The countdown is on... again.

So over the past four months I have been in Korea I have learned a lot, seen a lot and done a lot. As the old adage goes, all (good) things must come to an end. I have had ups and downs here, and I have decided it is time for me to move on and pursue my Masters in Teaching. There were several reasons for this decision, but it mostly comes down to the fact that school better suits my needs at the moment. Alas, I am headed to Australia to go to Teacher's college. The best part of this is I get to go home for a month over Christmas! My mom sent me a Chocolate Advent Calendar in the mail so I have a sweet accompaniment to go with my countdown. When the package arrived, it was all bent and some of the chocolates broken, but it is doing the job very well. I have only two more weeks of teaching left; I can't believe how quickly it has gone by- in some ways it feels like I just got here, but in other ways I feel like I have been here a year as well. When one door closes, another opens and I am really quite excited to see what life has in store for the next little while. A girl who I met years ago through an old roommate is also going to the same campus as I am- aaaannd she is also in Korea. So, naturally we got together over the weekend to discuss the upcoming year and what is in store for us. Let the new adventure commence.... Annyonghi keyseo Korea, G'day Australia. I am just full of cheesy cliches today.

Animals for sale

My heart goes out to them, really it does. Each time I see someone with a basket full of puppies or bunnies I want to buy them. We were in Itaewon and a guy was selling bunnies; he had five in this little basket with a light on them. Not even a heat light. No blanket, no water. The poor things were freezing and I wanted so badly to adopt them all. Rich made a good point though; if we buy them then it just encourages these people to keep doing business like that. In Dongdaemun we saw someone selling puppies who were shaking and scared. I can't get over how this is okay to do here. I guess this post is simply made to urge people to think before they buy animals in this manner. It is so sad to see this happen, but buying them will perpetuate the cycle. Next time I see that man or any other with animals in the street (with temperatures at zero) I will be more tempted to run off with the basket. I am feeling sad that we didn't save the little guys last night...

Bus blunders

I felt that the past few experiences on the bus traveling through Korea warranted their own post altogether. I have mentioned before the sheer insanity of drivers here in Korea. Well, bus drivers are the worst of all. Maybe this is because they drive by a different set of rules than all the other drivers; a set of rules that cannot be clearly articulated as they make less sense than anything. Regular drivers (as in car drivers) weave in and out of traffic at a pace that is not permitted in Canada; note: on the way home from Seoul the other weekend I was in a cab traveling up to speeds of 160 km an hour. This is normal in Korea. Buses have their own lanes and seem to take precedence over other vehicles. They do not need to stop for red lights, or wait behind cars at any time. They just drive into an open space and overtake everyone. The point to this story is while en route to Seoul Jaime and I were on a bus when we heard a loud horn followed by a distinct crashing noise. That crash was caused by us, or rather our bus driver who was impatiently trying to overtake the vehicle just in front of him slightly to the left, but not left enough. Alas, our first car accident in Korea. The best part was the driver got out and he and the guy he hit were laughing. Jaime and I decided they must have been saying "oh, you again, our third accident this week!!". Honestly it would not surprise me. Note the smile on the bus driver's face:

We have witnessed a few other crashes here but that was our induction into the crash hall of fame so to speak. After a few minutes we were on our way back into the city. Last night, while on the way to Itaewon, Erin Jaime and I were talking on the bus as we normally do, nothing loud or obnoxious when we were tapped on shoulders by a Korean man yelling something in Korean. Now his tone was not friendly and we got the impression we were doing something wrong. The lady behind me leaned over angrily and said "You are talking, it is loud, do you know how many people are on this bus?? Very many people." Jaime and I just looked at her and thought, 'okay what is your point? Thanks Captain obvious, there are a lot of people on the bus'. Apparently we aren't allowed to converse on the bus. If we were being really loud and annoying I could see her point, but we weren't. It makes sense to talk with friends on a long journey to make the trip go faster. So the rest of the voyage was somewhat awkward and I tried to make sense of the "no talking on the bus" rule. But I couldn't. The only conclusion I could come up with was "In order to get by in Korea (at least on the bus) take everything you think is logical and do the opposite".

Halloween, new friends and field trips.....

So we pulled it off, the Halloween Party was a success. As were the teacher festivities that followed on Friday night; hey, we earned it! We stayed about 11 hours (at least) each day of the week to prepare for the Halloween party for the kids. We had a haunted house (more like a haunted maze in a darkened room), a games room, a snack room with Halloween themes (spider crackers, ghost lollipops and jack o lantern tangerines, along with gummy worms), a story room and a photo room. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, so we were all pretty proud of that. It made the long nights worth it. Sort of .

