Showing Lauren Around!

Last week after I finished teaching I wanted to try and do as much with Lauren as I could before she leaves. Lauren came to my school on Monday for a visit and all the teachers really liked her and most of them said we look nothing alike. We got to leave early that day, so I took her Wolmido to show her the new bridge being built and to check out the pier area.

I made Lauren pose with Worldee, the Wolmido mascot.

However, it was really foggy that day, so she didn’t get to see the bridge and the pier is under construction.

Who needs street lights?? Some of the construction process.

Not the most attractive tourist attraction, but I can imagine it will look good when finished. We enjoyed a coffee at a small coffee shop and then headed home. I took her to Sinpo Market, which is by Dongincheon station, so that she could do some shopping. The market didn’t really fascinate us, so we headed to the underground shopping at Dongincheon. However, most of the stores weren’t open and Lauren wasn’t really feeling it. Then I decided we should head to Bucheon, so I could show her the popular bar there called, Rhythm and Booze and it was St. Patrick’s Day the day we went. The bar was dead, but we decided to stay and eat dinner there because the food is delicious. Afterward, we headed to Bupyeong and met Chris at the station before we headed to meet some of my friends for bowling. When we finally got there, they had already started, so Lauren and I just sat the round out, but then they decided to play another round, so I was on Nick and Julian’s team and Lauren was on Carolina and Jeff’s team. My team WON!! We headed to N’s pub briefly after bowling before calling it a night. I also took her to Bupyeong underground because I think it is the best underground shopping center in Incheon. Lauren bought a pair of shoes, some accessories and a few other little things. After we shopped the underground we had a small dinner and then headed to trivia night. Nicole, Mike and Paul were hosting that is why we went. We joined forces with Mike and Nick and then Andrea joined us later when she was finished at her staff dinner. We rocked a few categories, Canada and Korean music, to name a few, but we still came sixth.

Munchkin's First Weekend with her Big Sister!

Saturday the 14th Nicole, Lauren and I headed into Seoul for some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! There was a parade and music festival open to the public by Dongdaemun station, which mostly consisted of foreigners.

This is the North gate, called Dongdaemun. The South gate, Namdaemun, was burned down last year.

We stopped to play around with the fun sculptures we encountered along the way.

Since, we got there so late, we missed the parade, but we got to enjoy some good music. The weather was cold except when we were standing in the sun, so we had to keep moving around. We checked out the area we were in and Nicole and I enjoyed some soju and cider, while Lauren enjoyed a coffee.

Nicole and I with out typical Korean pose at the festivites.

Lauren also joined in a little dance of with a drunken Korean man, who ended up wanting to talk instead of dance.

Proof that Lauren did in fact try and dance with a Korean man. The debate is on as to whether or not he was drunk.

We met up with some friends a few hours later and headed in to Itaewon to grab some dinner at a Mexican restaurant called, Amigo’s. A few of us enjoyed some margarita’s and we all enjoyed the band that played.

Me enjoying my food, margarita's and St. Patrick's Day at Amigo's.

It was only a matter of time before Lauren tried out the "Victory" sign...two days to be exact.

The deliciously strong margarita's we enjoyed during dinner. Left to Right: Lindsay, Nicole, Lauren, Me and Kristy.

Lisa and Lauren looking adorable and very green at Amigo's.

After dinner we headed to Hongdae to put on our dancing shoes and get the St. Patrick’s Day Party really started. We headed to Jane’s Groove because that night club always has good music and I have yet to have a bad time there.

Lisa and I at Jane's Groove in Hongdae where there has yet to be a bad time experienced.

Around 11:00 p.m. I was getting really tired and a little bit bored, so I decided I wanted to catch the bus home. Lauren and I left together, obviously, and I became known as the “lamer” because it is so unlike me to leave a party early, let alone first. Sunday, we slept in, but because we didn’t stay out late Saturday night we didn’t have hangovers to deal with.

Elections and A Night At Mad Max!

All week the students have been involved in the student elections for class president, etc. They have been campaigning like mad and most of the candidates mimicked the new #1 Korean drama, 꽃보다 남자, which in English means, 'Boys Over Flowers' in their campaigns. Some of the students even went so far as to make business style cards that had their names, picture and campaign slogan on them.

These are the grade 5 candidates and their campaign posters. I believe they are running for vice-president.These are the grade 6's and their campaign posters. They are running for student body president.

