My New Favorite Season

With Fall settling in nicely, it isn't hard to understand why most Koreans will agree it is the best season in this country. After the whirlwind vacation I had with mom and the weekend-stealing illness I that just passed, this weekend was the first I've had to really enjoy it solo.

I think the Korean Fall is similar to what we see in Ontario except it's so much longer and warmer. This weekend I was dressed in shorts and actually got really hot at points. This is the run down.

Friday, Molly and I went to Speaks and just hung out. I called it quits early and went home.

Saturday was the World Food Fest at The Kim Dae Jung Convention Centre. Molly, Holli, Jess and Vaneeta showed up and we ate everything. Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, food from North America and best of all Greek!

The food was all prepared by volunteers and there was also performances by various nationalities.

We had a really nice time.

One of the performers from India.

jMy favorite! Taek Won Do.

When we finished stuffing our faces we went back to Holli's apartment and she showed us to a really nice park in Sangmu. By that time, it had trickled down to Molly, Holli and I so we were able to rent this crazy bike cart.

Normally, it is used as a romantic date prop but the three of us loaded into it and pedaled for 40 minutes while enjoying a bottle of wine.

After our work out we headed out to dinner. Shabbu Shabbu was on the menu and I enjoyed every bite. Downtown was the next stop and we proceeded to do what we do best. Party.

The first time I looked down at my watch it was 5am. I went home after that and slept until 2pm the next day! What a waste.

Sunday was beautiful and I walked around for a little bit and met up with some people for an early dinner and then called it quits. I fell alseep at 7 last night and woke up today at 5am.

Got a lot done already. Gym, laundry, groceries and now this. I'm not going to make 5am a habit anytime soon but it does have benefits!

Missing everyone on the Gobble Gobble weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving

Dominique

Half Done or Half Left?

Fast approaching the half way mark in Korea. In some ways I'm not surprised and in other ways I can't believe it's already here. I am completely settled at work. I have my routine, I have my classes and besides Kerry and the addition of an American-non-native- English speaking teacher, the staff is the same. That slows down time a bit. What makes time fly here is the constant go, go, go I enjoy all too much. Every weekend is packed with as much foreigner attention I can possibly get. I'll go anywhere but my small apartment!

My mom comes in 9 days! She is so nervous but hiding it well enough. I am trying to convince her of how easy it is to get around Korea (really all she has to do is hop on a bus) but she still insists on a print out of exactly what to do and where to go. I guess I don't blame her!

The print out is entitled The “Get to Dominique in Gwangju” Procedure for obvious reasons. lol.

This weekend was not too exciting. Saw the movie Killers on Friday and then Saturday went out for drinks. Sunday Molly and I shopped. I bought a pair of wedge sandals which was pretty cool. They are adorable. Work is kind of sucky, it's Monday morning and they've changed my schedule which does not at all coincide with the curriculum but whatever, I voiced my opinion and when kids drop out I'll just say I told you so.

While the temperature home may be dipping it is still hot here. The humidity has lessened a bit but we're still hitting 30s- it's awesome. Finally a real summer! I don't think I'll be getting a new foreigner teacher buddy anytime soon. My friend had an interview and my director turned him down because he was a guy and also being his second year in he was asking for 2.4 million which is modest but she is cheap. Right now she has hired the american non English native speaking girl Irene. Her pronunciation is just as bad as the Koreans and she knows less about grammar then my Korean co workers but she is way more cheap than another me. I am curious to see if my kids that were given to her stay. Some moms have already called to complain. I might be being a little unfair but it's Monday morning and I am grumpy. My camera is back in the shop getting fixed well into week two and it might not even be fixed for mommy's arrival.

So incredible!

Needless to say I am looking forward to vacation and the Island life, I've included some photos of Jeju where Molly, Fliss, me and mommy will be vacationing. The most beautiful part of Korea for sure. It is a 4 hour ferry ride but well worth it for 3 nights and 4 days of fun. I just hope the weather cooperates.

Anyway I am going to have another coffee and try to improve my mood. xoxox D

My Crazy Korean Vacation

Click on the link to see the map of where we journied.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs250.snc4/39827_698560962950_187903987_41906044_6352925_n.jpg

xoxox Dominique

I know it's taken me a little while to get around to this but I had to wait until I was in a really good writing mood. I'm sorry to admit I'm not really in the zone but I am running out of time before I start to forget the little quirks that made vacation so special.

I should start off by differentiating between vacation and adventure. I was on vacation but was in no way having a vacation while touring Korea. Holli and I had an 8 day long bus and love motel filled adventure. I took some notes on my iPod touch along the way so I could easily break it down when it came to writing it all down. Unfortunately even with my notes a know a lot of what I did won't be as detailed as I'd previously hoped but here it goes anyway.

We left Gwangju around 10am on Saturday destined for Nonsan. In Nonsan we visited a really old Buddha statue and Temple. The kick off to our vacation was really amazing but it lacked a lot of English explanation. I was a little nervous that this would end up being typical of all the sites we visited but as we continued onward my reservations subsided and I was happy to discover there would be enough English to get by. I tried to buy a really cute bracelet from a vendor there and broke it into a million pieces, super awkward and I felt obligated to spend a lot of money on subsequent bracelet because he didn't charge me for the first!

From Nonsan we travelled to Daejeon and spent the night there. We hopped on a night city tour bus and we were taken to a Foot Spa, Dam and a light/ beer festival at Expo Park. The tour was meh but we checked it off our list. Now to the Love Motel explanation.

Koreans don't leave their parents houses until they're married. Korean parents also don't really keep tabs on their children once they hit adulthood so0o0o0o a love motel is a convenient and cheap way to spend a night(s) with your partner with out the hassle of parents. The one we stayed out came equipped with his and hers robes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairspray q-tips, soap etc. The room also had a nice flat screen and computer! Koreans know how to do it up! We slept and the next morning we left for Gongju.

Me and my Nazi ways had Holli up and on the 7:47 bus! lol... 7:47- also typical of Koreans. Holli is among the normal population who like to sleep in but had the misfortune of being stuck with me for vacation. Minus Kamille, and the occasional bad hangover Colucci's really don't know how to sleep in properly. As some some close friends already know!

Once we arrived in Gongju I lied to get us onto a free all day city tour. We showed up to the city centre at 10am and didn't make it onto the list of families who would be given the 'name tag of acceptance' to wear around our necks so I lied and said we had in fact made reservations but there must've been a mistake. A little humming and hahing later we got our name tags and started the tour. I won't get into detail, you can go through the photos on FB but we did 3 museums, a tomb site and learned how to play and sing traditional Korean music.

After spending the whole day in searing heat and unforgiving humidity Holli and I were bagged so naturally we hopped onto another bus to Seoul (2hours) and then transfered to Gangneung (another 2 1/2). It was about 1am when we arrived at our next stop and we needed to find a place to crash for 6 or 7 hours haha. Out of the 5 places we stopped in at only one had vacancy and he wanted to charge us 110,000 won. Which is like 100 dollars! At home that is a noraml- well actually really good price, but here the motels run around 40 dollars a night. I was able to talk him down to 60 and Holli and I crashed hard. Waking up again early we were off to settle down in Yang Yang for a couple of nights.

Staying in Yang Yang we did a ton of stuff. Again I won't get into details, my photos explain a lot. We drank mineral water from a river well, we hiked and saw waterfalls, we spent the day at the beach we saw temples we bathed naked together with korean women- ok, that I'll elaborate on.

