Nori-bang and had a great time there as well. It's so nice to have people around you don't have to explain your jokes to! When we pick a retro song to sing - Amber crinkles up her noes and gives us a huge grin and thumbs up. We sang "I would do anything for love" all together at the end, just to maximize our time. All together an unforgettable weekend.
Having a cell phone is really great. Especially here where everyone has one and plans are made spontaneously. We've felt so much more connected and I've been able to call up coworkers and hang out with them more frequently. Not to mention that if we're meeting people, they are so much easier to find when you can talk to them. I don't know if I'll get one in Canada yet - I think it's a novelty we could live without there. Here it is definitely more like a necessity. Maybe I feel that way because I didn't even have a land line for almost 2 months.
Ok, on to the main event. Gisela and Eddie, friends of Matt and Amber, found out about this amazing Winter Festival that was going on at a famous mountain and that there would be ice sculptures from artists around the world. We thought it sounded amazing and said that we would go with. We were supposed to meet at 8:00 and the bus was going to leave at 8:45. Curtis and I arrived at 8:20 and Gisela and Eddie arrived at 8:30. We headed to the bus station with plenty of time to catch our bus. We asked when the next bus headed out and they said 10:30. The one we'd hoped to catch had sold out and that was our next option. So we bought tickets and killed time at a coffee shop nearby. Matt told some stories about language learning that made us all cry and we just had a great time.
It got closer to 10:30 an we headed for our bus. We found it pretty easily and the next 3 and a half hours we spent between sleeping, listening to music and chatting more. I found out that Eddie and I have a similar sense of humor and we both made each other cry with silly little jokes. We got there at 2:00 and decided to buy return bus tickets so we didn't run into the same problem on the way home. Our choices were to leave at 6:00 or 11:00 so we decided it would be best to leave at 6:00 and be back in time to have a nice meal together and get the train back home.
To get to the festival we had to take two taxis, 3 people in each. When Matt told him where he was taking us he started to raise his voice and and was talking really fast and shaking his head. Matt understood from some hand gestures that there was terrible traffic and that the cabbie didn't really want to go up that direction. At first we didn't really understood what he meant until we got much closer. Traffic was a stand still and we were constantly stopping for pedestrians. The cab let us out when it looked like we'd get where we were going much faster on our own two feet. We walked the rest of the way - almost an hour through snow and ice paths with crowds of Koreans. It honestly felt like a pilgrimage because we had no signs of the ice sculptures or any neat sights until we got to the very top.
It was 4:00 by the time we reached the main attraction and we decided that we should start walking back at 4:30 to make sure to catch our bus. With half an hour to buzz around seeing all there was to see - we took pictures and posed with the white snowy background. The sculptures were pretty neat. They were mostly of characters though - like Optimus Prime from Transformers and Davey Jones from The Pirates of the Caribbean. We started to head back down. Everyone was starving because we hadn't had time to look for food. At every little tent or kiosk we were looking for things we could carry and eat. We found some barbecue chicken on a stick. I'm sure anything would have tasted like heaven, but I've never had chicken that good I swear!! We kept walking and walking and walking. We passed the point where the cab had let us out and weren't seeing many cabs going back toward town. We probably walked another hour until we saw our first cab. It was loaded to the gills with people who were waving at us as they passed. Cheeky buggers! We waited what seemed like forever waiting for an empty cab. By that time more people were crowding around and they were flagging cabs before we could. We thought we'd never catch a cab to make it to the bus station in time let alone two. A little while later - I flagged an empty one that was headed the other direction. It signaled and attempted to turn but traffic was too blocked. He turned up the road a bit and came around to get us! We all sighed a huge breath of relief. Since none of us were willing to stay behind and wait for a second cab we all piled in and promised the driver double of what we were charged on the way there. He agreed and we got to the bus station with 10 minutes to spare. None of us could believe we actually made it on time.
We were back in Seoul by 9:45 and were hungry enough to turn cannibal. We decided that close to Matt and Ambers would be a good place to have a bite since we were all headed that direction and wanted to see their appartment. We stopped at a place that served sangupsal which is a pork cut similar to bacon but not as salty. It was really good. Some of the side dishes were salads with different dressing or spice on them. We missed our train and ended up taking a taxi home. Matt came with us and spent the night so he and Curtis could play Magic together. I went to bed right away.