Nothing too major happened the weekend of Halloween as we were all pretty well exhausted, but Jaime and I wentout to Hongdae and met up with Heather (my friend from back home) and her fellow Maple Bear teachers. It’s Heather’s birthday this weekend and we are celebrating with Thai cuisine and Pilipino music. Random is the only way to go. Anyway, back to the past week. We had a welcome dinner for our new teacher and her teaching partner; Erin and Grace respectively. Mr. Im and his wife (the school owners) took us all to this new Korean BBQ place called Gorilla. I like Korean BBQ’s - you get to cut your meat with scissors! On Thursday night, Jaime and I met up with one of Jaime’s friends from back home who just arrived a couple weeks ago. It’s always fun to meet new people, especially when they are from the area you are. It’s the stuff instant friendships are made of in Korea. So we went to pick her up at the subway; check out the pictures of the washrooms there. I don’t know about you, but does the dude look more like a girl? The men here ARE somewhat feminine, but c’mon, this is a little crazy, don’t you think?
So we went to our favourite Western meets Korean cuisine establishment and indulged in some dokkboki and quesadillas, which was the perfect split. The best part is that it all came with three servings of complimentary French fries. Love it. We returned home after a night of good food and good times to get some sleep for our big field trip to the Fire Station. That field trip that will go down as the most disorganized event to date. Let me just clarify that this is NOT one of the ones I had a hand in. We were celebrating fire safety week at school and someone suggested going to the fire station, which is a great idea. We just lacked some serious organization from the higher ups. We had no idea what was going on until it was happening. Luckily, the fireman pulled it all together and told the kids (what I assume) were some very important things about fire safety. This language barrier thing is tricky sometimes. The whole presentation was in Korean so the Canadian teachers had no idea what was being said. I mean, we got the jist of it, we heard all that stuff when we were kids, too; however, the fireman threw in some jokes here and there and all the Korean teachers got a chuckle out of it and we were in the dark. Sometimes you just feel left out from a big secret. I have come to terms with this feeling though and I don’t really mind anymore...well not as much as I used to. So the kids learned some important things, and our teaching partners got a lesson too. I hope that means we are all covered in the event of a fire in the school- which hopefully never happens. Obviously. We got to play with a fire hose and take pictures by the fire truck. The kids loved it. The kids, not me, I swear.














So being stoked that it was Friday and the weekend was here (finally), I set out to teach my afternoon kids and engage in a riveting lesson of cutting snowflakes out of paper. Needless to say I forgot how many little pieces of cut triangles land on the floor. The upside is the kids created some pretty cool designs that will look nice around the classroom- which is nice because it will save me from making more than I have to in order to decorate! Let the weekend begin!

Good news!

While reading over past posts, I feel I should inform you loyal blog readers about progress that has been made in my classroom. While things are not perfect, and never will be (how can they be with rowdy 5 year olds vyying for attention in any way possible?) they have greatly improved. I feel as though I have more control over my kids and they respect me more than before. I get a lot of hugs good bye and the kids always smile and say hello in the morning. As for the "little terror" of a child I referred to before, he has come around quite nicely. I feel as though progress has definitely been made. Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of tears and temper tantrums, and I am still a little overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to teach these kids, but I have come to love them all. Some teachers at my school are finding grey hairs. Seriously.

On another note, I am still learning Hangul. I have also made some headway in this area and I know more phrases than before, and I can count to ten! I know how to identify letters, so I can read quite a bit (if I have like a minute to process each word), but knowing what that word means is a whole other story. I am working on it. When I go to the market I say "ol ma ya yo?", which means "how much is this?" and when I get a Korean response (duh!) I kind of stare at them blankly, I am trying to identify the words that I know, and it takes me a little while. In return, I get a look back that says "Why do you speak in Korean when you clearly do not understand it?" then the vendor will reach for his or her calculator and show me on the display. At least I am trying, right? Oh and the other day in Namdaemun, I was pushed by an old lady. Literally pushed. Courtney was exchanging money and we were told that the exchange rate was 95% (she showed us on the handy calculator). So Court gives her $100 Canadian and the lady gives her 90 won. My math is not great, but I know that 95% of 100 is 95. So we asked for the other 5, and the lady pushed my purse into me and waved me away. Needless to say I was stunned and I said "did you just push me?!" but they didn't understand me and we had to just walk away. How rude. I must say that is the first blatant rude encounter I have had here. We get bumped into a lot and no one apologizes, but I guess that is normal with the huge crowds that form at all times. But to be obviously pushed, that was not cool. I guess these ladies will do anything for their livlihood.

Everland for Halloween!

For reals, this blog post was written today! I am back on track now :) I apologize for any confusion that may have ensued....