Koreans have a way different take on nudity than we do. Even at the gym it is no big deal just to be naked and walk around sans towel. At Naskan beach we discovered a hot sea water spa. Holli and I went down thinking we could just throw on our swimsuits and hop in. We got to the change room and everyone was naked. There would be no bikinis, there wouldn't be anything but a dish cloth to wrap your hair. So the Koreans stared at us, we stared at the Korean girls and we both tried desperately not to lower our gazes when we talked to each other. We even met a mom daughter trio who were hanging out together- try to wrap your head around that!

Another huge adventure was getting to the DMZ. Holli and I had to hitch hike the last 30km to get there and totally lucked out because the family that picked us up not only took us to and from the observation tower but took us to a traditional Korean village and a really cool temple we otherwise would have never been able to get to without a vehicle. Having again pretty well exhausted ourselves we head into back into Seoul. My friend Rhys was generous enough to put us up for 3 nights in his extra room while we experienced the capital of Korea. We did a day long City bus tour and then spent a day shopping!

Which then brings us to rafting and bungee jumping on Saturday. Rafting was really fun, although not as epic as the swells on the Ottawa river but thankfully bungee jumping off a near by bridge gave me the kick I was looking for. Bungee jumping is wicked!! There were 21 of us who paid and no one chickened out. Quite the success. Another exhausting busy day brought us to Saturday night where my 'vacation' ends. Holli stayed and partied in Seoul and I went home. It felt so good to recognize Gwangju and know that my bed would be waiting for me!

So that's it. Brief but take some time to look through my pictures. We had quite the ride. I don't think I will be taking a bus for quite some time though. lol.

I have the Korean thanksgiving coming up Cheosuk and mom comes in 5 weeks. Everything thing else is the same as usual. I have a map and my jumping vid for your viewing pleasure.

Click on the link to see the map of where we journied.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs250.snc4/39827_698560962950_187903987_41906044_6352925_n.jpg

xoxox Dominique

Short and Sweet

Here's the run down. Monday's are a little crazy all the time and I drank a coffee too late last night and stayed up reading into the wee hours of the morning. I'm exhausted.

This weekend was spent saying good bye to a couple of friends. I said good bye to a friend on Friday night after an amazing dinner with Nicole, her fiancé Adam and his family- they are getting married in 10 days or something crazy like that. It made me sad to see a real Dad here because it made me miss mine!!

Saturday morning tired and groggy I went to Naju to getmy license.

This is the rundown! I got to the bus terminal around 9 and bought a ticket. I wanted to take out money because you never know if the place you're going will take cards. I went to withdraw money and it was a no go. I couldn't believe it. I ended up using my credit card to withdraw 30,000 won and got on the bus pissed because I had no idea what was wrong with my card. After getting on the bus I realized I didn't have my cell phone either.. the odds were really pushing against me. I had most of my forms filled out but with out the ability to quickly call a co worker or friend, I would be at the mercy of the limited English at the test centre.

Getting there was fine- I had previously taken the local bus with Dori and knew the drill. Once I was there the lady took all my info and ask me to go get my eye exam. I twas a joke- I read out numbers in English knowing full out I could have said house, chicken, truck instead of 3, 4., 5 and still passed but whatever- who am I to judge we let seniors drive for way too long.

Anyway.. by an amazing stroke of luck there was a korean who spoke excellent Eglish that translated the rest of my time there. How to fill out a form and some other small things that made my life so much easier! Thank you Korean man whoever you are!

I got my license did a little dance, some Koreans laughed and was in a cab on my way back to the bus terminal. With the license out of the way I had to figure out my cell phone and bank card issues.

I left my cell phone in the cab I took that morning and I had discovered my card worked just fine, there was no money in my account because my director didn't pay me. Sigh.

I had to go all weekend with no cash and no cell phone. Luckily I had bought books earlier last week so I spent Sunday tearing through one. Nineteen Minutes- Jody Picoult... really good.

That was my weekend. I'm pooped and it's only Monday. Holli and I have found flight to the Philippines for about 600 round trip. We're going to book tonight! Really excited for that.

We're still foggy on the exact where and what on the trip but we're pretty good at winging things so I figure let's have a true adventure. I think our phones will work lol. I do have to buy a huge back pack because we're not going to be staying at just one place and back packs are easier than luggage- I think. : S

I need a nap.

Lovee Dom

COSTCO- Korean Styles

This weekend was one of 'firsts'. I finally got out of Gwangju which I have wanted to do for awhile now. I love my girls but a change of scenery was desperately needed. I witnessed my first really wicked lightening storm, I rode a train for the first time, visited Daejeon and shopped at Costco! Whew, I'm pooped but I had a wicked time.

The train ride was really nice. I took the KTX (Korean Train Express) both ways and although it is a little more expensive and skimp on the leg room, it was more relaxing and faster than the bus. The KTX trains are among the fastest in the world and have the ability to get close to 300km/h, although I definitely wasn't going that fast.

The bus trip would have been 2 hours and 30 minutes and I got to Daejeon just under two hours. Overall, I was happy and will definitely be doing the train again. Oh, and there are washrooms on the train which is a huge pro over the bus.. can't forget that.

(centre of the picture is where the train begins)

Once I arrived in Daejeon Bryan picked me up and the first thing I noticed was the streets looked exactly the same as the streets in Gwangju. If someone had blindfolded me and plopped me down in Daejeon without a doubt I would still think I was in Gwangju. Daejeon has a larger foreigner community and is more densely populated than Gwangju. It is also only an hour from Seoul which is a pretty sweet considering you can live there, keeping costs down and then party or visit Seoul with relative ease.

Dinner in Daejeon was one of the best I have had in awhile- it is right up there with Shabbu Shabbu now. I can't remember the name of the dish because I suck but it is a chicken dish. They throw in some chicken, cabbage, this hot paste sauce, sesame leaves, garlic, onion and stir it topping it off with mozzarella cheese. Korea boasts hot foods and I am always disappointed- but not with this one. My mouth was definitely feeling the spices. Mixed with a little rice at the end made for a very filling dinner!

During dinner it poured rain, I mean a sheet of rain falling from the sky. There were a couple claps of thunder that shook the place and the lightening was pretty impressive. The 'storm' only lasted about 20 minutes but it just rained for the 20 minutes and then stopped. There was no variation in the rainfall, just start and stop. So strange but it makes me excited to use my rain boots!

On Sunday I was getting ready to head home and the topic of groceries and shopping came up. I didn't even know that there was a Costco in Daejeon. We went there for a couple of things before I got on the train to go home! Below is what I came home with... I spent 160 dollars-ish but it's BULK and will last me awhile... especially the vodka!

(my costco bounty- the bag, 2 litres of vodka granola bars,

cheese, parmasian ccheese, penne, ham, salsa, sausage,

almonds and a giant beach towel.)

We only spent about 40 minutes inside of the Costco but it was 40 minutes that felt a little like home minus the sea of Asians. The set up was almost exactly the same as in Newmarket, membership etc, etc... they even sold items that very few Koreans would purchase like patio furniture and outdoor fun water games like slip and slide. Koreans hate the sun.

(a little taste of home for .20 cents)

The Kirkland brand was all over the place and the prices, overall, as far as Korean standards go weren't that bad. I spent what would seem like a lot for home but it's just the comfort and convenience to get it all at once at Costco, that I guess I'm willing to spend a little more money for. It was pretty funny watching all the Koreans watch me drag my bag of groceries through the train station! I was not carrying that shit more than I had to. Being in Daejeon also fueled my determination for my license and potential car purchase (pun fully intended). I found out you can buy a really decent car for about $1,300 and insurance is only about $35 a month! Gas is stupid expensive here though, that is the only downfall. Last I looked it was around $1.60/L!! BUT- with the right amount of budgeting it would be cheaper than taxi rides all over the place and I wouldn't have to spend forever on the bus.

