Korea...What More Can I Say?

Yesterday was a very boring day. I had no classes until after lunch because the grade 6's had physical activity day. Basically, they were outside all day competing in competitions. There was jump rope, shoe toss, hoola hoops, tug-of-war, relay races, etc. I sat in the office for a bit and then went outside to take a gander at the students. They were cheering with pom poms songs and chants and dancing. It was really quite a sight, but such a good idea to keep the students in shape. Anyways, after lunch I was with the grade 3's for two classes and then free the rest of the afternoon. In my grade 3 classes I was giving out Real Fruit jellies as the prize for a game. Well, at the end of the class this little boy in the very back row starts crying and I didn't even notice until Mrs. Kim told me. She said he was crying because he didn't get picked for the game and he didn't get a candy. I kind of laughed because it was funny and it was a boy. He actually stormed out of the classroom and slammed the door. Then we passed him in the hallway after class on his way back from the bathroom and Mrs. Kim tried to see if he was ok and he just pushed past us and went back to class. What a horrible teacher I am...I sat in the office and watched the movie '27 dresses' and the newest episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.' I'm so thankful Nick introduced me to a website that has every movie and TV show imaginable, because now I know my days will go by faster.

Today was a busy day with five grade 6 classes. I was lucky enough to have a break in between, which made it more bearable. Also, I got the best text message of my life. Of course, it was in Korean, so I got Jiny to read it and told me it was the camera place and my camera was fixed. How Exciting is that? Well, obviously for all of you it's not exciting, but for me it was the happiest day of my life. Now, I can officially put pictures back on my blog that are from my own damn camera.

In my favorite grade 6 class today a bunch of the girls kept yelling out, teacher, so naturally I looked. They started making heart shapes with their fingers, which was cute at first, but then a couple of them started to wink at me. Yes, wink! Who the hell winks at their teacher? Only in Korea. They were starting to get annoying. I'm like you don't need to keep showing me you love me with heart shapes and winks, I got it the first dozen times you did it.

In one class today Jiny was showing a multiple choice slideshow and getting students to stand up and answer. She gets to the third slide and it was, "I like summer" a) We have Christmas b) We have a long vacation or c) The weather is hot. This one boy student answers c, because naturally that would be one of the correct answers. BUT, Jiny was like 'no' the answer is b. I was blown away, so I told her that the weather is hot in summer (dah!) and they have a long vacation, so technically the answer could be b or c. She looked and me with that "I don't know if I agree with you" look and I was like, who's the English teacher, me or you?

In the last grade 6 class of the day just as Jiny and I start teaching there is a knock at the door. It's some people bringing the students pizza and one guy has a camera. Jiny goes outside to talk to them and the students go crazy and I got ignored, which usually happens because of the lack of teacher control. Then she comes back in and tells me that the students get free pizza and are going to have their pictures taken for some pizza paper or newspaper or something, I was confused. The whole class this photographer guy snaps random photos of the students and sticks his head through the classroom window to snap some more. It was the most random occurrence I have ever witnessed. Since the students were eating pizza Jiny told me I could go back to the office and relax, so I got to leave class 20 minutes early. I went back to the office and watched a couple episodes of One Tree Hill and then the school day ended.

After school I was anxious to get to Bupyeong station, so I could go pick up my camera. During the subway ride there I spent a good portion of the ride watching the most adorable little Korean girl. She kept sticking her tongue out and saying something. Every time I looked at her she would smile and stick her tongue out, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wanted to scoop her up and take her home, but I'm pretty sure her grandma would have taken me out. Then these 2 middle school or high school boys were sitting beside me and one was stroking the others hair, which is very common in Korea. Then they moved and sat across from me on the train and they were touching each other again, no where inappropriate. In Korea it is very common to be so friendly and touchy feely with friends. Then the one guy calls this poor girl and puts her on speaker phone, so the entire train can hear her. She must have been a girl that the boy liked because they were both giggling like little school girls the entire time the one talked to her.

The best part of my day was touching my camera and having it back in my possession. I'm pretty sure the guys at the camera place hate me because they speak no English and they try to tell me stuff in Korean and we both just stare and get frustrated. Today, involved no talking, just transfer of money for camera. Oh, what a great day. After I picked up my camera I went to check out the price of a bikini wax at the place in Bupyeong station I got my manicure at and randomly got an eyebrow wax. The girl was so gentle and a bit nervous, but she did a good job and it was no more expensive than Canada. How's that for random?

I decided to take some pointless random pictures. Picture on the left: My beautiful new navy blue purse I bought for $10 (this one is for you Lauren). Picture on the right: A random towel I got for yesterday's physical activity day.

I almost forgot to mention that I got asked after lunch today to work the English Festival from September 6 - September 7. I don't know many details yet, but it's an all day thing both days and I just work in a booth set-up where there will be songs, games, etc, for students to participate in. It sounds fun and I get paid extra to do it.

Rebels With A Cause...Olympic Torch Relay in Seoul!!

