Canaussie Karaoke

Spencer Three Weeks

2012-01-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

The Life of a New Mom

2012-01-19T11:29:00.001-08:00

Howdy all. Cindy here (as you could tell by the title of this entry). I'm enjoying a little bit of down time as my wee angel naps. Time for a blog update!

When I was pregnant I was told hundreds of times that my life "would never be the same". This comment was usually followed by a "errrrrr, weeellll, I mean it will be good, just never the same". I tried to file these comments in my brain under the title of "Well Intentioned, But Never Mind". I know these comments were meant to help prepare me for the big change of parenthood. But lets be real here, folks.....what pregnant lady doesn't know that her life is about to change? From the first night I spent hanging over the toilet, I knew my life would never be the same.

So, on Dec 30, at 3 AM when my water broke, I attempted to keep in mind that I knew this was coming. However, truth is I just about threw up from nervousness. Not only were we going to leave the house as two people and return as a family of three....I had to get this third person out of my body.....which I had heard many times was not all that pleasant. I also could not stop talking from the excitement of it all. I was finally going to meet this wee guy who I had felt moving around in there for months.

From 3 AM until he was born at 11:02 PM we saw many doctors and nurses, had many tests done, went out for breakfast while in labour, paced many hallways, got through many hours of labour without epidural, listened to music, gave in and got an epidural......thanked god for the invention of the epidural, lost all shyness and got used to flashing anyone at anytime, felt the epidural wear off....and then finally made it through 30 intense minutes of pushing and... a new baby was put on my chest. It was a surreal moment. One I will never forget.

I've now been a mom for 21 days. I've changed many diapers. I've cried out of fear and worry. I've laughed at his many faces. I've sung songs while rocking him and dancing around the living room. I've learned how to breastfeed a baby (ouchy). I've cried out of frustration when he won't stop screaming at 3AM. I've stared at his face for long periods of time. I've felt insanely happy with him curled up on my chest sleeping. I've been peed on countless times. I've fallen deeper in love with Brett for being an amazing dad. I've been very thankful for all the help from Brett's parents. I've loved watching my parents turn to mush while holding their grandson. I've been amazed at the generosity of others. And I've fallen totally in love with a wee boy named Spencer. Yes my life has changed forever. And right now I am so tired that I can barely focus on the letters on the screen.....and Spencer, currently curled up on my chest asleep, just passed wind right in my face. But I wouldn't give it up.

Two Weeks Already!

2012-01-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

I can't believe its been over two weeks since Spencer was born. He has now outgrown some outfits he wore last week. It has made me realize I need to cherish this time with him. With that adorable little face, you just can't help but enjoy every snuggle.

Our Beautiful Spencer

2012-01-11T15:46:00.001-08:00

After a few confusing trips to the hospital, and a long day of labour and waiting we welcomed our adorable Spencer Evan Piggott into the world on Dec. 30. He was 7lbs 13 oz...a remarkably small size for my (Cindy's) family. We are completely in love with our little man.

Nine Months!

2011-12-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Nine months already???? I am due in four weeks. FOUR WEEKS! Wow. We are going through a lot of different emotions. We are so excited to meet this little guy who keeps me awake all night with his dancing. I am also feeling a bit nervous......mostly about how big I'll (he'll) be by January first!! HA!!! Everything is going well. He's a healthy little guy and we know he'll be a great athlete by all the flips he can do already. Lets also hope he's a great sleeper. :) At our last appointment, the doctor talked about our birth plan and we saw a bit of the birthing ward of the hospital. It made it all real for me. Yup, this is really going to happen! Scary and oh so exciting !

A Walk in Sunnidale Park

2011-11-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

On a sunny day......a month ago....we went for a walk in Sunnidale Park. Graeme and Margaret, that is the park we took you to on your first day here. The pictures are now a month old...but we seem to be always running behind with this blogging thing. :) We learned that a black shirt may not be the best thing for showing of my "bump"! Oh well. We'll know better for our next round. This week we had an ultra sound and ob appointment. Our little guy is now six pounds and doing well. He's upside down and ready to go! I still have a few weeks to go before my due date, but boy oh boy he's moving, dancing, kicking, and growing growing growing. If he's six pounds now....how big will he be in four weeks? :D

Hmmmm.....what happened to the time?

2011-10-22T15:19:00.001-07:00

Well we seem to be a fair bit behind in this blogging thing. When school started, our world suddenly became quite full of work, work, work. Blah. But now things are looking up! I am off of work until Christmas of next year. It doesn't seem real to me yet. Anyhoooo back to the update. Our wee roo continues to grow and grow.....as do I...which I suppose makes sense. It is a bit concerning to watch my feet disappear, and I don't much like having to ask for help with lots of things (like putting on shoes, or carrying the laundry basket downstairs) but feeling the wee guy moving around in there is really cool. We can now watch him move from the outside. Looks a bit like a horror film where the alien springs out of it's host's belly. Our little man does not like the seat belt or any tight waistbands. He punches and punches them. He's got spirit already. I'm posting a few picks from when I was six months along. I am now seven and a half, and much larger than these pics. Will have to take some more and post them asap!

The Year of Big Events

2011-09-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well this year has certainly been a big year for us. We bought a house, are "up the duff", and now we have another thing to add to the year of big events. Watch the video to find out what! (You will only hear music, you won't hear us talking...your computer isn't broken :) )

Georgian Bay Cruze

2011-08-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Our 5 month ultra sound!!

2011-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

You can put it in full screen to get a better view!

An Active Bub

2011-07-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I (Cindy) had to go for an ultra sound. As you ladies know, that involves drinking a whole pool of water, doing the pee pee dance for an hour while the ultra sound people are "running late" (aka chatting to each other and pretending you aren't there) and then eventually praying you don't wee your pants while the ultra sound lady rolls her magic ultra sound wand over your belly. My young ultra sound girl (I swear she was 12 years old) had a form from my doctor requesting certain pictures and measurements. A few minutes into the ultra sound the young technician started laughing and shaking her head. This continued for a while. I thought she would offer an explanation for laughing at my baby....was she/he wearing a clown outfit?......was she/he doing the moonwalk?....was she/he making faces? But no explanation was offered. So I eventually had to ask "What's going on in there?" and in response she turned the screen so I could see the ultra sound. What I saw was this cute wee baby...having a crazy dance party! There were jumps, flips, and wild dancing from one side to to the other. The young tech said it was nearly impossible for her to get the right pictures and measurements with that going on. My thought was how can I not feel that?

This week we visited my doctor for my monthly baby check up. When she tried to listen for the heart beat we heard a little beat beat beat...then static. My doctor moved the listening contraption over, and we again heard a beat beat beat then static. This happened a few times. Then my doctor called the baby "very active" and said it was hard to follow it around. She too had a smile and a chuckle. We smiled and chuckled too. However, the potential future was running through my mind. A very active kid, huh? This kid has to get bigger while we share my body. Oh no. I imagine I am going to get many kicks to the ribs. And later on? All I can picture is us chasing around this wild toddler as they giggle and wildly run and dance around the room getting into everything and crashing into furniture. Perhaps we should start padding all those dangerous pointy corners on tables etc. now!

Two Years Later....

2011-07-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are! (That was for you Graeme) It has been two years since our last blog. TWO YEARS! We decided to take a little (ummm so it turned out a bit longer) break from blogging. Blogging is a wonderful way to keep in touch with important people (and complete strangers), and we really enjoy it, but it does take a lot of time and effort. However, we have decided to start blogging again....because....we have a big event occurring in our life, and we want our friends and family in Aus (or wherever you may be) to feel part of it. And the big event is....drumroll...I am "up the duff". For you non-aussies, that is an apparently not rude way of saying I am pregnant. Our little roo is due on January first. I am currently 16 weeks along and getting fluffier by the day.

Silver Birch and Maple Syrup

2009-08-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it. We packed up our home in the land of the morning calm, and said our tearful good byes. It was much harder than we thought it would be. I knew I would be sad to go. But when it came time to start the goodbyes- I realized I was going to be a mess.

We ended our time at Yale with a night at the noray-bang (singing room). I wish everyone could experience a noray bang. It is soooooo much fun. And it's infectious. As soon as the music starts, and someone starts singing, then soon everyone is up singing, dancing, shaking the tamborine, and jumping around. It is just such a good time. We loved every second of it, but it was heart breaking to think that this would be the last time we would experience this kind of fun.

On our last day in Korea, we went to our favourite coffee shop for one last visit. The shop is called At Home, and really, it has been like a second home. We have sat in there for hours, drinking the best coffee we have ever had, talking about our jobs, life, and future, watching Seo Young (the 5 year old daughter of the owner) sing and dance around the shop, and communicating with the sweet girl who owns the shop using what little Korean we know, the little English she knows, and a lot of sign language. We told her we were leaving the next day. She started to cry, so did her friend (who we had never met by the way)....this led to us crying as well. We took a photo, hugged and started to go. Suddenly she produced two presents from behind the counter. She had heard we were leaving and had prepared gifts for us. This touched us so much.

In the afternoon, we squeezed in a swim/wade in the river near our apartment. It was such a nice way to spend our last afternoon. We watched the kids splashing each other and trying their best to catch the small fish. The cool water was very refreshing!

Later that evening, we joined our friend and manager, Eun Ju for some smoothies and muffins. She has been a life saver for us. Numerous times she has redirected taxis, given advice, and shown us around. Korea would not have been the same without her and we were happy to have had that last chance to spend some time with her. Our coworkers and friends joined in later on, and we all moved on to one of those hidden wacky bars that Korea is famous for. We have spent a whole year in this neighbourhood, yet never knew about the bar we visited that night. This is typical of Korea! So many hidden gems, you will never find them all.....and you have to remember to look up. Anyway, this bar specialized in beer served in humongous glasses. This was the perfect ending to the most unique year of our lives. Wacky beer in a wacky bar, served by an even wackier man....all enjoyed with friends and many laughs.

At 5 am we lugged our bags down our road, found a taxi and began the long journey back home. One bus ride, and two plane rides later, we arrived in Toronto airport, feeling like zombies and not smelling so fresh, but happy to start a new adventure.

Our first few days here have been filled with family, friends, settling into a new life, and trying to ease the heartache for the life we left behind. We miss Korea terribly. But its not going anywhere, and there is always the opportunity to visit or teach there again in the future, so that makes us feel better.

It's been wonderful to see our friends and family again. We look forward to a year of adventures and misadventures in the land of the silverbirch.......but does anyone know where we can find some kimchi??

Farewell Korea

2009-08-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

It is now 4:54am. We have not been to sleep. In the next hour we will leave the apartment that has been our home for the last year. We will take a taxi to the bus terminal. We will take a 1 hour bus to the airport.... And then, we will say goodbye to Korea.

It has been an indescribable year. A life changing journey, full of challenges and celebrations. We have met so many truly amazing people and experienced things that we had never before dreamed of.

This is not the end, we still have many stories to tell. Stay tuned! Maybe once the smoke settles after we have returned home, we will find the time to relive some of the adventures that we have had over the last few weeks while we have been too busy to write!

Thank you Korea! We love you! And, we will miss you!

Admiration

2009-08-17T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is Brett.

As a teacher every now and then you have the pleasure of teaching a class that is all those things that you wish for, respectful, humorous, hard working and friendly.

There is one class at Yale whom I have had the privilege of teaching since I arrived in Korea. They are called Admire, and are a third grade middle school class which makes them about 15 years old. They are also among the top level students at Yale.

When I began teaching them they were a class of lifeless, soul destroyed teenagers. They were overcome by the pressures of the Korean education system and the fact that it was 9pm, they had been in school all day and were now expected to read and answer comprehension questions on American history. The material they were working on was equivalent to what a grade ten student would be studying back home. For fun they got to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which although amusing to English speakers, contains so many nonsensical words, that it was almost impossible for them to comprehend.

I knew I had to do something. My first goal was to get rid of their current text books, and then to introduce some more interactive activities and conversations. It did not take long for these students to start to come out of their shells. I started to see their hidden personalities that were laying below the surface. Week by week they became more open, happier and more talkative.

As a reward for finishing our absolutely horrible reading comprehension book we held a Monopoly party. Completely against school policy, this turned out to be the most successful lesson I have ever taught. I modified the rules so that if they spoke Korean I could fine them! For 45 minutes these students were actively speaking English in a real life context, and enjoyed every minute of it.

These days, I laugh more during their class than at any other time throughout the week. These kids make me laugh more than anything. They tell jokes and banter with each other in English. They tease me and I give it back to them. Their wit is quick and clever and they are not too proud to joke about themselves if it means getting a laugh from the rest of us.

I cannot take credit for their ability, they have done that on their own, and they are amazing. They are who they are, and who they are is awesome! I am proud that I was able see past their tired eyes and create an environment in which they could be themselves and enjoy learning.

Lego Land

2009-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Lifting King Kong

2009-08-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

You may remember that way back in March we were involved with the filming of a Korean movie. We spent a fun filled day as extras in a movie portraying the story of a Korean weightlifting champion and his prodigies. Well, the epic tale has now been released and after months of anticipation we were looking forward to finally seeing ourselves on the silver screen.

We knew that the movie would be in Korean. We didn't mind. We haven't had any clue what people have been saying to us all year, why should this be any different? The lady at the ticket counter tried to make it very clear that the movie was in Korean. The young guy who took our tickets was also adamant that we should know that it was a Korean film. I wanted to say "Look man, don't you know who we are? We're the stars of the bloody show!" I knew it would just be lost in translation, so I did what I always do, nodded my head and said "nae" (Yes, in Korean).

So we took our seats and as the movie started we realized we were the only people in the theater. We had the whole place to ourselves which made it easy to analyze/criticize the movie out loud.

The opening credits began to roll and we watched intently. We thought we got a glimpse of ourselves but we couldn't be sure. Anyway, we sat through the movie knowing that our big part was in the climax of the film. The tension was building. Finally, it was our time to shine. There we were, in full digital colour, on the big screen, for everyone to see.... for exactly 7/8 of a second. We were so proud. And, I can honestly say, we did a great job!

We may not have left our mark on the Korean film industry, but we are treated like movies stars by the locals in our neighbourhood anyway, so that is good enough for us.

Here is the trailer. If you look to the left of the screen at about the12-13 second mark, you may catch a glimpse of one of your favourite Canaussie Karaoke characters. (Glasses or contact lenses may be required)

Orange

2009-08-10T01:21:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing that I will miss more than anything else when we leave Korea it will be the Orange store. An Orange store is any store with an Orange sign. Obviously, that is not their real name but if you simple say "Orange" people know what you are talking about. These stores are different restaurants but all basically sell the same food. Cheap, quick Korean food. I guess you could say it is Korean fast food! These stores have been a saviour in times of need, a lifeline, a hangover cure and institution for us and most foreigners here in Korea.

The menu includes most standard Korean dishes, bibimbop, kimchi jiggae, bulgogi dup bop, mool nang myung, ramyeon, dukbokki, dongkass and kimbob. Prices range from about $1 for a kimbob (seaweed/rice roll) to $3.50 for beef stir-fry and rice. Generally we can both eat for a total bill of between $5 and $6. All meals come with complimentary sides of soup, kimchi, pickled radish and various other unidentifiable delicacies ranging from nuts to small fish.

Orange stores are everywhere!! There are three (that I know of) within walking distance from our school and they are open 24 hours a day! This makes them a great place to fill you belly at 4am after a heavy night of drinking!

For our first few months in Korea we were packing food to take to work. We soon discovered that it was cheaper, more delicious and easier to just eat at Orange. So that it is pretty much what we have done 3-4 times a week ever since!

My Favourite Thing About Korea

2009-08-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Cindy here.

Something that is noticeably different between Canada and Korea is the physical affection that people show towards each other. This was something that caught our attention right away, and has lead to many long discussions about how we wish we could convince our own countries to behave this way. In Korea, it is not uncommon to see men holding on to each other as they walk down the street. Teenage boys often have their arms around each other as they wait at crosswalks or slowly walk the streets downtown. Mothers and son's of all ages hang on to each other in the grocery store line. Girls not only hold hands, but also buy "couple rings" or matching outfits. I have had my hand held and my arm caressed by an older lady at a store, who simply wanted to say hello. This is a very different culture. And I love it.