So we'll see.... lol.

Love and miss everyone

PLH out!

Chalk One Up for the Good Guys

Whoa... these last couple of days have been pretty productive. With Dori's help I have gained permission from my director to go to Seoul Friday morning!!

As it turns out I do need confirmation from the embassy for my license. I'm obviously excited to have finally won one and get a definite answer from my director but it is going to cost a little chunk.

From Gwangju to Seoul is about 3 hours on a bus, on a plane it's 40 minutes... do you see where I am going with this? The bus costs about 22 dollars each way and a one way flight is around 65 dollars. I wanted to fly round trip but there are only two airlines that fly domestic in Korea and their schedules suck. What I will probably have to do it get on the 5am bus get to Seoul around 8 - subway, (a dollar) or cab (which will cost about 10 dollars), to the embassy and then subway or cab to the airport in Gimpo and fly back to Gwangju.

My biggest problem is that the only flight that works with my schedule is at 10 20am. Which leaves me with about an hour window at the embassy. I really wanna fly back because 6 hours on a bus is killer but I just don't think it's going to happen now that I am writing this all down.

If I skip out on the flight and save the 40 dollars I can just use that for the convenience of cabs in Seoul I suppose. I'm still going to have to be at the bus station for 10 30 but buses leave every 20 minutes. The worst I can be is 20 minutes late for my afternoon classes.

Wow, thanks for hanging in there while I rationalized that one! The bus is pretty well the most comfortable ride anyway, so I can just sleep!

This is my budget

- bus fair: 40 dollars

- cab fair: 30 dollars

- embassy charge: 55 dollars

I really want this license now, it's become a bit of an obsession! Plus, it's kind of nice having something special to come back home with. I mean really, how many people can say they have a Korean license. Not that I need more excuses for bragging rights. Just kiddinngg!!! Haha.

In other news I am almost positive I won't be backpacking in Japan with Molly as my director is adamant on having my vacation week following hers. This totally blows but I can't get upset over something I have absolutely no control over. I tired everything but still won't give up until the very end! So I have been looking at cruises as a back up... which is kind of more my style. Their is one for about 700 dollars that leaves from Busan and docks at 4 places in Japan and you can do little day trips and then get back to the boat. I am sure their will be other foreigners on whichever cruise I choose so hopefully I can make friends with them. Otherwise it will be a completely solo operation.

My co worker is also going to Manila for 4 days so I might go with her. I don't know South East Asia in August might be really hot, and I don't know how hardcore she is. I would need hotel rooms and A/C.

I have options which is the main point I am trying to get across here. lol.

I have been gymming like crazy and getting back into some serious p90x shape. I have nothing else to do! This weekend we might go camping... I hope so I could use some beach action.

I need some GO GO GADGET Umbrella arms because Gwangju is PMSing and can't decide day to day whether it wants to rain or just be simply beautiful. I hate cumbersome objects in my purse and, as a minimalist at heart, umbrellas are the worst!

I think that's it really. I'll probably do a video blog during my Seoul excursion and then upload it. Pray that is goes off without a hitch!

Dom out.

You Gotta Get the Whole 8 Hours

Lately I have been waking up to the light of the early sun around 5:30. This is killing my energy level and I am becoming even more dependent on my ice coffees! There is a simple solution to all of this. Just get a towel or blanket and put it over the window at night but at 10 or 10:30 when I am finished watching tv on my laptop there is just no way I am making that extra move to get out of bed. I'm soo lazy but maybe I'll do it tonight... it's supposed to be sunny and hot for the next 7 days and I need to catch up on my sleep- big time.

As the days get progressively hotter the city gets progressively stinkier. On my way to work I got through waves of stink. The first wave is a little bit like raw sewage which concerns me because as far as I can tell the sewage system here is all underground, similar to back home... I don't know. This wave is of medium offence and is not the worst. The second wave is like a rotten fish smell. There are a lot of sushi and sashimi places around my school and I am assuming that the waste is left outside and when it warms up it starts to stink! This is definitely the worst of the waves and it has potential to trigger gag reflexes for sure. The third wave is closest to my school on my walk and it smells like a purfumey garbage. I don't know how else to describe it ha,ha but it's always around lingering - hopefully it won't get any worse because it is the most bearable of the three. I hope I can get used to all these smells otherwise it is going to be a long summer.

Speaking of summer. My vacation is not sorted out yet. My director tried to tell me that I had no vacation in my contract! Looking over it, it clearly states that I have vacation in July for a week but maybe it is lost in translation somewhere on the Korean part of the contract.

So I got upset- I had just broke it off with Remy, an American I had been dating for a bit and then this BS! So I decided I would call recruiter so I didn't lose my mind.

Jeyion was amazing. I called her told her what the deal was and she actually told me, in her wonderful English "Seriously, don't worry about it, you'll get your vacation". Ahh, sweeter words have never been spoken. I was relieved.

Being the only foreigner in a school filled with little Koreans 9 hours a day makes you really appreciative of the Koreans whose English is really good. It's always nice to go out with Korean friends and let them do all the ordering and talking and not have to fumble through your limited knowledge of the language to get something you want.

Yesterday's vacation was spent trying to keep myself busy. Tuesday night went out to my rival iSPong school's BBQ... her Director and co workers are really nice. Then we went for some drinks and I decided yesterday morning I need to find a hobby that isn't soju. My vacation day was lunch with Molly and then a DVD bong. Let me explain DVD nong.

I'm pretty sure here copy right laws are non existent. So in a DVD bong you will find hundreds of titles to pick from and you simply pick out the DVD you want to watch and then you get your own room and a projection screen and surround sound to watch it with. There's big couches and blankets so it's like watching a movie at home but with a waaay bigger screen. Molly and I spent 12,000won on it which is 12 bucks. I think it should be cheaper seeing how a movie at a theatre is only 8 but that's just me lol.

I'm going to make another coffee and then start my class prep.

Dom out.

Time to Kill

The clouds are rolling back in and I really don't want it to rain again. The sun is just so relaxing. Following an exceptionally crappy weekend is a very slow week. I have this ridiculous teacher- parent potluck Friday morning. I have to prepare a lesson and create materials for a half hour class. My director is being unreasonable about every aspect of this. I have had to practice 3 times with my classes while the kids fall behind on their regular books and I have had to change my materials twice. I don't have time or patience for her. Ugh. Oh and she wants me to stay late AGAIN today to show her... I don't need to practice. English is the only language I know!

I stayed up too late last night catching insomnia from Busta... lol. I know it isn't really contagious but I like to think I have someone to blame for being tired right now. Tired and checking out the new fish tank- or aquarium, tried explaining to my co teacher that a fish tank was small and an aquarium is big. She just looked at the fish and snails inside and said they looked delicious. Hahaha. Korea. I think I've failed to mention that in front of many restaurants that serve fish there are tanks lining the front of the place. I don't know what any of the fish are called but I am sure they don't hang around in their tanks for long. There are even trucks that come with fresh salt water to replace the old water in the tanks. The pet store came to our school and set up the tank lol... only here I guess.

Still no health insurance. In my tired grumpy state it is agitating me more than it should. I should have skipped the gym and just slept in today. I got paid which was good.. going to send it back to Canada where it is safe and sound. North Korea isn't happy about us laying it into them. I am just happy I'm in Gwangju and not Soul... although a trip to the DMZ would be pretty gutsy and adrenaline filled right about now. Just kidding I am not going to go.

Man if a war actually does break out and I have to go home I will be so pissed. For now I am just following the Korean suit. This has been happening forever, nothing will come of it so just go on with life. I can handle that no problem!

