Today is my best friend Dave's birthday. I don't have any batteries in the camera right now to make a video and my converter is otherwise preoccupied so I cannot charge the battery in the wall, so I just want him to know that I love him very much and I hope that he has a great birthday. Dave, you deserve it. You are amazing.
I know it has been a while since I have last updated and I really have no excuse except that I have been lazy about updating the blog. Now... what has happened since I last updated....
Well, our friend Laura came out on the weekend and we had a great time. We just relaxed and it was really good to see a familiar face from home. We picked her up at the bus station, of course we went to the new bus station and the bus took her to the old one, so we spent twice as much money on cab fare than we needed to :P
Once we got back to the house we went out for Shabu Shabu we went for a walk for about 30-40 minutes and then we came home. We were all a little tired so Kyle took a nap and Laura and I watched "What Happens in Vegas". It was pretty funny. By the time the movie was over and Kyle woke up it was time for dinner. So, we went out for Galbi, our first time in almost 3 weeks, so we thoroughly enjoyed it. Laura also bought us dinner, which she didn't have to do, but she wanted to. It was really nice of her. After dinner we came back home again and then went to get some night snacks. We decided we would watch another movie. I forget whether it was Indiana Jones or another one along those lines. Then Kyle watched the hockey draft (again, after he spent 4 1/2 hours watching the first round in the morning on the computer), he is so funny. Definitely keeps up on his hockey news while we are here. The next day we decided that we would go to the theatre (yes three movies) and we watched "Get Smart" and it was soooo funny. I was not expecting it to be that good at all and either was Kyle, we actually weren't going to watch it, but since we had a guest we decided to and it was well worth it!! So funny. Then we took Laura back to the bus and she headed home.
It was a good weekend. The work week went well this week. Today is game day for me so I do not really count it as a work day! It is the loudest day of the week though. Kyle works today and I know that he is really looking forward to the weekend. Yesterday when I was in my cab coming home from work we stopped at a red light and I noticed we were stopped right beside my school's bus. So, I rolled down the window of the cab and when my students saw me they got very excited and we trying to talk the whole time and wanted the bus driver to take them all to my house!! Good thing he didn't.
Also, yesterday we picked up Jennine at the bus station, again we went to the new one and they dropped her off at the old one and we spent twice as much cab fare as needed. She is going on a mission trip to Japan soon. Then, she is done her contract and she is going home for a month or so. So, since she has a cat here in Korea, she needed someone to take care of her kitty while she is gone. Of course, I volunteered Kyle and I. Now we have a little 8 month old kitty named Chico running around the apartment. It feels good to have a pet in the house again. Jennine will be back to Korea again and then she will take her cat back. I assume we will have him for about 2 months.
Well, my allergies are acting up today because of all the dust, so I am going to go take some allergy meds. We miss you all and love you very much. Seeing familiar faces lately has helped us get through the homesickness that hits everyone at this amount of time of being here.... more people from home should come and visit us! It is only $800 each way!!!
Sorry it has taken me a while to write again. I am just so tired when I get home from work that I would rather not sit in front of a computer. Also, it is so hot and humid in Wonju right now, that the second I sit down, I immediately start sweating. Gross.
So, what has happened this past week? Monday... nothing special, it was my short day and my classes all seemed to go very well. I was really tired though because I couldn't sleep on Sunday night. Probably due to a few factors; restless legs, humidity, my mind running nonstop. It was bad. Not a way you want to start off a week working with kids. Tuesday was good and so was Wednesday. Nothing special again. The same classes were good and the same ones were bad. Although, 3-A is starting to get a bit better as long as I keep them on a tight leash in the classroom. Actually, on Wednesday one of the students in my youngest class complained to the director that I don't pay attention to her in class. That's funny because she yells out every single answer and I have to say the other kids names to get them to answer because she intimidates them. She is about 3 levels higher than the other kids in the class (like the young kids don't know the alphabet yet and this kid is sounding out words very quickly and very well). She is also always eating when not yelling out answers even though she is not supposed to eat in class and she doesn't pay attention to the lesson unless she wants to. She is rather difficult. Not to mention, always leaving the classroom and throwing things and yelling. I am pretty sure she is spoiled rotten at home and since not everything in my classroom is about her she gets mad. The day in question, she was 30 minutes late for a 40 minute class. So, I was 90% through my lesson and we were just doing a wordsearch for the words we learned that day. I gave her the wordsearch and they just worked on it. Well, I guess I didn't give her the attention she needed in those 10 minutes. I was really upset about the complaint because the director had to talk to me and did so in front of students who could understand and they (meaning the other staff) were talking about me in Korea when I was right there and then not translating. So, I was really upset by the whole thing. So, I told my director what was going on in the classroom and invited her to sit in on Thursday. She did so (of course the kids were on their best behaviour) and she saw the student eating, playing, yelling out answers and not letting the lower learners try at all. So I was happy. Now, I have been told though, that I should start trying to teach this class (the one who doesn't know the alphabet or any sounds that the letters make) full phrases and answers. This is fine if the class knows the alphabet, but they don't, so I have a difficult time ahead of me with this one. I just don't even know where to begin because they don't understand me and they don't know the letters or the sounds, but because I am a foreigner they need to learn phrases from me. Like slangs and idioms. How in the world do you do that?? So, I am very frustrated about it. Gah. The students who overheard the conversation to me about the complaint told me they do not understand what the girl is talking about because I give them all the same attention. I appreciated that.