Everland how I love you! Courtney and I decided to head to the park when I finished work on Wednesday night. We got there around 6pm and we did a great job of covering ground as we saw pretty much everything we wanted. We were fortunate enough to be present for the Halloween Festival at Everland, and let me tell you, my love for Halloween has grown stronger! I even found part of my costume at the gift shop; cute little black cat ears! The best part is, they are attached to barettes. This is quite a momentous occasion for me, as when I wear headbands- which animal ears mostly come attached to, I get the headaches behind my ears. I know the ladies understand my pain. The cat ears I purchased are ingenious for that reason, plus they are from Everland. Obvious bonus. But the best part is they only cost me 4,000 won. Let’s face it, if these ears were to be sold at Canada’s Wonderland price would range from $15-20. ANYWAY, the rides we went on were pretty cool and the concept of the park itself was awesome. The people who work there have to wave in a funny way, we dubbed it the “Everland Wave”- it looks remarkably similar to “spirit fingers”. When the rides are in motion, they have to commentate on a microphone or dance or sing along. The attention to detail is meticulous as the workers are even wearing white gloves. It truly was just like Disney World, complete with an “It’s a Small world” ride. The dolls looked the same and we travelled through all the countires, almost. I must say I was saddened that Canada was not included in this ride. We were excited to see America, because we thought it meant Canada was approaching. Then we saw Mexico, then we realized they just left out Canada. They even had a Christmas town, but no Canada. Other than that, it was truly great. We bobbed our heads to the Korean version of it’s a small world and took in all the lovely sights. We ate Western food (just like we did all week, Courtney is not too adventurous in her eating habits- but she did try some things- in very small doses), went on pretty much all the rides (kiddy ones included) and went through a fun house and haunted house. There was an amazing fireworks display at night, comparable to one that might be had on New Year's Eve or something. We were so happy to be there, on a Wednesday night too so there were no lines whatsoever, that we decided we would hit up Caribbean Bay the next night. Caribbean Bay is the water park part of Everland that has both indoor and outdoor facilities. When we got home, however, we realized that Caribbean Bay closes at 5pm now since it is the offseason. It was probably for the best anyway, since I was totally exhausted on Thursday at work. Speaking of work, we are decorating our classrooms for Halloween right now. I am sooo super excited for this holiday. I don’t usually go all out for Halloween back home, but for some reason this year I am really pumped. I think it must be because I am working with the kids; I can say everything I am doing is for them, but really, I am enjoying it way too much myself. I am on the Halloween party planning committee and my head is abuzz with ideas for the little kiddos. On the weekend we went back into Seoul and stayed at another hotel. We did a lot of shopping and I sent some gifts home to some special people. I really wanted to wrap them, but I also really wanted them to stay intact through the flight, so I listened to Court and let her wrap them for me. I just find present wrapping so much fun! Court and I met up with Heather, our friend from Canada who just arrived last Sunday for a teaching position at another Maple Bear, and some of her new teaching friends in Itaewon (again, I know, I have to branch out- side note, we plan to go to Hongdae next weekend) at the Rocky Mountain Tavern. It was surreal, I was hanging out with my friends from Canada in a Canadian bar. It kind of made me miss home a little, but at the same time mad me miss Korea. It was a paradox for sure. Court and I left early as she had an early flight back home, ventured back to the hotel and crashed. Today we said our good byes and she headed back home. I must say, the departures section of the airport is far less joyous than the arrivals. I saw a mother crying her eyes out as her son hugged her god bye and other people alone, waiting looking anxious. Naturally, I cried a little when I hugged Courtney goodbye. Then it was flyin' solo back to Yongin. Good thing I had my iPod close by. So it is back to normal life here now, aka the grind. I am pretty tired, so I am thankful for the quiet evening I have ahead; however, I have no idea what I am going to do. Probably catch up on sleep- OH and watch the Nightmare Before Christmas because it appears it just finished downloading! Yay Halloween!

Canadian Thanksgiving!

Canadian Thanksgiving! I am totally missing turkey at the moment, and stuffing, chocolate cake, mashed potatoes, even cranberry sauce! I don't even like cranberry sauce! Mostly I am missing my mom and just being with her for Thanksgiving :(. Courtney and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving feast, so naturally we got Domino's. I tried to order the sweet potato pizza the school always gets, with the corn, the bamboo, chicken and pepperoni, but I ended up getting a roasted potato one. I don't know how that happened because I even said go gu ma pizza! (Korean for sweet potato pizza). Regardless, it was yummy. As for school activities, I had the kids make their own turkeys out of shoe and hand tracings. They were adorable. I am not sure that the kids fully understand Thanksgiving, but I tried to teach them. At the end of the day, they were still calling their turkeys chickens, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to ingrain in their minds that they were not chickens! Ah well, c'est la vie, I tried. Lord did I try...

Anyway, Thanksgiving was good times, I am thankful for a lot this year. I will not bore you with the list of things that appear on my "I am thankful for" list, but I am happy to be where I am, despite missing some people dearly. I am in Korea, doing something I never thought I'd be doing and learning a lot more in the processs.