The next day Amber joined us and we played boardgames in the afternoon. I cooked curry for supper and we had homemade chocolate chip cookies for desert. We headed out to Nori-bang and had a great time there as well. It's so nice to have people around you don't have to explain your jokes to! When we pick a retro song to sing - Amber crinkles up her noes and gives us a huge grin and thumbs up. We sang "I would do anything for love" all together at the end, just to maximize our time. All together an unforgettable weekend.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Reality Bites
Today we had a bit of a reality check about teaching in Korea. I guess this one was more like a reality smack in the face. Curtis has been having a difficult time getting responses from one of his classes and asked our Academic Director for some guidance. She sat in on one of his classes and afterward told him that he was speaking too fast and therefore could not be understood. One problem with this is that the class should be at the level to understand him well. Another one is that the class answers some days and doesn't answer others - the inconsistency doesn't lead to the only conclusion being that Curtis speaks too quickly.
Our supervisor admitted that these students were low for their level and were actually about two levels behind. This means that they are being expected to answer questions about books they aren't able to read. No wonder it's been so frustrating for Curtis! The kids here are often moved up because their parents want them to be, not because they have that skill level or because their skill has improved. After looking at this situation a bit further we realize that it's because these schools are run more like businesses and the satisfaction of the customer is the bottom line. It's sad to realize that we are not educators - we are sales associates. Sigh - I'm just going to keep pretending like I am a teacher. It's more fun that way. :)
Our supervisor admitted that these students were low for their level and were actually about two levels behind. This means that they are being expected to answer questions about books they aren't able to read. No wonder it's been so frustrating for Curtis! The kids here are often moved up because their parents want them to be, not because they have that skill level or because their skill has improved. After looking at this situation a bit further we realize that it's because these schools are run more like businesses and the satisfaction of the customer is the bottom line. It's sad to realize that we are not educators - we are sales associates. Sigh - I'm just going to keep pretending like I am a teacher. It's more fun that way. :)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Eat your heart out Kelly Clarkson!
Wow! Another absolutely fabulous weekend! A couple weeks ago, the other girls from work and I set up plans to go shopping and see some sights in Seoul. As I am the only female foreign teacher, it was 3 Koreans and myself. It was great to have Koreans show me their national monuments and for some of them it was their first time to see them as well. The best part about the weekend is that it made me feel like I finally have friends here. It has been so difficult to make connections at work because we don't often have breaks together or when we do we are so busy marking that we hardly notice each other. Our conversations end up being more about grammar and word use than about our interests or histories.
Friday we went to bed early because Curtis had a headache. I got up on Saturday with enough time to laze about the house for a bit and get ready at a leisurely pace - ahhhh, just how I like it. Jinny and MK met me at the school and from there we proceeded to find the bus that would take us to Itaewon. By the time we got there (it was an hour and a half ride) we were all feeling a bit hungry. MK noticed this one burger place that she really loves called Kraze Burger. We went in and it's set up like a nice diner. We ordered a burger and a club and had them cut three ways so that we could all share them. I've shared a lot of food in my life, but this was something else. It was so organized. A lot of the food here is communal so it makes sense, but it still surprised me. The food was really nicely presented with artsy swirls of sauce on the plate, like a desert so we took pictures. We also took one of MK and I taking the first bite of our luscious burgers. It had hot sauce on it which I managed to get up my nose and it slowly started to get hotter and hotter and hotter! I had to go to the washroom to flush my nose with water! The girls were laughing so hard - it was nice to make them laugh.
Next we started strolling down the streets in Itaewon. I can't say that I'm overly impressed. I found the shops really dirty and full of really cheap - I mean trashy not low price. I know this is not typical for Koreans. Their shops are usually really clean I'm not sure about the quality of merchandise but I haven't seen anything quite that gimmicky in our area. There were all sorts of things too. It wasn't at all what I'd pictured. I had heard about one English bookstore I really wanted to find though so I asked a couple people where it was. It seemed that everyone was looking for it and almost everyone knew where to find it. When I got there I completely understood why. The place is amazing! Itaewon is saved by the few shops that provide imported goods you can't find elsewhere. I bought a Korean travel guide, a phrase book, a Thailand travel book and book with Korean myths translated into English.