When I teach primary children in Canada, I often see them cuddling together as they read a book, or holding hands while I am trying to teach a math lesson. But by the time these same children reach the age of 10, this has disappeared. They make fun of anyone who dares to hold hands. They cannot even share a pack of crayons without negative teasing from the children around them. This has always made me very sad.

Last Saturday, as Brett and I stood in the hallway of our school between classes, we watched four of the big 16 year old boys from his class happily find places on a bench in the hallway. The first boy then linked his arm through the second boy's arm. AND THEN the third boy put his arm around the fourth, and started playing with his hair and patting his head. The fourth boy rested his head on the shoulder of the third. These boys are 16!!!! And they are not afraid to show friendly affection to each other. They sat there cuddling, and studying for the entire ten minute break. I imagined the chaos that would result from such a scene in Canada. It would be quite a big deal. But here in Korea, this sort of thing happens all the time. It is completely acceptable.

When I return home to Canada, it is going to actually be strange to see people walking down the road together without holding hands. It is something I am really going to miss. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone in the world could hold hands, or hug each other without it becoming something negative? Think of how different things would be if we could teach our boys that they can be kind and affectionate, without it being a sign of weakness. I think it would change everything.

A little love from a grade 5 student...

2009-07-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Baskin Robbins Commercial

2009-07-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We thought we would post a commercial for you to see. It points out one of the major differences between Korea and western countries. We have written before about how Koreans will often use a tone that we misinterpret. Well, this commercial is another example of a tone that we had to get used to. To us, this tone sounds like major whining. But we have heard some of the teachers at our school use a similar tone when speaking to parents on the phone. So, it cannot be as bad as we think! When we first got here we would complain to each other about the kids (and adults) "whining" to us all day. But now we are used to it, and we laugh. In this commercial, the girl is clearly not a small child, but she sounds like one. That is common here. You will often here women complaining to their boyfriends/husbands using a similar tone. They even flirt with each other like kids do- hitting, pinching, flicking, pulling hair. We think it is funny.

The Wet Season?

2009-07-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Howdy! Cindy here.

We have been living through the wet season here in Korea. Every week someone tells me that it should be over at the end of that week, and then every week it continues on to the next week. Although the weather has been terrible, we are also feeling the pressure of being down to our last 4 weeks here. We feel like we need to make the most of our time. So, with that in mind, we agreed to go on a bus tour to Suncheong on Sunday. Since the majority of our time on this tour would be spent outside, we knew it was a risk. We packed umbrellas and hoped for the best. We should have packed life preservers and innertubes.

Our first stop was a pretty little road where we rented tandem bikes and enjoyed a quick ride amongst some big trees. The attraction here was the "big trees". One girl said to me, "You will amaze at the size, so beautiful". Well, these people need to come to Canada. The trees were midgets in comparison to ours. But still a fun bike ride.

Next stop was a Bamboo Forest. We took a million photos. I kept looking at the time because we were due back to the bus by a certain hour. As the time approached I kept telling our group that we should start to go back. I get a bit stressed about being late. I hate it. It is one of my little pet peeves. I would rather be VERY early than even a little late. I tried to keep my comments to a minimum. I know not everyone wants to be reminded about the time every five minutes. However, when finally everyone agreed to go back, we realized we were lost...and on the completely opposite side of the forest from where we needed to be. Yes indeed we were late. Very late. So late that the tour guide met us at the entrance to the forest because the rest of the bus had gone on to lunch. He walked us to the restaurant, where everyone was just finishing. So again, they all boarded the bus and waited for us to eat.

Well, Karma got us. As we left the restaurant, the biggest rainstorm I have seen here, pelted down on us. We screamed and ran in the direction of the bus. The wind broke our umbrellas, puddles soaked our shoes, the rain drenched every layer of clothing we had on....and this could all be seen by the bus of people waiting patiently for my group to finish lunch. As we got on the bus- hair a mess, umbrellas inside out, leaving puddles as we walked- the expression on the faces of the Korean passengers was one I could not read. We splish sploshed our way to our seats, and sat there dripping in total disbelief of what had just happened. I looked at the clock and said "Well the good news is we only have eight hours to go". Of course by this time the storm was over and it was just raining lightly.

For the rest of our day, it rained off and on, never as hard as the few minutes we were caught between the restaurant and the bus. We bought huge plastic rain jackets/garbage bags to keep us dry and to help us with any future need to impersonate Big Bird. Although our shoes made a sloshing sound everytime we stepped down, we managed to stay in pretty good spirits as we walked along a three hour path to a suspension bridge and then back again.

Would we do it again? Probably not. But do we regret going? Nope. When it rains everyday, sometimes you just have to take the risk. This one turned out a bit mucky. Maybe the next one won't. We'll let ya know!

1 year and 101 posts later!

2009-07-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right folks, Canaussie Karaoke has now been a part of your lives for just over a year! Not only has it been 12 months since we began documenting the trials and tribulations of our journey to Korea, but this post is also entry number 101 of our chronicles.

Over the last year we have posted 101 times, which is an average of 2 posts per week. We have brought you stories from Canada, Alaska, Japan, Australia and of course, South Korea. Canaussie Karaoke has had over 7500 hits in the last twelve months averaging between 150 to 200 hits a week and 20 first time visitors a day.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read our stories and share our adventures. Thank you for your comments and support. We hope that you have enjoyed our tales as much as we have enjoyed bringing them to you.

Here are some of our favourite memories from the last twelve months of Canaussie Karaoke.

A Nice Day for a Duck Ride

2009-07-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

Annyong!

Cindy here.

Since we arrived in Daegu and first looked at the maps and tourist brochures, I have been pretty excited about something we refered to as "duck ride". There is a large pond/lake in Daegu where you can pay 8000 won and hop into your very own oversized plasitic duck. The base of the duck is a paddle boat, and you get one hour to paddle your own duck around! We have been waiting for the perfect duck-riding weather....and Sunday was the day!

After some confusion involving a taxi driver, a map, and poorly spoken Korean (on our side) we arrived at the "lake" and easily rented our very own large plastic duck. As always, we were the local celebrities. Children and adults were surprised and happy to see us as we made our way around the lake.

Beside the lake there were many benches and trees, which provided the perfect spot for families and couples to hang out for a lazy Sunday afternoon. We felt we should join in. So we bought some ramyen (instant noodles) from one of the many food stands, found a plastic table overlooking the lake, and enjoyed the Korean experience. All around us families were also enjoying a picnic and some relaxation. It was a very nice way to spend a few hours.

Our stress returned when we had to make our way back home. Despite the fact that we had a map, and photos of where the taxi driver needed to take us to get home, he didn't understand. He began driving in the wrong direction while we frantically called our two Korean friends, to try to get someone to tell him where he should be going. Finally we got ahold of one of our Korean friends and asked her for help. After a short yelling match on the phone, the driver agreed to take us the other way....to our our area of Daegu. We are baffled why this happens so often, especially when we can show them on a map exactly where they need to go. But, oh well. We know that soon this will all be a story we repeat to people in Canada and laugh.

Fish Therapy

2009-07-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

For the first time in I can't remember how long, we woke up early today. 6:45am. It hurt. Before you judge us, know that even though we knew we had to get up early we couldn't get to sleep before our regular bedtime of 2:00am. This is what happens when you don't get home form work until after 11:00! Anyway, back to my main point, which was.... we got up early.. and it hurt.

The reason we raised our weary heads at this ungodly hour is because Matt and Mel's (you should know them by now) manager had offered to take us to Daegu's solution to being the hottest and most humid city in Korea, Spa Valley!

Spa Valley is a popular water park and spa complex. It is comprised of a wave pool (or some would say an incy wincy ripple pool) water slides, sauna, hot springs, diving platforms and most interestingly, fish therapy! Yep, you may remember our previous story about Dr. Fish, the coffee shop where you sit with your feet in a tub while tiny fish ferociously eat away your dead skin. Well, fish therapy goes one step further. Rather than just your feet, your whole body can appreciate the hidden benefits of a fish exfoliation.

As we laid down in the shallow pool and waited, hundreds of small fish begin to make their way to feast on our now soft and wrinkly body. The hunter becomes the hunted! The tickling sensation is unbearable but somehow you slowly learn to control it. After half an hour, feeding time was over and as we were leaving our oasis the pool boy came by with his net to scoop up the odd dead fish floating on the top of the water(I hope that wasn't my fault. Cindy and Mel scolded Matt and I for catching the fish and dropping them on each other but we just couldn't stop).

We said goodbye to our fishy friends, thanked them for their exfoliational services and went on our way. Yet another wacky Korean experience that I'm sure we will never forget.

Life in Siji

2009-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Who's Bad

2009-06-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard the news of the passing of Michael Jackson. If you do live under a rock, sorry for the shock....and sorry about your living quarters.

When I saw the headline flash across the screen of my computer I yelled to Brett, "Hey did you know Michael Jackson died??" "WHAT!!" was his surprised reaction. All day long we heard the same remarks from our students-"Teacha- Michael Jackson die!"

I had just recently reconnected with my love for Michael Jackson. It happened one day a couple of weeks ago, as I was working at my computer and was playing my song bank on "random" . My computer happened to pick a Michael Jackson song. I couldn't help it....I had to get up and dance....my important computer work had to wait. As I boogeyed my way around my living room, I was already mentally choosing what Michael Jackson song I would play next. It reminded me of when I used to listen to the Michael Jackson mix tape my aunt made for me when I was in highschool. I would dance around my bedroom singing "You know I'm bad, I'm bad, You know it!".

This weekend Melissa had the great idea of a Michael Jackson tribute at the noray-bang. After a few warm up beverages, we grabbed our mics and sang almost every Michael Jackson song on the list. There were even a couple of attempts at a moon walk (although apparently it is hard to moonwalk in flipflops).

Although our singing sometimes gave a new meaning to "you know I'm bad, I'm bad", we gave it our best try. It's the thought that counts, right? So go right now, put on your favourite Michael Jackson song, and have yourself a little dance. It will put a smile on your face! Promise!

Winter Downunder

2009-06-24T20:06:00.001-07:00

I know the Canadians love these news reports from back in West OZ. Enjoy!

Perth shivers through chilly June night

24th June 2009, 15:45 WST

Perth shivered through its coldest day in four years yesterday when the temperature reached a chilly maximum of just 12.8C, rising just over 4C from the overnight minimum of 8C.

Bureau of Meteorology climate information officer John Relf said the last time Perth experienced such a chilly June day was in 1995, when on June 16 the temperature dropped to 12.1C.

However, the coldest June day on record in Perth occurred on June 26, 1956 when the mercury reached a maximum of 8.8C.

Pee-Mart

2009-06-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

The thing about Korea is that just when you least expect it, something completely outrageous and surprising will happen right in front of you and you will be the only one who even gives it a second thought..

Like when you are standing in line at the local E-Mart grocery store and the lady in front of you takes out a plastic bottle, pulls down the front of her sons pants, holds the bottle in front of him and allows him to relieve himself while standing in the shopping cart....

A little Peace

2009-06-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.
— Edward Teller

At the end of February I decided to not renew my gym membership. It was expensive, and I was spending my time on the treadmill looking out the window, wishing I could be outside. I also was getting a bit tired of being stared at while sweating profusely.

I find it very amazing how sometimes things just work out the right way. My decision to quit the gym came at the perfect time. I had been experiencing a little slump. I was feeling low and could not pull my emotions up off the ground. I even grouched about quitting the gym and how I was sure this would not be good for my fitness level. But what was waiting for me was so much better.

I replaced my gym workouts with running outside and living room pilates. I had gone for a run in Korea a few times before, and had thought it was ok. But it was a little crowded on the sidewalks with all those people and scooters. So this time around, I decided to head off of the streets.

My first run took me around the back of the Daegu Stadium. The running path goes up on an incline until it is pretty much level with the top of the stadium. When I got to the top, my mood instantly brightened, and I realized that what I had been missing was SPACE! I could see for miles. There were beautiful mountains, smiling people, trees, and a great view of the inside of the stadium. I felt so happy I almost started crying. I still run that path a couple of times a week. Now that the weather is warmer, day care centres are bringing their kids to play on the grass around the stadium. So now, as I run, I have an audience of squealing toddlers. It's adorable.

My second running path is up a mountain. Yup, UP A MOUNTAIN. I have only been running this path for a couple of months, but I love it. This trail kicks my butt. I cannot run the whole way up. I have to stop frequently, and usually walk half of it. I climb over rocks and roots, while breathing so heavily that I think I will inhale all the bugs in the area. But I know the reward is coming.

When I get to the top, the view is amazing. There is a rock I sit on for a while and meditate while listening to nature. It is surely on my top ten best places in Korea, and it is simply a rock on a path most of the way up a mountain. But it is the spot where I feel most peaceful, where I can collect my thoughts and prepare for my day, where I can plan for my future or reflect on the past, and where I remind myself how lucky I am to be where I am. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily stress of work and life. It is so easy to wish time would pass so that I can get to a better day. But the time that I have spent on this rock has reminded me to breathe, and listen, and just be.

And then.....I have to come down off the mountain.

Today when I got to the bottom of my mountain, I saw a group of older ladies chatting. One of them yelled "annyong haseyo". When I replied with the same, they all giggled, just like the kids do. One lady came over and patted my thighs, indicating (in a happy, friendly way) that I am a bit plumpy in their culture. Getting used to that. She also scolded me for not wearing a sun visor...but she was scolding me in Korean so I just shrugged my shoulders and pretended to not understand. Her friend then joined in and told me (again in Korean) that I should be wearing pants to protect my legs from the twigs and branches when I go up a mountain. Again I shrugged my shoulders and replied with "I don't understand", in Korean.

THEN they handed me a pamphlet that had a drawing of a girl feeding a bear on the front. The ladies were Jehovah's Witnesses, and all I could get from the Korean pamphlet was that if you belong to their group, you will be able to feed wild bears by hand. Wow! The ladies patted me on the back, smiling, chattering away in Korean, and then they all laughed a very friendly laugh....although I didn't get the joke. I laughed at their laughing and decided to leave on this positive note. Again I got patted, and I think they would have hugged me and carried me away if I wasn't three times their size.

Vinyl GoGo a Big NoNo

2009-06-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang!

Some of you may remember our photos of the alcoholic drinks served in bags? Well, we decided that Saturday night would be our Vinyl GoGo extravaganza. We went downtown and after a quick dinner, we excitedly wound our way through the confusing, crowded streets and found Vinyl GoGo. There was a small crowd of people standing at the take out window, perusing the drink menu and picking their drink of choice. We could not get over it. We were drinking on the street, along with some other strangers..and nobody cared....actually, the bartender asked if our drinks were strong enough and offered to make them stronger.

Four Vinyl GoGos later, we headed off to a noray bang (singing room) to sing/shout our favourite tunes. This is so much fun. We really think Canada should have this amazing form of entertainment. You sit in a big room with your friends and sing karaoke until you lose your voice. It's not only for foreigners falling over from too many GoGos, it's for everyone! Families go together. Children go with friends. Its a popular way to have fun and relieve stress. I know if we had them in Canada, I could convince some of my friends to go (right Shaun?).

After some dancing at a crowded club, we headed home at the early hour of 4AM. 5 hours later, Vinyl Go Go became filed under the NO NO part of my brain....never will we go go there again. But hey- it was fun before 9AM!

4 Days in the Sun....NOT

2009-06-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

Annyong!