The actual voting took place on Friday and it was really intense. The students watched the candidates speeches on TV in their classrooms and then they watched a video on how to vote. They used electronic voting booths and it was so advanced for elementary school elections. I mean the voting system for the school elections was more cutting edge than voting in the Canadian elections.

Here is a look at the voting system used for the student election. Individual booths where they vote electronically on a card and then they put that card in the ballot box...it was crazy!

Friday when I was at school being a teacher Lauren stayed home and slept in because she had been traveling all day Thursday and was exhausted. After school I met her at my apartment and we made a nice little dinner together.

This was the delicious dinner we created together and enjoyed in true Korean fashion sitting on the floor.

After dinner we met Nicole, Lindsay and Lisa at Mad Max for some drinks. Lauren got along great with them and she really took a liking to Lisa, which was great because I love Lisa and she is probably the nicest Korean girl I know and hang out with. Of course, one of the first places I take Lauren was going to be Mad Max. The workers and owner know us and treat us so good and I wanted Lauren to experience it and meet them. Unfortunately, she didn't get any free from them yet like we have in the past, but I hope to take her there again before she leaves and hopefully that will lead to some free stuff.

Moving Week and My Sister Comes for a Visit!

Monday was just another day at school. I had five grade 5 classes to teach, which does make the days go by faster. After school I had to pack up more of my stuff because my school found me a new apartment to live it. I had to be packed up and ready to move by Wednesday the 12th. Packing is very time consuming and I had to take everything with me, pots, pans, dishes, stereo, TV, DVD player, pillows, bed, microwave, etc because it all belongs to my school, so it comes with me. I did most of the packing myself without any help, so it was more time consuming. Tuesday I had another five class day, but after school Enee (my new co-teacher) took me to see my new apartment. It is in Yeonsu-dong, where I wanted to move to, it is central to everything I do in that area, I'm closer to some friends and I'm closer to my school...The landlord of my new apartment building is actual the father of one of the teachers at my school, so she was really nervous about me seeing the apartment because she was afraid that I wouldn't like it. As soon as I walked in I was in love. I had so much closet storage space. I had an extra little room where the washing machine was, I had cupboard and counter space, and I had two burners instead of one. I had to draw of map of where I wanted everything to be put in the apartment, so when the movers moved my stuff they would know where to put it. When we finished checking out the new place I took the bus back to my old apartment and continued packing. Nicole came over to help me do the last minute packing, which made it go by faster. She also offered to keep my food at her place until I moved Wednesday, so we cabbed over to her place together with some bags of food and toiletries for her to keep until Wednesday. Then we headed to Yeonsu-dong to say one last good bye to Tracy. She went to Taiwan for a week and then came back to Korea where she would leave for her Trans-Siberian tour. We ate galbi at her favourite restaurant and then we headed to Mad Max for some drinks afterward. Wednesday was a quiter day at school with only 4 classes and it was moving day. I had to remember to take the bus to the right area of Yeonsu now. When I got to my new place there were boxes everywhere and I was not looking forward to unpacking, but it needed to be done. I wanted to get as much done as I could Wednesday night because my sister was coming Thursday night and I wanted the place to be clean and feel like home. Thursday was a very exciting day for me and I was counting down the minutes until school finished and I was on my way to Seoul to pick up my sister from the station. She was arriving from Japan by boat in Busan and then taking the KTX to Seoul. After school, Enee drove me home and she came over to show me how to use the washing machine and heat. She ended up staying over and hanging out with me while I unpacked until 8:00 p.m. when I had to leave to go get Lauren. The entire bus ride to Seoul I was getting anxious and butterflies in my stomach. It had been exactly one year since we'd seen each other and I was ready for the reunion. When we sae each other we ran towards each other and hug for a good 5 minutes before letting go. It felt so good to see her and I was very excited to catch up with her. Even though we hadn't seen each other in so long, it felt like we hadn't actually been away from each other for that long. We took the bus home and she showed me her Japan pictures and talked to me about her trip. I can't even describe how good it felt to see her, hug her and talk to her. We got home after 11:00 p.m. and we chatted for a bit before I had to go to bed because I had to teach the next day.

Incheon United Home Opener!!