From there we were trying to meet up with Erin who was already in Seoul since she had a massage appointment in the morning. We stopped an bought a little snack on the side of the street. It was like a mini muffin made with pancake batter and had red bean filling. Red bean is quite sweet actually - or the way they prepare it here it is. It was quite delicious. We hopped on the subway and make a transfer. On one of these rides I discovered that the subway seats are heated! No wonder everyone fights tooth and nail for them! When we stopped I figured out that we were actually meeting Erin at the Gyongbokgung Palace. We walked about 15 minutes and were there. It was so colourful and had so much detail in the painting and woodwork. In the middle of deciding weather or weather not to get a recording device the ticked window closed and we weren't allowed to enter anymore. Erin was already inside but said she didn't mind leaving since we weren't able to enter. Jinny was a bit disappointed that we couldn't get it as it was her first visit to the palace as well. I promised that we'd to together a different day.
The next place we were headed was called Insadong-gil. It was just another 15 minute walk back toward the subway. It was amazing! There were tonnes of little shops everywhere that were selling art - not just nicknack's. We looked inside one shop that had amazing artistic quilts on display and in the basement you could by a pack of coordinated fabric to make your own quilt. It really reminded me of how 1950's Korea really is. There were quilted aprons, baskets and cutlery holders. It was so "Betty Crocker" or "Martha Stewart". I really don't say that with any disdain though. It's just so much like a time warp and I haven't figured enough of the culture out to decide whether it's a good or bad phenomenon yet. The quilts upstairs were amazing though. They created pictures and abstract mosaics - there were ones like it at an art show in Peace River. Brooke - you would have loved it! I thought of you the whole time. :) There were lots of little artsy shops like this everywhere. Of course there were still your run of the mill tacky tourist souvenirs, but they were easy to weed out from the other cultural gems.
We ducked into a side street and had supper in a beautiful restaurant. The entrance had little mini lights on the trees and had wooden walls and beams to make it feel traditional. Their were even rooms where you could sit traditional style on the floor. A fireplace make the mood feel very cozy and inviting. We looked at the menu and bit our fingernails at the first glimpse of the prices. Luckily they serve lunch until 6 pm and it was only about 5! Our scrumptious food was filling and wonderful and it was only 7,000 won (about $7 Canadian). I had bulgogi soup. It's kinda like beef that's slices really thin and marinaded in a sweet almost teriyaki sauce. The broth was really nice and there were some veggies in it too. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
After we were satisfied we headed back to the subway. On the way, there was a courtyard type area off the side street where a man was making rice cake by hand. Rice cake is basically what happens when you put sticky rice under lots of pressure. It all gathers together and is this chewy mass of tastelessness. Hehehe... anyway, to make it by hand, you need a huge, heavy mallet and a big mortar (stone bowl). You basically whack the rice enough that it is all pressed together. We came right at the end of a batch and he was scooping it out of the bowl. I was about ready to leave when he pulled a fresh bag of hot rice out of an insulated chest. I was so amazed and speaking loudly as per usual. He gave me a taste of the rice and he began whacking it. I was taking pictures as this loud whacking noise was attracting onlookers. He make a motion with his hand which I mistook for step back - he was calling me forward! I put my camera down and handed my mitts to the girls. He showed me where to grasp the mallet and before I knew it, he had me swinging away! He didn't come rescue me after a few tries either! He sat there watching telling me to swing harder! It was hilarious! There was quite the crowd too. I got another couple whacks in and then he came back. I'm sure I didn't even put a dent in work that it takes to make rice cake!
After Insadong, we decided to go to Nore-bang. I had no idea how talented my co-workers were. Jinny is AMAZING! I am not exaggerating. She sang songs from The Cranberries without the slightest effort. She sang a couple of really great Korean rock songs too. When I was talking with Jinny on the way home I found out that she used to be the singer of a Korean rock band. Oh the people you'll meet! Erin was really great too and she totally put me to shame on any English ballads. She hit some really high notes and was right with the music for every note. MK was really tired and didn't feel like singing too much but her and I did "Bohemian Rhapsody" with gusto and enthusiasm. This experience left me with one thought - I have a lot of practicing to do!