Today was the day that the Olympic torch was being run through Seoul, so Jenn, Missy, Brianna, Mary Anne, Erika and I all headed into Seoul around noon. Since, we had made t-shirts Saturday night we were sure to wear them. We had "Free Tibet" written on our t-shirts, which we thought was a great idea until we showed up at Seoul City Hall and saw all the Chinese people and their flags. We weren't even there 15 minutes and a Korean news station wanted to interview Jenn. Jenn was really great and good with words about the whole political situation. Well, when the Chinese students saw pro-Tibet people on camera they were sure to come over to us, surround us and yell and chant at us. Jenn was freaked on by this one Chinese girl who kept saying "One China". Then she walks over to where the other 5 of us were standing and says, "Tibet will always be part of China, just remember that." We looked at her and then each other and then at her again and were like, "WOW, is she for real." Then we had one guy tell us the Olympics isn't political and we were like, we know that we are just voicing our opinions on a shirt because our country and Korea we have that option. It was intense and we were all shaky like crazy for our lives, but the news station did a really good job of getting their people to guard us and keep the angry Chinese mob from attacking us. However, I think the Chinese students just wanted to be heard on TV that is why they all came running over to us. Left: The guy trying to tell us that the Olympics isn't a political event and a Chinese crowd behind him. Right: Missy, Erika, Mary Anne and I surrounded by Chinese.

Once Jenn was done the interview the Korean man who interviewed her apologized for the Chinese mob and then we got the hell out of there. It was really an exhilirating experience even it our hearts almost stopped, but we have a right to the choices and decisions we make and we chose to step out for Tibet. We found out that the ceremonies wouldn't be starting until 4:00 and the torch wouldn't be by until 6:00, so we had about 2-3 hours to kill. We just went and grabbed some food and then walked around the City Hall area. We went to check out Namdaemun, which was the gate that got burned down by an arsonist in January. It was really sad, because that gate had been around for centuries and was nothing but rubble now.

Afterwards, we decided to head back to City Hall, so we could find a good spot to watch the torch and so we could people watch all the Chinese. The picture on the left is Me, Missy, Mary Anne and Bri at City Hall before it got insanely crowded. There were thousands upon thousands of Chinese people there who weren't there to "protest", but since not one of them was caring an Olympic flag or saying anything about the Olympics, it was clearly them protesting. Some of them were so defensive and ignorant that it really got us fired up, but we held back from saying so many things that could have led to very dramatic events. The Chinese students just walked around and yelled out "One China" "One Dream" the entire time and every time they walked by us we got stared at and pointed at and some people would even stop and ask us why that was written on our shirts. The pictures below are just some signs that were made for the Olympic Torch Relay. Not political, hey?

In the spot that we secured for the torch relay the Chinese students in front of us kept putting their giant flag in our face, so we couldn't see the street. I mean, how ignorant and rude can you get? One guy even went so far as to sheild us with his flag and say, "I don't want to see you." He didn't want to see the shirt, so Jenn says, "Then don't look at it." Then he yells at us to stop speaking English, um, ok, what the hell other language are we suppose to speak? It was really intense, but we managed to survive the brunt of it. Once it started to get really busy and crowded you could hardly move and most people stop caring. They would just stare and then move along. Jenn did befriend a very nice Chinese student who had very differing opinions than Jenn did, but he also was very understandingof our views and he hung out with us for most of the relay. To lighten the mood a little Rodney, myself and some others started to sing the Backstreet Boys song, "I Want It That Way". The funniest thing ever happened, once we started to sing the song the Chinese thought we were singing some chant in favor of Tibet, so they started their chants again. It was hysterical. Rodney and I kept singing after everyone else stopped including the Chinese because we knew all the words, so we had to finish the song and it was hysterical to see the Chinese students faces while we were singing. Here is Rodney with his Chinese flag that someone gave him. He wasn't in favor of China he just wanted a flag and he danced with it and waved it around and the Chinese loved every second of it. He actually attraced a mini crowd around him when he started to dance.Left: Just some of the guards that they brought as security for the torch relay. Right: A band of Chinese crossing the road to City Hall. After waiting for hours for the torch to get to City Hall it finally did. It was really really crowded with people, so it was really hard to see clear, but I can say that I got to see the 2008 Olympic torch being carried through Seoul, South Korea. Picture on the left: Only Chinese person decent enough to show up in support of the Olympics. Picture on the right: The rows of "marathon cops" they hired to run with the torch and if you look in the back of the picture you can see the lit torch. It's towards where the trees start to end at the back of the picture. A bit harder to make out in a picture when it's daylight outside. When Bri downloads the awesome picture of the torch she got I will put that on here instead. Now, I just wanted to give every one a brief synopsis on the Olympic torch relay. The two athletes from South Korea that were suppose to run with the torch boycotted the Olympic torch relay. "The two South Korean torch runners - a lawyer and an environmentalist - said they would not carry the Olympic flame during Sunday's run because of China's crackdown in Tibet. Demonstrations by pro-Tibet activists - and other groups critical of Beijing's human rights record - plagued the Olympic torch relay as it passed through London, Paris and San Francisco." The torch is slated to run through the North Korean capital of Pyongyang tomorrow. This has been the most dramatic and political Olympics to date. I don't want to get started on my opinion or the reasons behind all the politics because that is not what this blog is for. I just wanted to fill you all in on my Sunday festivities and let you all know that I was lucky enough to see the Olympic torch and in a foreign country. My friends and I did not start a riot, we did not get in trouble with the law and the Chinese just argued with us they didn't get violent. It was worth every second and it's a day I will remember for the rest of my life.

