Day One

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

We are here in Korea. We arrived not even 24 hours ago yet. The flight was long and hot, but it was a smooth flight. We have all of our bags, nothing was missing from them, immigration took us two minutes and then we got on a 2 hour bus ride to our apartment in Wonju. The most frustrating part about the whole trip was the bus. We got dropped off in the front of a gas station and there was no one there to pick us up. We were getting a little stressed, not to mention completely exhausted from not sleeping for over 24 hours, but we could not understand what anyone was telling us to do. Luckily, there was a woman on the bus who had never been to Wonju either and was very confused and she spoke ENGLISH!!!! Yay!!! She helped us out and we followed her to the actual bus station which was through a back alley and around all the buses not being used. Talk about frustrating when you are severely lacking sleep and your body does not want to function.

We sat by the window on the plane and ate Korean food. Well, Kyle did, I got roast beef instead. But I did eat some of his bibimbap. It was really good. They gave us instructions on how to combine all the ingredients together to make the meal. Pretty funny.

Today, we woke up really early due to jetlag and we unpacked all of our stuff in the apartment. Still looks empty, but feels much more homey that it did about 10 hours ago when we got up. We went out for lunch with the married couple down the hall from Australia and a couple of Kyle's colleagues. We went for North American food at the Outback Steakhouse. It was good because I am not sure with how tired we are whether or not we would be ready for "real" Korean food yet. We have a pizza hut here and a baskin robbins, so I am assuming that somewhere... somewhere... there must be a McDonald's.

We went for a walk as well today and walked into a store to buy something to drink for at the apartment and we made fools of ourselves. Not only did no one understand us and everyone stare at us, but instead of giving 10,700 won, we counted out 17,000 won. The clerk laughed at us and we were kinda embarrassed, but smiled it off and had a good laugh when we left. Surprisingly, there are a lot of English signs and restaurants here. It makes me laugh that the menus are all in English, but the waiters and waitresses cannot speak English.

We also ran into a group of school kids, there is a middle school just up from our apartment, and then surrounded us and starting waving and saying Hi to us. It felt weird, but we laughed at it yet again. We are getting lots of stares, but that is to be expected. We really enjoy spending time with our neighbours. There is actually another teacher here from Victoria, BC who works with Kyle. Well... he is either from there or just went to school there. I am not sure. But we are excited to meet him. We went to Kyle's school today just for fun and to walk around. I love the people that he works with and wish we could have gone to my school to meet people too, but we didn't get a chance. There is also a Scottish guy who works with Kyle. He is excited about that. Everyone seems to be our age. The couple down the hall in our apartment are our age and the wife works with Kyle. The husband stays home and takes care of their two year old son in the evening. We are probably going out for dinner with him tonight. Not sure where. Supposedly, it is cheaper to eat out at Korean restaurants everyday than to buy groceries. Weird. I am definitely buying groceries though.

I am really nervous about tomorrow and hoping that all goes well. I heard that there is a teacher from the US there and that he is my age. So, I hope that he is there when I get there tomorrow and I can meet him and ask him questions. I am not sure what tomorrow holds, but I will let you know how it goes. I am very very nervous though.

We chatted with my parents this morning, with great difficulty, thanks to the connection we are mooching till our internet gets set up. So, we were teaching my Mom how to use MSN. It was really good to speak with them, but it really made me miss home and I cried. I really miss our family and friends and our cats. My mom said she thinks that Cedric misses me and that makes me really sad and almost makes me cry right now thinking about it.

Anyways, I think I might go and try to nap since our cable went out and Kyle is napping and has been for two hours now. Here is a website with photos for you to see....

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj75/bongo_guy/Our%20Apartment/

Enjoy!!

I think we may become close friends with the family down the hall, but they are already 6 months through their stay and it will be sad to say bye to them when they leave.

Itinerary

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sunday, April 27 - Drive from Esterhazy to Regina

Monday, April 28th at 7:39am - Flight from Regina to Vancouver

5 1/2 LAYOVER IN VANCOUVER AIRPORT

Monday April 28th at 2:20pm - Flight from Vancouver to Incheon Airport, Seoul, South Korea

12 HOURS LATER

get bags, go through immigration crap and security, find person picking us up

get dropped off at bus station in Seoul

Take a bus to Wonju (3 1/2 Hours including stops for a 1 1/2 trip)

Get picked up.... drive to apartment.... unpack... sleep and start work one day later..... gah.

Update

Wow... the past week and a bit has been insane. We had our interviews at the consulate on the 11th of April, moved out of our house on the 12th of April, postponed our trip to the prairies by one day, left Vancouver on April 15th and drove to Calgary. Had dinner and birthday cake with the family (wish we could have spent more time there) said our hard byes, and then drove another few hours to Swift Current, SK. (We had so much fun during the short time we spent in Calgary and are very excited to get back and visit for longer). We stayed overnight in Swift Current in a very sketchy motel.

Nicole walked in to turn on the heat and pressed some switch that made an orange light come on in the bathroom, that was set to a timer and we couldn't turn it off. It looked like it was a strip club or some beginning of a horror movie. Our whole room was full of the orange glow. If that wasn't bad enough, the sheets were disgusting. Not only to the touch, but also to the eyes. There was a weird black stain on the sheets on the bed Kyle and I slept in. Needless to say, all of these things added together, plus noisy cats who were cooped up in the car for far too long made for zero sleep that night.

We got up the next day and drove to Esterhazy, which was four hours away, ate lunch, dropped off the cats, unloaded the car, repacked for the week and left for Providence. Four hours later we were there. It was a great road trip with a lot of dancing, singing, belting disney soundtracks at 2:00am in the morning, and really good talks. It was a great trip and despite my legs being antsy for the 3 days straight, I would do it all again in a second. (Also, minus the cat peeing on the blanket and the day before we left the cat pooping on my foot, whole other story). The cats were really good though, the traveled very well.