I got home at about 9:00 pm and at about 11:00 Curtis and I headed out to do just that!! There were a few songs that we'd noticed our first couple of times at Nore-bang that we didn't dare try in front of others. Some were really obscure which doesn't make for a fun time for others, and other songs we just weren't exactly sure if we remembered how they went. After about an hour we were hungry for more and paid for another hour. We forgot that they usually give you some bonus time so after about 3 hours of singing, we decided that we were a little over zealous. My favorite songs to sing at Nore-bang thus far are Black Velvet - Alana Myles, Angel - Sarah McLaughlan, and Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen! I'll try some Kelly Clarkson next time!
Sunday morning came and because we'd stayed out all night we forgot to set our alarm. We had arranged to meet someone at a bus stop so they could help us find the church we've decided to try out. With a quick apology note we set up plans for next Sunday and I'll let you know how it goes. The rest of the day was fairly lazy and ended with a movie the the theatre. We saw Sweeny Todd. It is seriously messed up. Part of the time you feel like you should be laughing, but you feel like it's also supposed to be a bit serious. They show lots of blood and corpses landing on their heads. It's also a musical - picture it, slashing throats with straight razors to almost campy Broadway style music. Yep, that sums it up - a bloodbath to over dramatic music.
It's Monday night. I've decided that Mondays are my favorite teaching days. It's because I really love the kids I get on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday isn't quite as enjoyable because of the book report marking rush and Friday we get more book reports in. It feels as though just after you've finished a big pile of marking another big pile of marking starts to form. I am getting the hang of it. My goal is actually to be finished by Tuesday night and have neither hide nor hair of book reports on Wednesday. I'll let you know how that goes too.
Once again - thanks for reading. Hopefully it's entertaining enough to keep you interested. If not, it will make a damn good personal record. Shalom!
Friday we went to bed early because Curtis had a headache. I got up on Saturday with enough time to laze about the house for a bit and get ready at a leisurely pace - ahhhh, just how I like it. Jinny and MK met me at the school and from there we proceeded to find the bus that would take us to Itaewon. By the time we got there (it was an hour and a half ride) we were all feeling a bit hungry. MK noticed this one burger place that she really loves called Kraze Burger. We went in and it's set up like a nice diner. We ordered a burger and a club and had them cut three ways so that we could all share them. I've shared a lot of food in my life, but this was something else. It was so organized. A lot of the food here is communal so it makes sense, but it still surprised me. The food was really nicely presented with artsy swirls of sauce on the plate, like a desert so we took pictures. We also took one of MK and I taking the first bite of our luscious burgers. It had hot sauce on it which I managed to get up my nose and it slowly started to get hotter and hotter and hotter! I had to go to the washroom to flush my nose with water! The girls were laughing so hard - it was nice to make them laugh.
Next we started strolling down the streets in Itaewon. I can't say that I'm overly impressed. I found the shops really dirty and full of really cheap - I mean trashy not low price. I know this is not typical for Koreans. Their shops are usually really clean I'm not sure about the quality of merchandise but I haven't seen anything quite that gimmicky in our area. There were all sorts of things too. It wasn't at all what I'd pictured. I had heard about one English bookstore I really wanted to find though so I asked a couple people where it was. It seemed that everyone was looking for it and almost everyone knew where to find it. When I got there I completely understood why. The place is amazing! Itaewon is saved by the few shops that provide imported goods you can't find elsewhere. I bought a Korean travel guide, a phrase book, a Thailand travel book and book with Korean myths translated into English.
From there we were trying to meet up with Erin who was already in Seoul since she had a massage appointment in the morning. We stopped an bought a little snack on the side of the street. It was like a mini muffin made with pancake batter and had red bean filling. Red bean is quite sweet actually - or the way they prepare it here it is. It was quite delicious. We hopped on the subway and make a transfer. On one of these rides I discovered that the subway seats are heated! No wonder everyone fights tooth and nail for them! When we stopped I figured out that we were actually meeting Erin at the Gyongbokgung Palace. We walked about 15 minutes and were there. It was so colourful and had so much detail in the painting and woodwork. In the middle of deciding weather or weather not to get a recording device the ticked window closed and we weren't allowed to enter anymore. Erin was already inside but said she didn't mind leaving since we weren't able to enter. Jinny was a bit disappointed that we couldn't get it as it was her first visit to the palace as well. I promised that we'd to together a different day.