I have to make sure that all my students have tons of materials today so I don't have to do a lot of shouting.

It's 1:30 kids should be arriving any second. I need a nap!!

Maybe I'll write about a human rights issue next time... I'll research a topic and get on it. There are a ton of orphans here...

Peace, Love and Harmony

Mornings in Gwangju

This morning on my way home, while trying desperately to hail a cab, a white lady and I mean lady, (I learned later she was in her early 50s), approached me and said hello. I said good morning and stopped to chat. She was part of TN English and was training at the Gwangju location until eventually she transfers to another city. She told me she is from Oregon, her name is Terri and that she had only been in the city for a couple of days. I asked if she wanted to grab a coffee. She happily agreed and we found a Paris Baguette, she bought me breakfast and we got to talking.

Terri is the mother of four successful children ranging ages early 20s up intill early 30s I believe. Before coming to Korea she was a Boy's Youth Correctional Officer and had gone back to get her master's. She is in Korean school limbo right now, TN English doesn't have an actual space for her until one of their teacher's leaves in 2 weeks. I was impressed about how cool she was about the situation, if that had been me I would have been livid. The fun part about meeting her was that it gave me a little glimpse back 2 months to when I didn't even know how to say thank-you in Korean. I've come a ways now!

I don't know why she is here, at a little over 5o. Maybe she was widowed or divorced. She made no mention of a boyfriend, ex, or obviously husband. She said this was a life long desire- I hope when I'm that old I can still muster the energy and courage to leave my children and peace to a different country. At any rate we chatted for about an hour, exchange contact info and I was back home in a flash ready for sunning on the roof.

I had a pretty easy going weekend. Friday I received some gifts from my kids at my school because it was Teacher's Day on Saturday. I got flowers, lip gloss, food, vitamins and a really nice moisturizer set (I later learned that Molly had received the same one lol, Korean's must think we have really dry skin). I brought all that back home with me did some laundry and then went out with some friends in the Sangmu area for dinner, had one of my favs, Galbi and then headed downtown to Bubble for some drinks.

Saturday I climbed a little of the mountain again. Fliss and Molly joined Holli and I. I think Molly really enjoyed it but Fliss was bored until we got to the top and then got, what I am assuming was a little like runner's high and became giddy, and was bubbly throughout the descent. Saturday night I went to see Robin Hood the new Russel Crowe flick, it was alright, maybe a little too long. Was in bed early Saturday night and that's about it. Definitely one of the slowest weekends to date but without a doubt needed.

This week coming up is another short week. Buddha's b-day is on friday and we get it off. There has been word of Everland an amusement park not unlike Wonderland. I would love to do it- I love roller-coasters and apparently there are some wicked ones there.

Molly has started planning for japan. It's going to cost about 1200 dollars to tour around for 10ish days but that's with transportation. I am totally psyched and am happy I can go with Molly because travelling there is like a dream come true for her. I'm not going to say it's the same for me but it is obviously an opportunity not worth passing up. I mean it's Japan!!

I still don't have health insurance at work and I didn't get my international driver's license this weekend. I am hoping this will all come together this week. I really want to get my teeth cleaned. A check up wouldn't hurt either! Also laser hair removal... ughh there I go again spending all my money before I even have it. My only saving grace is just sending it home, putting it in a high interest savings account and forgetting about it lol. I think when winter comes around it will be even easier to save- less things to do? Hibernate... I don't know haha. I'm the worst!!!

Love you all-

Dom out.

Soju, Soju

Holli and I are just hanging out in my tiny apartment waiting to go to see Iron Man 2. Holli and I climbed a mountain yesterday- it was awesome, last night was a friend's birthday and we ate outside at a restaurant that had grass!!

This is Holli's impromptu list of weird Korea

- matching couple outfits (shirts, pants, sometimes even shoes)

- matching underwear

- men carry women's purses around

- you can only buy huge things of toilet paper

- you can find condoms beside q-tips (lol no family planning aisle)

- korean girls can wear anything i.e. paper bags and still look cute

- no city street garbage cans

- old ladies tell her that she has a small face

- really scared of the sun- when they go out they're covered head to toe

- food keeps getting better and better

anyway check out my facebook photos - my mountain adventure is up and it is amazing.

out!

Yellow Dust, Volcanic Ash and Rain Equals....

THE DARKEST SKIES I have ever seen. The rain has been off and on the past couple of days and yesterday around 6pm it seemed like the middle of the night. Apparently some left over volcanic ash from Iceland has mixed with yellow dust in with the rain. The skies to close up and it is a little unnerving to see just how dark they get.

On to lighter news, I wired home money today, paid some bills here and have placed my first internet order. I bought a pair of shoes, a gorgeous sweater and dress for 60 dollars. Insane. I'm in trouble.

I don't know what else to say really. Kids are good, school is good. My weekend options are becoming more and more diverse. Busan, mountain climbing, staying home, movies... so many options. I love it here. I really do and I know this is a short one but when I compile some more crazy Korean lifestyle tidbits I'll write a longer one!!

xoxox

Sangmu Props!

Last night was a big deal. I had food that tasted exactly like how it would in Newmarket. Surprise, surprise... a cheeseburger and chocolate shake from, you guessed it- McDonald's! Oh it was pretty darn good. The McDonald's in Sangmu even delivers! I tried to take a picture of the delivery bikes but my camera was missing the memory card. Next time I go I will make sure to take a picture, they're are pretty awesome. Sangmu also reminded me a lot of Toronto. It's actually what I envisioned Gwangju as before I came here. Not at all like my middle-of-nowhere area, Shinchang-dong. In Sangmu there are so many bright lights, big malls, outlet centres, hotels, penthouses and the list goes on. Holli calls Sangmu home and I am a little jealous.

I am currently sitting in the teacher's office waiting for everyone to finish a meeting so we can all go eat. I eat lunch for free and dinner on Friday free too, if I decide to stay late with the other teachers. Today is just a meeting but KErri wants to keep me around so that she can improve her English. She is getting crazy obsessed now. She just doesn't understand that her English will only improve if she just speaks it all the time, watches North American shows and reads in English.

I can tell that recently Kerri has been really upset with her lot in life. She's 29, has a 2 year old, a husband and I desire to do anything but be a mom or a wife. I am not saying for a second that she doesn't love her daughter, 'Yay Won' (phonetic), like crazy but all she wants to do is travel. She is a pretty ambitious character. Her most recent goal is to start her own afternoon school/ daycare. The plan is to teach here in the morning and then teach at her own private place in the afternoon. I don't understand how that is going to enable her to free up her time to travel but... I don't ask questions.

I get paid tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. The last real 'challenge' I have to face is getting money wired to BMO back home. People do it all the time. I am not worried so much about sending it home, I am just concerned that it may not be the best option. I have heard of some other methods like using paypal or withdrawing back home from an international debit card but I have yet to meet anyone who has done either. Word of mouth isn't always the best around here. I am so hungry! Pegopah! Chicken tonight!

All of my kids are finally realizing that the teacher from Canada doesn't speak Korean. They are using what they know and incorporating some Korean to communicate with me and it is so cute. I end up repeating the Korean and they freak out. I'm not supposed to talk with them in Korean but I just ask them words here and there and as I mentioned before they are always willing to help out.

My internet at home wasn't working when I left for the gym this morning, it better be fixed when I get home. I have a little bit of an addiction.

