Oh Canada!: Part 2

I was lucky enough to be in town for a Calgary Stampeders football game, so on Wednesday night my friend Yvette, the football virgin, joined me at the game. Might I just say that they were the 2008 Grey Cup Champions!!

The Stampeders playing the BC Lions.

Yvette and I enjoying the football game.

Yvette had a attraction to this random guy dressed up with fake 'guns' and some serious Stampeders paraphernalia.

Oh! How I missed real Canadian beer and it's deliciousness.

After the football game we headed to Jameson's Irish pub to meet some friends of mine. I suggested to Yvette that we just walk to the pub from the stadium because it was only like '10 minutes' away...Turns out it was a bit farther than that. It took us about 20-25 minutes to walk there. Yvette definitely wanted to kill me by the end of it, but she still managed a semi-smile for a picture during our travels.

Yvette was faking her smile, because she was not happy with all the walking happening.

If you could see my mouth in this picture you would clearly see that I am drooling over this Alexander Keith's.

Thursday I got to sleep in, but not as long as I would have liked. My mom and I went back to Southcenter mall to pick up my glasses.

I look like a teacher even more than I did before.

Thursday night I hung out with my friend Mackenzie. I forget how much fun we have together. Anyways, we headed to The Keg for a much needed steak dinner that I was craving. I decided that since I was only in Canada for a short time and I had the money that I was going to splurge and buy an expensive steak.

I opted for the seafood smothered steak with a baked potato.

Mackenzie knew the bar manager working at The Keg and when we went to pay for our bill it turned out to be only about $30, and my steak alone was almost that much. He gave us an insane discount, which was nice.

When we finished at The Keg, Mackenzie and I went to our friend Tasha's house for a visit and enjoyed a couple bottle of wines over some nice chit chat.

While at Tasha's I got a message from an old friend of mine I met in Mazatlan, Mexico asking me if I wanted to meet him for a coffee. I obliged, so he came to Tasha's and picked me up. We headed to Tim Horton's for a late night hot chocolate and iced cappuccino. We ended up sitting at Tim Horton's for well over 2 hours just talking and catching up.

Friday I didn't get the chance to sleep in because my mom booked me a last minute chiropractor appointment. I was glad that I went because my back really needs work.

Friday night I headed to Earl's for Maria's 25th birthday celebrations.

Maria looked great and I rocked my new glasses.

I didn't stay too long at Maria's birthday because I promised Tessa I would help her with some wedding preparations. It was nice to get the chance to hang out with Tessa one-on-one. I helped her string some flowers and I created the design of the ribbon on her center pieces. When she was ready to call it a night I drove us to her house and we had a sleep over.

Oh Canada!: Part 1

I left Korea on Sunday, June 14th and after a 10 hour plane ride to Vancouver where I had to recheck my bags I boarded my second plane for the hour and a half journey to Calgary. I was very anxious to get home because I had not been home in over a year and I just wanted to see my friends and family. Plus, a good home-cooked meal was long overdue. I was greeted at the airport by my mom, dad and best friend Tessa. It felt so good to see my parents, but especially Tessa. I at least saw my parents in October when they came to visit me, but I hadn't seen Tessa since I left for Korea. From the airport we headed to get some lunch at my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. It was so nice eating really good Italian food and drinking really great wine. My favorite is the all you can eat salad and bread.

My parents and I headed home after we ate and Lauren came home shortly after ward. It was really good to see her as well.

Monday was my first full day in Canada and also the start of my appointments. I had a massage appointment, which was an amazing 2 hours and much needed. On the way home I had to make a stop at Tim Horton's because I love their turkey sandwiches and I missed having Timmy Ho's around.

I mean even just seeing the sign puts a smile on my face.

My first home-cooked meal was SALMON, my absolute favorite fish in the sea. It's hard to find in Korea, in fact, I think I've only found it canned at Costco and it costs a lot. BUT, fresh salmon is always the best kind.