The next place we were headed was called Insadong-gil. It was just another 15 minute walk back toward the subway. It was amazing! There were tonnes of little shops everywhere that were selling art - not just nicknack's. We looked inside one shop that had amazing artistic quilts on display and in the basement you could by a pack of coordinated fabric to make your own quilt. It really reminded me of how 1950's Korea really is. There were quilted aprons, baskets and cutlery holders. It was so "Betty Crocker" or "Martha Stewart". I really don't say that with any disdain though. It's just so much like a time warp and I haven't figured enough of the culture out to decide whether it's a good or bad phenomenon yet. The quilts upstairs were amazing though. They created pictures and abstract mosaics - there were ones like it at an art show in Peace River. Brooke - you would have loved it! I thought of you the whole time. :) There were lots of little artsy shops like this everywhere. Of course there were still your run of the mill tacky tourist souvenirs, but they were easy to weed out from the other cultural gems.
We ducked into a side street and had supper in a beautiful restaurant. The entrance had little mini lights on the trees and had wooden walls and beams to make it feel traditional. Their were even rooms where you could sit traditional style on the floor. A fireplace make the mood feel very cozy and inviting. We looked at the menu and bit our fingernails at the first glimpse of the prices. Luckily they serve lunch until 6 pm and it was only about 5! Our scrumptious food was filling and wonderful and it was only 7,000 won (about $7 Canadian). I had bulgogi soup. It's kinda like beef that's slices really thin and marinaded in a sweet almost teriyaki sauce. The broth was really nice and there were some veggies in it too. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
After we were satisfied we headed back to the subway. On the way, there was a courtyard type area off the side street where a man was making rice cake by hand. Rice cake is basically what happens when you put sticky rice under lots of pressure. It all gathers together and is this chewy mass of tastelessness. Hehehe... anyway, to make it by hand, you need a huge, heavy mallet and a big mortar (stone bowl). You basically whack the rice enough that it is all pressed together. We came right at the end of a batch and he was scooping it out of the bowl. I was about ready to leave when he pulled a fresh bag of hot rice out of an insulated chest. I was so amazed and speaking loudly as per usual. He gave me a taste of the rice and he began whacking it. I was taking pictures as this loud whacking noise was attracting onlookers. He make a motion with his hand which I mistook for step back - he was calling me forward! I put my camera down and handed my mitts to the girls. He showed me where to grasp the mallet and before I knew it, he had me swinging away! He didn't come rescue me after a few tries either! He sat there watching telling me to swing harder! It was hilarious! There was quite the crowd too. I got another couple whacks in and then he came back. I'm sure I didn't even put a dent in work that it takes to make rice cake!
After Insadong, we decided to go to Nore-bang. I had no idea how talented my co-workers were. Jinny is AMAZING! I am not exaggerating. She sang songs from The Cranberries without the slightest effort. She sang a couple of really great Korean rock songs too. When I was talking with Jinny on the way home I found out that she used to be the singer of a Korean rock band. Oh the people you'll meet! Erin was really great too and she totally put me to shame on any English ballads. She hit some really high notes and was right with the music for every note. MK was really tired and didn't feel like singing too much but her and I did "Bohemian Rhapsody" with gusto and enthusiasm. This experience left me with one thought - I have a lot of practicing to do!
I got home at about 9:00 pm and at about 11:00 Curtis and I headed out to do just that!! There were a few songs that we'd noticed our first couple of times at Nore-bang that we didn't dare try in front of others. Some were really obscure which doesn't make for a fun time for others, and other songs we just weren't exactly sure if we remembered how they went. After about an hour we were hungry for more and paid for another hour. We forgot that they usually give you some bonus time so after about 3 hours of singing, we decided that we were a little over zealous. My favorite songs to sing at Nore-bang thus far are Black Velvet - Alana Myles, Angel - Sarah McLaughlan, and Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen! I'll try some Kelly Clarkson next time!
