The great move of 2009

I suppose the real 'great move' will be in 3 months, but today the title 'big move' seems appropriate. What am I ranting about? Well, it's the move to Lindsay's apartment. I am about half way done now, and it's already starting to look like home, but backwards (her apartment is the same, but a mirror image). Anyway, it is nice because it has lots of light. I'm sure I'll end up liking it very much. Right now we're on a break (Keri and David are helping me move), we (us and Lindsay) are going to go out for a dinner at Papa Spaghetti, a great place just down the street.

Anyway, I will take some pictures of the new apartment once everything is set up. We're moving the big things tomorrow because Charles and some other people are coming to help. At that time we'll move the bed and the futon and what not.

Alright, that's all for now. Have a good Sunday everyone!

13 weeks

Oh my goodness I just realized that I only have 13 weeks left to teach here! wow, that went by quickly.

The last quarter

Alright, well thursday marked the beginning of the last quarter of my year here in Korea. We switched classes and schedules and now I'm MUCH happier with my classes! I have one problem student rather than like 8 or maybe even more. Also, I'm teaching a senior level class - the greatest thing about that is that I can say almost anything and they can understand! I don't have to simplify anything for them!

So here is my new schedule:

• Mon., Wed., Fri. - 2:30 - Junior 1 (my favourite class because they're all so small and cute)
• Mon., Wed., Fri. - 4:00 - Reading 1.5 (I like them, but that's where the problem student is)
• Mon., Wed., Fri. - 6:00 - Science 3 (senior level course that I like)
• Tues., Thurs. - 4:00 - Science 1 (I haven't taught them yet, I'll teach them on Tuesday)
• Tues., Thurs. - 7:00 - Random un-named level (the mystery level between Junior and Senior)

That's what I'll be working with until I leave. So, the good news is this - every Mon., Wed., and Fri. I get off of work at 8:30! The other good news is that I only work 8 hours a day again rather than 9.5 a day! My pay cheques will be smaller, but I don't really care at this point!

Today we're supposed to go to Seoul and do cultural things but I think that might be pushed to tomorrow due to the fact that it is 2:30p.m. and I have been lounging around my apartment all day.

Sunday and Monday I am moving apartments to Lindsay's and she is moving out. I am excited to have a new view and so my plants can get sunlight and not die. I'm sad because I have to move and there is a piano and a futon in my place. My manager said he and the other guy who works at my school will help though.

The nights are getting cool here which is lovely because that means that this unnaturally warm summer is nearing an end.

Ok that's my update for the day, I haven't got much more to share at this point. I will take lots of pictures today (if we get to Seoul) or tomorrow (when we will definately go to Seoul) because it will be Lindsay's last time in Seoul on a weekend!

Have a good weekend everyone!

A tree.

Last week I decided to take two days and build a giant tree in my classroom. It goes on to the ceiling! I had my students write a little something about themselves to put on the tree... here it is!

Sunday

Sunday was quite a fun day. We went to the kimchi museum!! Yes, there is such a thing. It was actually really interesting! There are apparently 80 different kinds of kimchi! There is special kimchi for young people, old people and even dead people! Yes, you heard me... they prepare kimchi to be presented at the graves of ancestors!

Well, obviously my favourite part of the museum would be the tasting room. That was quite magical. They only had 4 types of kimchi to taste, but hey, I enjoyed it anyway.

After that we went to a really nice temple. Unlike some of the other temples I have been to, this one was being used at the time I visited it! There were monks playing a huge drum and ringing a really big bell. It was really cool to see. Also at this temple was the tallest statue of Buddha in all of Korea and it's 23 metres tall.

Now it's the new week again. I'm excited because as of Thursday, I am NO LONGER WORKING OVER TIME!!!!!!!! That's very good because I've been working over time now for 4 months. It has been a long 4 months, but it's over now so that is good. I am also getting rid of one of my most challenging classes behaviorally. That is a wonderful thing.

From what I remember, I am teaching Junior 1 (my favourite class), 2 science classes (which are a lot of work, but also a lot of fun), a senior level class (which I've taught now for 6 months), and a random level that's just mashed in there between the last level of junior classes and the first level of senior classes.

So, I'm looking forward to starting this new schedule because it means more sleep and less stress!! I think that is all of the news for now. In 2 days, Melissa will be coming in 5 weeks! That's exciting! I am looking forward to showing her such a different part of the world!

O.K. I will go now, finish my coffee and head to work. Here are some pictures from Sunday's adventures!

9 months!!

Today is the 9 month anniversary of when I arrived in Korea! I have recently been given a book of things to do in Korea (thank you, David). There are lots of things I want to do before I go, so I think I will be busying myself on the weekends with these things. I will also be able to find some good things to do for when Melissa comes... in 41 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a very short time, Lindsay will be leaving. The new teacher (Carlos) has already arrived, and he is dating the other new teacher who came last month (Katie). It will be nice for Katie to see him again, but like always, it will be hard for me to say goodbye to Lindsay. That will be all of the people I originally worked with gone.

That's ok though. Work is going well. I will bring my camera today and take pictures because I made a really big tree in my classroom out of paper and I had my students make leaves and birds and clouds and things for it. It goes up the wall, and a little on the ceiling! It looks good! Quite fun. Anyway, here are some pictures from August that I have taken. Enjoy!

Update of the weekend.