Today was good, game day. Loud. I have a headache. But it was a lot of fun. This week... one of my students told me that she eats dog. I was not very happy about it and told her she cannot talk about that in my class (not in a mean way, but in a "that breaks my heart"way) and if she does she needs to do it in Korean so I do not understand. She thinks it is funny. So she talks about it all the time. Makes me sick to my stomach.
Okay I am too warm to be sitting here on the computer, so we shall chat again soon. We are having our friend Laura over tomorrow for the whole day and night. So, we should have plenty to write about this weekend and probably some new pictures.
Happy Birthday Eleni. We miss you and wish we could be there with you today.
LOVE US!
This is the main road on your way to my work. It was so beautiful out today.
If you look closely in the middle of the picture you can see a tall building in the far back. That is city hall. My work is right beside city hall basically. Gorgeous mountain views.
This is a picture of some of the Mountains in the distance on your walk to my work.
It was a beautiful day out, yet again today. 30 degrees and "lower" humidity than normal, so Kyle and I decided to go for a walk down to the area of Wonju called Musil-dong. It is the area where my school is located. Kyle had only ever seen the outside of the building where my school is, but never my actual school. We we walked the 45 minute walk down there from our place and I showed him my school. We went into a plant store, since we are wanting to buy a plant for our place, it was overcrowded and no prices on anything so we quickly left there. We stopped for some ice cream and then just headed back home.
I guess being outside for the last two days for a couple hours each day I have gotten quite the tan going on. I love the hot weather. I just cannot stand the humidity. We are now just sitting at home watching yet another old movie, this time is is Speed II and last night it was Die Hard with a Vengeance. We are also planning for tomorrow's classes or attempting to do so. Kyle had a rough day on Friday with one of his classes, but maybe he will write on here and tell you about it. I taught my kids how to play Uno on Friday. Every Friday at my school is game day, so they looooooooved the card game. I have never seen kids get so loud and competitive over uno. I think some of them weren't very happy with each other when they left the room.
Our friend Laura is coming out this weekend. If it is nice out we are going to go hiking on Chiaksun. Kyle and I are very excited, I think Laura is too. We will make sure to take pictures of everything. Also, we might go swimming here in Wonju this weekend too. I know for sure we are going to go out for Galbi at mine and Kyle's favourite restuarant. We will for sure let you know how the weekend goes. We are very excited to see a familiar face from home.
Well, my body is really tired from the heat and my hands do not really want to type right now. So I will bid you farewell for another couple days. Hope everyone at home is doing well and leave us some comments sometime so we can hear from you!! We miss you all very much.
So, I found a video of my cat Tinker on my computer and I decided to play it. It's one of her playing with a pen and she does some really funny things that only she would do. She is a great cat. Well, the point of this is to say that watching that video has made me extremely homesick. I am sad at the moment thinking about how I will not get to see my kitties and play with them for another 10 1/2 months. I guess it might also be because I haven't been able to see them through video chat for a few days, but I am really missing my cats a lot right now and that makes me miss everything else a lot more too. This homesickness comes and goes. I have heard that most people have it hit them pretty hard around this time. I'll get through it, it's just hard. I love having my cats here to greet me when I come home from work and to sleep with me. Last night I said to Kyle that I wish Cedric was sleeping in between our pillows like he used it. Kyle didn't so much feel the same since Cedric always gave Kyle his butt and I got his head!! Anyways, enough of that. I am just homesick. There are foods that I am craving as well that I cannot find here that I wish I could eat right now as well.
I think that on Friday Kyle and I are going to go watch another movie, movies here are cheap to see compared to home. Like it's only $7 per person to get in and to buy two large pops and a large popcorn is only $5. So, I think we are going to go and watch "The Happening" by M. Night Shamaylan. I am really excited for that.