Sunday morning came and because we'd stayed out all night we forgot to set our alarm. We had arranged to meet someone at a bus stop so they could help us find the church we've decided to try out. With a quick apology note we set up plans for next Sunday and I'll let you know how it goes. The rest of the day was fairly lazy and ended with a movie the the theatre. We saw Sweeny Todd. It is seriously messed up. Part of the time you feel like you should be laughing, but you feel like it's also supposed to be a bit serious. They show lots of blood and corpses landing on their heads. It's also a musical - picture it, slashing throats with straight razors to almost campy Broadway style music. Yep, that sums it up - a bloodbath to over dramatic music.
It's Monday night. I've decided that Mondays are my favorite teaching days. It's because I really love the kids I get on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday isn't quite as enjoyable because of the book report marking rush and Friday we get more book reports in. It feels as though just after you've finished a big pile of marking another big pile of marking starts to form. I am getting the hang of it. My goal is actually to be finished by Tuesday night and have neither hide nor hair of book reports on Wednesday. I'll let you know how that goes too.
Once again - thanks for reading. Hopefully it's entertaining enough to keep you interested. If not, it will make a damn good personal record. Shalom!
Friday, January 18, 2008
It's been too long!
So yeah, you're all right! I don't post enough!! After something exciting happens I'm usually too tired to post and then I get busy doing something else exciting! Well... here comes a long one so hold on to your seats!
Last week at work was fairly normal. I'm starting to get the hang of marking thoroughly and quickly. It's going to be a handy skill in the future I can just tell. So work has seemed a little bit more relaxed because I'm not marking up until the second of my deadlines. I have a bit more breathing room. I have been having a bit of troubles with kids who don't do their homework though. There are the type that are so serious about studying that they fall apart bawl their little eyes out when they forget homework at home. Then their are the ones who know you're a bit of a softie and when they miss their homework they rub their eyes and I'm sure they are trying to think of sad thoughts the whole class just so they won't have a detention. ARGH!! Well then there are the ones that have stayed to finish homework everyday for the past year, so when they actually do their homework they are so astonished that they don't have to stay! hehe... They are also pretty relaxed about having to stay when they don't do it.
I'm starting to get to know my students more and more too. They are such interesting little people with amazing hobbies. One of Curtis' students absolutely loves robots. He and his dad applied for a robot making camp and they were selected out of quite few different applicants. He is so excited to go, he is always talking about it with Curtis. I'm really loving the teaching side of things. Sure I come home exhausted, but I get so much out of it.
Since the first weekend we arrived, our academic director, Rachel, has been tying to organize a good time for us to come to her house and have a meal with her family. First of all, it's so sweet of her to invite us to her home. We hear that it's really rare for a supervisor to be so personal. So last weekend was finally when things were settling down for her at home and she extended us an invitation for lunch on Saturday. She even showed me how to make Kim-bap! Curtis and I had been introduced to Kim-bap because it's basically the equivalent to a sandwich back home. They take it for picnics and eat it cold. It's a lot like a sushi roll except there is no raw fish. They put ham, fried egg, pickled radish, carrots and spinach in them. It was Rachel's mom who mostly showed me how to make it. Rachel's parents moved in with her after they retired so her mom does all of the cooking. I couldn't speak Korean too much, but it was still neat to see how it was done.I as pretty good at making my Kim-bap stick together too. All of the components were in the middle which they said can be tricky at first. It was great to see a real Korean family too. Rachel's son was really cute and shy. To get him to open up I pretended to tickle him. He giggled like crazy and skittered across the floor. A while later Curtis tried it too, but he really caught the poor kid off guard because he started to giggle at first and then he cried! He eventually emerged from the bedroom and was playing with his toys again, but I think Curtis is one guy he'll never forget!