Well....our 4 days of sweet freedom didn't turn out exactly the way we had hoped. Everything went smoothly at first. We (Matt, Mel, Cindy and Brett) made it to Busan, a city on the shore, on Friday after work. We got up early the next morning to catch our ferry to Geoje, the island we were to spend the next four days on. We successfully caught the 9am ferry....and then our adventure began. We arrived in Geoje and spent three hours walking around looking for a hotel. Turns out it is a busy place. After a taxi ride to a different city, the boys managed to secure some accommodation for us (something that was to be brought up repeatedly on the rest of the trip...yes boys, you did a great job).

After a half hour of rest and some seriously needed showers, we spent three glorious, wonderful, amazing hours on the beach enjoying the only glimps of the sun we would see for the next few days. The beach was deserted except for the four of us and a few other way-goo-gins (korean for "foreigners") who live there. We didn't get to swim, but the view was beautiful and the sun felt great. We spent the rest of our day relaxing with some drinks and wandering the streets. There is always something interesting to see in Korea.

The next day we booked a ferry to a nearby island known to be very impressive for it's flowers and plants. We didn't intend on going there, but it was the only ferry tour left, so we decided to just go anyway. We were a bit distressed when we realized that our ferry tickets didn't have seat numbers on them. You see, in Korea, you have to be ready to fight for your seat...and that is when you have an assigned seat. Without seat numbers, we knew we would never be able to sit together, and it would be lucky if one of us was not elbowed into the ocean by an aggressive ajuma (Korean for older lady). We were last on the boat (we were too scared to go before everyone else), and had to take the only seats left....but again we were the local celebrities. One man in particular took about two dozen photos of us (especially Matt and Mel).....I guess we must be supermodels.
The island was surprisingly beautiful. We could have easily spent all day there looking at the amazing scenery and beautiful flowers. We really didn't expect the island to be that wonderful . The weather gods completely ignored our sunshine dance and instead it was cloudy and cool, but we still felt lucky to be experiencing something so unique.

The weather really put an end to our plans of relaxing in the sun. Instead we watched a movie (Night at the Museum 2 is not good by the way) and spent some time wandering the streets. We ate at some interesting places, and shared some laughs over drinks and cards.

After two days, Mat and Mel had to return to work. Brett and I went back to Busan for our last couple of days. We spent some time in the little shops off the main street. We found the best ceramics place (which also had the cutest dog on Earth) and took a million photographs of children chasing the pigeons at one of the main temples. Oh- and we also learned that when you go to sleep in a strange hotel, you should lock your door unless you want a 7am wake up call from a Korean man who is in the wrong hotel room. ( Mom, I swear we usually triple check out door locks.) Today we returned to Siji, and realized that we live in the best place we have visited in Korea. How lucky is that!

4 Days of Sweet Sweet Freedom!

2009-06-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

Annyong!

Thank you to the two people who commented and answered our survey! We know our blogs are getting a bit few and far between, but we still love to hear from all of you! We check for comments often, even though we may not have time to actually write anything new. Whenever there is a new comment we always yell excitedly, "Hey there is a new comment!!!". So please send us some love! Even though we are having a great time over here, we miss all of you very much.

Our private school is on holidays for the next four days. We are heading out to Korea's second biggest island. We are hoping for a combination of sunshine, warm temperatures, and cool beer (well, beer for Brett....none for me thanks...ew. I'm a whisky girl). This four day break is coming at the perfect time as we were starting to feel a bit burnt out. Here is a picture of Brett looking stressed:

We will return on Wednesday with stories to tell and about 1000 photos to share! We wish you were here to come with us!

Completely off topic- I saw a girl this week who was wearing a shirt that said "UNHEALTHY" in big letters across the front! Being in Korea has taught me to never trust those shirts with Asian words on them, because if they are anything like the Korean shirts with English on them, then they are saying nasty or funny things about the people who are wearing them. We have seen some completely shocking things written on shirts here. One said something in graphic language about doing things to women for money. Another very shocking shirt was a picture of a teddy bear that said to do something very rude to the bear's backside. Oh my!

What's Goin' On Over There?

2009-06-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

Well, lately we've been getting the question "What's going on over there?".

I think actually being here in Korea gives us an odd perspective on the situation. We are not exposed to any sensationalized news reports from CNN or BBC, unless we seek them out. We don't understand the Korean news. So, we simply rely on our Korean friends, co-workers and older students to give us the real info on what is going on. Of course we read the news and scan the internet, however, actually talking to Koreans seems to be the most reassuring way to go.

Last week, in the midst of North Korea's preparations for missile tests, and rumors of North Korea's plans for skirmishes with the South about their sea border, most South Koreans we spoke to felt no tension at all. When we spoke of the missiles, they would simply roll their eyes and reply with something about the "crazy north".

"Oh teacha- they just so crazy all the time."

You see, for South Koreans, this is all same ol' same ol'. They have heard the threats before. Korea appears to be the opposite of the US with their terrorism alerts and their sensationalistic reports. Instead, things are calm, reports state the facts, and the actions of Kim Jong Il are known but not given any special spotlight or exaggeration. Perhaps we should be more worried than we are. But so far, we are just making sure to keep informed. The only action Brett and I are taking is to register with our embassy so that if people need to be evacuated at some point, then we are on the list. But really, here in South Korea, nobody is talking about "crazy man" Kim Jong Il at all.

The main focus of the news last week was the death of one of the former presidents, Roh Moo-Hyun. After being accused of inappropriately taking money during his time as president, Roh decided to end his life. He went for a hike up a mountain and jumped off a cliff. The reaction to this was tremendous. Koreans were shocked. Roh suddenly became a hero, and the current president a criminal for beginning the investigation that led to Roh committing suicide. People packed the streets of Seoul to see his funeral and voice their anger at the events that lead to his death. Riot police were actually needed because of the angry protests.

Pictures by Reuters.com

I found this all to be strange. At the beginning of my time here in Korea I became aware that the suicide rate for children is high. It was also pointed out to me that the parents and school of the child who commits suicide are ashamed of that child, and try to keep the suicide a secret. The parents and school are shamed by the community for having a child who is not tough enough to handle life in Korea. The child is actually blamed! This disturbed me a great deal. So now, with this president (who may actually be corrupt) being turned into a hero for taking his own life....I couldn't help but question why the tiny children who also jump from cliffs or windows are not heroes? Why aren't people mad at the system that causes their deaths?

Anyway, I am never going to understand. As a foreigner, I know I don't know all the facts and I don't understand the history and culture behind everything. So all I can do is watch and observe...and vent in a blog online that is read by one person...maybe two.

Museum Without Walls

2009-05-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we were lucky enough to be escorted to the ancient capital city of Gyeongju - The Museum Without Walls. Our guides were our friend, Eun Ju and her sister Su Yoen. What a difference it makes being accompanied by locals!

Usually any day trip we take requires walking to the subway, riding the subway, changing subway lines, finding the bus terminal, waiting for the bus, riding the over-heated bus and arriving at our destination tired, grumpy and wondering "What do we do now?".

Our friends and tour guides picked us up from our apartment and drove us directly to our first point of call in Gyeonju, Bulgoksa temple. This temple is one of only 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Korea and is the largest and most important temple complex in the country.

Located on the mountain above Bulgoksa is the 2nd UNESCO site in the area, known as Seokguram Grotto. Seokguram is an amazing Buddha statue carved from stone in around 744AD. It sits within a cave temple nestled into one the highest mountains in the area.

The other great thing about traveling with locals is, they know what to order at a restaurant. This is always one of the most awkward and frustrating situations that we experience. Not this day! We were treated to traditional Korean cuisine at it best! Han jong Shik for lunch and Saam for dinner. Lunch was comprised of about 20 different dishes will I counted 50 cups, pots and dishes on our table for dinner. Needless to say we were full and there was plenty left behind.

Since we didn't have to worry about catching buses, subways or taxis home, we were able to stay a little later and experience some of the nightlife. This came in the way of the kings very own garden and the oldest observatory tower in Asia.

A wonderful day, with great food, excellent people, and a fascinating city!

Hello My Name is Tazmanian Devil

2009-05-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

Name: Tazmanian Devil. Well, actually my name is Brad. Well really, I have a Korean name but nobody knows it and Cindy Teacher can't decipher it because I speak like the tazmanian devil.

Age: nine in Korea, eight in Canada

Favourite Colour: all of Cindy Teacher's crayons squished together in my tiny fist makes the most amazing rainbow lines across my desk

Hobby: screaming and running around the room while twirling at a speed that would make any adult hurl

Second Hobby: Anything that makes Cindy Teacher give me her famous "teacher face". It makes me laugh.

Favourite Animal: A shark because I can randomly make shark noises and pretend to bite Cindy Teacher when she least expects it. My favourite spot is the back of her leg. She appears to not like it, but I'll keep doing it until she loves it. I think she'll cave in soon.

Things that make me happy: Falling off my chair on purpose (especially when I can dramatically throw my arms up and squeal while doing it), speaking so fast that nobody understands me, spontaneously turning into a frog and ribbiting Korean words, when my classmate John cry-laughs at my funny faces, when Cindy Teacher tells me to speak English...silly Teacher, I don't know any English.

Things that make me unhappy: When Cindy Teacher takes me into the hall and acts-out picking up an invisible phone, dialing, and speaking to my mother. No, that's not good. That makes me slow my twirling and spinning for a whole ten minutes!

What we can buy for under $25!

2009-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our Tuesday, summed up by expenses:

two hair cuts (and yes, they actually look good)- 12000 won (about $10)

at a small restaurant off the beaten path there is a plain looking restaurant/house where a korean couple makes the most delicious food. Brett discovered it a week ago when eating with his Korean friend. It is now my favourite place to eat. We had two bowls of bibimbap made with freshly grown veggies (right from their garden), and served with 8 side dishes and a massive bowl of kimchi stew. They even gave us a free sweet drink made of rice!- 10 000 won (about $8)

20 giggling 3 year olds, all lined up wearing the same track suit and waiting for the same school bus, excitedly saying "hello" because they don't know any other English words, and then screaming with delight when I say "hello" back (repeated about 8 times, even after I was so far away that I had to yell "heeellllooo!")- FREE

a large plate of noodles in spicy red sauce, and a huge bowl of Japanese style soup shared for dinner at the restaurant beside our school- 4000 won (about $3.50)

Total- $21.50

Markets, Used Clothing Stores, and Cindy's S Curve

2009-05-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks. Cindy here.

Well as the time here speeds by us, we are trying to see everything. Impossible. But hey, we try. We work Saturdays, so that gives us one day a week to explore. This past weekend we headed off to a market we were unfamiliar with in Daegu.

As soon as we stepped off the subway at Chilsong market, we knew something was "a little fishy". The scent of fish and other things we could not identify immediately assaulted our nose. We are used to the strange smells here. But this one was extraordinarily fish-a-stinkish. We headed up to wander the streets, but I have to admit that it was completely my fault that we were back on the subway about 10 minutes later. Somedays I can take the smell, and somedays I can't. This was apparently a day I could not.

So we headed back to more familiar and less stinky territory downtown. We wanted to continue Brett's eternal search for the perfect man-bag. The man-bag's here in Korea tend to be larger and prettier than my purse...and therefore quite unsatisfactory to the manly Brett. We thought perhaps the used clothing stores might have the perfect solution. There is an entire street of used clothing stores in Daegu. It is a wonderful way to spend a day. Somehow looking through someone elses junk is way more fun than sorting and cleaning your own.

The second store we went into had two ajumas (older ladies) sitting amongst the piles and racks of discarded items. "Uh-sus-ay-oh" (welcome) they greeted us. There, hanging from the wall was the man-bag of Brett's dreams (or at least the best he could hope to do in Korea). It was small, and leather.....no hint of glitter, shiny metal, or gawdy fake name brand labels. As Brett tried it on, one of the ajuma's tugged on my arm.
"American?"
"Aniyo (no), Canadian."
"Ahhhhhhh. Ohhhhhhhhh. Canadian. Very beautiful."
"Kamsahamnida!" (thank you)

The two ladies then talked away to us in Korean. We think they were saying that I was so tall for a girl, and they are so very short. One of them then grabbed my wrist to test my bone structure. The other one had to do the same. They pinched my arms, patted my legs, imitated how tall I was with their arms fully stretched out above their heads, and then said "Oooooh S curve" and traced the side of my hip. It was a bigger medical than my doctor does! However, the results were positive. They thought my shape was attractive although it is very different to the extremely slim Korean figure. A nice compliment!

We then met up with Matt and Mel for some western style cheesy nachos. We both decided that our bodies have become unaccustomed to the greasiness of western style food. We much prefer the clean rice and veggie style Korean food that we have most nights...although those nachos tasted mighty yummy. As we left the restaurant, we stopped to look at the alcohol-in-a-ziploc-bag store/stand. We decided that this was indeed an adventure that would have to wait for another night...one where we don't have to get up the next morning. Mixed drinks in ziploc bags? Oh so dangerously attractive!

Moustache May

2009-05-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Viewers,

Yes, it is that time again, May. A time when Canadians can start to enjoy warmer weather, green grass, birds singing and moustaches.. confused?

Once again our good friends have taken up the challenge of facial hair artistry to celebrate the month of May.

Discover their moustache wizardry at www.moustachemay.com/staches/

Art Vandelay

He likes architecture, saving beached whales and growing a moustache. He is currently employed buy Kruger industries but Penske has shown some serious interest in his capabilities.

Simcoe County Chopper

Grower and Lover of Moustaches.

thecontinuumtransfunctioner

Likes: Spending time with family and friends, Nitrous Bungee jumping, Extreme breakdancing, Competitive yoga (2002 blackbelt), the smell of fresh ground coffee on a rainy day.

The Seoul of Asia

2009-05-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hey! Brett here, remember me?!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have our second Saturday off in as many weeks. We made the most of this opportunity and took the 1 and a half hour train ride to the Korean capital. Seoul is a vibrant city of over 10 million people, It is bustling with cars, buses, motorbikes and people. The lights are bright and and the food is plentiful and delicious.

We stayed in a traditional Korean house in an area just north of Insadong. The room was small, and apart from a thick blanket, we slept on the floor. It even came with a wake-up service in the form of old Korean ladies dragging boxes along the pavement outside our window.

This trip to Seoul also coincided with a gathering that had been organized by our recruiters and friends, Dan and Aggie. Around 50 English teachers that had been placed in Korea by Teach ESL Korea came together to share stories over galbi, maekju, soju and dancing.

As a city, Seoul always seems to have something going on! Festivals, concerts, parades.... you can always find something interesting to see and do. We were fortunate enough to arrive on Buddha's birthday and were able to witness the celebrations at one of Korea's most historic sites, Jogyesa temple. Even though Seoul has more foreigners in it than other cities, we still attracted some attention and were interviewed by a tv station and were also filmed walking about and taking photos two other times.

Two days and about 1000 photos later (please look at the Seoul in May photo album), we boarded the train bound for Daegu. Our city of 3 million people doesn't seem so big anymore. We had a wonderful weekend in the true heart of Korea, but we were still happy to be back in our little old Siji.

When a Brush With Death is Normal

2009-04-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Cindy here. Today a man on a scooter rushed passed me so close that his leg brushed my side and I could smell his cologne. I just kept on walking and humming the same song . A few minutes later I actually thought about what had happened. I hadn't flinched, moved, screamed, or even noticed that a scooter almost ran me over. I think I am getting too comfortable here! Death by scooter is only a fear for those new to Korea. For the rest of us it is just a regular day.

A Brief, Cold Trip to the Beach

2009-04-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Since we finally had a Saturday off we decided to make the most of it and planned a trip with Matt and Melissa. We decided to go to Busan..a city on the coast with beautiful beaches. The plan was to leave early Saturday morning and spend two glorious days skipping and dancing in the sunshine in beautiful Busan. Well, we messed it up before we even left Daegu.

Friday night the four of us went out with our friend Dan who is visiting Korea from Canada. We headed downtown promising that we would all be home and asleep by 2am. I vaguely remember 2am....and from what I remember, Matt was saying "more beer", and I was describing how sometimes you don't know how drunk you are until you stand up. At 3am Matt was saying "one more beer" and I was thinking I may need to cut myself off soon. At 4am we were all inside a kimbap shop eating a lot of food. And as the sun came up at 5:30, Brett and I finally got home, while remarking on how time flies in Korea.

