Jeju: Day 3

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday, January 31st

Today we were both in weird moods. I am still having a hard time sleeping because I wish I was with my family and Kyle just isn't sleeping well in this bed. We ended up having a good day in the end though.

We woke up today around 9:00am and ordered a cheaper breakfast that we didn't see on the menu yesterday. I got French Toast (no where near as good as my Mom's and I still have not tasted french toast as good as my Mom's anywhere) because it is my favourite food and Kyle got cripsy waffles with berry compote and it came to $16 total. Not bad! Each came with fresh fruit and maple syrup and coffee. So good.

After breakfast we caught a taxi from our hotel to Cheonjiyeon Pokpo (pokpo = waterfall) and that took us about 15 minutes or so to get there. We paid 1000won each to get in and then walked the short distance to the waterfall. It wasn't busy there at all today so we were quite happy with that. The waterfall was beautiful and it really reminded us of waterfalls at home (but we don't have to pay to see them at home). The cliffs were amazing and the waterfall was actually quite large. I would recommend for people to go and see it when they come here. There is another waterfall close by, but we didn't make it there since we had a lot of other things to do on our list.

We wanted to go hot air ballooning today, but we weren't able to because we didn't see anyone around where the balloon was, but since we were in the area (about 10 minutes ride from the waterfall) we decided to check out the 2002 World Cup Stadium. We were thinking we would only be able to see it from the outside, but it was open! We were even able to walk down to almost the lowest level in the stadium to see it. It was amazing. I thought about Matt the whole time we were there and how much he would have loved it. I also thought about one of my students, Rio, who is always talking about soccer.

After that, it was about lunch time so we headed to E-Mart which was next door to the Stadium and we bought some precooked and warmed chicken wings and drink and came back to the hotel to map out our afternoon and eat. About 30 minutes later I was in the lobby feeding one of our breakfast buns to the Koi Fish. They are sooooo funny. They push their lips out like no other fish I have ever seen and they are so entertaining. I love the koi fish and the koi pond in the lobby. Kyle took pictures of me feeding them so I will show them to you at a later time when I get back.

We then tried to go catch a bus to head to Hallim park, but we were told by the hotel to go to a certain bus stop across from a scooter rental place which we could not find, but found the post office she talked about. We waited there and then were told by the bus driver that this was not the stop, so we went into a store to ask for help and after 20 minutes of them trying to talk to us (they were so nice and helpful) someone came in off the street and took us to the right bus stop, but then a bus came by and told us no again.... ugh. As we were about to leave another bus came and it was the right one. We wasted about an hour waiting around and doing all of that... then we had a 90 minute bus ride.

We got off the bus and went to Geumreung beach which was really nice. We stayed there for a few minutes and went to my favourite stop of the day. We went to Hyeopjae Beach and it was white sands and clear blue/green water. It was amazing. I stood in the water for a picture and considering it is the end of January, the fact that the water was not too cold to swim in was amazing. And yes.... it is the ocean still at this beach. I loved that beach and could have stayed there all day, but we had to get going. I look a lot of pictures there. Kyle says this was his favourite stop of the day as well. We wish we had a whole day to stay there.

Side note: as beautiful as these beaches are, anyone from BC who is used to the strict rules on cleanliness would be shocked by the amounts of garbage that there is on the beach. Not that the beach is covered in garbage, but it is not nearly as clean at the beaches we are used to and people at home would not stand for glass, torn up life jackets, ropes, nets, and food leftovers laying around. But.... the beach is still beautiful, they all are, they just need a small face lift or someone to pick up the garbage which could probably be done by about 5 people in one day.

After the beaches we headed to Hallim Park. We visited Palm Tree Avenue, the Subtropic Botanical Garden, the Jeju Stone & Bonsai garden, the Bird Garden and the two caves there. The first cave was Hyeopjae cave and the second was Ssangyong cave. They were formed by the eruption of Mt. Halla and are very unique in the world of caves. They have limewater enmeshed into the walls of the cave. Since it formed it has transformed into a golden lime cave and there are some really amazing things to see inside. In the first cave (Hyeopjae) there is a rock that fell from the ceiling of the cave that is callied "the living rock" because since the limewater drips from the ceiling from the hole where it fell it drips onto the sides of the rock causing it to grow. And when the limewater hits the sides of the hole in the ceiling it makes the hole shrink.... so it makes it look like the rock is living and growing because it no longer fits in the hole.