The Traditional Folk Village

Friday was a crazy, but quiet day at school. I had no classes because it was test day for grades 3-6 all morning and then the grade 6's were exercising all afternoon in the schoolyard. My teacher's class consisted of two teacher, Jiny and Jung-sun. Basically, we just talked and chatted about our lives for over an hour. It was boring, but since I like both of them it was bearable and made the day go by faster. Friday night was spent with the girls, Stephanie, Missy, Mary Anne and Jenn. Since, Stephanie was leaving Saturday night we had one last night with her. We had dinner at Outback's in Bupyeong and then headed over to Rock Bar for some cheap drinks, but ended up spending the night there. Left: Me, Stephanie and Jon. Right: Stephanie and Rodney.

On the way home from Bupyeong Jenn and I got to see the aftermath of a three cab pile up. Korea has the world's highest percentage of automobile accidents, so this is not a rare occurrence. Here are a few photos of the accident.

Saturday was a great, but long day. I had an early wake-up call because I was heading to the Traditional Korean Folk Village with Jiny, Yeong-seong and Mary for the day. The drive to the TKFV took about three hours because the traffic through Seoul was so busy. It was a bit of a chilly day, but the rain held off, so that was good. We got to see the World Folk Museum, which houses artifacts and cultural memorabilia from different countries around the world (Canada was not included). My favorite thing to see was the Traditional Korean Wedding, which was between an actual bride and groom who had their wedding there. It was beautiful and very traditonal. She wore a very beautiful Hanbok, which is a traditional Korean style dress. The old prison was second on my list. It was very surreal to wander through it because they had actual torture equipment on display that you could try out and an actual jail cell you could go in. Of course, I was the one who tried that out being adventurous and all. There were many different styles of houses on display, some restaurants and there were also some souvenir shops and I went a bit crazy in the largest one at the TKFV. We ate dinner at the TKVF and then headed home because we were getting tired and it was getting colder out. We didn't end up leaving the TKFV until after six o'clock, so by the time we got back to Incheon it was after 7:30 p.m. Mary let me be in charge of her camera all day, as I still didn't have mine, so once she emails me the photos I will post as many as I can. Once Yeong-seong dropped me off at home I headed into Bupyeong to go to Missy's house, so we could make our t-shirts for the Olympic Torch Relay in Seoul on Sunday. I met Missy, Jenn and Mary Anne at Missy's house and we made t-shirts, you won't be able to see the shirts until the next blog though ;) Jenn and I left Missy's together and headed back into Yeonsu for the night. I had to post this picture of the cutest little boy. We saw him at the rest stop on our way to the village. He's not smiling because we disturbed him while he was eating.

Scores Tonight!!

Yesterday, I was very tired at school because of the late night with the co-teachers. I only had three classes, two grade 6 and one grade 3. The day was pretty normal, nothing exciting to report. The entire school was in the field doing exercises, which is quite funny. The principal was in the schoolyard as well blowing a whistle for whatever reason. This week and next it is physical activity weeks, so the students all spend the day outside doing exercises, relay races, hoola hoop, jump rope, etc. The grade 6 office was getting cleaned yesterday afternoon, so I got to spend a good hour in the 5th grade office with Park Jung-sun. Normally, this would excite me because guess who else uses the grade 5 office? My teacher crush, but unfortunately, I only saw him in passing. He was leaving the office as I was entering :( I'm not sure why the grade 6 office needed to be cleaned and rearranged, but I also don't know why most things happen in Korea. After school I got chased down by a little girl (not sure what grade) asking me for candy because she heard I had been giving it out. Here is our conversation, Girl: Julia, you candy? Julia: No. Girl: Candy Julia (and she actually held her hands out). Julia: No candy today, sorry. Then I tried to get away as quick as I could. When I got home I had a 3 hour nap because I was just so tired and Wednesday was bowling night. This was my first night bowling with my New Zealander friends and friends of their's from my area. Dinner wasn't until 10:00 p.m. and I didn't eat because I've had really bad stomach pains all week. After dinner we moved on to the bowling alley. I was off to a very bad start and progressively got better. My first game was 89 and my second game was 116. I have a feeling the next time I bowl I will do even better now that I have my groove on. When you haven't bowled in a while it's hard to get in the groove, but once you start, you can't stop. After bowling we headed to Far From Home for some drinks. It wasn't very busy because it was a school, but some how I ended up being out until 4 in the morning and I wasn't even drinking because of my stomach pains. Today, when I woke up on 3 hours of sleep I felt surprisingly good, which is a shocker because I'm not a morning person. However, my stomach pains were still present, so I hardly ate anything today.

Left: Me, Tracy (Nzld) and Alison (Can). Right: Sophie (Britan), Alison and Me. I did manage to take the hour and a half walk home today, which was better than any other day. I took a different route when I got closer to home and I found a Thai massage place (I knew of it earlier, but just in passing), so I went inside to check it out and I'm going to get Jiny to call them tomorrow and book me an appointment if they aren't too expensive and if it's a legit spa and massage place. When I finally got home I paid the landlord $60 for two months of my apartment expenses. Then I headed down the street to buy milk and cake for the teachers tomorrow because it's test day, so I have only one class tomorrow and it's not until 1:10 p.m. I figured they have been stressing over the upcoming test day for the grade 6's, so I will buy them cake to calm them down. Plus, it's the least I can do for all the times they've paid for me. The funny thing about shopping today was that I ended up home with a brand new $10 purse. Only I would go shopping for milk and cake and come back with a purse. It's beautiful and it's royal blue. I'm sure you will see it in pictures soon enough. *Update: Jiny called the place fixing my camera yesterday to see the status of it. They have had it since Wednesday of last week and still hadn't even started to fix it. Then they gave me the quote of how much it would cost and wanted to know if I was willing to pay that. I said I was because I just want my camera back. I feel so naked without it and keep missing out on great picture opportunities. Jiny told me they would have it fixed this weekend, so I'm hoping I receive a text message from them Saturday or Sunday telling me it's ready for pick up.*

Dinner with the Co-teachers...Again!!