That's all I got, I just wanted to really talk about McDonalds haha.

byeee

Imagine for a second that you're traveling in a cab flying down a busy 4 lane road. The cabbie honking madly at the small motorcycle that just cut him off, talking on the phone and watching t.v on his built in GPS. It's terrifying but that's my cab ride experience in general. Korea has a free standard television stream via satellite that all GPS units can receive. My directors husband catches his favorite shows, baseball and church on t.v. while he takes the kids home in the bus. Koreans can even watch t.v. on their cell phones. Their cellphones can also be programmed, like MasterCard's Paypass, to tap-and-go at many big chain stores and some smaller convenient stores as well. Technology here is just so cool. I don't want to say it's more advanced than home but it is definitely more fun.

(this isn't supposed to be underlined... I just can't fix it!)

This weekend was a mess as usual. Friday night started off innocently enough. Molly came over to help me lift a beer pong table from the trash. We set it up on the roof top and it made a perfect addition to what I am calling my new patio. We had dinner, some fruit soju and then decided to go check out the scene downtown. We started off at Speakeasy's so we could try and look for my sweater that was left behind. We sat down and just shot the shit for a bit and then wanted to go say hi to Song, our favorite at German bar. He always gives us free drinks! What followed next was all accidental. There was a Korean girl visiting home from Aussie and she has this crappy Australian friend who was just an arrogant jerk. At any rate I found out that she had been in Australia for four years and I was totally surprised because her English was awful. Molly and I talked with her for a bit and randomly she bought us tequilla and beers. At the same time Song, my favorite bartender made us Vodka crans. We left German bar a little tipsy! The next stop before home was Bubble and we just checked out the scene there and left to go home. I ended up at Molly's, getting there really late. When we woke up we headed over to grab a burger, gathered the girls and bought the necessities for beer pong. Saturday was just gorgeous! We all soaked up the sun with some good company and didn't move until the sun had set. Hunger as our only motivation we left my rooftop and headed downtown. The four of us, Fliss, Holli and Molly opted for some North American goodness and went to Underground. I had a chicken caeser wrap! By that time we were all a bit rowdy and definitely put a smile on the owner, Mike's, face. Mike has been in Korea 11 years! He's been married to a Korean for 5.... I think. At any rate we were all falling fast after dinner so we needed a change of scenery. German bar was packed! The monthly foreigner dinner had just finished and their were so many new faces in the bar. We sat around for a bit, I watched Fliss and Molly crash and Holli recruited me for Bubble Bar. After Molly and Fliss had left us we went over to Bubble with a Korean friend, Lucy. I met some new people and then headed back to my apartment to call it a night.

On Sunday I woke up and cleaned my apartment. Checked up on how the girls faired after we parted and made plans with Molly. We decided on an all-you-can eat seafood place. Molly and Fliss had gone the weekend before raving about it and I spent my whole weekend looking forward to trying it out. The food was pretty good! There was a lot of sashimi and sushi, king crab legs, snow crab legs, soups, dumplings, pasta and shrimps. I had to eat a lot of things I didn't like but next time I'll know better!

We decided to do a movie after. We watched Bounty Hunter and it sucked but it was nice to get a little America. I miss the trees from home. There are no big green maples here! But there were in Jersey lol. After the movie was finished Molly and I parted ways and I went home. I somehow managed to spend a lot of money this weekend so I am thinking next weekend will have to be slow... but I have FOMO (fear of missing out as dubbed by Molly) and if everyone is out having fun it will be next to impossible for me not to tag along! I have no will power haha!
Oh, and in case you were wondering these are all photos of downtown Gwangju taken from the 9th story of Lotte Mart. The Mega Box theatre is attached to it. It was a really rainy, crappy day out. I'm looking for the weather to be really consistently nice! I get paid Thursday! Soo excited. Looking forward to the gym this week and just taking it easy.
That's all for now... happy birthday mommy! love&miss you

One Month Anniversary

Yup, it's been a month. One awesome month. Let's recap.

-Flew to Korea March on March the 13th

- Started work

- Met Molly on the 3rd day I was here

- Then Felicity and Holli

- Bars- Bubble, Speakeasy & German Bar

- Ate a lot

- Went to Seoul

- Went to the zoo

- Finally controlled my kids

- Love my job

- Have a nicely furnished apartment

- Learned to ride the bus

- Got a my alien registration card, gym membership bank account and cellphone

- Just spent my first weekend camera-less

There are the highlights I think. I was in at 2am last night, by far the earliest of any of my weekends. Molly, Felicity and Holli came to see my apartment on Saturday, I'm tied with Holli for smallest apartment. Fail. We sat up and had some Saturday afternoon drinks on the roof. It was overcast but still nice to be outside, relaxing. We had dinner at a place close to my house, it was the fried up pork I can never remember its name. I had met Molly earlier for some Burger King! We had spent the day shopping and I was able to find some converters for my plugs here. After a month I can finally straighten my hair after I blow dry it!

Anyway back to the night, we finished dinner, cabbed downtown and just hit up the regular spots. Molly, Felicity and I decided to shut it down early and Holli stayed behind. Trooper.

I am learning more about Korean history and you'll have to forgive me, besides high school I have never taken a history course in my life so I know nothing so if I seem a little preschool-ish you'll just have to deal.

Oh big news!! I did karaoke for the first time ever last night. I sucked but I made Molly sing with me so she covered up most of the badness. I had been missing out. I didn't bring my camera last night. Probably a good idea, we all looked, well, not our best. It was just weird not having it there, the excitement for downtown has died out a little bit. I met a girl last night who is best friends with one of my old residence neighbours- that was pretty crazy. She has been here for 4 or 5 months... I can't remember her name though. Small world.

On Tuesday I had my first kid/blood incident. Leo smacked his head on a pole and there was so much nose blood everywhere. His nose wouldn't stop bleeding and it was all over his clothes and the floor. I got him to lie down and it was fine after. I have also neglected to mention that kids are obsessed with poo here. I don't know why they just are. I'll draw animals to help them understand a word, or I'll have my flash cards and all they want to do is draw poo coming from the animal. I have also discovered that hang-man is the best phonics game ever. I get paid on the 22nd and am so excited!

I have friends coming to visit next weekend and that's about it. Today will be go back to sleep, wake up (hopefully lol) gym, and dinner.

Ta! xoxox

oh and Mandy I love you, there, now you're in my blog! :P

I'm sitting at the front desk at the school waiting for Paris and the Director's husband to come back with the kids so I can say hi and get on with my day. I'm sipping on instant black coffee (that's the only barable way to drink it) and am pretty tired from this past week's activities. I started going to the gym this past Tuesday morning and have been everyday since for a total of 3 mornings! lol. Monday, Jacob's mother brought us a Baskin Robin's icecream cake. I was so excited until I took the first mouthwatering bite and discovered that icecream here is pretty different than home. Just didnt't hack it. Mind you, it was good and I still ate it all up, lol but I was expecting home!
Tuesday, Paris and I took our Morning Kindergartens to plant trees! They were so excited (I was too). We all piled up in the bus and drove out to, what I am assuming was a tree farm. We found a small plot to start digging up and then doesn't this old Korean man, and I mean OLD, come out from nowhere yielding his spade and waving it around! The director's husband had to calm him down and explain that the two teachers and 3 kids weren't trying to steal his trees... we wanted to plant more. I just stood there, in awe taking it all in. Hilarious. The best part was during the old man's rant the kids werre trying to hold this man's hand and say hi. At any rate, we got the plants planted and the seeds hoed, the kids had a blast and we took a lot of pictures!
On Wednesday the director and her husband took all the teachers out for dinner! We had Tuck-ki-be Gwangju's claim to fame... it's ground pork and beef mixed into almost a hamburger like patty. The pattys are glazed and BBQed. The appetizer is this crazy good soup made of beef ribs that just simmer and simmer all day and then fall off the bone! So you eat that first and then the Tuck-ki-be come on a small platter and you take your piece and wrap in in a lettuce leaf with a bit of rice, chili pepper paste, a jalepeno slice and some garlic, wrap it up and devour. So good. After dinner we went for coffee and dessert. I got home around 10 30 and crashed!
Ohh I almost forgot the best part of my week. I received my alien registration card, I got a bank account and a cell phone! I am a truely landed immigrant now! Haha.
Immigration card was pretty simple, bank account I just asked Kerri to write down all the essentials in Korean and then the manager knew some english so we made it work. The cellphone was by far the biggest pain. The guy must've been new becuase it took, combined 50minutes for him to actually hook up my cell phone. Then it wouldn't work so I had to bring it back and he made it functional. I still haven't made a call but I have received msgs so I know it works.
Tonight my closet arrives and I am so excited, I think I dreampt about it last night. Might test out my roof top this weekend if the weather is nice and I think that's all I got.
Missing everyone!
xoxoxox PLH

Nice and easy let the videos say it all... my school! About 2 months old.