In the second cave (Ssangyong) there are marks on the ceiling from where two dragons lived in the cave before the escaped into the ocean. First, we only saw the "tail hole" which was not too amazing, but then you could see the outline of the body and head on the ceiling. The second dragon was even more fascinating and confusing and amazing... there is a hole where the body was and you can actually see the spots and lines and spine of the dragon in the hole that leads out to the ocean... we were amazed. The stories and the history here on Jeju are breathtaking and they just have so many spectacular sights to see. Also, in this cave there is a natural rock formation that depicts a woman holding a baby... no one carved it, it fell from the ceiling of the cave and you can see the face and the arms and the baby in the rock. We weren't able to get many good pictures because the lighting in the caves was awful and everyone else's cameras were flashing....

There was actually a rock in the cave yesterday that also fell from the ceiling of that cave (you can see the hole it fell from) and it is shaped like Jeju island. It is almost 100% acurate. There is a marking (lava shelf) around the edge of it that is exactly where the island road is and goes the whole way around like the road, there is also a big rise in the middle that is shaped just like Mt. Halla in the middle of the island, and there is also a Dragon Head Peak.... weird!

After Hallim park, we caught the bus to Dragon Head Rock and took some pictures. It was great to see. Smaller than expected and only takes a few minutes to see as well. When we were driving around the island we got to see some amazing things, Mt. Sangbang and Yongmeori Cliff (shaped like a dragon that is just going out into the sea) and some beautiful harbours.

It was a great day. We did a lot, but unfortunately didn't make it back to Sunrise Peak for Sunset, but we got most other things done. We just finished dinner here at the hotel and I am going to go take a bath.... I love that this place has a bathtub because I have only been able to have showers for the last 9 months. So not relaxing. Alright.... Kyle wants the compie... so bye for now!

Jeju Day 2: Exploring

Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Today was difficult for me, I found myself having a good time and then suddenly being overwhelmed by thinking of home and my family. Everything seems surreal to me. I guess because I am here it doesn't seem like anything actually happened and when I go home things will be the same as they were when we left, but I know in my heart they won't be. I am just still have trouble realizing all that is going on with my family, with my closest mentor/friend from home having stage 4 or 5 ovarian/uteran cancer and JP's Dad being sick again... I really thought about my parents all day and wish how I could have just taken them away from where they are and bring them here with us....

It was raining this morning when we finally got ready to go out around 10am or so. It was a bad rain or anything, just a mist. We started off the day by walking around to the back of the hotel to the walkway and beaches that are back there. The first beach we went to today was our favourite. The coastline and the smells just reminded us of home so much. And... a first in Korea... we were the ONLY people on the beach!!! Amazing! We do have photo evidence that I will post when I don't have to pay for internet anymore. Black Beach is so named because it is covered in lava stone. The cliffs are completely made of lava stone and then are extremely high. It was absolutely amazing to see the waves rolling in off the water and crashing into our feet. For those of you from Manitoba/Saskatchewan, you will understand when I say I got a booter, but for those of you from further west you will understand when I say I got water in my shoe. I was looking through the camera to take a picture and standing a rock that worked for the previous 50 waves and then when I wasn't looking, the wave came right up over my rock and got me wet.

It is so shocking to think that same Ocean that we are in at home is the same Ocean that I put my feet into today. The Pacific Ocean. You never really imagaine how big the Oceans really are, but today it came more into perspective for me. It's really amazing. The water is much much warmer here though than in Victoria.

I was able to collect some rocks from the beach that I am bringing back with me. I have 5, so if any one wants one just let me know!! There was also a waterfall on black beach that came from a stream beside our hotel. It was really beautiful.

After Black Beach, we headed to Jungmun Beach which is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It was huge and covered in really nice sand. Actually, it is a bit strange all the sand here because there are little pieces of lava rock all through it so it is almost speckled black on certain beaches. We didn't stay long at Jungmun beach because we had other places that we wanted to see.

We tried to find the tourist information centre here so that we could get bus information on how to get to the lava caves on the exact opposite corner of the island from where we are, but when we did find it, it was locked and not a soul was there and it was 12:00 noon!!!!! Ugh, T.I.K.

After a call to the tourist information line, we figured the easiest and cheapest (not the shortest) way to the lava cave we wanted to see was to catch the bus back to the airport, then catch another bus for one stop to the ciy bus terminal, then switch buses one more time and stay on there. The bus, after 50 minutes, was supposed to take us right to the cave entrance, but the bus driver made us get off the bus about 3km from the entrance and made us walk in the rain. Not a big deal, but we did pay to go all the way there.