So our early start was pushed to a "noonish" start. Well, when "noonish" came, Matt was not feeling so well and the rest of us didn't feel like rushing. It was more six-ish by the time we all left Daegu, so we arrived in Busan in time for dinner. A late start, but that's ok!

Our plans were then further hindered by the fact the sunshine was on strike. Just would not shine. But we didn't let it get us down. We bundled up in our sweaters and jackets and explored the beach and the city in the wind and the cold. We had a look at some nasty fish in the aquarium and made the locals stare by performing some leaps and jumps on the beach (they were going to stare at us anyway, so we thought we might as well give them something interesting to look at). It was a good trip, although we will have to return another time and actually relax on the beach instead of shiver.

Would you like some WHINE with that?

2009-04-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here is where I make an excuse for our severe lack of blogness. Um, don't have one....except the weather has been "real purdy" and we have been enjoying it. Oh- and Brett is drunk on soju all of the time. Typical.

I can honestly say we have really improved at this "living in Korea" thing. We really have things down pat. We have favourite stores, we know how much things cost, we know how to say "too expensive" (aka- you are ripping me off) in Korean, and we even have our students convinced we can understand them when they are saying bad things about us in Korean (thanks to our super-teacher-spidey-sense...we really just can tell when a child is being cheeky). Other than a small restaurant mishap last week that left us rather hungry, we have been doing really well and really enjoying life.

There is one thing though that we just can't seem to get past. For our first few months here, we really thought people were upset or angry all of the time. Since we could not understand the language, we were really just relying on tone. Often we would hear women or children talking to each other in a tone similar to the tone i hear everyday when teaching grade one in Canada. It sounds like this "Miiiiiiisssssssss Booooooooyeeesssss, heeeeeeee hiiiit meeeee" (say it in a really whiney voice...I know you have heard it).

One day I was sitting in my favourite restaurant. We call it "Orange" since we don't know the name, and the sign is orange. There are usually 4 lovely women working there. They welcome us with smiles and bow when taking our money. We love it, and we love the food. Anyway, back to the story. I was eating my favourite bibimbap with my back to the ladies. I could hear what I thought was a real war breaking out between them. Seriously! The tone was that of distress, disgust and anger. They were whining at each other. Crabbing. Yelling. Oh oh. I thought I was going to have to duck. I pictured hand fulls of rice being thrown across the restaurant as this war escalated to food-violence. But when I turned to look at the ladies, they were all smiling, and two of them were even holding hands. I had made a "foreigner mistake". What would be a whining tone at home, is not a whining tone here.

Every day we remark on this difference. It doesn't seem to stop surprising us. No matter how much we practice speaking Korean, we know we will never be able to master the "tone".

Cough Cough Cough

2009-04-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks! It's been a while but I (Cindy) have been a bit ill. Being sick in Korea is a strange thing. I have had a sore throat for over two weeks now, and this week it took my voice away. When my voice came back, it brought along a BARK with it. I cough cough bark bark bark cough. It really sounds like I am dying. I did finally give in and go to a doctor who sort of speaks English. He asked me many questions, and after each one he would furrow his brow at my answer and tell me that my answer was simply not good enough. Apparently the answers I have always given in Canada are not sufficient here in Korea. Saying my chest is congested was not good enough, he wanted to know exactly where, how heavy the congestion was, what exactly it felt like, and even what I thought was in there. It took many tries before he would accept my explanation of how my ears hurt. He stuck things in my ears that beeped, things up my nose the shot out steam, and I had to inhale something through my mouth that tasted like vanilla. After all of this, he told me to come back the next day.
"You have allergy.....you understand? You have allergy and I test tomorrow before noon. Closeee tomorrow noon-uh lunchee two hours. Understand?"
"I have to work tomorrow, I cannot come."
"No you come tomorrow. Allergy."
"WORK tomorrow."
"Yes, see you before noon."
"Fine."
I didn't go. I really did have to work. So here I sit, barking and coughing, hoping that it will cure itself somehow.

Anyway, last weekend we set out on an adventure with our good friends Matt and Mel and their friend Rob. We went to Jinhae for their Cherry Blossom Festival. This involved taking a train to Changwan, and then a second train to Jinhae. All went well getting there, and we had a great time. There were so many cherry blossom trees that it was actually raining pink petals when the wind blew.

When it was time to go home, we realized that we perhaps were going to have a problem. The train to Changwon was sold out. The buses were so full that people were hanging out of them. We HAD to get to Changwon to get our train home.......and time was running out.

(***Mom, stop reading here. Trust me. Just imagine that we got on a lovely bus and had a lovely ride, and caught our lovely train...now skip to the end and look at the pictures.**)

So, after some negotiation and a call to a person who could translate for us, we got a taxi driver to agree to take us to Changwon. Almost right away we realized the roads were packed and we were not going to make our train to Daegu at that pace. The taxi driver seemed to sense our need for speed, and after one more call to someone who could translate for us, he stepped on the gas and began what could only be described as a taxi ride straight from a video game. We sped past lines of cars caught in traffic, we were often on the wrong side of the road, the tires squealed as we went around corners, and since there were no seatbelts for us to wear, we were thrown into each other as we laughed nervously. However, we made it there alive and in time to catch our train. Another successful mission.

Singing in the Rain

2009-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

We know, we know, we have not been keeping up with the blog this past week. But we have a good excuse.......ummmmm.....ok, so we don't. But here is a brief catch up blog, and we promise to do better this week!

Last week, we decided to spend Sunday at a neighbouring city, Gyeongju, which is known to have particularly beautiful cherry blossoms. Our friend, Melissa promised good weather. So when Sunday arrived and I had the biggest sore throat ever, and dark clouds had filled the sky.....I thought the mission would be aborted. But Matt, Melissa and Brett are such big fans of the cherry blossom that neither rain, nor dark clouds, nor sore throats could keep them away. How could I deny them their dreams of roaming streets lined with beautiful cherry blossom trees? I simply couldn't face their wee sad faces. So I bravely took some medicine for my sore throat and prepared to face the rainy day.

Well, our mission started with a taxi incident. We simply had to take a taxi to Matt and Melissa's house, and would continue the journey from there. But, alas, we did not know how to give the directions in Korean. We tried our best. But as the taxi driver turned a direction we knew was the wrong way, all we could do was call Melissa to say that we would call them again from wherever the taxi driver dropped us off. Luckily, while the taxi driver wove around the streets of Daegu, we recognized the bus station we thought we needed to be at later on that morning to take a bus to Gyeongju...so we yelled a loud "yogi-yo" (which means "over here") and the taxi screeched to a stop. We hopped out, called Matt and Melissa to tell them to make their way to the bus station, and then headed into Dunkin Donuts for a much needed cafe latte.

After Matt and Melissa arrived, it then took four confusing conversations with Korean bus employees, and five trips across the road to check other bus stations nearby, to find the bus station we needed to be at. But...success....we eventually got on a bus to Gyeongju. The four of us were given the seats that stretched across the back of the bus. There are five seats along the back wall. Two of us on one side, two of us on the other, and a sleepy Korean man in the middle. He clearly did not know about my sore throat as he rested his head on my shoulder, exposing himself to my germs and a gentle poke from my elbow.

As we drove to Gyeongju, the sky got darker and darker. Then it started to rain. We got off the bus in Gyeongju, made "oh yuck" faces at each other as we pulled up our hoods and zipped our jackets up as far as possible, and began our wander of the city.

Eventually it did stop raining, although it never did warm up. We found the cherry blossoms, however they were not fully out yet. We also found something very strange- in Gyeongju, they rent small motorcycles and tiny cars to children and adults. We spent a lot of time watching people zip around on these small vehicles, nearly killing each other and having a lot of fun doing it. The tiny vehicles were allowed to go on the same sidewalks as the pedestrians, so we had to live in fear of our lives the whole day, but the entertainment we got from photographing them was worth the risk.

Spring has Sprung

2009-03-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

When we returned from Australia we were very happy to find that Korea had warmed up. The first two days back were warm enough that we wandered the streets in just t-shirts and jeans. So lovely. Of course, not every day is that warm. We often need jackets or sweaters, but before we went to Australia we also needed mitts, hats, and a winter jacket. The change is amazing.

Spring in Korea has brought two noticeable changes besides the weather. One good, one bad. Beautiful flowers have started to come out on the trees and bushes in our area. I was anxiously waiting to see cherry blossoms, and it seemed like suddenly they just appeared. We wondered how trees we passed on the way to school seemed to grow buds and flowers while we were teaching. This past weekend we took a short stroll through our neighbourhood to take some photos of the flowers because if they disappear as quickly as they appeared, then they will all be gone overnight!

The negative side of Spring is the yellow dust. We knew nothing about it until now! Every Spring, yellow, polluted dust is blown into Korea. It comes from the Gobi Desert in Northern China. Intense wind/sandstorms bring the dust into Korea. The dust picks up pollutants from China along the way. I am sure that some pollutants from Korea also get mixed up in there, however, according to the Koreans, the toxic yellow dust is all China's fault. We have seen an increase in the dust and smog over the last week, and my sinuses and allergies have been going crazy. The "yellow" dust we have seen has been more gray than yellow. Regardless, the whole thing is unpleasant. Good thing we have beautiful Spring temperatures to distract us.

These next two photos are not ours. They are from internet sites about Korea's yellow dust problem. They are a good example of what Koreans see when the dust moves in. However, the face masks in the bottom photo are worn by many women everyday all year, not for the dust, but to protect them from the sun. Tanned skin is not popular in Korea. To them it means that you work outside, and are therefore lower class.

The Week We Waltzed With Matilda

2009-03-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

G'day! Last night we returned to our wee apartment in Korea. We were tired, smelly, and in my (Cindy's) case- very ill . But we were also very very happy. A week of sunshine, family, friends, beautiful scenery and heaps 0f fun was the perfect cure for the homesick blues we had been suffering from previously. We packed a lot into our week, and although we wish it could have been longer, we feel much better having caught up with important people, basking in the Aussie sun, hearing the birds sing, and enjoying some good eats and drinks.

Under the Southern Cross

2009-03-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

On the 22nd of January 2008 I said goodbye to the golden shores of Western Australia and set off on an epic journey. A journey that has taken me to Dubai, Canada, Alaska, South Korea and Japan. I have experienced -30C snow storms, built 6 foot tall snowmen, taught French, taught English, eaten poutine and pupa (both equally as disgusting), taken Korean lessons and now.... 412 days later... I'm coming home!

It has been nearly two years since Cindy left WA and I know she is equally as excited about catching up with the special friends she made during her exchange. Between you and me, I think she is looking forward to some good old Vegemite toast too, not that she will admit it!

We will land on Australian soil at 1:50am Sunday the 8th of March. Ma and Pa have agreed to collect our weary souls from the airport and take us back to my little sisters place for some rest and relaxation. A few hours later we will get up with the sun and try to squeeze a months worth of activities into just one week.

Advance Australia Fair!

Cold Snap

2009-03-02T21:26:00.001-08:00

Hello again, Brett here.

I thought the Canadians might get a laugh from this West Australian newspaper article.

Perth shivers through coolest night of the year

Perth has shivered through its coldest morning for the year with temperatures plunging to 7.7C at 7am this morning.

My Favorite Teacher

2009-03-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, Brett here. I thought you might enjoy this piece of writing I found on Cindy's desk last week.

Write Paragraph - My Favorite Teacher.

Do you know who has the most unique individuality in the world? I know, She's Cindy Teacher!! She's not boring at all. She always starts lessons with some jokes. Also she smiles a lot so she makes everyone happy too. Before I don't like yale because my teachers were bored and scary. But Cindy Teacher always listen my chat very carefully and give us some presents so I think she's different with another teachers. She's very cheerful and important friend for me.
.

Another day at the office

2009-03-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

G'day, Brett here.

I thought it was about time we told you a bit about our jobs here in Korea, considering that is one of the main reasons we are here.

We work at a private English academy, otherwise known as a Hogwan, called Yale Foreign Language Institute. Yale was established in 1993 and has since expanded to 5 campuses across the city of Daegu. It has a reputation for being one of, if not the best Hogwon in Daegu and employs over 60 foreign teachers.

We work at the Siji branch with around a dozen foreigners (4 Americans, 3 Englishmen, 2 Canadians, a Scot, an Irish lass and an Aussie) and about 15 Korean teachers. It's a good crew with plenty of characters who enjoy a good time and a few drinks. Amongst the other branches we are known as the "party school', not that Cindy and I can take much of the credit/blame for that!

We currently teach 24 forty-five minute classes over 6 days. Most days we start at around 4pm and finish just after nine. Class sizes vary between 4 and 12 students. Children come twice a week for reading, writing, and conversation classes.

The students are mostly well behaved and enthusiastic about learning. Although, the older they get, the more pressure they have placed on them and the less eager they become. I nearly gave my first detention last week.. Heaven forbid, one of my 6th grade kids hadn't done his homework! Luckily for him, it was my last time teaching that class and I didn't want to waste my "detention free" record on him. Added to this, my dad had just been telling me that he has suspended 6 kids from his class in the first 3 weeks of school and lets just say, it was for a little more than incomplete homework!

Of course, it's not all beer and skittles. There are plenty of frustrations and annoyances and like any job, most days we don't want to go! Regardless, we often remind ourselves about our jobs back home, getting up at 6am, the 45 minute drive, the class of 30 hooligans, the parents, the staff meetings, and think... it ain't so bad.

Pupa anyone?

2009-02-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks we have noticed street vendors selling brownish things that look like a fat little worm squished flat. When I asked my grade 6 students what they were, the only boy in the class happily told me they were pupae...and then waited for my reaction. I was not surprised. Afterall, we have seen many crazy things here, so this was fairly low on the crazy list. After class I did my own research and discovered that Koreans eat silkworm pupae. They must have silkworm farms because there are millions of pupae being sold on the streets here in Daegu.

In case you are a bit fuzzy on your silkworm stages of development, I will quickly fill you in. Silkworms go through four stages- embryo, larva, pupa, imago. It starts as a little egg, turns into a silkworm, then becomes a pupa (which is when it uses it's body like a sleeping bag) and then a moth comes out. The silkworm pupa (sometimes called a chrysalis) is protected by a silk cocoon. Koreans gather the cocoons, unravel the silk, take out the pupa, boil it and eat it. You can even buy it in cans.

Last night we were at a bar that served the pupa like bars in Canada serve peanuts. They smell very bad, have squishy white liquid inside (the creamy guts of the wormy larva), and can sometimes pop in your mouth. I didn't eat one but Brett did. As with everything strange here, the Koreans assure us it is very nutritious and good for our health. I think I'll just take a vitamin, thank you.

Boys Over Flowers

2009-02-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

Annyong!

Last week a ten year old girl had a picture in her pencil case. In this particular class, I often steal their pencil cases and announce to everyone what is inside. This causes them to scream with excitement and laughter as I walk around showing all their notes and balancing their pencils on my head. But on that day, 10 year old Jenny was not impressed. She was worried.

"Teeeeeeaachaaaa, picture noooo. Picture nooo rip. Special teeeeeaaaaacher"

I had seen many pictures of boys in their pencil cases. Both boys and girls often carry a picture of their favourite singer in their bag, pencil case, or pocket at all times. But this picture I did not recognize. When I asked who the picture was of, I got the impression that I had said something forbidden. I heard screams, giggles, and frantic Korean words from both the boys and the girls as they discussed how I should surely be kicked out of Korea because of my stupidity. They began yelling something at me in Korean. Then they stopped to think of how it translated into English.

"Teacha- Boys Over Flowers"

When I asked them to explain Boys Over Flowers, again I got the screams, giggles, and Korean words. Clearly this was something I had to get to the bottom of. So that day I asked all of my classes to explain it to me. Not only did I get the answer, but I also got a clear picture of how big of a deal this was/is. Every class errupted into hoots, hollers and giggles when I asked them about it.