Tuesday was a pretty busy day at school and after school. It started with Jiny telling me the first class of the day was cancelled, but 10 minutes into the class a student came to find us and tell us they were waiting for us, Oops! Today, I brought in Real Fruit to give to the students to get them motivated. They were just as big of a hit as the sour soothers. The second class of the day the principal and vice-principal both came into the class to observe Jiny and I teaching. They both only stayed about 5 minutes and came at separate times. My last class of the day was just before lunch, so I had the entire afternoon to myself. Normally, I would sit in the office surfing the web, listening to music and wanting to slit my wrists. However, at around 2:00 p.m. all the students in the school got to go home early and the teachers were invited to observe the 6-4 music class. The students were actually pretty good musically and the teacher is a 'conductor' and music is her speciality. The vice-principal was there and quite a few teachers. Jiny took pictures and the class was also videotaped, pretty intense. During the last half hour of the school day the principal came into the grade 6 office to have a meeting with the teachers. I just sat there absolutely mesmerized by how fast they talk and how quick they can write characters. Who knew I could find ways too make boring meetings in Korean somewhat exciting? At the end of the meeting we clapped, I'm not sure why...I bet it was a good talk. Bravo! *Random Side Note: Jiny keeps telling me on different occasions how much she hates the principal. She says he is very strict and isn't as warm and kind as her school principal where she use to teach. I think it is funny that she confides this is me because she knows, even if I wanted to tell someone, I couldn't because no one would understand me. She also told me she was envious of me because I didn't have to go to all the meetings the teachers do. They have at least two meetings a day. After school all the grade 6 teachers and the vice-principal and principal were suppose to go for dinner and drinks, well just as I suspected the vice-principal and principal cancelled. Basically, we went for pork galbi and drank beers and soju. Then we went noraebanging because no date with the co-teachers would be complete without noraebang. I love noraebang with them because they sing to their hearts content and they are actually really good. They kept telling me all night, after many drinks were consumed that they 'loved me' and think I'm a 'great teacher'. Of course, they wouldn't tell me this without alcohol in them. After noraebang we went to a small cafe and had one more drink and then called it a night. I hate being up past 10 on a school night, but I was left with no choice. My co-teachers really know how to have a good time...

Just Another Manic Monday...

I hate Monday's. It is the beginning of a new work week and I'm usually exhausted Monday mornings because of the long and tiring weekends I have. Catching up on sleep is hard here because there is always something to do. Today started off as normal as a Monday can. Mrs. Kim picked me up as usual and when we pulled up to the school this morning a bunch of grade 2's and 3's were dancing a jig again in the school yard. Mrs. Kim said that we had to attend a rally in the school yard that had to do with the National Anthem and Pledge to the country. I was like, "Great!" I can stand around as usual and be bored to tears listening to Korean. Luckily though, I didn't go to the rally because Jiny never said anything about it, so off the hook. I decided today would be the day I would bring treats to the students. I figure I've been teaching the grade 3's and 6's since the beginning of April and since this is my last week with them until June I should bribe them. I brought in sour soothers that my mother was so kind to put in my care package. I only gave them to the students whose numbers I called for introductions at the beginning of each class. They loved that I was giving away candy and every student wanted me to call their number. I figured the candy would get them talking, so now that I have started to use candy in my classes they all volunteer for me to call their number and speak English. I also gave away some stickers just for the fun of it, which weren't as big of a hit, but they kept them all the same. However, I was rather disappointed when I looked at the schedule for the week this morning and I only teach one grade 3 class this week. That means I don't get to give treats to the classes I taught last week, which is sad, but I will see them in another month. In my last grade 6 class of the day these two boys were goofing around. The girl that sits across from them looks at me and goes, "They crazy." I look back and her and I go, "Yes, they are." Then she starts laughing hysterically and then she tells the boys I think they are crazy and they start laughing hysterically. Then the one boy, who I can tell is the ring leader, looks and me and goes, "He's crazy." I was look at him and go, "You are both crazy." Then he tells his friend and they both start laughing, it really was a be there moment. I definitely had a good laugh, which was good for getting my Monday blues out of the way. I had 4 classes today, which is typical for me on an average day. When I was chilling in the office after being done for the day these two grade 6 girls come in to do some photocopying. Then one of them starts talking to me and it was the weirdest, but cutest thing. She starts asking me some questions of which I barely understood and then she proceeds to tell me the name of this guy who is her "lover". Yes, she definitely used the word "lover". I had to restrain myself from laughing my ass off, but she's Korean and so it made sense. She talked to me about her lover for about five minutes and then she could tell I was bored and didn't care (just kidding), so she stopped talking and continued with the photocopying that her friend had been dealing with. Jiny informs me that there is a teachers meeting in the afternoon that all the teachers' need to be present at because the principal will be in attendance. I don't even need to tell you what I was thinking about this. Anyways, we head on down to the fourth floor for the meeting and I got to see my teacher crush, but of course he chooses to sit at the back where I can't gawk at him to keep entertained during the Korean jabbering. I decided to ask Jiny what the meeting was about just to seem interested. She told me it was about learning the proper way too bow and classroom management, amongst other things. I'm not even joking when I say that this one teacher literally, went step-by-step through the process of the proper bow at a 15 degree angle, a 30 degree angle and 45 degree angle. Then the principal wandered the room counting how many teachers were there, so he could yell at the one's that didn't show. YIKES! Then the principal walks over to Jiny and I and starts talking to her. He then walks away and Jiny tells me that he said I could be dismissed from the meeting, so the meeting I thought I would have to suffer through only lasted 10 minutes for me. I love not knowing Korean, it gets me out of a lot of extremely boring meetings and events. Of course, as soon as I get up to leave all the teachers stare, but I didn't make eye contact with any of them except to bow in thanks and goodbye to the principal and then I went back to the office until it was time to leave. Since, I only got to walk home from school once last week I took the hour or so walk home today. It felt good as always, but my back, knees and ankles are very sore from a mishap I had in Seoul on Saturday night, so I was glad when it ended. I'm hoping to get runs in on the opposite days I walk home to keep me in shape and to get outside since it's so hot here now. I love spring in Korea.