First video is of the entrance to the school. shoes off in the entrance slippers on once you get inside.

The teacher's lounge lol... our office.

The hallway, at the end is the playroom.

And the most recent video of my classroom!

Bathroom Business

I reek like bleach, my hands feel like they have been exposed to an acid peel and my eyes are stinging a bit haha oops. I went a little nuts cleaning my bathroom tonight. Everything smells like public pool. For those of you who have experienced my anal nature first hand this next part may not to come as a surprise to you- for the rest well, welcome to Dom land.
I will have to supplement this explanation with some photos because it would be nearly impossible for someone who isn't a plumber to understand. Plumbers out there- you can disregard the photos. lol.

Anyway... this is the top of my toilet. It is in front of the counter. This wasn't always the case. The idiots who installed the toilet seat installed the toilet first and then the counter lapped over the lid and could not be put down. I had no bathroom seat and I had lost 2 toothbrushes and a handful of elastics to the toilet dungeon. This was unacceptable. I took the lid off thinking that it would be an easy matter to take it off the toilet and put it back on so it would sit in front of the counter as seen in exhibit one above and the photo below.

Well as you can see (sort of) in the third toilet photo there are pegs that you have to hook the toilet seat into. They are hidden obviously but they're there. it was easy enough yanking the lid off but putting it back on was a whole other matter because I couldn't get the pegs far apart enough to slide the seat back in. SO lol, I had to saw down one of the pegs so I could get the seat back on. Well sawing didn't work with a paring knife. I had to use a lighter to melt the plastic down. Now for those of you who have been to the odd party or two with me back in Waterloo you might be familiar with my pyro side- who knew it would actually come to practical use.

At any rate it worked and I was able to slide the lid back into the pegs and now I can save some toothbrushes and maybe skip a flush once in awhile! Just thought I might share. I thought it was pretty hilarious. It's totally an unrelated Korea thing. I would have done it back home but I would have had better tools at least lol.

Did my immigration office trip today. Get my my Alien registration card and my passport back with a multiple entrance VISA. Japan here I come!! Until next time...

Hajjjiimmaaaa!

As much as I am hesitant to admit it I'm slightly hungover but I am awake and alive in Madison's apartment. We got to her apartment around 3am and I stayed as she went back out. I woke up to her pounding on her apartment door at 7am which was hilarious. I though maybe it was oneof her friends looking for her. She didn't have her key for some reason. She mumbled something literally incoherent and then passed out on her couch. I have never seen anything funnier in my life. I am currently updating my blog on her mac book waiting for her to wake up so we can eat and I can go back to Gwangju.
Getting to Seoul was another hilarious matter (disclaimer: sorry mom and dad and al the authority figures I respect-I love you and dont get mad but the next bit is about me being pretty irresponsible but there's a happy ending!!)
My training (well certification course) was planned for friday and saturday morning. I was supposed to wake up and go with my co worker, Paris, on Friday morning... early. Like 5:40am early. I decided o have a sushi dinner with the girls and a few drinks because I definitely did not have to work on Friday. We let's just say we all got carried away and I didn't get in until late. Bad decision number one. Bad decision number two was trying to pull an all-nighter after that. I made it until 4:30am and just closed my eyes for a second and woke up to sun and 7am. I panicked like no other! I put on clothes and ran to the post office where I was supposed to meet my co worker and there was no one there. I got myself to the bus station. Everything was fine after that. I got to Seoul, my co worker met me and I passed my training! I have my endeavor recorder and will post it on FB. If anything, I've learned my lesson and I have a pretty funny story. Korea really brings out the best and worst of a person!
The actual training wasn't too bad. The instructor Ben, gave some really good teaching tips and ideas that I am pretty excited to put into practice. I am not sure how long he had been in Korea for, but he had some really strong opinions on certain things which was a bit off-putting but all-in-all he was a nice guy.
Here is a little update on things in Korea
-they have little Styrofoam bumpers on car doors so that when they park close to people their car doors don't scratch other people's cars
- koran's are obsessed with image OBSESSED
- very fashion forward men will try to look 'prettier' than their female counter parts and I have seen some very good looking and well put together korean men
- it's the style here for guy to wear purses
- girls will have at least 3 facial reconstruction surgeries in their life time!
- middle school graduates (10 year old girls) usually get their eyes done to look more 'western' for a gift.
- a face surgery usually involves cheek bone implants, whitening of the skin and can cost upwards of 40,000 dollars
- korean's use beepers you'd get a a keg to wait on fastfood
- there subways are the epitome of subway. clean fast efficient. they even have floor to ceiling glass partition between riders and the 4 foot fall onto the tracks and when the train comes into the station t syncs with the partition and the doors open. no one call fall, no one can push anyone and no one can commit suicide
-suicide doesn't exist in Korea - they're called fan deaths. people die from their fans exploding in their apartments
I have pictures and other such things that I am going to put on Facebook. Madison is finally up and probably still drunk. We're going to McDonalds for breakfast! I am soooo excited I will post more soon. I just have been way too busy. I am loving life here. I am safe in a country with no guns and no drugs. Seriously if you're even caught with a joint (or a marijuana cigarette for the older audience) they would fine your school huge and then deport you. It is a crazy serious offence over here but there bars are open till 7am and old men get drunk and pass out on the sidewalk. I little crazy but everyday I walk to work with a smile on my face. This is life and it is amazing!
I love you all!!
Dominique

The Weekend Begins

I figured I would be pretty busy this weekend so I may not be able to get one in until Monday so let me give you a run down now.
I start my laundry... this is what I had to deal with.
- i forgot to ask Kerri to tell me how to order a taxi, so i carried a 15lbs bag of detergent home from the mall- about a 20 minute walk
- i have no idea what the measurement is... everything is in korean!
- and of course the washing machine is in korean as well
- and there is no such thing as a drier in korea- that is the airs job.
- two day jean dry cycle commence

There is an upside however. When the wash is done the washing machine plays a little tune! No joke it sings to you. Way better than the north american Bzzzz! I bet you're pretty jealous. Ok, back to the point. This weekend. Tomorrow morning (sat morning) going with my husbands director for a health check, did my passport photos today. When I get back I am going to workout and then meet Molly downtown to hang out and do girl stuffs until we go to dinner at 7! On sunday I am meeting Kerri at my apartment to help her with her english! Books up pretty quickly. Let's be real though, what else am I going to do? lol

A lot to update... another big blog post! Everyone have a good weekend

LOVE

Hangul for Dummies

Hard to believe but it was a week from today I flew from Pearson to get here. Weird. Part of me feels like I just got here and part of me feels like I have been here forever, probably because the Koreans that I work with, have been extremely kind and inviting.
My favorite thing about Korea so far is that it is totally acceptable, if not encouraged to eat garlic cloves. They pickle em' up, roast them or whatever, and devour! My breath is constantly laced with garlic. Mmmm, yea!
My least favorite thing about Korea is that I am finding as i become more comfortable with my surroundings i want to adventure more and the language barrier is really holding me back. I am going to put an honest effort into learning some hangul, korean phrases and some popular and common characters so that i can get around on my own. I also didn't enjoy one of my monsters biting me today. Jacob, the youngest, latched on today and I have a nice red bump with some purple to prove it. I was unimpressed. Then the director told me to not get upset and if I should choose to tell Jacob's mother that i should be nonchalant about it. Pfft.