So what is Boys Over Flowers?

Well, fellow moronic foreigner, it is the best tv show ever made! It started as a comic book and then was made into a tv show in Japan. The title in Japanese actually translates to boys before flowers. The Japanese have a saying, "dumplings before flowers" which makes fun of all the people who claim to be out enjoying the beauty of the cherry blossoms, but instead spend their time at the food vendors. Anyway, somehow when Korea decided to make their own show, they retranslated it and it ended up becoming boys over flowers.

The show is about a "cute girl" named Jan Di, whose family owns a dry cleaning shop. She is too poor to attend the rich private school near her house. However, one day she saves one of the private school students from committing suicide, and in return gets admitted into the school. There, she meets a group of popular boys who call themselves F4. She goes through some tough times with this group of boys, but ....BUT....then the leader of the group falls in love with her. HOWEVER, so does one of the other boys in the group.

"Teacha.....difficult.....two boys is love cutie girl."

Keep up now......THEN Jan Di and the lead F4 boy, Joon Pyo become a couple. HOWEVER, his mother does not approve of him dating a poor girl and insists they break up, and then finds a fiance for him! Jan Di cries and cries and cries, and the other member of F4, Ji Hoo who also loves Jan Di then takes this opportunity to show her how he can be a great guy. BUT Jan Di is still in love with Joon Pyo.

The show is on every Monday and Tuesday. We decided we had to give it a chance, so last week we tuned in. It is in Korean, which makes it a bit hard to follow. Brett fell asleep in the first ten minutes. I watched it right to the end. Just mentioning the name of the lead male actor makes the girls in my class hold hands and squeal (his blood type is A, just incase that is as important to you as it is to the squealing girls in my classes). And although I can't say I was squealing over any of the actors on the show, I will watch it again....and that will give Brett another chance to have a good nap.

Think, Cindy Teacher, Think.

2009-02-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

Some days Cindy Teacher forgets where she is. Here is today's example.

Cindy Teacher is teaching a lovely group of grade 5 students. They are all waiting patiently with their books open and ready. Cindy checks their comprehension of the story.

Cindy Teacher: Why did the lady buy four more doggy treats?

Jessica: Because her dog liked the first one. Can people eat doggy treats too?

Cindy Teacher: Well I guess so, but it probably wouldn't taste very good, and there might be some strange things in them.

David: Strange? Like what?

Cindy Teacher: Ummm, like chicken feet or pig's ears and things people don't usually eat.

Silence goes over the classroom. The students stare at Cindy Teacher with an odd look on their faces.

Jamie: I ate chicken feet this morning.

Jack: My grandma eats them a lot!

Kevin: People don't eat chicken feet? Why? My family eats chicken feet. Is it bad?

Jessica: We use pig's ears in soup.

Cindy Teacher puts her head down on her desk to hide her laughter. She reminds herself to think before she speaks next time.

Hello, my name is Sam.

2009-02-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

Anyong!

Well folks, we've now been in Korea for five months. And we certainly have adjusted to our life here. Being stared at, pointed at, and talked about now feels normal. We no longer notice that we don't understand any of the conversations going on around us. We are used to the odd sights and smells. We know what to expect when boarding a crowded train, and we are getting better at standing our ground in the shoving match of any Korean crown. We have favourite meals, restaurants and hang outs. And we are getting very brave with using the small amount of Korean we know, or...at least we don't mind having to use our charades skills to get our message across.

However, every week we still discover new things that surprise us. Some discoveries delight us, and others don't. This week I discovered something that really makes me giggle. The confusing thing is how I have not discovered this before.

As I was walking down the hall with one of my students, she passed one of her Korean teachers and said "Sam, bye!". When I asked why she called her Sam, my student told me that Sam is the short form for teacher. I knew that all teachers are called "teacher" here. Sometimes our names are put in front. I am Cindy Teacher, but most often I am just called Teacher.

The Korean teachers are also called Teacher as well, but in Korean, which is songsangnim. However, that "Sam" revelation somehow tweaked my brain. I started hearing it all over the place. And the part that made me giggle, is that I discovered that the korean teachers themselves all call each other Sam. Yesterday I heard a conversation that thrilled me. I am going to put numbers after the word Sam just to make things more clear about which Sam is speaking:

Sam1: Sam(2), do you know where my book went?
Sam2: No Sam I don't. Sam(3) have you seen Sam(1)'s book?
Sam3: Oh yes. Sam(4) where did we put that book? Sam(1) is looking for it.
Sam4: Um, I gave it to Sam(5).
Sam3: Hey sam(5)! Can Sam(1) have the book that Sam(4) gave to you yesterday?

This was all in Korean, but I am pretty sure I understood most of it. Sam1 never did get his book, by the way. Sam5 had lent it to Sam6 who was using it to teach a class that day. I am so glad that we simply call them by their real names!

Dr. Fish

2009-02-11T07:20:00.000-08:00

Today we were eaten alive. And we payed to be eaten alive.

Daegu has a very interesting place called Dr. Fish, where you first enjoy a small buffet of bread, butter, jam and coffee....and then you stick your stinky feet in a tub of little fish and let them nibble off your dead skin. Sound gross? It took some getting used to, but then we all agreed that we enjoyed having the hungry fish nibble away at us. It felt a little tickly and a little prickly, but we had many laughs and the fish had a good meal. Everyone was happy and full.

Four Billy Goats Gruff

2009-02-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

On Sunday we set out on a hike with our friends, Matt and Melissa. It was a gorgeous day, and Brett, our fearless leader, assured us he knew the best mountain to climb. So off we went. We happily chatted as we wandered the busy street on the way to the mountain. It seemed as though the good weather had brought everyone out that day. Koreans use this hobby as a chance to make a statement about their wealth. So only the best hiking gear will do. We ignored the fashion parade of pristine hiking clothes, clean (unused?) boots, large backpacks full to the top (we still don't know what they have in there) and the best hiking poles....and remained confident that we too could hike even though we were wearing jeans, sweatshirts, and dirty shoes. Surely the mountain accepts everyone.

Upon arrival at the base of the mountain Brett had chosen for us our mouths dropped open. "Dude!" I exclaimed. "Are you serious?" This mountain went straight up. It was scary. Everyone who knows me knows I love fitness. I take it very seriously. I exercise almost daily. And as I stood at the bottom looking up at this looming mass of land I had some serious doubts. AND there was practically nobody on it. The rest of the mountains were packed with Koreans....yet this one was bare....a sign for sure. But Brett simply replied "YEP" and started his way up. And us three remaining billy goats had no choice but to follow.

We wound our way slowly up through rocks, dirt and grass and reached a landing where we caught our breath and enjoyed the view. Looking up we could see that there was still a way to go...and it too looked straight up. Melissa said something about how the view from the top had better be significantly better than the view from where we were. Brett said "YEP", and we were off. We passed the typical Korean graves on our way up. We are still not sure what the rules are for burying relatives in Korea. Can you simply carry your deceased loved one up your favourite mountain and bury them wherever you wish? Seems like it. We are mighty impressed that anyone could carry someone up that mountain. We joked that maybe nobody got carried up the mountain. Maybe that is where they lost the fight with the mountain and it was simply easier to leave them where they fell.

Well, as you can see, we made it. We made it all the way to the tippy-top. And then we slid our way back down using sticks to help us keep our footing and not have any high speed falling collisions with trees. I guess that is why the Koreans carry those fancy hiking poles.

We looked back up from the bottom and felt like we had really accomplished something. We hiked a mighty big climb, and we even did it without the high fashion gear.

On the way back home we passed a man who had pulled his car over and was having a dance by himself. I wonder if he too had just survived a day as a billy goat.

From the mouths of babes II

2009-02-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

Brett Teacher: "What do you know about Australia?"

Shane: "Many kangaroo and patient of skin pain."

From the mouths of babes....

2009-02-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

A quote from 11 year old Annie:

"My life is just one big piece of homework. One long difficult piece of homework. I am tired."

Lights, Camera, Action!

2009-02-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We meant to write earlier.....that was the plan...but we were too busy swimming in the loveliness of something called "late schedule". Oh the late schedule. We love it sooooo much. During the month of January, we actually had to work during the day! Imagine that! But now that February has started, our school has gone back to the late schedule, which means that the earliest we start work is 4:00. We have the whole day to enjoy. The weather had been warmer the past two days as well.....adding to our extreme bliss. So we have been running, playing, frolicking, dancing, climbing up mountains, and singing in the sunshine. Oh late schedule.....how much we love you!

Anyway, back to the story.

On Sunday (sorry sorry...I know this is now an OLD story...Sunday was ages ago) we got up at bloomin' 5am, made our sleepy way to downtown, where we boarded a bus with many other foreigners and some Koreans and began the 3.5 hour ride to a stadium just outside of Gwangju. We had all signed up to be extras in a Korean movie. The people organizing the trip had arranged for two cramped buses, and provided us with food and beer (really!) for the trip there.

We were greeted with a Korean style buffet lunch. Thank goodness most of us were foreigners. I cannot imagine a buffet lunch with Koreans would go very well.....we would never make it to the table because our pushing and fighting skills are so not up to theirs. Anyway, we happily ate our kimchi, rice, and unidentifiable pasta dish. And then it was time for us to show our excellent acting skills.

We were fiiming a summer scene in a movie about the 2008 Olymipcs, and then another summer scene from the 1988 Olympics. We were thankful that our scenes were in a stadium, and not in the very cold weather outside.....well, we were thankful while changing into summer clothes outside, and walking to the stadium....and entering the stadium....and then we were no longer thankful. The bloomin' stadium was freakin' colder than it flippin' was outside!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh. So there we all sat in our summer clothes, freezing for many many hours.

Brett was picked to have a special roll as a coach. This involved him wearing a red track suit and standing beside the fake stage for an hour. I was jealous...not because he had a bigger roll, but because he got to wear a track suit, which was warmer than my t-shirt. He then joined the rest of us for many hours of pretending to cheer for fake athletes, and a fake soccer game. I wish we had more photos, but they didn't allow our cameras into the stadium for the first while...until they realized that tourists at the olympics would actually have cameras.

Being the experts we are, we toughed it out through the cold while many others gave up and ran back to the warm bus at the first opportunity. Sissies. Ok, so maybe we also spent 20 minutes on the bus, but I was hungry, and I cannot cheer for invisible athletes when I am hungry.

Six hours later, when the filming ended, we were given shirts and hats as a thank you and then enjoyed another buffet of kimchi, rice, octopus and unidentifiable things.

Our group then got back on the buses and headed to a light festival going on in the green tea fields about 15 minutes away. This is what made the whole day worth while. It was amazing. There were tiny little lights everywhere. We could not get over how beautiful it was. It must have taken ages to put all those lights on the trees and the rows of green tea plants.

40 minutes later we were all back on the bus. We had been promised a karaoke party in the bus for the ride home, but everyone opted for sleep instead of singing. Well, somebody's bottom did plenty of singing....I guess we aren't the only ones who don't like octopus.

Solnal...umm Sollal.....ummm..Solnol...sigh...Lunar New Year

2009-01-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

Say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh! (Happy New Year)

No matter how many times we tried to pronounce the Korean name for Lunar New Year/ Chinese New Year, Koreans never understood. Our students looked at us blankly when we asked them what they were going to do for Solnal. We finally just changed it to "What are you doing for New Year?".

Lunar New Year, also called Chinese new year is one of the most important days in many countries, including Korea, China, and Vietnam. The celebration involves many days of food preparation, wearing traditional clothing, and showing respect to your elders by bowing. Families drink gui balki sool together, which is a liquor that is supposed to allow you to hear clearly the whole year. Sometimes I think we need some of that as well!

Lunar New Year was a four day holiday for us. So we decided to search for something we both love....snow! We traveled 3.5 hours to a city called Gwangju. It is a "small" city of 1.5 million. The bus ride there was almost intolerable. The guy beside us was on his very loud cell phone for the entire trip (who knows that many people?) and then the bus had some sort of problem which caused it to beep like an alarm clock for over an hour. Ahhhhh. But when we saw the snow, we knew we had made the right choice. YAY! We spent our four days exploring this new city and trying to keep warm. Lots of fun. We celebrated Australia Day (also the 26th) and Lunar New Year with lunch at Outback Steak House (yum!) and then a dinner of ramyen (instant noodles....what could be more Korean?).

DO YOU WANT TO DIE?

2009-01-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a sample of what we've been teaching our conversation classes. Keep in mind that they wrote these plays themselves.....and picked the subject matter.

You Are a Fish With Large Fin

2009-01-15T00:48:00.000-08:00

You have to be pretty thick skinned to be a teacher in Korea. Everyday we face a barrage of comments about our appearance, personality, teaching style, and anything else the children can think to comment on. For the teachers at our school, this has become something to brag about. The person that received the most horrendous or hilarious comment earns the most laughs from the rest of the group.

Today I put my hair in a pony tail. As I did this I thought about how it would cause quite a lot of discussion from my students. Any tiny change will cause a major reaction from them. But I had no choice. My hair was doing a very good impression of a wild lion's mane.....so I knew a pony tail would receive less attention...or at least I hoped. I walked into my first class and they burst into a giant "Whoah!!!!! Teacher!!!! Wahhhh!! What you do???". A major overreaction...but this is the case every time I do anything different, no matter how small, and no matter the age of the students. Just today I heard the following:

You are a fish with large fin.
At least you look cleaner.
Your eyes are stuck out.
Your boyfriend looks like a pencil.
Are those your real eyelashes?
Why you wear a fat shirt?

And in the past month I have heard:

You are old like grandma.
You should have diet resolution.
Your hair is very cutie but too many.
Your nose is like pig. I call you pig teacher.

I have spent a lot of time trying to explain that if you don't have anything nice to say then you should not say anything at all. Apparently they do not agree. A few weeks ago, two 11 year old boys were talking away in Korean in my class. One boy used his fingers to hold his eyes wide open and said something in Korean, followed by "put your hands on your head". I knew straight away they were imitating me. It made me laugh.

My favourite comment was received by a coworker. He had a student who actually used the dictionary to come up with good insults to say during class. One day the boy looked at him and said "You are a tree fern".

A Happy Birthday

2009-01-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas, NYE, birthdays... nothing ever really feels quite the same here in Korea. Maybe its the fact that for only the 2nd time in my life I actually had to work (I know, I know, I don't deserve any sympathy) or maybe its the fact that back in OZ temperatures would usually be in the mid to high 30's and here in Daegu were hoping that it will creep back up over zero!

Regardless, I still had a great 26th. Birthday eve was spent with friends at an all you can eat and drink buffet with a live band that played everything from Korean pop songs, to The Black Eyed Peas, Queen and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

Tonight we avoided rice and kimchi and headed to out local Outback Steackhouse. While Cindy opted for the Alice Springs Chicken, I couldn't go past the Australian Sirlion Steak with steamed vegies, chips and gravy plus a glass of Aussie Cab Sav. Later, Cindy managed to top it all off when she produced a pig/cow ice-cream cake for dessert!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009-01-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

We would like to wish everyone a happy new year and give you all our best wishes for 2009. We hope you have enjoyed our stories over the past months and promise to keep our Korean adventures coming in the year of the cow.

Brett and Cindy. xoxo

I Got Seoul..