Spring Time Sun and Seoul Fun!

Saturday was a great day. Since, it was Stephanie's going away party she thought it would be fun if we all went to Dongam where Bri and Mel live and have a rooftop patio party. Jenn and I trained together because we live in the same district. When we transferred trains we got on the one heading in the wrong direction, so we got out at the next station and took a cab to Dongam. I love cheap cabs because it didn't even cost us $4 to cab to Dongam station. Finding Bri and Mel's place was easy after that. The picture on the left is us girls: Mary Anne, Me, Melanie, Missy, Jenn and Brianna (Stephanie took the picture). We chilled out in the sun, because it was about 26 degrees outside and enjoyed some beverages and snacks. Jenn and I bought Stephanie a cake on the way to Dongam because we thought she would like that and she did. We spent most of the afternoon enjoying each others company and especially enjoying the sun. The picture on the left: View from Bri and Mel's rooftop, you can see how polluted the air is. Picture on the right: View of the rooftop patio, which was very nice.

After, we had enough fun in the sun we all split up and headed home to change and get ready for the evenings festivities. Missy, Stephanie, Jenn and I took the train together to Bupyeong station and did some shopping in the underground for dresses and outfits for the night. Since Jenn and I live pretty far away we took off early to get home, shower, changed and then back to meet up with the girls. We were all meeting at Stephanie's for some pizza and drinks before we headed into Seoul for the night. Jenn and I were clearly having bad luck with trains because we got off at Bupyeong station thinking that is where Stephanie lived, but she lived at the Bupyeong Market station, which was one stop further than where we got off. Well, we had to wait for the next train and hope for the best, but we did it and made it ok. We took some pictures on the train to pass the time. Check out Jenn's amazing outfit she bought at Bupyeong Underground. It was tutu, how great is that. She fit in with the Koreans perfectly. I'm sporting the brand new black jacket I bought for a mean $10.

We hung out at Stephanie's for a couple of hours eating, drinking and having a girl dance party fest. Then we took a bus into Seoul for some crazy party fun in Hongdae. The night deserved to be fun because Stephanie leaves us to go home next Saturday, so we wanted her to go out with a bang. Picture on the left: Stephanie, Mary Anne, Missy, Brianna, Erica, Me and Jenn at the front. We were trying to see how many girls we could cram into the back of the bus. Picture on the right: Brianna being Superwoman because the wind was blowing her hair out of control.

Hongdae ended up being a really good time. We just spent the night bar hopping and enjoying each others company. We ended up leaving Seoul around 3:00 a.m., which is early, but we were all tired and ready to call it a night. Brianna, Jenn, Mary Anne and I took a cab together back into Incheon to save money. It's about a $40 cab ride, which is so good considering it's a 45 minute car ride from Hongdae to Incheon. Picture on the left: Mary Anne, Missy, Jenn and Brianna at Bar Boom. Picture on the right: Me and Missy at Bar Boom, the picture just looked cool, so I posted it.

Today was a very lazy day for me. I didn't wake-up until 12:30 p.m. and just ended up spending most of the afternoon talking to Tessa and my family. I left the house briefly to buy milk, water and bread, but most of the day was spent watching House and blogging. Now, I'm just getting ready to call it a night because two late nights in a row for me is not good for school tomorrow.

P.S. The pictures are courtesy of Jenn and Missy.

Picture Day!