We paid 2000won each to get into the cave. It was spectacular in there. I just thought about how my Dad is always in tunnels for work and thought about how interesting he would find this tunnel since it was where lava used to flow to form Jeju Island. We walked for about 1.5km into the tunnel and reached the main attraction which was the (I forget the technical name so you have to listen to my name for it) "tallest-overhead-lava-pouring-through-a-hole-in-the-ceiling-hardened-rock-formation" in the world! Right now, I just read my name of it to Kyle and he is laughing at me and shaking his head from the bed, ha ha ha ha. He couldn't remember the name either, so he left me with no choice but to be creative and ultimately embarressing. Ha.

The walls in the tunnel were so smooth and you could see all the different levels on the wall (lava shelves, I remembered that name) of where each of the different levels of lava flowed through the tunnel at different times. There was stalagtite growing on the ceiling of the tunnel and it was just something to remember. I didn't get many good pictures because they didn't have all of the lights on in there, but I got a few. Kyle got the clearest one of me in front of the TOLPTAHITCHRF (long name from above shortened, and no, that is not Korean) and I seemed to be shaky today since I hadn't eaten in about 6-7 hours. Ugh... so hungry... we forgot to bring our snack with us.

It was a great day because I got to see Kyle relax for the first time in 9 months. When he was walking on Black Beach I could just see how much he was enjoying himself and how all his stress was just disappearing. That, for me, make this whole vacation worth it even if we didn't do anything else. We have made a point not to talk about work while we are here, so I am happy about that!

So, all-in-all, we walked about 10kms today and did 2 hours of bus riding around the entire island. Taxis and buses are crazier here than in Wonju or Seoul... hard to believe but it is true.

We just got back from the lounge downstairs where we decided to splurge and buy ourselves the semi-baked tomato mozzarella salad with alceto balsamico, kalamata olives and fresh parmesan and mozzarella that melted in our mouths, fish and chips and tortilla chips with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. We also each had a nice glass of wine and toasted to relaxing and being together.

Tomorrow we plan on going to a few more places before we have to leave the next morning at 8:00am for the airport... we are trying to see "12 Cave Beach", "Dragon Head Rock", "Sunrise Peak @ Sunset" and a couple waterfalls. I will let you know how it all goes.

Jeju Day 1: Arriving and Sleep

We arrrived in Jeju last night around 5:45pm and caught the limousine bus to our hotel. It took about 50 minutes. We walked in the front door (which just happened to be my first automatic revolving door) and the lobby alone was shockingly beautiful. It's basically a big lounge and has a koi pond weaved throughout the entire thing. The koi fish are huge!!! I keep going downstairs to see them and when you walk up to them all of the koi fish, definitely over 200 of them, all come swimming over to you looking for food. Imagine goldfish in the fish tank staring at you with their mouths wide open and then think of fish over a foot long doing that.... it is quite entertaining. There is also live music downstairs in the evening.

The food here is ridiculously expensive. We decided to splurge and get a good breakfast to start off our time here so, we ordered breakfast to our room and we get grapefruit juice, croissants, coffee, fruit, yogurt and omlettes; all for the amazing combined price for two meals of 42,000 won (which is about $40 cdn). Wow. You should see the room service menu. It is insane. Right now we are up waiting for our breakfast. We ordered it to be here between 9:00am and 9:30am.Before we left we saw Phil and told him that we were coming to Jeju and that we were staying in the Hyatt and he said that he stayed in the Hyatt in Morroco. He said that walking in there he felt rich for being able to stay there, but once he was in there he never felt so poor in his life after looking at the menus and just the hotel itself. We can definitely relate. We brought food with us and made ramen last night and had some nutrigrain bars and drank the free water in our room.

We didn't do much when we got here last night. We listened to some live music in the lobby, explored the hotel and hotel ground a little bit, watched a movie and tried to decide what we should do today. I was so tired by the time we got here that I didn't feel up to doing very much.

In Korea they have a lot of automatic toilets and the one in our bathroom here is no exception. But, the exception is that last night I felt brave enough to press the buttons on the toilet. Not so brave to be sitting on it when I did, but at least I pressed them. I pressed the "rear cleaner" while Kyle was in the seperate shower and it sprayed all over the shower door... ha ha ha. I then pressed the "front cleaner" and was completely disturbed. I tried out the air dryer and the seat heater and all the fancy gadgets while standing s safe distance away.

We are not sure what we plan on doing today. Both of us had a hard time sleeping last night. I kept dreaming about my family and I had a nervous feeling in my stomach because I really wish I could be home right now and Kyle just has a hard time sleeping when we go to hotels (usually only lasts for one night).