2008-12-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

Annyong! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We were thinking of you and wishing we could share a few Christmas drinks and a lot of Christmas turkey with our friends and family! We've returned from a lovely few days in Seoul. We purposely booked a hotel with internet access so that we could keep in touch....but alas..."no, wiresy broken, maybe internet wiresy next week" we were told when we checked in. Four days without internet feels weird! And now we have much to blog about! On Christmas day we took the KTX train to Seoul and checked into the Rainbow Hotel. After pondering the chances of actually escaping our seventh floor hotel room during an emergency using the "emergency rope" elegantly packaged and hug beside the window, we decided it was best to just not think about it and instead, spend our time out of the hotel. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhcILxm1WI/AAAAAAAACgI/lC39y8U_bRE/s1600-h/DSC_0036.JPG"></a>It didn't take long for us to decide that we love Seoul. The outdoor ice rink at City Hall made me very very happy.....although after a closer look at the thousands of people trying to wobble their way around it, we decided to watch instead of participate. I made Brett promise that we would be joining the fun next time (now I think he just said that to make me be quiet about it). <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhfnDOGRaI/AAAAAAAACg4/XJLzhUDsjkQ/s1600-h/DSC_0053.JPG"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhfmp-WB1I/AAAAAAAACgw/yT3AQ9o6FWM/s1600-h/DSC_0062.JPG"></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhfmWMERUI/AAAAAAAACgo/1Ax6QEmABJY/s1600-h/DSC_0057.JPG"></a> Our first night in Seoul was freezing. I mean really freezing (yes I do remember that I am Canadian). So we wandered around, enjoyed the sights, and frequently warmed up with good food and warm drinks. I have a slight addiction to bibimpap (rice and veggies). When we found a shop dedicated to only bibimpap I knew we had to eat there! The food was so hot that Brett's glasses kept fogging up. It wasn't turkey, but it was a great Christmas dinner. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhjWqyYWCI/AAAAAAAAChA/RKabHcV84O4/s1600-h/DSC_0081.JPG"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uAU2bbsJsVo/SVhjW85VfkI/AAAAAAAAChI/_BCuRXggRHA/s1600-h/DSC_0084.JPG"></a>

The next day we went to see a temple and one of the Palaces. The tour of the palace took an hour and a half. About 40 minutes into it I decided that it was far too cold for anyone to be learning about a palace by looking at the outside of it. Brett assured me we would survive. I assured him that I would not. As you can tell, he was right. We are still alive. And the good news is that we will now be alive for a good long time, because we passed under an archway that grants you the magic of a long life. We then got to practise our bargaining skills in the tourist area of Seoul. Clearly we need work in this area. We are not good at negotiating....but Brett did manage to save us 1000 won (about 90 cents) on one of our purchases. It's a good start.

On Saturday we experienced a whole other kind of market. This was the pushy push push shovey shove shove kind of market. The pictures cannot even begin to do it justice. Good thing we walked under that archway the day before, because clearly we would have been trampled to death otherwise. This market was more of a blackmarket. It had anything at all you wanted to find. There was even a whole area underground packed with imported items. We enjoyed the sights and had many laughs....but bought nothing. We had arrived a bit early, so we did get to experience the market minus the crowd. It seemed like everyone else arrived all at the same time. It was like some sort of signal had gone off and everyone ran to the market. Poof...all of Korea was in the same spot.

One of the weirdest things about Korea in the wintertime is their obsession with cute hats. Children and adults all wear hats that look like animal heads. I have seen this a few times on children in Canada.....and even a few quirky adults (like myself) but never ever would I have expected this to be a popular look with teens and adults. Here, it is common to see groups of teens going by, all wearing these animal hats.

Saturday night we went to a few bars. We watched a "Korean" Hendrix tribute band at the first bar, told an American GI that a dingo is not a cross between a kangaroo and a dog at the second bar, and watched a drag queen show at the third bar. I think all of the people from the market followed us to the drag queen show, because it was beyond packed. Everyone wanted to see the beautiful ladies...err...men...errr...ladies lip sync to "I Will Survive" and other famous drag queen songs.

Sunday afternoon we hit the electronics market and some shops before getting back on the KTX. We arrived back home to a freezing cold apartment and an empty fridge. Ahh reality. Too bad not every day can be a holiday!

A Busy Weekend

2008-12-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

Hello! Cindy here.
We had a marathon weekend! First up was our "graduation" from Korean class. At a very strange celebration party, we saw the other classes perform some interesting acts such as Salsa dancing, martial arts, impromptu conversations, oh- and our class was called up to sing a song we had practiced for maybe two minutes. We received certificates, and the YMCA provided some delicious treats. It was a good way to start our Saturday.

Next, we had to rush to work, where my class of 15 year olds all wrote stories about a teacher named Cindy (not my idea, they were allowed to write a story about anything) . In one story "Cindy Teacher" ate children, and in most stories she died....sometimes a painful and tragic death.

We then went to the Yale Christmas party at a branch closer to downtown. Lots of good food, and fun games. We participated in a present game. Brett was happy to open a 4 pack of beer, but it was quickly stolen by the next person to join the game. Sigh.

We had to make up for the stolen beer by heading to some bars downtown. We had some drinks and talked with friends. The boys also attempted karaoke at one bar by shouting into the microphone. It didn't go over that well I think. We were soon told that we could only sing one more song. I think they just wanted the boys to quit. It wasn't pretty.

On Sunday we went to the electronics market where Brett bought me my Christmas present- A CAMERA. I love love love my new Nikon. I can't wait to get out there and use it. The users manual is in Korean though.....so we have to track down the English version. OR I will have to keep on with the Korean lessons until I am fluent (NOT).

We then joined some friends for skating. The skate rink people were not so happy to see us. They quickly informed us that they were closing in 45 minute. Duh......we didn't think to check their hours before making the adventurous trek all the way out there. Oh well. They were kind enough to let us in for free. We got around the rink a few times before they brought out the Zamboni and pushed us off the rink. We will definitely have to go back. I love it!

Shortly after our 20 minute taxi ride home, we were both asleep on the couch. Whew. We were exhausted, but can't wait to do it again.

Waygoogin Dinner

2008-12-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

An important part of experiencing a new country is the people you meet along the way. A short time ago, we decided to organize a dinner for all the people sent to Daegu by our recruiter, Dan Henrickson. Dan even offered to pay for this first meeting of his English teachers!!! We sent out emails, counted the RSVPs, picked a yummy restaurant and got a Korean friend to call and reserve a table for 14 for us. On Sunday, we headed out to meet everyone for dinner. We had a great time. Lots of laughter and good food. The restaurant even organized for an English speaker to work for them that night because we had warned them that there were 14 way-goog-ins (foreigners) coming. The dinner for 14 cost 99000 won, which is about $90 Canadian. Can you believe that!?? All of us waygoogins agreed that this should surely be a monthly event. We look forward to January's dinner!

Could Rudd or Harper take these guys?

2008-12-13T02:56:00.000-08:00

G'day, Brett here.

As the gentlemen at my gym were discussing politics yesterday, I said to my friend whom I call Sir, "Sometimes in Korean parliament the politicians get into a fight."

To which he replied, "NO! Not sometimes.... Often!"

Our Week in Fast Forward

2008-12-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

Sunday Movies and Barbecue. Only Koreans could manage to spell "Australia" with 7 syllables and 12 letters.
Translation: O-sa-ta-ra-il-li-a

Monday Moved our office from the 2nd floor to the 7th floor for no apparent reason.

Tuesday Just another day.

Wednesday Cindy got a $6.00 haircut.

Thursday According to 11 year old Min Kyung, Cindy's $6.00 haircut makes her look "even more strange-ey".

Friday SNOW!

When Push Comes to Shove

2008-11-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

Annyong! Cindy here.

During our travels over the last few days, we've come across some unique Korean behaviour.

We ventured to Costco on Sunday. We knew we would see some odd behaviour there. We had plenty of warnings....there are even websites dedicated to it. But nothing could prepare us for the war that was Costco free tasting day. As soon as we stepped onto the floor, we regretted it. We thought about running for our lives, but it took way too much effort to get there to be defeated at the start. So, we took a deep breath and in we went.

Free samples means something different to Koreans. To Canadians it means that you may have a taste of something, thank the employee for the sample, politely dispose of your garbage, consider buying the produnct, and be on your way. For Koreans, free sample day means FIGHT for your dinner. I am not exaggerating here. Around every sample stand was a crowd of loud pushy people, all waiting for the brave employee to put out the next tray of food. When the food went out, the people closest would grab as much as possible. I watched one man grab three truffles, shove one in his mouth, pocket two, and then push some children out of the way so he would be first to get to the next tray when it came out. I considered jumping in there. I am sure you are all aware of my huge chocolate addiction. Oh I just wanted one truffle so badly! But the chaos that errupted when the next tray came out just left me standing there with my mouth hanging open. Clearly I would have to have better martial arts skills to win that fight. The wide array of samples available was mighty impressive. There was soup, noodles, cereal, candy, meat, and wine....all of which we could not even get close to. It took us hours to get around the big crowds and the even bigger attitudes. We made sure to buy a large bottle of whisky while we were there.

Another odd Korean behaviour came to light in Costco's foodcourt. Costco has a dispensing machine for the onion that customers may put on the hotdogs they buy. However, this machine is viewed differently by Koreans. To be fair, we don't really know what it says in Korean on the front of the machine. Perhaps it says "free dinner" because Koreans will load a plate with the free onion, top it with the free mustard and ketchup, and think of if it as a meal. Free bad breath too.

Today we went to a tourist bureau. These are extremely difficult to find here. We were hoping to find postcards...but no luck. So any of you still waiting to get a postcard from us may have to give up...they simply do not make them here. Anyway, I did manage to find a couple of things I wanted to buy. The cashier was already helping a couple with their purchases, so I lined up behind them. Then...you will not believe this.....a Korean man came over to the line and simply stood infront of me. I laughed right out loud, said "NO WAY!", and looked at Brett to see his reaction. He was standing over to the side, his eyes wide with surprise. This man had butted me in line and there was not a thing I could do about it. We just laughed and shook our heads.

Today's Homework

2008-11-20T01:03:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist posting this homework submission. It is from one of my best 11 year old students, Jenny. Brett

November 15, 2008

Dear Diary
I went to the “Yale” at 3=40. There was 5 people come to class.
First, I gave to teacher my home work notes.
“great Jenny.” said teacher. I’m happy.
Then, I went to the second floor and put the homework note on Brett teacher’s desk.
“thank you Jenny” he said to me.
Today, I hear praise two times!
I was full of joy.
At 4=10, the bell rang the hours. Very tall Brett teacher came. And we started the class. In his class, I like read to Geronimo Stilton. I like read.
After finished Brett teacher’s classes, I thought.
“Today’s lessons are great!”

The Gym in the Forest on the Mountain

2008-11-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone, Brett Here.

One of our most pleasing finds here in Siji has been the discovery of an outdoor gym located on the mountain behind our apartment. Within 10 minutes of leaving home, I can be on the mountain and making my way towards this quaint little gym discretely nestled into the forest above the bank of a small creek.

As I am the only non-Korean that frequents this gym I get the usual intrigued faces looking at me. Fortunately, I have made friends with a very nice gentlemen in his late 6o's who speaks quite good English and has taken it upon himself to tutor me in Korean language, history, politics and culture.

There are a number of other retired gents who have now become familiar with me. We will generally exchange the standard hellos, annyongs and the like, but I think my acceptance among these men drastically increased when I produced a packet of Tim Tams and offered them around.

This gym, apart from being free, really appeals to my love of the outdoors. I enjoy the hike up the mountain and the fresh air while working out. The squirrels, chipmunks and woodpeckers also add a certain amount of charm.

Caught in the Crossfire

2008-11-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

G'day, Brett here!

In my time as a teacher I have confiscated a multitude of items; toy cars, Tamagotchies, food, rulers, Pokemon cards, mobile phones, compasses and the like, but today I hit the jackpot!

I had finished my final class and was heading for the door when I noticed a fairly suspicious looking contraption in a young boy's hand. Upon closer inspection I identified this item as being a homemade crossbow made from a rubber band and an assortment of office stationary.

It was quite an impressive piece of machinery. Much more sophisticated than the ones we used to make as kids out of a Bic pen, a rubber band and some sticky tape. This one had a handle, a barrel and had been glued together to give it extra strength.

I asked the boy to put it in his bag and told him that I did not want to see it again, to which he replied “Break, break” implying that there was nothing I could do because it was break time! At that very moment he accidentally released the rubber band and the projectile flew across the table and embedded itself in another boy's book. He hesitantly forfeited the weapon and I told him that he would be paying a visit to the Korean manager.

As I entered the office a few of the other male teachers were standing around and their attention immediately shifted to the item in my hand. “Oh wow! Where did you get that?”. They were all a little intrigued but mostly impressed (it's a boy thing). After I had told the story to the Korean manager, one of the American guys even went to her desk to get a second look (I guess it's just in their blood).

My only regret is that I didn't have my camera with me so I could not get a picture of this advancement in modern classroom weaponry. I will go on a reconnaissance mission tomorrow to see if I can locate and take possession of the subject long enough to snap a picture. Over and out.

Happy Pepero Day!

2008-11-11T07:02:00.000-08:00

Peperos are cookie sticks dipped in chocolate. November 11th is Pepero Day because 11/11 most resembles the cookie sticks. On Pepero Day, children and couples exchange boxes of Peperos. Did Lotte, the company that makes Peperos start this special day? Hmmmmmm, they deny it, but it is highly suspicious. Anyway, we decided that any day that celebrates a cookie dipped in chocolate is a good day!

Sunday is a Day of Rest

2008-11-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

I had been looking forward to Sunday all week. Since we decided to work Saturdays, Sundays have become the most beautiful, wonderful, precious day of the week! We headed out at about noon to wander around Daegu. Now that we have gotten over the initial shock of the major weird things (old women pulling large carts of cardboard, everyone making huge horking sounds and spitting, public burping, farting, sneezing, coughing, strange food being sold in any tiny squishy spot) we are now able to focus a bit more on the smaller weird things. Everytime we wander the city we see new things. I love it.

Yesterday we didn't find anything strange that invovled public expelling of bodily fluids or gases. We did however find some very bizarre stores. In Korea, many stores (especially the 4 million cell phone stores) have employees that stand outside and try to get you to come in. The cell phone people are the worst. They will even go so far as to tell you how beautiful or handsome you are, or simply grab you by the arm and pull you towards the store. They don't often bother us, since foreigners are not allowed to buy their own cell phone plans here. But they are annoying!

After visiting the hello Kitty store, some stores with "couples clothing" (yes couples dress the same here), and a loud loud store (we now refer to as the "Rude Store") where a girl wearing an employee badge that said "captain" told me that people could only try on pants (as if I can ever buy pants here) not sweaters, we decided to hit up a coffee shop...something that involves no trying on or dealings with captains.

We were very happy to find a Starbucks. Please do not hate us, all you anti-starbucksers. The signs were in ENGLISH! The coffee smelled DELICIOUS! And the decor was...CHRISTMAS. We just had to go in. Mmmmmm. Two tall, fancy, expensive coffees later, we were high on caffein and ready for the next task....finding a place for dinner. This is a big job. It involves finding somewhere with people in it (my rule), pictures or signs we can somehow decifer, and food that we know is not dog (and now octopus as well..Brett's rule).

Under a popular bar, we found a groovy little restaurant that served stangely American food made by two girls that looked to be about 17. It was weird...but in a good way. With bellies full and caffein addictions satisfied, we were then off to the next part of our day. We had signed up with our Korean Class to attend a performance of some kind. We did not know what we were going to really. That happens a lot in Korea. You have no idea what you are attending, but you are going anyway.

The theatre employees must have been thrilled to see a large bunch of foreigners walk in with tickets that they cannot read and wander around lost trying to find their assigned seat. A small amount of chaos later, we were all ready for the show nobody knew anything about. After hearing that the last show had involved men dressed as sperm dancing around a woman dressed as an egg, we were sure we were in for something interesting!

Although we are still discussing the exact storyline of the play we saw, we both agree that it was fantastic! There were "B-boys" who performed amazing dance moves while dressed as superheroes, warriors, puppets, and even Transformers. A young beat-box guy wowed us, and the narrator threw in his own little funny comments like "I like hamburgers" when he saw foreigners in the front row. We were pleasantly surprised!! It was supposed to be about a marionette, but we think they deviated from the script a great deal. It is kind of hard to fit Transformers into a play about a puppet in France, but somehow they did it!