Anyway, I have also tried to venture out early in the mornings to get a little exercise. Today's adventure was to the top of a site-seeing tower. (the video is on fb)
This is a definite go for a run to-the-top-of-the-hill-and-kill-your-quads-spot! Korean's don't exercise. There version of a trip to the gym, from what I am told (haven't witnessed first hand... yet) is make up and new gym outfits, posing in front of the mirrors. I haven't seen anyone run outside either. To them a 5 minute walk is drivable. One friend even saw two Koreans cuddling on a bike. Too much. I go to class looking like poop already and tomorrow will be day five. I dont bother with any make-up and my hair is well my hair. Why would I, /i chase after kids all day. Of course today a photographer comes in to shoot me with the kids in various classes, doing different activities. I was worse than usual. lol. I'll make sure to post the link when the pictures go up. Should be a disaster. Can print them out and put them beside my degree hanging on the wall, anything more to embarrass me and single me out as the whitey. Oh well.
plh

il, ee, sum... 1,2,3

I am happy to report that late nights and work the next day is tolerable. I do however believe that kids can sense sleep depravity. My younger kids today were horrible. International day, where I was supposed to tach some St. Patty's pride was a disaster. But I did see all of them take their 4-leaf clover name tags home! I spent my entire morning chasing after them. On the upside we got a new 3 year old and he is the CUTEST thing I have ever seen and I was asked to give him his english name! I named my first boy Jacob. Kind of special. His father is a doctor in Gwangju and his mother invited me to dinner. I didn't realize until after that all doctors pretty much speak english. I think I will probably decline the offer but if it's incredibly rude I will go. Couldn't be that bad. This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. I have foreigners dinner, grocery shopping, I have to go to the hospital to be health screened and I have to go get another set of passport photos. The health check costs about W50,000 ($50) but my director is paying for it! I think she feels bad because she was trying to weasel another english class into my schedule. As it is I have 7 hours of class and an hour for prep. I take an unpaid hour for lunch so I am there 9 hours minimum. I put my foot down and said if there were special circumstances I would work and take overtime but I am not working until 8 or 9. It was actually the stupidest thing. If that gives off the impression that Canadians are lazy- I do not care. I am also very frustrated with the office equipment. It, along with the version of windows on their computers are all in Korean. I can't even fix a paper jam. Eff. So I am slowly learning some Korean phrases! I was mostly inspired by a new friend, Molly who has taken up the language and really enjoys it. I figure if they are putting me up in there country the least I can do it learn a little of Hangul.

Pretty pumped for this weekend and my introduction to soju (rice liquor). Maybe I can get some sight-seeing in. I am going to make some dumplings for dinner.
PLH

I'm not sure what I'm eating that is making my pee neon yellow but it is pretty funny none-the-less. Downtown was amazing last night and I only stayed for a couple of pints. Really looking forward to Saturday night. There is a foreigners dinner (haha) and then everyone is drinking to celebrate St. Pattys. Yes, I'll be safe. Bellow is a picture of the Converse store. Every Korean owns a pair.

This was a picture of a little man sitting on a toilet with a smokey ash tray. If you ask me it looks like the picture is promoting smoking and not discouraging it. From what I learned last night it is very frowned upon- if not prohibited for Korean women to smoke in public so they crowd in washrooms and light up. At any rate I just thought that picture was very cute!

This is a downtown picture. I know it is on its side. I'll fix it later. The part of dt I went to was pretty awesome. There is every north american thing you could possibly want. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, BK, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin' Donuts. The list goes on... and as many of you know my biggest disappointment here was not being able to get a decent breakfast but now there is an american who opened up shop not too long ago and he serves brunch!! AMAZING. Oh, I haven't even told you the best part. Cab fair is dirt cheap.

A 1/2 hour cab ride cost me W10,000! That's 10 dollars. Unreal. On the way back it was cheaper. Only W8,000 because there was way less traffic.

My two days of school have been awesome. Above are bunny ears that I made for my Kindergartens. The ones in the FB album. They were so good with me yesterday. We are doing a st. pattys theme today for International day class. The school still seems very unorganized and it upsets me because as i learned last night the purposely hold back students to make money. These kid are eating up their work books but what they could accomplish in 2 weeks is being drawn out for a month. Oh well... when in Rome. Bellow is a really short clip of the entrance of my school.

This one is of one of the classrooms. They are pretty similar but I will get one of our activity room. The room is amazing. There are little dress up outfits and activity centres. Everything is brand new with the tag still on. Yesterday's physed went pretty smoothly but there was a point where I was hogtied and the two little monsters were trying to get a piggy back at the same time! They kill me.

Yesterday I was in my directors office to get something and saw that my degree is pinned up to the wall! How weird is that. I am the selling point of her school. I have to sit outside the office at the front desk so that when prospective students and their parents walk in I am the first thing they see. I feel so used! Ohh and my director and her husband must think I am a heathen because they gave me a korean/english bible yesterday. Hilarious. That's all for now!

PLH

Anyong Haseyo (hello)

First day of class was a little insane. The school has only been open a month and by the way things went today, it was painfully obvious. I taught 5 classes today.They run for about 45 minutes. I found teaching the 3-7 years olds almost impossible, they are the ones that I took pictures of today. The rest of the kids were responsive but still very, very hard to get through to. Except for Issaac, he was my shinning light of the day. Haha. He was my most advanced student and working with him was really fun.

The program itself is pretty good so far from what I can tell. It works on the premise that there are 8 different ways to learn and that children need to be taught from as many different angles as possible. That's enough for now. I am teaching physed tomorrow. Dodge ball, check! I teach Yippee red (kindergarten), Manners, P.E. International Day, Blocks, Board Games and First Steps in Phonics and Intermediate Engish. My life rocks. I have tons of downtime, lunch and snacks are taken care of by the school, I get to wear slippers and whatever else I want and the kids love me. The only down side right now is that I am still jett-lagged and feel like I haven't has a good night's sleep in over a week. Oh well, it will pass. What else can I tell you? Tomorrow night I am going to do my first solo adventure. Get in a cab and go downtown to the YMCA to play cards with white people. I am hoping it won't be too expensive. I made dumplings and broccoli for dinner. Yes, went grocery shopping! I sorta figured out where exactly I live in the Country of South Korea, I had to get the province, district and city down. It's something like that. My cognitive map sucks. Actually for day 3 I don't think that is too brutal. I just have to add friends' areas to it so I can build my social networking empire! Muahaha. Also this a video from my walk home. The actual amount of apartment buildings here is alarming. There are no houses in Korea, just apartments. haha, at least it seems that way

That is just a drop in the bucket. There has to be tens of thousands of apartment buildings in Chan-Nam. More to come later. I have dishes to do!