So another exciting part of our lives here is Matt and Amber! Matt had made plans to celebrate Amber's birthday on Saturday and we hopped in when we were finished with out lunch at Rachel's. Amber, Matt, Eddie and Gisella went ice skating in the afternoon and we were all hungry by the time we caught up with them. We ended up deciding that Hooters... yes I said Hooters... would be the best place to celebrate followed with a good round of Nore-bang. Nore-bang is like Karaoke except you aren't in a bar. You're in this private room with couches that you rent by the hour! It's really great! There is no smoke if you don't want it, you don't have to wait and the song selection is deadly! Curtis even found some of his music on there!! We had an amazing night singing, clapping and playing the tambourine!! It was our first night out and we were both glad we saved the Nore-bangs till Amber and Matt could introduce us properly. :)
The subway here closes stops running at abou 12:00 so we wanted to make sure to catch the last train home. We were also getting a little hoarse too so we decided to head out at 11:15 giving us plenty of time to catch the last train. We needed to transfer and we got our route figured out and were on the last train. We relaxed in and started counting stops till we had to transfer again. When it was getting a bit closer to out stop we started to look at the map to see exactly how many more we had to go. None of the names of the stations we'd recently passed matched the ones near our transfer point... we had taken the train going the wrong direction!!! It was about 10 past 12 and we got off hoping against hope that another train would be comming soon. For the opposite direction. About 2 minutes later a man in a uniform came onto the platform and told everyone that there were no more trains and that the platform was closing. ARGH!!! We decided that since we didn't know the bus system very well, the best way would be to take a cab home. We figured that it might be as much as 70 bucks in Canada for that distance and we really didn't have any other options. We hailed a cab and asked for the nearest subway station to our house. We were in the cab and hour, and the cab driver was so far out from his usual circut that he stoped to ask another cab driver for directions!! We started to recognize signs again and sighed deeply. HOME!!! It's so funny to think of this place as home, but there is still nothing more soothing than knowing where you are! We got out a little ways away from the subway station and walked the rest of the way home. We were so surprised to find out that the fare was only 35 bucks! I couldn't believe it! So we were snug and safe at home and not even feeling too jaded about the money we'd wasted.
After all of this excitement... Matt and Amber decided to come visit our neck of the woods. I think they wanted to make sure we were well taken care of. Also, we hadn't really spent alone time with them in over a year and a half. The good old Camrose days are a thing of the past and we usually saw them for parties in Edmonton. It was so nice just to hang out and have them read our signs for us! hehehe... I learned more about my neighbourhood that night than I have in one month! We went to Nore-bang again - I think we're addicted - and then watched some of "The Office". We got up in time to have a real birthday breakfast for Amber - breakfast bagels... yummm! Curtis and I got ready for work and Matt and Amber got some information about busses in the area. We showed them our school and were really glad that they were impressed.
Sigh, another week has gone by of book reports and reminding kids about putting periods at the end of sentences. Sometimes I feel like it's really not life or death if this child doesn't ever right with periods or capitals or good spacing between words. Then I think of the communication aspect and how English relies so heavily on it's punctuation to be understood. ;) I'm changing the world one comma at a time.
Last week at work was fairly normal. I'm starting to get the hang of marking thoroughly and quickly. It's going to be a handy skill in the future I can just tell. So work has seemed a little bit more relaxed because I'm not marking up until the second of my deadlines. I have a bit more breathing room. I have been having a bit of troubles with kids who don't do their homework though. There are the type that are so serious about studying that they fall apart bawl their little eyes out when they forget homework at home. Then their are the ones who know you're a bit of a softie and when they miss their homework they rub their eyes and I'm sure they are trying to think of sad thoughts the whole class just so they won't have a detention. ARGH!! Well then there are the ones that have stayed to finish homework everyday for the past year, so when they actually do their homework they are so astonished that they don't have to stay! hehe... They are also pretty relaxed about having to stay when they don't do it.
I'm starting to get to know my students more and more too. They are such interesting little people with amazing hobbies. One of Curtis' students absolutely loves robots. He and his dad applied for a robot making camp and they were selected out of quite few different applicants. He is so excited to go, he is always talking about it with Curtis. I'm really loving the teaching side of things. Sure I come home exhausted, but I get so much out of it.