Saturday I slept in before heading to Nicole's to pick up her suitcases and some bags, so I can use them to for packing. My school found me a new apartment in the area I requested and I had until the 11th to get packed up because I would be moving into the new place on the 12th. I decided to stay and hang out with Nicole for a few hours before I headed home to do more packing. I was suppose to head into Seoul to meet up with Rudy and some friends for dinner, but I was exhausted and had loads more packing to do, so I just chilled at home, packed and fell asleep to Harry Potter.

Sunday I had a Skype date with my mom, so we talked for a bit before I had to meet Nicole, because we were heading to the Incheon United home opener soccer game together. We headed to the game early, so we could buy season passes, check out the new merchandise and tailgate/pre-drink. We hung out in the park outside the stadium where we enjoyed tuna gimbop and beer.

Nicole let me borrow her extra jersey and scarf for the game. Nicole and Duncan anxiously awaiting the start of the first game of the 2009 season. Lisa actually came out to a Incheon United soccer game, which was very exciting!

Here is a video of all the toilet paper being thrown onto the field at the start of the game by all of the fans.

There were the most amount of fans I've ever seen at an Incheon United game there on Sunday. It was nice to see them come out and support their team and hopefully, just as many will come out for the remainder of the season. That is assuming Incheon can win some games.

Here is a picture of the aftermath of the rolls of toilet paper that were thrown onto the field to signify the start of the new season and the first game of the new season. There was toilet paper everywhere. I feel bad for the people who's job it was to clean the mess up. Nicole and I loving that Incheon WON their home opener against Busan!! After every game the team walks past the Incheon United Supporters section and bows/waves, so we got to enjoy them at a reltaively close distance.

After the soccer game Nicole and I headed back to Yeonsu for some dulkgalbi and a few more drinks. Then we met up with a Korean friend who we hadn't seen in a while and ended up hanging out and drinking for a few more hours before calling it a night because we had to work the next day.

Back To School!

I seem to be falling behind on my blog writing again. I have been so busy the past few weeks that I've neglected to update my happenings. Monday, March 2nd the new school year started, so all the teachers were busy getting their classes organized and making sure they were ready for the new year. I didn't have to teach on Monday because it was the first day and it was used for the homeroom teachers to get acquainted with their new classes. I started back at teaching on Tuesday and after not teaching a regular class since December it was weird being back, but it felt like nothing changed. The students moved up a grade and they all seem more friendly this year, so that is about it. Since there are so many more students than last year I will be teaching more classes a week than last year, which is good because that will make the time go by faster...at least I hope it will. The grade 5's were the first grade I taught and I will have them and the grade 4's until the end of the month. I'm excited to start teaching the grade 4's because they are my old grade 3's and I loved teaching grade 3. I've also started with my new co-teacher who is younger than Jiny and she's really cute. She talks my ear off everyday and it makes me crazy, but I know she is just trying to get to know me and eventually she will calm down...I hope she does or I will go crazy with her all year. The first week back to school went by rather quickly and I didn't even have a full schedule. Friday night Nicole and I made plans with some Korean friends to go out for drinks and a good time. We got ready and started to pre-drink and our friend canceled on us, so we were pissed because we had gotten ready to go out and everything and he bails last minute. Instead, I called another Korean friend and he told me to bring my friends and come join them by Inha University where they all go to school. That is also, the cheaper drinking area of Incheon because it's all University students. Nicole, Lindsay, Rebekah and I all headed there and met with Jordan and about 12 of his Korean friends.

Grant, Nicole, Clint and Lindsay at the Hof in Inha. We had met and hung out with Grant a few times before, but Clint we just met for the first time. Rebekah and I finally hanging out together, so finally got to meet my Korean friends I always talk about. We met this new guy named, Mikael. I told him that we should changeeeeee coats and he agreed. He definitely looked far cuter in my coat than I do. He even loed my mitts on a string, so he wore them the entire time. I was trying to take a cute picture with Mikael when Rebekah and 'Angry Army guy' decided to spoil our Kodak moment...jerks...lol!

We hung out for a while at this Hof before moving on to a place that could accomodate all of us better. People were coming and going at all times, so those of us that were still good to go headed to a place called Forx. Yes, that is Fork wit an 'x.' We ordered more drinks and food, because Koreans must eat at all times, especially when drinking. We decided to play some drinking games, which never end well, but that is why they are so much fun. Around 5:00 a.m. I decided to call it night, so I headed home to bed, but not before another great night out with Korean friends.