There was something else that I was going to say, but I forget what it was, so I am just going to say good-night, it's 12:13am on Thursday and I need to sleep so I can teach. Maybe we will go for Galbi tomorrow?? Who knows. Actually, our friend Laura from Providence is coming to visit us the weekend after next. That will be really nice. She is teaching the same distance from Seoul as we are, but she is SW and we are SE. So, we are still a fair distance apart. It will be good to have a familiar face around for a couple days.
Today, Kyle and I decided to really get out of the house. We have spent most of our long weekend sitting inside because I have been fairly sick with a bad cold. We have been resting, well I have been resting and Kyle has been restless. Funny how that works.
So, we made a point to get outside. The picture of the tree is of my favourite trees that you see on your way to downtown to Lotte Cinema (which is a mall, not just a theatre). First, we went for coffee at the new coffee shop that opened. It is just like being at home. The place is called Holly's Coffee and they make ICED CARAMEL MACCHIATOS!!! Yummy!! And like every single other drink that you can get at Starbucks. They play jazz music inside as well and just the decor and everything makes us both feel like we are at home again. It is a nice escape and a nice refuge for when we are feeling homesick.
After that we went to see what time the movies were playing at the theatre. We decided that we would see the 2:30pm showing of Indiana Jones. We had some time to kill so we went down to Hi Mart and the Samsung store and looked at electronics and all sorts of amazing things. The TV's here are so much better than home. The Samsung PAVV is amazing. The picture is perfect and you can even see the gel in the hair of people on the TV! Crazy... and the prices are pretty comparable to those at home if not cheaper. We went from there back to the theatre and watched the movie and it was pretty good. I didn't like the ending, but I will not spoil it for you. Just doesn't seem to go well with the idea of Indiana Jones. It is weird being the only people in the theatre who do not need the subtitles on the bottom and can get the jokes about 5 seconds earlier than everyone else.
So, we just got home and it seems to be just in time. I think it is going to rain. I am excited to get back home for another reason I figured out the other day.... no smoking in the restaurants. You can smoke anywhere and everywhere here and it gets old for us. Once again, we still do miss family and friends and are excited for the possibility of people coming to visit (come on Mom and Dad) and for all our friends who are coming out to start teaching between now and the end of August or September. We were also thinking about maybe trying to get something going with all the Prov people for Christmas in Seoul or something along those lines... we will see what happens. Maybe some place here will serve a Jig's Dinner? Probably not, but maybe some place will serve turkey... maybe not, but at least we will be together!
We went out for dinner tonight to About Shabu (the food is called Shabu Shabu). I wanted to go since I am sick with a nasty cold and the soup is so spicy it clears out my sinuses and my throat. So, since we were going and we hadn't taken many pictures lately, we decided to take pictures of us eating dinner. It was rather funny though because we were the only two in the restaurant at the time and we were taking photos of everything. The ladies laughed at us. The total for our dinner was $14 and that is including a plate full of meat, the soup, noodles, vegetables, water and cola. Such a good deal.
Here is Kyle enjoying his Shabu. He didn't feel well after though since he hasn't felt well since this morning's incident (will tell you about it in a minute) and the food is a bit too spicy for him and upset his stomach. At least he looks happy here!
These are the yummy noodles that come with the Shabu. They may look different because they are green, but they are sooooooo good.
This is the plate of meat that we get. It has bacon, beef, chicken and some sort of sausage on it.
This is the shabu spicy soup with the vegetables already put in. When you get the vegetable plate it is usually stacked like 6 inches off the plate with sprouts and lettuce and all sorts of green leafy things.
Ahh.... today's incident. Well, we decided to have pancakes for breakfast today and when I was done making them we were going to quickly walk to the 24 Mart (right across from our place) and get syrup. On our way through the door back into the house after the purchase, I came in and then I hear Kyle fall or something behind me and I turn around to him kicking open the door and yelling really loudly in pain. I was concerned about what was wrong and it turns out that he crushed his finger in the metal door to our house. This doesn't sound that bad at first, but when I saw it it had dents on each side of his finger and it was turning purple. Kyle was in pain and kicked the orange juice that he dropped when he did it, which in turn hit me in the ankle and I was rather upset about it, then I asked him if he thought it was broken and he said yes. So, I ran down the hall and got Terri, who was still in her PJ's, and said "Kyle broke his finger and we need to go to the hospital!" She changed and we left. We got to the hospital and did the normal walk to this department, now this department, back to fill out some papers that we cannot read, back to the other department, downstairs, upstairs, back to the original room, etc. Well, the room they sent us to was titled "Orthopedic Surgery" and this alone didn't sound very good. Well, to top it off, the picture on the sign was of a guy missing the tip of his finger. I laughed, Kyle turned pale. Ha. Luckily the doctor spoke english well enough to communicate and Kyle's finger was not broken. He gave us a prescription for some Korean meds (which Kyle has termed Korean Crack since it comes in little baggies divided into doses) and sent us on our way. So, thus the reason Kyle has not felt well all day. Korean meds are much stronger than at home. So, please do not be offended that Kyle is giving you the bird in the picture, but he just wants to show off. The picture does not really do it complete justice, but you get the point. It's fatter than it looks, more purple than it looks and has less feeling than you feel in your middle finger.