Since the first weekend we arrived, our academic director, Rachel, has been tying to organize a good time for us to come to her house and have a meal with her family. First of all, it's so sweet of her to invite us to her home. We hear that it's really rare for a supervisor to be so personal. So last weekend was finally when things were settling down for her at home and she extended us an invitation for lunch on Saturday. She even showed me how to make Kim-bap! Curtis and I had been introduced to Kim-bap because it's basically the equivalent to a sandwich back home. They take it for picnics and eat it cold. It's a lot like a sushi roll except there is no raw fish. They put ham, fried egg, pickled radish, carrots and spinach in them. It was Rachel's mom who mostly showed me how to make it. Rachel's parents moved in with her after they retired so her mom does all of the cooking. I couldn't speak Korean too much, but it was still neat to see how it was done.I as pretty good at making my Kim-bap stick together too. All of the components were in the middle which they said can be tricky at first. It was great to see a real Korean family too. Rachel's son was really cute and shy. To get him to open up I pretended to tickle him. He giggled like crazy and skittered across the floor. A while later Curtis tried it too, but he really caught the poor kid off guard because he started to giggle at first and then he cried! He eventually emerged from the bedroom and was playing with his toys again, but I think Curtis is one guy he'll never forget!
So another exciting part of our lives here is Matt and Amber! Matt had made plans to celebrate Amber's birthday on Saturday and we hopped in when we were finished with out lunch at Rachel's. Amber, Matt, Eddie and Gisella went ice skating in the afternoon and we were all hungry by the time we caught up with them. We ended up deciding that Hooters... yes I said Hooters... would be the best place to celebrate followed with a good round of Nore-bang. Nore-bang is like Karaoke except you aren't in a bar. You're in this private room with couches that you rent by the hour! It's really great! There is no smoke if you don't want it, you don't have to wait and the song selection is deadly! Curtis even found some of his music on there!! We had an amazing night singing, clapping and playing the tambourine!! It was our first night out and we were both glad we saved the Nore-bangs till Amber and Matt could introduce us properly. :)
The subway here closes stops running at abou 12:00 so we wanted to make sure to catch the last train home. We were also getting a little hoarse too so we decided to head out at 11:15 giving us plenty of time to catch the last train. We needed to transfer and we got our route figured out and were on the last train. We relaxed in and started counting stops till we had to transfer again. When it was getting a bit closer to out stop we started to look at the map to see exactly how many more we had to go. None of the names of the stations we'd recently passed matched the ones near our transfer point... we had taken the train going the wrong direction!!! It was about 10 past 12 and we got off hoping against hope that another train would be comming soon. For the opposite direction. About 2 minutes later a man in a uniform came onto the platform and told everyone that there were no more trains and that the platform was closing. ARGH!!! We decided that since we didn't know the bus system very well, the best way would be to take a cab home. We figured that it might be as much as 70 bucks in Canada for that distance and we really didn't have any other options. We hailed a cab and asked for the nearest subway station to our house. We were in the cab and hour, and the cab driver was so far out from his usual circut that he stoped to ask another cab driver for directions!! We started to recognize signs again and sighed deeply. HOME!!! It's so funny to think of this place as home, but there is still nothing more soothing than knowing where you are! We got out a little ways away from the subway station and walked the rest of the way home. We were so surprised to find out that the fare was only 35 bucks! I couldn't believe it! So we were snug and safe at home and not even feeling too jaded about the money we'd wasted.
After all of this excitement... Matt and Amber decided to come visit our neck of the woods. I think they wanted to make sure we were well taken care of. Also, we hadn't really spent alone time with them in over a year and a half. The good old Camrose days are a thing of the past and we usually saw them for parties in Edmonton. It was so nice just to hang out and have them read our signs for us! hehehe... I learned more about my neighbourhood that night than I have in one month! We went to Nore-bang again - I think we're addicted - and then watched some of "The Office". We got up in time to have a real birthday breakfast for Amber - breakfast bagels... yummm! Curtis and I got ready for work and Matt and Amber got some information about busses in the area. We showed them our school and were really glad that they were impressed.
Sigh, another week has gone by of book reports and reminding kids about putting periods at the end of sentences. Sometimes I feel like it's really not life or death if this child doesn't ever right with periods or capitals or good spacing between words. Then I think of the communication aspect and how English relies so heavily on it's punctuation to be understood. ;) I'm changing the world one comma at a time.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Photos!!
I just had my photos developed!! Yay! These are the best of the best from my trip to Japan! ENJOY!
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