Well, as previously stated, today was picture day at my school. I had to dress nice, which was lame because Friday's are the wear jeans and not care days. This Friday, however, was wear a skirt and nice shirt day and actually put make-up on day. Jiny and I were fully prepared for the first class of the day, but when we headed towards the class we noticed that it wasn't there. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! We figured out that the class was busy taking pictures, so therefore it was cancelled. Surprise! Surprise! During this time period Jiny and I decided we would get our picture taken. We waited for about 10-15 minutes and I got the luxury of one of the grade 6 classes watching me get my picture taken, how great! The rest of the day ran pretty smooth with little to no interruptions to the schedule. In the second class of the day, which was grade 6 I was doing the basic morning introductions that consisted of asking certain students questions. One person I picked to answer the questions was a girl who I swear is mute and just doesn't want to learn or speak English. I was asking her such a basic question, "How are you today?" and she looked at me as if I was from another planet and then when Jiny spoke to her in Korean she still didn't want to answer. I was like, you may as well try to learn English because I'm going to be your worst nightmare for the next year, so get use to it. The teacher's class was really good today because I came prepared with a list of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc for the teacher to learn, so I could start teaching them basic sentences and conversation. I made them answer the question, "What are you doing this weekend?" so they could learn future tense and then I made them answer past tense by asking them, "What did you do last weekend?" Lastly, I asked them, "What are you doing right now?" so they could learn present tense. It turned out really good and they were smarter than I expected. They really liked the 10 page booklet I created and the fun vocabulary sheet I printed off that was just for fun to make the class a little lively. We had a 10 minute discussion period at the end and one of the grade 4 teachers there was asking me a load of questions about myself, which was cute because she was very interested in learning more about me. It made me feel more comfortable about teaching them English.

On the way home from school while taking the bus this one man's cell phone starts ringing and it's the Eagles, 'Hotel California' ring tone, which I thought was hilarious. He didn't want to answer his phone, so he just looked at who was calling for about a minute and then put his phone his pocket, but you can't turn the ring tone off while ignoring the call, so for about 5 minutes the entire bus got to enjoy, Hotel California. Then about 5 minutes later his cell phone rang again, but luckily he answered it.

Friday night I met up with Nick and Tracy who are here teaching from New Zealand and we headed out for dinner. Mike and Andrea and Damien also met up with us. We had the most delicious Korean style ribs I have ever tasted. Afterwards, we headed to Far From Home for some free beer and soju and then headed over to G7 in Bupyeong for a charity event. It was a long night, but it was a super fun Friday.

Left: Nick and I at G7. Right: Nick and I again at G7 being dorks. Center: Nick, Me and Andrew loving life at G7 ;)

Thursday Is Just Another Day!!

Yesterday actually turned out to be a pretty normal school day with very little going on and not much change to the schedule. During the first class of the day, which was grade 6 I started hearing music and children shouting. I went and looked out the window while the grade 6's filled out a worksheet and saw the entire school field full of grade 2's. They were all standing in rows and dancing. This is where I wish I had my camera. They were doing a dance routine in the middle of the field and one teacher at the front was leading it. The funny thing is, even the boys were totally loving it. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen and if I had my camera I would have videotaped it. My second grade 6 class of the day I had a boy ask me if I knew 'David'. I was like, I know a David that works here in Incheon, but who the hell are you talking about. I was like, "Do you know his family name?" Student: "No, he works at my English Academy." Me: "Find out his family name." Student: "Ok." It's not the David I know, but that is like saying, do you know Joe from Canada? I kept getting told all day by Jiny that Friday was picture day, so I should dress nice. I was like, "Great!" Guess wearing jeans is out of the question, which sucks because Fridays are my casual days. I hate getting my picture taken when it's posed and set-up, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to picture day. My third class of the day, which was grade 3 got cancelled because it was their turn to have physicals done. This whole random schedule change and class cancellation thing is frustrating, but kind of fun because every day is a mystery. After school I always see the same grade 3 girls and they always make small talk with me and follow me. "Hello teacher Julia." Then I force smile, "Hello!" I was wearing knee length shorts and pantyhose yesterday and this one grade 3 girl goes, "Nice legs." I was thinking, did you really just say that to me, but she's in grade 3 and it was cute. Plus, she probably had no idea what that could have been implying :) Then, as I'm crossing a completely different street than them to catch the bus, they start yelling my name and saying good-bye. I was a bit embarrassed, but I'm the celebrity, so I waved and yelled bye back. I met up with Laura for dinner last night. She came all the way to Song-do this time to eat, which was nice. We went for Shabu Shabu because it is my favorite thing to eat here and Laura, who's been here since September, has never tried it. We went to the same restaurant that I went to with my co-teachers for my welcome party. I got Mrs. Kim to write down our order in Korean before we went there, so we got the right thing. When we got served our Shabu Shabu pot of soup there was a bit of an accident. I was trying to stir it and the pot kept moving/tilting, so all the soup was spilling into the grill. Laura and I were laughing our asses off, which clearly just made matters worse. She was like, "Press the service button." Of course, I'm laughing too hard to even pay attention to where it was located on the table. Then the ladies came over and saw what was happening and they start cleaning up our mess. I know they were thinking we're a bunch of stupid white girls who can't figure out how to stir Shabu Shabu. Once, that catastrophe was over with and we had a good laugh we enjoyed our meal. The best part was the free ice cream cones we got afterwards. Most Korean restaurants give away free coffee and ice cream after your meals. The best part is, it's all help yourself. Once Laura and I parted I decided to go for a run. I ran for about 30 minutes and it felt great. I love free physical activity.