Lovelovelove

Exhaustion, Excitement and a lot of Craziness

Without a doubt the craziest 72 hours of my life. I am wipppeedd. Fist thing first. Let me tell you how my director wanted to convert my religion. I think her main objective was to wear me down initially so that I would bend to her Christian ways. Yesterday- being the day I finally arrived I was picked up by my director and one of her employees i.e, my co-worker Carrie or Cathy, still not sure. My director, Ian (pronounced Yawn) speaks no English and I speak no Korean. Set stage for disaster. As we were driving in from the airport I was informed that I had no apartment and no furniture but both would be taken care of. I got to pick between two apartments which were exactly the same- no exaggeration but one was closer than the other so I did what my director should have done and picked the closest one. After that was sorted we went to buy apartment stuffs. I you'll see, everything I own in the apartment was purchased yesterday besides the content of my luggage. I did this on 4 hours of sleep completely jett-lagged. SO after all was said and done and my director was saying her goodbye to me - in really, really broken English she asked if I would like to go to mass on Sunday which was this morning and I agreed thinking I was being polite and it would be a 40 minute ordeal. Well, I was wrong. Four hours later I walked out enduring a Korean attempt at converting me, a English service with an overly enthusiastic christian rock band and a totally awkward goodbye. I vow to spend th rest of my Sundays hungover!
The rest of my day I spent in the mall. I got a new camera- amazing 120 bucks. Wall socket converter, some cable and some apples. When I got back I had dinner and a movie with some new friends and I am just getting back now. Here is a list of my first impression of Korea

poison mushrooms- story to come
head of tree- story to come
no differentiation between breakfast, lunch and dinner
U-turns everywhere
Mountains
need to find westerners
socks with open toed stilettos
road lanes are only a suggestion
red lights are only a suggestion
no such thing as a pedestrian
And there is so much more to tell but that is all I can muster up right now. It is 10 3opm local time and I am effing tired. Shit. Tomorrow will be my first work day so I can definitely let you all know how that goes!

Below I have included my thoughts from when I was on my flight!
PLH

12:33am March 12, 2010

For some reason it always messes with me when the hush falls over an aircraft ready to take off. It is just creepy. Even the kids, sensing maybe their parents nervousness are quiet.
Ground speed 902km/h, altitude 9449m, distance to destination: over 10,000km. I have been in the air no more than 40 minutes and of course get the one guy in the row ahead of me that chooses to lean his set back. Fml. Oh well. It’s so pitch black outside. I got the window seat I asked for and to make it even better I got the window seat right in the middle of the right wing. The span of this thing is sheer enormity. I just noticed that the temp outside my window is -25 degrees C. The on flight entertainment is amazing though! I am going to watch The Blind Side, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Men Who Stare at Goats. Can’t wait! I was really surprised not crying when my family waved goodbye. An obviously bittersweet moment was compounded by the overwhelming sense of panic when I realized I didn’t know what the fuck I was really getting myself into. And now I am strapped into a Boeing 777 going almost 1000km/h, non-stop to Seoul! Wow.
There is a cute boy on this flight who I originally met in the consulate just days earlier. He is sitting 4 rows back and I just found out that his finally destination is the same as mine- Gwangju- Sessa, I know you are already excited, you’re not the only globe trotter now! Anyway I am going to conserve laptop battery and shut this thing down! I have to take some more pictures with my disposable camera. I feel so 90s it is incredible. Only so far being the minority is not that bad. I make friends quickly!
Taken somewhere over canada....

Random Pre-Trip Pictures

Approaching the 24 hour countdown mark to my departure I have finally finished packing and am relaxing and looking forward to the adventure ahead. Here are some photos that I have taken of random pre-trip stuff.

I opened this from a fortune cookie after picking up some Chinese on my way home from getting my VISA approved. It was a pretty crazy find especially because the VISA approval actually meant that my ticket to freedom was at hand! Another intense pre-trip find was that Korean money, won, only goes up to 10,000. A 10k bill is equivalent to about 9 dollars and the stacks get high pretty quickly. I may even get my month's salary in won which would be serious bling! Not so sure I would like to be carrying all that to the bank.

The denominations are 1000, 5000 and 10,000. It's pretty money too! There are a bunch of coins as well but I haven't gotten any change yet. So I'll post that later. There won't be many pictures at the beginning, I am going to buy a camera in Korea first! So you''l have to depend on my surly descriptions for the time being. Finally my epic pack. I am allowed two 50lbs suitcases, a carry-on and my purse. I am about 12 lbs over on the suitcases but as I said before it will only cost me $60 dollars to bring extra and maybe if they're nice they'll have pity on me and wave the fee.

This should be awesome fun to drag around in the airport! I am getting super excited and packing with mom sealed the deal. Everything is good to go. Liquids sealed away, breakables wrapped up and a year's supply of my life lovingly put away until I get to my very own apartment! Lots more to share when I settle in. Again thank you all for your love and support it means so much!

Peace, Love & Harmony

Let's Do This Shit

The last of the fair well parties behind me and my flight booked the possibility of sleep has diminished significantly. I fly out Thursday night and arrive in Seoul Saturday morning. My flight to Korea is direct but I need to take a domestic flight to the airport in Gwangju. My total trip time will take 23 hours. The best 23 hours of my life! Ha! I am trying to estimate how much my flight is costing and I think it is in the $1200 dollar range. I fly with Korean Air and thankfully they'll only charge me an extra $60 dollars for my overweight luggage. I get dinner and breakfast and free booze, well at least that is what I have been told. I have been spoiled and received 4 books as gifts as well as my iPod touch. These will keep me busy enough to pass the time along with my laptop and 6 on flight movies!
Packing almost everything I own into two suitcases was a little depressing. It is also nerve wrecking! What if- god forbid, something goes missing. One misplaced suitcase is half of my life. Another heartache is having to take this domestic flight solo. First time in korea, in an airport unfamiliar to me I have to navigate my way to domestic flights and try and find the flight to Gwangju. This should be interesting. I transferred over a hefty sum of Canadian into Korean so hopefully I will be more than set in the bills and misc. cost department. I am still so blown away by all the love and support I have gotten and cannot believe I am out of the country before the weekend arrives. How am I going to sleep now until Thursday?? Craziness!
Well the next time I'll be updating will be from Korea. So amazing to finally be here.
Let's pray for a turbulence free flight.
EFF YESSSSS!!
plh

Holy Effin Shit- The VISA has Arrived

I received my VISA number today. Well actually it is more a string of letters than numbers but who gives a shit. Finally something tangible. The last interview between me and my plane ticket could happen the end of this week. Dinner feels like it's coming back up- this is the first nervous feeling I have felt since starting this fiasco. The pressure is on from my agency, the director was the one who e-mailed me, not Jiyeon who I usually deal with. I need to spend more money, surprise , surprise about $1oo but that's minor at this point. The battle is almost mine, mission almost accomplished but there is still so much shit to take care of. I have to pack, get my meds, get more money, convert it into won. I have to stand on the scale with my bags and calculate the difference, I have to make sure there are no liquids in my carry-on. For all my preparation I know feel so utterly scattered, desperate and unorganized.

I also found out that I am the only white person at my branch. It is brand new and they are slowly recruiting other Westerners as were called, to the place. I feel like that could work in my benefit maybe I'll be the go-to person when they need a translation or the box of arts and crafts from the top shelf.

I have some contacts that need contacting. Jesus, I need something to drink. This is quite the head spinner. My mom is waiting for me to book my flight so she can go away and I have given my father so much anxiety he is not feeling well. My one sister needs my car and the other wants my room. I think it is time to go Canada. You rock, everyone here rocks but it's time for a change.

Another update after the interview. Snaps and crossed fingers I am going to rock this.

PLH