Of course the meal wouldn't have been complete without the rice, I guess Asia never really leaves you.

Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment followed by some much needed Canadian shopping. I met Lauren at the mall and we shopped for a couple of hours. Then we headed home to prepare for our 'Welcome Home' BBQ.

My bestest friend in the whole wide world, TESSA!!

I met my cousin Stacey's daughter, Sera for the first time and she was almost a year old.

We ate delicious hamburgers, home-made pasta salad, potato salad, enjoyed some cold beverages and catching up.

Chantelle and Mackenzie showed up. He is definitely my token 'black' friend and one of my closest friends.

Yvette showed up a bit later to the BBQ looking fabulous!

Wednesday was another busy day of appointments, the first one being a haircut. I had been dying for a change and I like my hairdresser back home, so I was excited to finally see him and to have him cut my hair.

My fabulous new hair cut that I'm in love with.

The lunch my mom and I enjoyed at Melrose Cafe and Bar on a beautiful summer day.

My second appointment was down South and only took about 15 minutes. Since it was at Southcenter mall my mom wanted to go look at some new glasses, but instead of her finding new glasses I found some instead. I ordered a brand new pair of prescription glasses and sunglasses. We headed home after we were finished with the glasses.

Heading Home to Canada!!

Friday was an average day at school. I taught 5 grade 3 classes and one teacher's class. I was glad when school ended Friday because I would be two weeks free of teaching. Friday night I met up with Lindsay and Nicole for some Chicken and Beer. Afterward, we headed to Mad Max to continue the night of drinking. We met some random Koreans who hung out with us and kept us company until they had to take their drunk friend home. That is when Nicole, Lindsay and I headed to a new bar at Inha University to check it out. Nicole new the owner, so we got free drinks and salad, plus we got to choose all the music we wanted to dance too, because the place wasn't very busy. Around 5:00 a.m. Nicole and I headed home for the night, Lindsay left earlier. I ended up sleeping in way later than I had planned on Saturday, 6:00 p.m. I still had to pack for my visit home to Canada and was worried I wouldn't get it all done, but I managed to pack one suitcase completely, 90% of another, do 3-4 loads of laundry, shower and last minute shop at Lotte Mart for some Korean treats. I also had dinner with Holly and hung out at her place for a bit before I headed home to get some sleep before I had to board my plane. 

I finished the rest of my packing Sunday morning, which was clothes drying from Saturday and the treats I had bought at Lotte Mart. I also showered again Sunday morning, because I wanted to be clean for the plane ride home in case I ended up going out as soon as I landed.

I ended up having extra time before Nicole met me at my place to take me to the airport, so I chilled out and watched some episodes of 'Outrageous Fortune', which is a New Zealand drama, that I am now addicted too.

The train ride to the airport was so much more enjoyable with Nicole to keep me company. When we arrived at the airport the line for my flight was really short and I had my boarding pass within 20 minutes of lining up. Then Nicole and I just bummed around for a bit before I decided to head to my gate and just chill out for a bit before boarding. It was so surreal to me that I was actually flying home to Canada for a visit with my friends and family, since it has been over a year...

*I will update my blog with my visit to Canada as I accumulate pictures and have worthy stuff to talk about.*

Grade 5 and 6 English Speech Contest!

Wednesday was time for the grade 5 English speech contest. Since I was so busy with the speech contests a few of my grade 6 classes got moved around and I actually ended up teaching less classes than my schedule. Mrs. Kim changed the schedule so that all of our classes were done by lunch and I only ended up teaching each grade 6 class once this week instead of twice like the schedule said. I'm not one to complain about schedule changes or teaching less classes, especially grade 6, they are devils.Back to the grade 5 speech contest. While the students waited for the contest to start they sang Britney Spears song, Everytime. Listening to them sing it in unison together in the gym was AWESOME! I was really impressed that they could read the lyrics and sing the song so well. Now, here are a few pictures from the grade 5 speech contest: 

A view of the gym filled with all the grade 5 students. This was during their singing of Britney Spears. As you may notice, the boys in the back had better things to do than sing. 