Lunchroom Cuteness and Conversation

I know that it may sound weird to say that I actually look forward to my school lunch. I think I have been pretty blessed with the cafeteria food that is served at my school. It has its good days and its bad days, but there are definitely more good than bad. Everyday I eat lunch with the grade 3's and 4's this one small group of three to four grade 3 girls comes and sits at a table close to me at the back of the cafeteria and they always call out "teacher" to get my attention. I know they are calling me, because I'm clearly awesome and they start waving and smiling. They are the cutest things ever. The fact that they go out of their way to get my attention everyday I eat lunch with them is fantastic. The grade 3's always stop and say HI to me when ever they see me even when I'm trying to run and catch the bus after school. The grade 6's are to cool to say HI to their teacher, so they just stare or pretend they don't notice me. They only say HI to me when I'm in hallways or the cafeteria. Again, today I saw my teacher crush, not once, but twice. The second time I saw him I was on my way back to school from the bank and he was in a tracksuit (he was wearing a suit the first time I saw him). I'm guessing he was teaching gym, but here's the kicker; he actually said HI to my face this time. He never says HI to me because I'm convinced he is scared of me, so this totally blew me out of the water and I was smiling all the way up to my fifth floor office. Normally, I get very bored in the afternoons at school when I'm done teaching. Today, however, was a great afternoon because I got to talk to my best friend Tessa, via Skype. We talked for about 45 minutes and it felt great. I miss talking to her on a regular basis, so this phone call was long overdue. I cannot wait for us to chat again, I Love You Tessa!! Yesterday I got my gas bill. I had no idea what anything said on it, so I got Mrs. Kim to tell me how much I owed. I was very scared that it was going to be costly, so I braced myself for the total. I owed a whopping 5,740 won ($5.74). Is that not insane? Anyways, today I went to the bank to pay for it because it was due on Sunday and the bank isn't open weekends. I got to leave school for a bit to go deal with it. The guy at the bank that helped me was the same guy that got me set up with everything at the bank. As soon as I walked up to him he was like, "Hello, long time no see." I was like, "I know." He was so cute, he remembered me. Although, there aren't too many white people that go to that bank, so I imagine I'm easy to remember. After the bank I went to the Family Mart to buy a juice and the man that was working comes up to me and he was like, "Excuse me, where you come from?" I'm like, "Canada." He was like, "What is your job?" I go, "English teacher at MeonWooGeum elementary just down the street." Then our conversation ended because I had to pay and he was putting up signs in the window. I went for dinner with Laura, Andrew, Karalee and Nathan tonight. We went for East Indian. RED FLAG: I hate curry, but I was in Bupyeong dealing with my camera, so I decided to join them for the company. Lucky for me I like Tandoori chicken and Nan bread, so there was stuff for me to eat. They all thought I was bizarre joining them for dinner if I hated curry. Oh well, I got through it and didn't even have to touch curry. My camera will be fixed, which is nice, but it will take a week, so unfortunately, the next few blogs will be very boring to look at. I do apologize for that, but as soon as I get it back I promise to bombard you with pictures on my future blogs.

CARE PACKAGE DAY :)

Nothing overly exciting to report over the past two days. Yesterday was a pretty regular day, I just taught three grade 6 classes and one grade 3 class. Teaching the grade 3's is fun because the entire lesson is in my control, so I get to discipline them and everything. Mrs. Kim is great too helping me discipline when needed and making sure the students understand what is being taught. Yesterday, I had planned on taking the train into Bupyeong to get my camera fixed, but when I got on the train I fiddled around with it and it ended up working again, so I didn't go. As soon as I got home and downloaded pictures the lens wrecked again, so now I have to go into Bupyeong tomorrow and for sure get it looked at if I plan on having a camera by the weekend. Instead of heading to Bupyeong I went to Lotte Mart and picked up some groceries, got home, made dinner and spontaneously decided to go for a run. The run felt so good that I've decided to add running into my weekly work-out, instead of just walking home from school everyday. Today, was a rather interesting day. When I walked into the office this morning it was full of Korean women. It was so loud from all of them yelling and jabbering in Korean I was losing my mind. Plus, my entire desk had been taken over by paper and name tags. I asked Jiny what was going on and apparently every school term the students all get physicals. Not, like we would in Canada, but they get their eye sight checked, weighed, measured, etc. First class of the day had to get cancelled and moved to last class of the day and then the second period class lasted 10 minutes and the students all had to go get checked. Talk about last minute notice, just one of the things I love about Korea. Then, the greatest thing ever happened and the whole point of this blog. I received my very first care package from home. My family sent it to me just before Easter and I had been anxiously waiting for over three weeks for it to arrive. I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN IT ARRIVED!! I FELT LIKE A CELEBRITY AND A GIGGLY LITTLE SCHOOL GIRL. I finally get to enjoy my Cheerios, Captain Crunch, Sour Soothers, Bits and Bites, Pringles, Stickers, Dress Coat, Pantyhose, ABBA CD, M.A.C. Make-Up (Love You Tessa), Cadbury Thin bars and the Amazing Craig Conroy newspaper clip that mom surprised me with (I was going to take a picture of the care package greatness to show off, but again with the camera). I just want to say THANK YOU MOM, DAD, and LAUREN. I LOVE YOU AND YOU ROCK!! Anyways, now that I have shared that great news with you all back to the reality of school. I really enjoyed lunch today because I got to see my teacher crush and he was looking so cute today. He had his collar popped, which just made him even more adorable. Now, obviously popping your collar isn't that cool if you're from North America because it just looks tacky and makes uncool people feel cool when they aren't, but here in Korea things are different and he is cute, so he can get away with it. Today was the first day since I've been here that I taught right until 2:40, which is when class ends. It was nice because I didn't have as much time to waste in the office. *Side Note: A girl in one of the grade 6 classes today is really quite good at English and today she was, so cute. She asked me if I could tell her what a monsoon was. At first, I didn't know what she was saying, so I asked her if she could spell it and she could. I thought that was incredible. I told her what a monsoon was and she was very happy and thankful. I thought it was really cute and I also thought she was crazy smart.* Now, remember the girl in one of my grade 6 classes that keeps complimenting me? Well, today she didn't say anything out loud to me, but her and her friend whispered about me all class. I knew they were because they kept staring and giggling. I felt rather uncomfortable, but played cool. She is so odd and I love it. After school today Jiny, Yong, myself and two other grade 6 teachers headed to Incheon Grand Park to see the cherry blossoms on the trees (lack of camera means no pictures, sorry). The park is huge and quite entertaining. You can rent bicycles, which the teachers tried to do, but they were closed when we went there. Thank goodness because I didn't want to ride a bike today. They have vendors in the park, exercise equipment of course, picnic tables and pathways for you to cruise the park. If you've ever been to Vancouver it's very much like Stanley Park, minus the Ocean. The park isn't fully in bloom because the flowers have yet to come out, but Jiny told me usually the last week of April or early May the park looks great, so I will have to try and make it back then. The greatest thing about the park was the people, so many interesting people. Women, young and old wear high heels and fancy clothes all the time even for a leisurely stroll through the park and it cracks me up watching them walk or should I say, trying to walk. The few Koreans who own dogs treat them like humans by dressing them in clothes, so ridiculous. Don't even get me started on the outfits people wear because that could take an entire blog in itself. Anyways, the park wasn't overly fascinating, but it could be fun to picnic in with some friends and more spring blossoms.