GREASE - Korean Style

2008-11-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

When it come to Pop groups in Korea, they don't get any bigger or better than "Big Bang" and "Wondergirls". Put them together and this is what you get! Enjoy...

Only a matter of time...

2008-11-02T04:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Gang! Brett here,

I guess we always knew it was going to happen sooner or later. We have been frequenting a local restaurant that the foreigners here simply call "The Orange Store". We were on our way home form our Korean lesson and were feeling pretty good about the progress of our reading skills. We noticed a new item on the menu and sounded out the words nak-ji dup bop. We know that dup bop means rice and the picture looked like a fairly delicious chicken and rice dish so we thought we would give it a whirl.

After we had placed our order I started thinking a little more about this nak-ji and took out our trusty dictionary. Sure enough, we had ordered stir fried octopus and rice. It didn't taste too bad but it sure was chewy. I'm not certain if it was all in my head but my insides weren't feeling fantastic for the next few hours (bait will do that to you).

Moral of the story.... Consult Korean dictionary before ordering food you don't know the name of!

What's in a Name?

2008-10-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

The students at our school get to choose their own English name. Although we don't condone it, these are some of the more interesting/ridiculous that they have come up with...

Jesus
Mohammad Ali
Pumpkin
Tomato
James Bond
Captain
Jack
Sparrow
Doughnut
Mr. Egg
Chicken
Duck
Spoon
Hello
Miss Money Penny
Hobbit
Bono
Mr. Hamburger
Potter
Serious
Captain Hook
Break

As you can imagine, saying "Mr. Egg, sit down and stop being silly!", feels a little insane to say the least.

Smile!

2008-10-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Cindy here.

Here is a funny story for you: Do you remember Tom? The student who brought his hamster to school? Well, this week his homework assignment was to send me an email about his family. Most assignments are done on paper, but I was trying to do something a little different. Yesterday (the last day to submit the homework), I received an email from Tom saying "Teacher I can't do my homework because I do not know your email address".

Another thing that made me smile yesterday- I understood my first Korean sentence! The miracle happened at the grocery store. An employee was explaining to Brett that one of the things he was looking at cost 3000 won, while the other thing he was looking at was two for 3000 won. I nearly did a happy dance right there as I told Brett what the lady was saying. The fact that I understood the sentence has nothing to do with the many hours we have spent at Korean lessons. All the words the employee used I had learned from my students at school. Maybe we should have the students run a class for the teachers!

Stairway to NOWHERE

2008-10-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hello! Cindy, here.

Last Sunday we decided we would conquer a local mountain known to be a challenging hike. Palgongsan Mountain attracts both people looking for a good hike, and those wanting to pray to the large Buddhist statue at the top. Like any other destination, going to Palgongsan Mountain took some planning. Some research revealed that we would need to take two subways and a bus.

Our early morning start reminded us of what it was like to have to get up before the sun. It felt very familiar! It was that same sluggish feeling I had felt every morning as I headed to my classroom in Canada. Oh it hurt! I have been spoiled by many mornings of sleeping in until whenever I wake up. I don't have to be at work until 4pm in Korea. 6am felt horrible.

We know the subway system very well, so taking two subway trains was no problem. However, we have never taken a local city bus. We emerged from the subway and began to search for the bus stop listed on the internet and in Lonely Planet. No luck! We looked on both sides of the street, wandered for blocks. We saw many buses, but there was no sign of the bus we needed or the bus stop. Unfortunately, in Korea we cannot simply ask someone for directions. Out of desperation we hopped onto the Daegu City Tour Bus. This is a bus that takes tourists to local hot spots. Palgongsan Mountain is one of them, and we are tourists....so even though this cost more, we figured it was better than continuing our “Where's Waldo” like hunt for the city bus. The comfy seats, English speaking tour guide, virtually empty bus, and free nifty pen soon made us feel like we had made the right decision.

A short 45 minute nap later, we were at Palgongsan Mountain. As we climbed off our bus we watched the city bus pull up. It really did exist.....and apparently everyone in Korea had found it. The city bus was more than packed. A swarm of people burst out of the bus and immediately headed up the mountain. Oh oh. We had no choice but to join the swarm.

Climbing Palgongsan Mountain was like facing the mall at Christmas time. Except make the shopping isles very narrow, with stairs, and a steep incline. Oh, and give the very aggressive granny a walking stick to use as a weapon. There were small stalls tucked away on the mountainside with elderly people selling food or religious beads and candles. Some of these stalls were a fair way up, which means these elderly people climb the mountain daily, while carrying their wares! It took us one hour of climbing, pushing, dodging, and sweating to reach the top. We were surprised to see that all the aggressive grannies made it to the top as well....and so did hundreds of others. Everyone was there to pray to the large statue, Gatbawi (except us). Many people were on the floor crouched in prayer. We had to do some leapfrogging over them to reach the lookout on the other side.

After a walk down that was very similar to the climb up, we were happy to hop onto our comfy city tour bus. We decided to take advantage of the city tour and visit Dongwasa, the next stop. It is an area with some temples, statues and......there was a Maple Festival going on that day! We were very excited. Due to the many people heading in for the Maple Festival, our bus was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes. This gave us more time to nap.

We hopped off at the temples. They were fairly empty that day because all the action was down the road at the Maple Festival. After a quick walk around the temples and religious statues, we decided to join the crowd at Maple Fest.

We could not believe what we saw. Nothing! Nothing!!! That is what we saw! The Maple Festival consisted of ten tents selling the same things we see at the markets down the road from our apartment....socks, umbrellas, dollar store items, cheap toys. We were stunned. All the people were waiting in traffic for this? We are still baffled.

The five dollars we spent on the City Tour bus was the best five dollars we have ever spent. As we waited for our tour bus to come back, we watched as hundreds of people waited in two lines for the city buses that came about ever 15 minutes. No matter how many people crammed onto the city buses, it seemed like the line up was still just as long. The people at the end would have to wait for hours. Our City Tour bus stop was right beside the two lines waiting for the city bus. We were too scared to wait in the crowd, so we watched from across the road. When our bus approached, we quickly ran across the road, jumped to the front of the masses, and hopped onto our bus, while the hoards of people waiting looked at each other in confusion. It looked like we had our own private bus. We were two of four people that got on, laughing at the hundreds left behind. Suckers. Sometimes it pays to be a tourist.

"Waah... Not Waah"

2008-10-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Anneong Hasayo, Brett-ssi here.

Prior to arriving in Korea we were very keen to start learning the language. We purchased an array of Korean books, dictionaries and CD's and began partaking in the "do it yourself" coursework.

We have now begun Korean lessons at the YMCA in Daegu every Saturday morning. The 2 hour lessons remind us how hard it is to sit in a class and focus on a teacher rambling on and if nothing else, we are learning a lot about teaching through our experience as students.

After about an hour and a half I throw my hands up in the air in defeat. It makes me sympathetic of the students that I am teaching who have been at school all day and then come to English academy for another four hours at night. When I get them at nine O'clock they have been in school for between 8 and ten hours! Not to mention that they also go to school on Saturdays. No wonder they look at me blankly and fall asleep in class.

Anyway, back to Korean class. We each had to choose our own Korean name. My name in Gun Ho (which means enthusiastic and over zealous) and Cindy's is Min Sun. The class is made up of about 20 foreign English teachers from Scotland, England, Spain, U.S.A, New Zealand, Canada and Australia.

The Korean's prefer a very old-fashioned, wrote-style learning in their schools and our language class is no different. The teacher points to the Korean letters on the board, says the name, and then we repeat as a chorus of strange accents.

Typically it goes like this. Teacher says "Waah" and we say "Waah", then she will say "NO! not waah.... waah!" and then we say "Waah..... stupid language" and so on.

We can now quite comfortably say "hello, goodbye and thankyou", it is surprising how far you can get on those three words.

First Impressions

2008-10-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

We have now been in Korea for just over a month. We both love our apartment and our settling into our jobs and the Korean way of life. Our main impression of Korea so far is that it is a land of Paradox. A world of opposites and of strange goings on.

People: The reactions that we get form the locals varies a great deal. Most people just look us up and down with a look of disapproval while others will go out of their way to say “Hello”, take our picture and sometimes even bow to us.

There does not seem to be much individualism and most people have the same haircuts and dress exactly the same. Koreans come across as being fashion conscious although I am starting to wonder if it is more a case of they purely wear what everyone else is wearing.

One of the most fascinating paradoxes is to do with manners, respect and honor, 3 things that are meant to mean everything in Korea. You must take your shoes off when entering a restaurant, temple or home, ensuring that you are wearing socks so as not too show your toes but it is perfectly alright to make a very loud HOARKing noise and spit anywhere you want (even small girls do it). Although you must always address someone by the appropriate title, it is acceptable to elbow a grandma in the head while pushing your way onto the train to get a seat. Don’t worry, the grandma will be fighting just as hard and will elbow you in the head if she can. Girls must cover their mouths when laughing, but there is no need to cover your mouth while sneezing or coughing (which is why Cindy has a cold).

Food: Groceries are similarly priced to Australia and Canada although eating out is significantly cheaper. We can order a traditional Korean meal for two with complimentary soup and kimchi for between four and five dollars. There are many Korean barbecue type places where eating is somewhat of an adventure and you eat for between 7 and 12 dollars each. We are starting to realize that it is actually cheaper to eat out! And as beer is cheaper than orange juice, I guess we will have to drink more of that as well...

Location: We live in a the third largest city in South Korea called Daegu. We live in the area of Siji which is the 2^nd last subway stop out of town. Siji is one of the nicer areas of Daegu and is home to a variety of restaurants, cafes and Hogwans (Private English School). Daegu is situated within a basin of mountains. We only have to cross one road before we are at the base of the mountains and an array of hiking trails.

Transport: Public transport in Korean is excellent! The subway system can take you most places that you would need to go. It is cheap (around $1), simple and there is a train approximately every three or four minutes.

There is a fast train that goes to most major locations in Korea. It is comfortable, affordable and leaves about every 20 minutes. The buses are equally as good, a little cheaper, not as fast, but just as comfortable.

I doubt that you would be able to stand on any corner for more than 30 seconds and not see a taxi. You can pretty much walk out to the street and hail a taxi instantly.

The only transportation issues are that crosswalks mean diddlysquat (nothing) and you need to watch for motorbikes, scooters, and bicycles on the sidewalk (all of which will be carrying up to five people). Grandma will not hesitate to run you down either, so be ready to jump aside.

Japan and Back in 48hrs

2008-10-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Konichiwa, Brett here.

Most of you would be aware that I have had more than my fair share of problems trying to get a work visa to teach in South Korea. The process started in March and after months and months of torturous waiting, multiple e-mails, numerous phone calls and hours of research, within two hours of receiving conformation form Korean immigration, I was on my way to Japan to collect my visa.

Around 6:30pm Wednesday night I received a phone call from our school saying that my E-2 number was ready and that they were looking into getting me on the ferry to Japan the next day. “Great”, I thought. Half an hour later the school called back and said “You should pack your bag, it would be better if you left tonight!”

At 9:00pm I was driven by the Korean foreigner assistant, Hong-Jae to the Daegu train station and at 10:20pm caught an express train to the port city of Busan. When I arrived at 11:30pm the two hotels that had been recommended were both full. I managed to find a dodgy looking establishment called the Seoul Motel, which wasn’t actually too bad, for 25,000won (about $25).

At 8:30 the next morning I caught the 3 hour Hydrofoil ferry to Fukuoka (Foo-co-ka), Japan. Upon arrival, I made my way to the Korean Consulate and handed over my passport to be processed. Fukuoka is a beautiful and serene city. The people are friendly, funky and well dressed. The streets are clean and there seems to be a peacefulness in the air.

The next day I returned to the consulate to collect my visa. At last! It was a lot of heartache for a little sticker!

After 48 hours, 6 trains, 4 buses and 2 ferries I returned home around 9:00pm Friday night, Visa in hand. It was a long time coming. I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Now I can begin to do what I do best.... shaping the young minds of Korean school children.

One Strange Day!

2008-10-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

12:45am- go to bed

12:50am- complain to Brett about the mosquitos in the bedroom

12:51am to 6:29am- bbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......swat at mosquitos, roll over, swat mosquitos, hide under covers, covers are too hot, take off covers, swat at mosquitos.....repeat.

6:30am-decide to give up and just get up. Note the four mosquito bites on/close to rear end. Think about how it is weird that mosquito bites are not itchy here.

6:31 eat healthy breakfast......feel proud of healthy breakfast

7:00-9:00- prepare for new class I am teaching today. I have to teach the Korean teachers how to teach writing. I was given no guidelines or book to follow. I was told to just get ideas from my brain. Realize I have no brain. Mosquitos must have sucked it out.

9:00- get really sick. Curse healthy breakfast.

9:05-11:05- accidentally fall asleep for two hours.

11:06- PANIC over missed time due to nap. Wake up Brett. Make fun of him for swearing he would be up by 8am.

11:07-1:00 Lunch, get ready for school, feel sick......curse healthy breakfast.

1:01 walk to school. Need coffee, coffee coffee...coffeeeeeeee. Have coffee. Feel sick. Curse coffee and healthy breakfast.

2:00 teach new class. They are VERY quite. Only one teacher talks. No participation. PANIC over no participation. Sweat through my shirt. Talk really fast. Explain how to make a lesson plan. Have nothing on my plan left to teach...look at clock, still 15 minutes of class left. PANIC! ummmmmmmmm.

2:45 go for tea with Brett......but restaurant has only korean writing. Take 15 minutes to figure out how to tell employee what drink I would like.....she says back "Oh yes a green tea mochaccino". Sigh.

4:10 teach class. A student tells me my hair is fluffy. Another one asks me why I am so tall. A boy named Harry tells me he never eats poo. No idea what to say to that.

5:50 teach class. Confiscate notes with drawings of guns on them. Teach adjectives. Confiscate eraser. Teach adjectives again. Confiscate shoe. Rearrange seating plan. Threaten detentions. Bell rings. Boy named Doughnut says "Teach-ah, I hav-uh da dentis right now" and smiles his braces at me. I say "Oh does the dentist hurt?" He gives me strange look and says "no-ah???"

5:51 see Doughnut go into the detention room. Realize he said he had detention, not the dentist.

7:00 Brett calls to say his visa papers are finally ready and he can go to Japan tomorrow to get his visa.

7:30 Brett calls to say that he is actually leaving tonight.

8:00 get home, help Brett organize. Korean helper comes over to help him do the application form and take him to the train station.

8:45 Brett leaves. Feel weird about being alone for first time in months. Sit on couch and feel sad.

9:20 Brett calls to see if he can borrow my alarm clock. Huh?? When asked how he would get my alarm clock, he reports he is still downstairs. Why? He doesn't really say. No longer feel sad. Think boys are strange.

10:00 dance to new Pink song.
10:02 dance to new Pink song.
10:04 dance to new Pink song.
10:06 dance to new pink song.

10:08 sing loudly
10:10 sing loudly
10:12 sing loudly and dance

10:14 body reminds me I have been feeling sick all day. Curse healthy breakfast.

10:16 watch Korean television. Curse our stolen internet connection for not working.

11:00 need to eat but feel sick. SOMEHOW I manage to eat 3 Tim Tams. Poor me.

11:02 feel disgusted by old man clearing his throat and spitting over and over again somewhere near our window.

12:18 talk to Brett on phone. Miss Brett. But then remember I will have the WHOLE bed to myself. Think about how only my bottom will be there to get bitten by mosquitos. Feel annoyed.

12:19 internet is working! Yay! Write blog. Remember that tomorrow is market day and will need to get up early. Better go to bed. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Let the mosquito hunt begin.

When it all gets too much...

2008-10-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

When I get tired of looking at my food and trying to work out what it is, there is always..

When I can no longer deal with the day to day hustle and bustle of Korean life, Costco sells them by the 6 pack..

But when it all really gets too much, I can always go to the local supermarket and pick up some home grown liquid gold...

Or I can just head on down to my local Western Australia bar!