So, there you have it, two posts in one day to make up for the lack of posting in the past. This is getting ridiculous, I am going to go watch Lord of the Rings with the injured one. Buh bye.
Hello Everyone!!
Well not much is that new these days and I feel like I would be boring you if I wrote the same stuff over and over again. We have a three day weekend this weekend. We didn't work yesterday, Friday, so we are happy about that. We have already had three long weekends since we have been here. It's been really nice. It's also really hard to believe that we have been here for over a month already. We were thinking about it and realized how fast that first month really went. I hope the rest is just as good as the first.
Thursday classes were good. My 1-A class, as always, was a lot of fun. I have had some changes in that class recently. I have two new students, but I also lost one student as the school decided that she was too young to be attending this particular Hogwan. It was really sad because she was my favourite student. 1-B was difficult on Wednesday so I ended up assigning them homework and they just checked over their homework as a class for the whole Thursday session. In 2-A I have also gotten two new students. This has been a great help since the original two were so shy that I couldn't get them to talk at all. Max, one of the new students in that class, is a little rambunctious though, so I will have to figure out a way to help him channel that excess energy into what we are doing, as of right now, it is "a little" distracting to the other students. 2-B was great on Thursday, since we finished our textbook on Wednesday, we had a snack party and played games on Thursday. It was a very easy, but very loud, class.
I am a little frustrated with the textbook situation with that class though. We finished a book, which our school makes and it is called a dialogue book and we should be getting a new one, but the school decided that since the previous teacher went through the book really quickly with them, that I should redo the whole book again. This is like your typical textbook. It is just a bunch of random typed up dialogues that are completely incorrect in grammar and spelling and we need to teach them one dialogue per week. This is hard considering the dialogues are no more than 5 lines each. The students in my class have every dialogue memorized and they know all the grammar points (since they are basically the same in all of them) and all the vocab. I am going to have to figure something out. I am pretty sure the school only uses those textbooks because they make them on the computer and print them, so therefore they are free. It's really annoying and extremely difficult to teach from, especially the second time through.
3-A was difficult as per usual. The girls spent the whole class mocking Billy again. I just don't know what to do with them anymore. They are always whispering about him, so I say no whispering and then they just do it when I turn my back, which they know I can still hear them and I have to tell them again. They call him fat and stupid and they swear at him all the time. I try to explain how they shouldn't say those things because it hurts his feelings and they wouldn't like it if someone said those things about them, but that doesn't seem to work. It has gotten so bad with them picking on Billy that he has resorted to only coming once or twice a week. I don't blame him really, but I have no idea what else I can do. I have the administration speak with the girls and I give them homework when they do it, but still they continue. The newest rule in that class is that you cannot speak Korean if you cannot translate it into English for me to know what you said. I hate that it has come to that, but it has. Also, anytime the name Billy comes out of their mouth they have to tell me exactly what they said.
3-C and 4-A are good as well. I have 3-A only twice a week and I have 4-A only once. They are not too difficult. Well, 3-C is great, but 4-A is the class of teenagers who are forced to be there by their parents and they just sit there and watch the clock the whole time. Frustrating, but at least I am doing my job. We have to bribe that class a lot with either candy or a game.
So, yes, things are going well. We really miss our friends and family at this point. We have been thinking a lot about what we are going to do when we get home and where we are going to go and we are finally figuring stuff out, as long as it works out on that end. We will see what happens.
Kyle says that his classes are going well and that he misses everyone and wishes that he could be at home as well. We are excited that we will come back with no debt though and that is what is keeping us going. Also, we are excited for about 6 more prov people who are heading out this way over the next two months!!!
So, the other day we got our electricity bill for the month and I was shocked. Since we have been here I have been very careful about turning off the light and all the electricity. Well, I guess I was really careful about it because our electricity bill was $7.43. Yup, that's right. Cheap hey? I was definitely shocked.
I don't have much time right now, but just wanted to write and tell you that. Also, we might get some free couches tonight, we will keep you posted. Our backs would be very thankful for the couches.