After, we finished at the Incheon Grand Park we headed for Chinese food in my area of town and of course, soju got ordered. Two of the co-teachers and I downed three bottles, which seems like a lot, but the bottles aren't that big. I love going out with my co-teachers because they won't let me pay and I drink for FREE :) When dinner finished Jiny drove me home.

*I would like to thank Stephanie for the use of her pictures from Incheon Grand Park. I believe this livens up my blog!*

Dr. Fish

Sundays are usually my lazy days when I sit at home and do nothing, but blog, face book and watch movies or TV shows. This Sunday was different though. I finally got to talk to my family via Skype, which felt really good and lasted an hour and a half. Afterwards, I met up with Jenn and we headed to Bupyeong to meet up with Missy and Stephanie, so we could go and experience Dr. Fish. Missy had been before, but Stephanie, Jenn and I were Dr. Fish virgins. Dr. Fish is a foot treatment system where you stick your feet in a pool of water and little fish eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickles so bad, that even people like me who don't have ticklish feet can hardly stand it. You get a fifteen minute time limit and it feels really good once you can actually stand the fish biting at your feet. Jenn's feet were the most popular, which clearly means she had more dead skin for them to feed on. It sounds like it's disgusting, but the fish are specifically for this foot treatment and they don't get harmed or anything. The top picture is, Jenn (orange) and Missy and Me and Stephanie. Bottom pictures is, Jenn's feet being swarmed by fish and Stephanie's feet with a few fish.After Dr. Fish we walked around the huge outdoor market in Bupyeong. It was such a nice day today that we were wearing no coats, sunglasses and flip flops. Walking through the market in Bupyeong was disgusting and gross especially in flip flops, but I survived, as did the flip flops. *Oh Yeah and dad Missy showed us a dollar store at the market, but it wasn't that great and smelt really bad.* We ended up browsing around the Bupyeong underground market afterwards to pass the time and Jenn and I both got 10,000 won manicures, so my nails look gorgeous right now. While, I was getting my manicure the girl who was doing it looked at me and she was like, "You very beautiful. You're hair very nice. Color very nice." I started smiling ear to ear and said, "Thank You! This is natural color." Then the girl sitting next to her who didn't have a client at the time starts staring at me, as well as, the girl doing my manicure and they start talking about how pretty my hair and eyes are. They were so adorable and the girl doing my nails was gorgeous. I love being complimented, it makes me feel special. Then Missy had to meet a friend for dinner, so Jenn, Stephanie and I headed over to Bennigans for dinner. It was expensive and I didn't enjoy the salad I ordered because it had way too much dressing on it and not enough lettuce, but what can you do? I don't really like eating Western food here too much because it's overpriced and I'm not homesick for it yet. I enjoy eating most types of Korean food. When dinner was finished we headed to the subway station and did a bit more browsing at the shops on our way to the train. I ended up buying a 25,000 won pair of peep toe black pumps for 20,000 won because Jenn bartered with the worker. They are fabulous and I can't wait to show them off. Then Jenn and I took the train back to her place and from there I walked to the bus stop and got home around 8:30 p.m. I'm just getting ready to head to bed as tomorrow I have another week of teaching, so I need to be well rested to deal with the very upbeat students. Hopefully, I get my camera fixed this week and can post pictures for you, so keep checking back.