All I need now is Vegemite!

Back to the Future

2008-10-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Cindy here.

After a long lazy 4 day weekend of reading and wandering (oh and a butt kicking hike up the mountain in our backyard...but that is a different blog) I decided it was time to join a gym. The running thing is great, but I looooove going to the gym, and have really been missing it. There is a very flash gym just behind us. We had been in once before to have a look around. The lady at the front desk spoke enough english to give us prices and permission to look around. One of the personal trainers spoke english very well and explained the classes (they have yoga and dance weeeehooo) and answered our questions. So today when I headed off on my own to join the gym for a month and give it a try, I was a bit nervous but felt I could probably charades my way through the process.

Well, my little bit of nervousness increased when I entered the gym to find a different lady at the front desk. Ok, maybe she will speak english. NOPE. Not a word of it. So I gave my best shot at saying "one month" in Korean. She stared at me. I pointed at the one month price on the posted price list. She got what I was saying and handed me a form to fill in. I looked at the form and laughed and looked at the lady. It was all in Korean. The poor lady. She was checking in other guests, handing out towels, dealing with people wanting to use the spa, and at the same time she would now have to help me fill out this form.....by acting out the labels for me. She pointed at me and then the place for name, she pretended to talk on the phone and pointed to the place for my phone number, and then drew a house in the air and pointed to where my address goes. The rest of the form (the other 3/4) she did not even bother with. She then tried to indicate that my card would not be ready until tomorrow by pointing to a membership card and then tomorrow on the calendar. Ok, phew, I thought the hard part was over. I knew how to get up to the fourth floor to work out........BUT...... no, it just got worse.

The very nice desk lady then handed me a workout outfit. What? I shook my head and pointed to the clothes I had on. She again handed me an outfit. It looked like a school gym uniform. Again I said no and pointed to my own clothes. She then directed me into the door beside the desk. Hmmm. I knew this was not the way up to the gym. Oh no! But I had no choice. The lady insisted that i needed to go through those doors. So in I went. And what did I see? Many naked Korean women. This was the spa room that lead to the sauna and hot tubs. And apparently Korean women are not shy. I decided it was time to just try to blend in. So I took off my shoes and wandered towards the lockers. A different employee started yelling at me and ran after me. Apparently I had done something wrong. I braced for the awkward confrontation. But she just handed me a key for a locker. I jammed everything in the locker, grabbed my gym shoes and socks, and then tried to find the way to the fourth floor. A lady started yelling "yogi yogi" at me.........I have heard that one before, it means "here", and she pointed at a hidden elevator. Success! I was finally going to get to the gym.

Walking into a room full of Koreans is always the same. They all stare. Some point. And I always have the feeling that the conversation is about me. The gym is no different. I do stand out. They all have the same colouring, the same hair, the same skinny frame. I am a jungle woman with curly hair who towers above them and is about twice as wide. However, this time there was something else that made me stand out. I was not wearing a stunning outfit fit for a Jane Fonda video. Seriously. About 70 percent of the women in there were wearing tight shiny nylons, a bathingsuit type work out bodysuit and legwarmers. I think I stared at them as much as they stared at me. Usually I am jealous of the fashions worn by the Korean women here. They are very stylish and inspire me to dress better. However, this time I was not jealous. I was in shock.

I picked a treadmill next to a woman dressed in regular shorts and a tanktop. I did this on purpose because I know I get distracted easily and working out next to a Korean Jane Fonda would just lead to me thinking about her outfit the whole time. This plan failed as I could still see some Fonda wannabes in the mirror facing my treadmill. One lady looked like she was ready to be in a skating show. I tried my best to keep running while observing the fashion show. I could see in the mirror that the ladies were talking about me, but I didn't mind so much this time. Maybe they were saying that I needed some nylons and legwarmers to complete my ensemble. Perhaps I'll return to Canada in a year with a whole wardrobe of Jane Fonda workout clothes. ;)

Teacher! Your fur!

2008-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Anyeong! Cindy here.

Well I thought I should maybe write a blog about teaching in Korea, afterall it is what we came here to do! Although, so far only one of us can do it!

I work at a hagwan, which is an after school academy for learning English. Since my hours are from 4-10pm, you can imagine that some of these kids have been at school since 8am and that presents some new challenges on top of the regular challenges of teaching. Working 4-10 took some adjusting for me! During the first week, I wondered if I would ever stop falling asleep at 9:00! But now I am adjusted and really enjoy having the days to myself and working the evenings.

My first couple of weeks have been full of learning (FOR ME) and getting to know the kids. I was surprised to find that children here have to pick an English name. Since I cannot remember their Korean names, and when I try to pronounce them it results in a lot of pointing and humiliation for the child whose name I am attempting to say, picking an English name just may be a good idea. However, the students are allowed to pick their own name....and it can be anything. Some pick normal English names. However, I have taught a Marvelous, Mr.Wonderful, Duck, Goose, and today I have my favourite.......Doughnut. Doughnut is a small grade 4 who has braces. He is adorable. Since the class is over full, he shares a desk with me. Last week was my first week with him. As I sat at "our" desk, he smiled a big metal smile and said in a litte squeeky voice "Hello, my name is Doughnut." My heart melted.

The weirdest things have caused problems in my classroom. MANY times the children have errupted into laughter as I say an English word that somehow resembles a bad word in Korean. While reading with some grade 5s, I stopped to explain what the word "shiver" means. Well, apparently in Korean it is equivalant to the f-word, and this caused extreme chaos and children falling off their chairs.

Last week, I was helping a grade 6 correct her writing mistakes. As I pointed to a spelling error on her page, she yelled "Teacher! Your fur!". I looked at her with a blank stare. Huh? "Your fur!" she continued "Why is it so white?" She then rubbed the hair on her arm and said "Black". This lead to me having to explain to the whole grade six class that some people have body hair that is a colour other than black, and usually it matches their hair. HAIR. NOT FUR.

Yesterday I had my most energetic class. Some classes have no energy at all. Some have too much. This class has way way too much. They are grade fives, and I really love teaching them. I was asked by the head teacher to keep an eye on one particular boy, Tom, who seems to be struggling with English and may need to be moved to an easier class. The class went as it usually does. Lots of shouting out answers, rolling of wheely chairs, playfully teasing each other, making fun of the teacher. I called on Tom as much as possible, to try to assess his understanding of English. When I asked him how his weekend was, he explained with a HUGE grin that he had a good weekend because he got a errrrrrrr.....ummmmmmmm.......hamster! A big deal for Tom. We all asked him questions about his new furry friend, and then we moved onto our reading assignment. It took my best teaching skills to get the class to remain still and quiet so that we could read. I picked Tom to give it a go. As he was stumbling through his second sentence, a boy at the back of the room jumped out of his chair and began yelling something in Korean. I started to tell him to sit down, but was overpowered by three other boy at the back who also jumped up and started screaming something in Korean. They were all pointing at the fire extinguisher which is on the floor in the corner of the room. I was at the front......saying "what? WHAT?". The girls then jumped up and screamed. They were not saying anything in Korean, just screaming. Finally I heard one student say "A mouse-uh, a mouse-uh!". Tom calmly put down his book and walked to the back. He moved the fire extinguisher and pulled out a small box from behind it. The box had a hole chewed in the side. He then picked up his jailbird hamster and plopped it back in the box. After a conversation about not bringing your pets to English school, we then used my stickers to patch up the hole. This did not work very well. The hamster escaped again a half hour later. Tom spent the entire class watching the hamster box to make sure the cute little guy stayed in there, and I had to explain to the head teacher why I had not had a chance to assess Tom's English skills.

I wonder what will happen today.

Andong Maskdance Festival

2008-09-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we decided to leave the security of the city limits for the first time. We had heard about a traditional mask festival that was being held in a nearby town. We were not entirely sure how to get there, but after catching two trains, a taxi and a bus we made it to Andong in surprisingly good time.

The festival comprised the usually stalls, dried seaweed, ginseng, leather goods, etc. As well as various craft centers where you could purchase puppets and make your own masks. Entertainment included Korean rappers, girls wrestling (don’t get excited guys) and traditional music.

We hadn’t been in Andong for very long when we began to notice that we were getting quite a lot of attention from the Korean festival goers. Even more than usual. We noticed that people were actually taking photographs of us! This rose to celebrity like levels when we started to get involved with one of the traditional activities.

It is a Korean tradition to write a prayer on a strip of paper and hang it on a piece of twine. We don’t know any prayers but we figured we would do our best to write our name. We weren’t to know that this would create a frenzy of Korean Kodak enthusiasts who began to push and shove to get the best vantage spot to take the ultimate snap of what was obviously a very exciting moment for them.

I went first and a few people had began to take out their arm length cameras, but by the time Cindy’s turn came around they were telling her where to stand, what to do and how to do it. One lady even told her to ‘Stop laughing’(which as we all know is very hard for Cindy).

It was actually hard for me to get a picture of Cindy, although I had already decided that the media gallery was far more interesting than what Cindy was doing anyway... The frenzy eventually subsided and we all went on our way, although for the rest of the day we often noted large camera lenses pointing in our direction.

The other part of the festival was traditional maskdance performances. We were enjoying the dancing and the costumes and happily taking pictures of the show. There was around a thousand people sitting in the amphitheater and for some reason... I must have stood out. One of the dancers stepped into the audience saying ‘Sir-a, Sir-a’, took my hand, lead me out onto the dance floor and put a giant mask on my head. I then danced my way around the stage, past the media gallery and back to my seat.

All in all, an exciting day for Korea’s newest celebrity couple....

Home Sweet Home

2008-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

Curly

2008-09-25T04:41:00.000-07:00

*****ONE*****

The number one position on my countdown couldn’t possibly have been awarded to anything or anyone other than my curly haired girl, Cindy!

The past nine entries were only as memorable as they were because I had the privilege of sharing them with someone special. All those fantastic Canadian adventures would not have been the same without the company of the most fantastic Canadian.

Apart from showing me the sights and sounds of Ontario, Cindy has been amazingly patient and supportive through this eternal quest to get my work visa. I think most people would have cracked months ago!

Cindy’s ability to laugh at anything at anytime is possibly the one thing that makes me laugh the most! We can be sitting on the couch and she will burst into uncontrollable laughter because she thought of something that happened three days ago. This can happen a number of times until she moves on to something new!

Cindy is the number one, best thing about Canada!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURLY

Cindy the Superstar

2008-09-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Cindy here.
After many weeks of finding excuses to not workout (some were actually legit, some not so much) I have returned to running this week. I have heard that there is a gym on my street, but we have not been able to find it yet. With all the flashy signs here, everything pretty much looks the same and the last thing I want to do is wander into some place odd, thinking it is a gym, and have to use my best charades skills to explain my unexpected presence to the surprised Koreans inside. I have decided just to go running until I have someone to show me where this hidden gym is.

Running in Korea is a strange thing. Anyone who knows me knows I have no sense of direction. Since all the streets here look the same, I am very worried that I will get lost and never ever find my way home. So I simply run in a straight line for now. I have been running up and down the same street this week. It is a long highway, with lots of things to see.....and unfortunately smell. But that is not the strange part. Every time I go for a run here I attract a lot of attention. I think this is for a few reasons. I am a fair bit taller than the women here. I am an "outsider". I am wearing shorts and a tank top, and that is considered to be a big fashion boo boo in September.....shorts and tank tops are only in style until the end of August. And I am running, which I have not seen any women do here.

Today I strapped on my i-pod and headed out into the cooler weather (thank goodness we are getting a break from the humidity). I first encountered a group of women and teenage girls getting off a bus. The women all pointed. The teenage girls yelled "hello", some waved, many giggled and were commenting on my height by using their hands to indicate how much taller I was than them. I smiled and waved, grateful they were not commenting on the size of my behind (or at least they waited until I could not see them). Next I passed a man who was selling grapes alongside the road. He jumped out of his chair and did a half bow and said "hello". A few minutes later another man smiled and waved. A group of older women wearing face masks and sun visors pointed and chatted amongst themselves. As I ran past a gas station a young couple on a scooter was pulling in. The girl yelled "hello", and this made her boyfriend look and then yell "Oh hello hello!".

I feel like a superstar. I have not yet decided if I like all this attention. I miss the days that I could just run without all the stares and comments. I also miss feeling safe on the sidewalk......scooters, bikes, and small motorbikes use the sidewalks here, so running has become somewhat of an adventure sport. My i-pod has to be on low and I have to be ready to jump out of the way at any given moment. What I can say for sure is that running in Korea is never boring. And that's a good thing since I have to stick to the same street.

The White Stuff

2008-09-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

TWO

If there has been one thing that I have experienced in Canada that I would want to share with my friends and family back in OZ it would be SNOW! The Canuks reading this are probably cursing and calling me crazy right now but to an Aussie boy who had never seen the white stuff in his 25 years... it was pretty special.

Snow was almost magical to me! I was completely fascinated by it. I even enjoyed shoveling it from the driveway each morning and would actually look forward to the chore that most locals despise the most.

The snow in most people's front yards was around head height by the end of winter. The snow blowers would cut a path through so the sidewalks could be used which left a scene that reminded me of when the “Cat in the Hat” did the same thing in one of the books I read when I was a child.

Driving in the snow was an interesting and somewhat dangerous experience. Nearly everyday you would see people crashing into each other or running off the road. I even passed a transport truck on its side on my way home from work during a snow storm.

The only time I wasn't thankful for the snow was when I locked my keys in the car during a snow storm. I tried for about 20 minutes to brake in with a coat-hanger but after the first 10 minutes I couldn't feel my fingers so there wasn't much point continuing. I had to catch a Taxi to get the spare keys from Cindy who was at school. The worst part was I had left my coffee inside the car!

Other enjoyable snow activities included snowboarding, snowshoeing, snow-ball fights, building snowmen and snow forts, and making snow angels.

Much to Cindy's, and the rest of Ontario's disgust, I am eagerly awaiting the next snowfall!

Cottage Life

2008-09-18T23:03:00.001-07:00

THREE

Although we have left Canadian soil I still have three more places to reveal on my count down of Canadian highlights, memories and icons.

Taking the bronze at number three is 'Cottage Country”

In WA many people have beach houses and coast huts most of which are fairly basic dwellings built by old fishermen with whatever they could get there hands on reasonably cheaply or for free. In Ontario, peoples holiday homes are called Cottages. This refers to any residence built on a lake or river and does not necessarily refer to the size of the abode. In fact, some of these so called cottages are more like mansions than anything else. Some people live in their cottages while others use it purely on weekends and holidays.

We we're very lucky to be friends with some folks who had awesome cottages. We have had some excellent times with Leanne and Shaun on the Trent Severn Waterway and Judy on Six Mile Lake. We were even privileged enough to be able to house sit a beautiful cottage on Lake Simcoe for a week. Thanks Nancy!

Most cottages not only have a private waterfront but their own dock and boat house as well. Some people even have there own island. Many cottages are only accessible by boat and therefore remain vacant for the winter until the lakes thaw. Most cottages are connected to power but some do not have sufficient heating to allow them to be used in the winter.

Cottage life is made up of boating, jet-skiing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, campfires, music, drinking, eating and relaxing with friends and family. It doesn't get much better than that!

P.S. The owner of our school called the agency that lost all my paperwork and they have put me to the top of the pile! Hopefully I may have my work visa sooner rather than later!

And it continues.......

2008-09-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, the saga continues. The agency that is supposed to be verifying Brett's education (which will lead to his visa)lost all his paperwork and he has to start all over again. It will be up to 40 days before they process him. Needless to say we are quite a bit frustrated and concerned. We are kind of at a loss for words over the whole situation. Perhaps it was just not meant to be? We thought we were being persistent before.....and were happy that it all payed off and we were here. But it appears our bad luck continues. I have tried many times to retrace our steps over the last year so as to locate the source of our bad luck! Voo doo curse? Broken mirror? Did we run over a black cat with our car? If you witnessed us opening any umbrellas indoors or walking under ladders, please let us know!