There were four judges for the grade 5 speech contest, but only myself and the grade 5 English co-teacher were necessary. Here I am asking an interview question.

These girls from 5-1 were the first contestants and both have been to school abroad. the tall girl on the right lived in America for about a year and her English is phenomenal. Her partner went to school in Japan, but her English speaking level was not as good. 

This is Ye-eun Heo and Seo-jin Kim from the 5-6 class. They won the grade 5 speech contest, with their topic, 'Rock and Roll'. It was a very in-depth speech, but really well done. The girl on the left (Ye-eun Heo) speaks almost fluent English. 

Thursday was the last day for English speech contest and it was the grade 6's. I was not looking forward to judging them because they seem to speak the worst English out of all the grades I teach and they have been learning it the longest. However, I was surprised by how well the grade 6's did in the speech contest, in fact, I have to admit they were probably the most enjoyable followed by the grade 4's. Here are some pictures from the grade 6 speech contest: 

This group of boys were good, but with four of them it was hard to judge, especially since two of them were really good and the other two were just average. 

Two of these three girls didn't even bother to memorize their speeches, so as far as I was concerned that showed lack of preparation. The girl in the middle was the only one who bothered to memorize her part and she did really well, it's too bad her partners let her down. 

Unfortunately, these are all the pictures I can offer from the grade 6 speech contest. The two girls who won the speech contest were from 6-8 class and their topic was on 'Let's love Korean products!' It was a really well done speech, but one girls answer to my question I asked was absolutely amazing, so that alone in my opinion won her and her partner the contest.

Grade 3 and 4 English Speech Contest!

Last Monday was the start of the English speech contests for my school. Students from grade 3 to grade 6 were responsible for writing a speech in English, obviously, and then one group from each class would be chosen to compete. Monday was the grade 3's, so I was responsible for judging the contest along with my co-teacher Enee. The students did really well considering their age level, but some of them really struggled to answer my interview questions at the end of their speeches. Here are some pictures from the grade 3 speech contest: 

This is me and Enee introducing the students to the judging criteria and wishing the contestants good luck. 

These are two of the grade 3 contestants, who matched their outfits for the contest. 

Unfortunately, these are the only pictures I have of the grade 3 English speech contest. I will try to find some more pictures on my school's website.

Tuesday was the grade 4 English speech contest, so myself and my grade 4 English co-teacher were the judges. Here are some pictures from the grade 4 speech contest: 

The principal gave a speech at the beginning of each speech contest and it was at least 10 minutes long and rather boring. I'm sometimes glad I don't understand korean. 

This is Tae-ho and Changmin from the 4-1 class. They were the winners of the 2009 English Speech Contest. Their topic, 'What Happened to the Polar Bears?' - on Global Warming. Tae-ho won the contest last year in grade 3 as well. his topic last year, was 'Poverty in Africa.' 

These two girls were really enjoyable to listen to, but their pronunciation and fluency was not that great. 

The grade 3's and 4's were very enjoyable to watch and listen too. Some of the topics were very in depth for their age level, while other topics were simple and basic. I was really proud of the students and it's nice to know the English I'm teaching them is paying off.

A Weekend of Shopping and Hiking!