Well I had an eventful weekend! Friday night I had some people over: my new co-workers, our Korean friends and my friend David. It was a nice night, nothing too crazy. Then on Saturday we went to my friend Keri's house in Suji. Also very fun, and not too crazy. Sunday is when random things happened! (As they always tend to happen when we're in Seoul). We decided to take a boat ride on the Han river, but we didn't really know how. So, naturally we just walked to the river and looked for a boat. Eventually, we found a port which had some boats so we walked towards it.

Next thing I know, we're on a pirate ship (the fun kind, not the Somalian kind...), and we're driving down the Han river in a pirate ship!! It was really fun! The captain was a pirate and he came out after a while and let me wear his hat for a picture!

I have lots of pictures from everything this weekend, but I haven't loaded them on to my computer yet because I've been really busy. BUT, I will get around to it. I promise!

Thanks for your comments, keep them coming! (Aunt Karen, I'll put a new picture up soon, but you might be disappointed that I'm not obese!) haha. I will make it a project for me to get as big as possible from Korean New York Fries Canadian Poutine! ... does that make sense?

August

Well, it's the middle of August (just about), and things are going on just as normal as they usually do. We have the two new teachers who are adjusting to their new surroundings, and that's about all that is different.

Today I'm going to the bank because I need to send money home so I have $$ when I get there! On the weekend (I'm not sure if I've already said this), we went to the National Museum of Korea again. It had a special exhibition about Egypt which was really really interesting! I took some pictures which I'm not allowed to put up here because I'd probably be arrested. haha.

We also got poutine on the weekend, and my friend from Belgium/Spain/Japan really liked it! Both Keri and I took him to share the Canadian experience! I can picture us getting it again next weekend actually!

Alright, like I said I'm on my way out to the bank, I thought I would update!

This coming weekend, we are going to a wedding. But! It's a traditional Korean wedding. Our co-worker's sister is getting married and he invited us to go see. It's apparently quite different from weddings at home - he says they're really short and there is only like a luncheon afterwards, not a big dinner & party! I'll bring my camera and take pictures if that's allowed!

Alright, now I'll go! Bye everyone!

Changes

Well, Sarah and Mark have left, and the new teachers have come. All of us went out to karaoke last night, with 3 of our Korean friends. It was pretty fun.

Today we are going in to Seoul and probably eating poutine at Gangnam station.

We may end up at a museum. I think we are going to the National Museum of Korea - the place where I went over Christmas. It is a nice place and very big with lots of things.

This post is seriously lacking information or detail! I will go now. I just wanted to update!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Suwon

So as promised from yesterday's post about Jeju Island, here is the place I went to yesterday. It's called Suwon. There is a big palace, fortress and temple there which are all really beautiful. Here are the pictures! I got to make a pot, which was fun. Today we went to Incheon just past China town where there was this carnival that's there all year round, and it was on the water which was nice. Anyway, back to work tomorrow (blah.)

Pictures from Jeju!!! (and one video)

Well here are the pictures from my trip to Jeju! Today I went to a really nice palace called Suwon Fortress. They had a temple there as well, and we got some great pictures. Anyway, I will put those pictures up later, so everyone can have a chance to see these ones first.

Here's what we did in Jeju:

Day 1 - we got to the hotel ok, and went out for lunch. We had 'kimchi chigae' (김치 치게) which was quite delicious. It's like a soup with a bunch of stuff in it and kimchi. Then we went to the water which, sadly, wasn't a beach. That's ok though. It had a nice pier that we walked to the end of. After that we saw a carnival that was just kind of in the middle of no where, so we went and I got in a small dragon thing. It was quite difficult to get OUT of that small dragon thing. Then we got McDonalds, and headed back to our hotel.

Day 2 - Early start at 8! The hotel had a great breakfast!! ooh, toast and eggs is something that I haven't had in a LONG time. Maybe since China in January. It was delicious. The first thing we did was go to a glass museum which was filled with everything glass from the trees outside to the washrooms (thankfully they were more like 2 way mirrors!). Again, we got good pictures. After the glass museum, we went to an acrobat show kind of like the one we saw in China. It was really cool! At the end, they had 7 motorcycles in a giant ball driving around like crazy people. I have a video of it when it had 2 motorcycles in it, and then Lindsay took over because my camera died and she has the video with 5 of them in there. It was fun! I have a video of the acrobats doing there thing, which you can see here! After that (my camera died so now I'm relying on my memory) we went to a tea house where they grow and harvest tea - there were fields and fields of tea and we took pictures. We went to some kind of orange farm (oranges are famous in Jeju), and then we went on a boat ride which was a nice 1 hour tour of one side of the island. After that we headed back to the hotel and had dinner. We met this guy on our tour who was from America, but he could speak perfect Korean so we invited him out with us that night. We met up at he brought us to city hall area where we found a restaurant, and ate / drank. It was fun. Oh, this guy has family that lives in Jeju and up in mainland Korea as well. In fact, his uncle is the mayor of Jeju City, so he knows it pretty well.

Day 3 - we had another early morning (but this time we got up earlier to have a bigger breakfast because it was so good). We went to an elephant show (the title was "Welcome to Elephant"), and then to this juice factory thing which was pretty weird. They talked to us for a while, and gave us juice that is crazy because it's $300 for a box. Anyway, we left there quickly. After that we went to this place where we rode on horses. I was pretty excited for it before it happened, but once I got on the thing I was absolutely terrified!! I'm glad to say I've done it, but that's probably the last time I'll do it. Then we went to a really nice place with rocks and the ocean and everything and got some scenic pictures there too.

That's all I remember, but I will look at Lindsay's pictures when we've traded them and write more or add more pictures!