The Winnipeg visit was great. So amazing to see close friends, but I don't really want to get into all of that right now. It was really sad to say Bye to JP and Myrielle and Klipper and everyone else. So fun to surprise everyone when we got to the school, but really hard to leave. Lots of drinks, good talks, and fun times playing video games and just reminiscing. Here are some pics for you to enjoy!!




The cats slept like this in one cage together for 17 hours straight basically. They did so well. I love them.
















This was our last night in the city. We had a chance to meet up with French (ie. Myrielle) and we went to "The Toad" in Osborne Village. We had so much fun and we laughed so much. It was so hard to say Bye to these two.

"Pour Quois tu Touches my Merde?" ha ha ha

Bad French intended





We went out for dinner with Jipper and Klipper to BP's to watch the games. Good night. Three pizzas + a few drinks + friends = $120 bill and good memories.

Definitely had one of the best nights of the whole trip this night. Good friends will be missed and we were very thankful to see them before we left.








Yes, Kyle is playing guitar hero in the backseat to the ipod. Needless to say, after a 17 hour day in the car we were all getting cabin fever.















So, this one is from the road trip. By this point we had left my parents' house in Esterhazy, SK and were on our last leg of the trip. 4 hours to Providence and friends!! We were so excited.

Long Day....

Saturday, April 12, 2008

It is currently 8:03pm and Kyle and I are sitting in a hotel in Victoria watching Hockey Night in Canada. We finished packing our house at 6:00pm. Longest day of our lives. We started at 8:00am or so, Kyle going on only 4 hours of sleep since he played guitar hero till 4am with Jesse. We are exhausted. So exhausted. Our bodies are aching and so are our heads, but we are done at the house and everything is in storage and other stuff is on greyhound on its way to my parents house.

We bought some Quiznoes for dinner and drank half a 2L of Pepsi, a glass of orange juice and two beers since we have been here. It was such a crazy busy day. The cats are taking it alright at this point. Cedric is sleeping on the top shelf of the coat closet in the hotel room and Tinker is doing her rounds of being under the bed scared to death, cuddling and exploring. The usual. I am curious how well she is going to take the ferry ride tomorrow since we have to stay down on the vehicle deck whenever we have pets. Sad times. Last time across the ferry for one year and I have to spend it on the vehicle deck. I'll survive.

Kyle is falling asleep beside me and my legs are so stiff at this point since the computer is right on top of them and I haven't moved them in 15 minutes, that I don't know if I could walk if I wanted to. I think I am going to go. Busy time ahead of us here. Tomorrow we are off to Vancouver and spend one night there in a hotel. We are going to Fog N' Sud's for dinner. Excited for that. Then on Monday we are getting picked up by Nicole (I am unbelievably excited to see her... can't even describe it), then we drive to Calgary and spend the night there with Kyle's sister Danielle. His Dad will be there as well so we didn't have to say bye to him today. Then off to Winnipeg for a few days and then back to my parents' house for a week or so and then we are off to South Korea. So weird to think that we are going. So weird. Hasn't really hit me yet.

Interviews went well yesterday. Felt like we wasted an entire day that we could have spent packing and cleaning and that would have made today a whole heck of a lot easier. But it was a necessary evil and now it is all done. By that I mean, it was necessary to spend the whole day for a 15 minute interview. Very simple interview, few questions, very basic, simple enough. We met a couple other people who will be teaching over there at the same time as we are. One in Busan and one in downtown Seoul. Hopefully we will see each other once we are over there.

Yes... I was going wasn't I? Ciao for now.... need to rest before friends start coming to say bye to us. I hate saying bye to people.

Packing = No Fun

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

We have been packing for the past couple of days and it is completely draining. That cats are getting stressed out and so am I. I am actually starting to get an upset stomach from constantly thinking about everything that we are doing and everything that we have coming up over the next little while. Through that though, I am still extremely excited about the whole opportunity at our doorstep right now. Very excited.

We have been taking some pictures while packing as well. This one of the cats is from last night. They were sitting in the window together wagging their tails and it was too cute to pass up. I have come to terms with the fact that I have to leave my kitties with my parents, but I am still sad thinking about letting them go for a while.

I don't have much else to say at this point, so I am going to run. I am on my way out for dinner with Jesse and Rachel. Maybe Red Robins?

So Frustrated....

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

So, I sent all the information yesterday to the consul priority post to be there before noon, so that I could call by lunch time today and set the time for our interviews. Well.... they don't check their mail till 4:00pm and therefore won't get my papers till 4:00pm, so I have to call back and try and tell them what I want again. AND!! The earliest spot they have available is next Wednesday, but I wasn't allowed to put our names down for that time because they didn't have our papers yet, but they wanted to remind me that times fill up fast as well. Could this be anymore frustrating? I am going to try calling later today and see if the time slot is still available. Here's hoping!

On a lighter note.... I got my new expedition backpack the other day and I love it. It's the Osprey Luna 70 and it is amazing. Specifically designed for the way a woman is shaped and how the weight should be distributed on her body. Today, we got Kyle's new backpack and my AE order that I have been anxiously awaiting. Don't know why though considering it is all summer clothes and it is FREEZING outside.

I will update later.....

UPDATE...

Interviews have been scheduled for Friday at 2:00pm and 2:15pm. I am making Kyle go first. I hope this all works out! The woman on the phone made me nervous about the interview by saying "If you pass then you can get your passport back that day". The "If" thing is not sitting so well. I know it will go through though. I just have to keep telling myself that and be as prepared as possible for the interview.