I have been very behind on my blogs lately and it has not been on purpose. My computer has been acting up and I have been busy with other things. Anyways, last weekend, started off with a chill Friday night. Holly and I went for dinner together. Then we headed to the only DVD room in Yeonsu where you can go watch a movie in your own private room and buy snack, etc. They are mostly used for couples who need time away from their houses (where their parents live) to get a little one on one/loving time alone. When we finished with the movie we headed to Mad Max for some cola's and a fruit platter. Saturday, Carolina and I headed to Myeong-dong, which is the shopping district of Seoul. We spent a good portion of the afternoon there shopping, bsaically, until we dropped. When we had enough we headed back to Incheon and meet up with Holly, Nicole and others for a night out in Guwol-dong. We started at King Kong, which is a lot of fun. I wasn't drinking, so playing drinking games sober was funny. We stayed at King Kong a while before heading outside, so Nicole could play the soccer machine, which ended with her on her ass and a scraped knee and toe. Then majority ruled to go to Garten Bier, so we headed there. However, I didn't stay because I was exhausted and sober and wanted to be up early Sunday. Sunday, I ended up sleeping in, but it was nice to actually get some sleep. When I finally got motivated, I cleaned my house, and then I headed to climb the mountain in my area. This mountain is not huge or anything, but it can be a rough climb, so it was a great work-out. It took me about 90 minutes to climb to the top and back down. When I finished I met Holly at Lotte Mart and we did some grocery shopping. Then we had dinner together and came back to my place to have a games night. We played Clue, while watching High School musical. It was a god weekend. I always hate Mondays because it's back to school and Mondays are never fun for anyone. The school week went by like any other week. I really enjoy working with Mrs. Kim because she is easy to talk to and the students seem to respect her quite a bit. The grade 6's don't seem as out of control this year as they did last year. Monday and Wednesday I was at Inha taking my usual weekly Korean lessons. Once, I actually start studying the language more than I do now I know I can become more fluent in it. It is a really tough language to learn though once you see how it breaks down, bit by bit. However, it is really making me want to learn more languages, so I'm thinking of picking French back up and re-learning Spanish. If I can manage to learn those languages, I might start to learn even more, but I'm getting ahead of myself.. This weekend was a little busier and less relaxing. Friday night, Nicole, Holly and I had ribs for dinner at the delicious rib place in our area. Afterward, we headed to Mad Max for a few drinks and to hang out. A few drinks turned into shots, which then turned into dancing for a table of Korean guys (one of which we had met another time at MM). Then eventually, we ended up sitting with the table of Korean guys for a while before they split and we headed to Jumbo nightclub. It is seriously the worst nightclub in Incheon, full of ajusshi's (old men) working there and attending it. We stayed for maybe 30 minutes before heading to US66 at which point I called it a night. Saturday I headed to Suwon with Nicole for my friend Heidi's birthday party. We left Incheon at 4:00PM and it took us 3 hours to get to her house because we could not time the trains right at all. We waited for half an hour at Gurp station for the rapid train to Suwon, which then literally took us 15 minutes to Suwon. It was my first time seeing Heidi since we were in Bali together, so it was great to see her and finally see her house. I also, got to see Rudy and Marco as well. We didn't stay later than 10:00PM because we wanted to be back in Incheon by the last train. However, when we got off the bus from Heidi's house to Suwon station Nicole found a bus that went straight to Incheon, so we hopped on it and were home in an hour, which definitely beats our 3 hour trip to Suwon. Sunday I was up early because I wanted to climb the mountain again. This time Nicole joined me for the hike, so it was a bit more exciting to have company. We climbed one side of the mountain and went down the other. We stumbled upon some construction on our way down the mountain, which was quite entertaining. We also wondered what would happen if one of us injured ourselves while hiking the mountain. I didn't bring my cell phone with me, but thankfully Nicole did, so her phone could have been used to call 119. *The things we think of while hiking.* Nicole and I parted ways at her place and I walked home alone. Then I just chilled out for a bit, showered and headed back Nicole's way to check out rooftop patio we stumbled upon earlier in the week. It wasn't opened when Holly, Mike, Nicole and I met, so we headed to a nearby middle school to chill out with some drinks and snacks. We went back to check if it was open later and it was. We enjoyed some cold beverages and food and we played some Euchre and Asshole card games. I wasn't very good at Euchre, but I was distracted at the time of playing. I think I could be really good at it with a better lesson on how to play. I think I will get that lesson from my dad since he is a die hard Euchre player. Holly and I headed home together around 9:00PM because it was Sunday night and I wanted to make sure I had a good nights sleep before Monday teaching started again.