The smell of the water and the sound of the birds here really reminds me of home. Also, the rain definitely reminds me of home. Right now it is raining quite a bit, but we are not going to let that stop us. We are going to go out anyways and get pretty much soaked. Oh joy! I am really happy though that Kyle talked me into spending some extra money and coming down here for our vacation because it actually feels like we are vacation.

One thing I don't like about this hotel though,and pretty much the only thing, is that they charge you to use the internet. So, I am writing my blogs in another program first and then posting them very quickly when I am done.

Alright, I am going to run since breakfast just arrived and I am starving and I will write again tonight and maybe post some pictures.Love to everyone.

RIP Uncle Morris & Aunt Mildred

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I am sitting in a Starbucks in Seoul right now and a little while ago I signed onto MSN to try and speak with my parents. Unable to reach them again today, I attempted to speak with my brother. I saw his status on MSN said something about a death in our family. I immediately became worried and called my Aunt in Winnipeg.

She told me that on Sunday, my Uncle Morris (my Mom's brother) and Aunt Mildred were driving home on their ski-doo across the ice over the water at the cabin. A path they have taken a thousand time before when white out conditions hit. I guess they became disoriented and overwhelmed and lost their way. They accidentally went off the side of the ice and they drowned. My heart is aching for my family right now and I wish with all that I am that I could be home with them. My Aunt and Uncle have two sons and I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through.... I don't want to imagine. I just wish with all I am that I could be home right now.... feeling almost guilty for going on vacation and relaxing while knowing the upset that is home.

I loved my Aunt and Uncle and even though I did not get to see them very often since they live in Newfoundland, the times that I did get to spend with them I made many memories. I will miss them.

Rest in Peace Aunt Mildred and Uncle Morris, you will be greatly missed. We love you very much.

Update: as of right now, they have only been able to recover my Aunt Mildred and are still searching for my Uncle Morris. The weather in Newfoundland is really awful right now, so they have had to call off the search until tomorrow.


A news article for those who want: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/01/28/snowmobile-search.html

Vacation Part: II

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Last night, Kyle and I booked a last minute vacation package to go to Jeju Island. We are leaving tomorrow at 4:30pm and we will be in Jeju from Jan 29-Feb 1 and we are staying at the Hyatt Hotel. We are very excited and we will have our computer and webcam and phone with us so we will try and talk with everyone from there since internet is free with the room. Just to give you an idea of our trip I gave you the map!!

We might do one more thing on our vacation when we get back, but I will keep you posted on that and will give you updates from Jeju!!!!

Dr. Fish Video

Sorry for the screaming in this video.... but it was the weirdest experience in our lives thus far. At one point Steph screams and scares Jennell who is taking the video!

Vacation Part: I Pictures

Prepare yourself for Dr. Fish pictures!!!!!









Jennell and Steph ordering drinks at Dr. Fish before we put our feet in the water!








Fish eating the dead skin on our feet at Dr. Fish. I was laughing so hard!!!!!! So ticklish!









The sign the 100% epitomizes me in Korea! I laughed so hard when I saw this in the subway.








Kyle and I at Olympic Park in one of the sculptures!














Kyle and I as a traditional Korean couple... ha ha













All the prayers and well wishes written by people for the new years. Each rope represented something else.














Krista (blue steel) and I at Chungmuro on Lunar New Years















Me at Starbucks, one of the many times we were there this weekend.

Vacation Part: I

Kyle and I have vacation from January 24- February 5. I am going to try and do my best to keep you posted either daily or every other day.

I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of just going out in the country and trying to get around in different cities since we don't speak the language (besides a few words) and we don't read the language (besides my name) and so on. So, when we were trying to decide where to go, I got stressed out and we decided to play it by ear.

We headed into Seoul on Saturday afternoon. We made there in time to drop our stuff off at Krista's place and pick her up and do a short jaunt to Olympic Park and get some Starbucks. I of course had my grande chai tea latte and Kyle had his vanilla black tea latte (basically a london fog). We then darted off to Itaewon to meet up with our friends for Mike and Derek's birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I wasn't feeling to hungry and was looking forward to having poutine at the pub in an hour or so, so I just ordered soup. It was soooo good. Then after that, we headed to Rocky Mountain Tavern, a Canadian pub in Itaewon, had some good talks, good food and all around good times. We played some dutch blitz (my partner and I rocked!) and it was just nice to be with friends in a good atmosphere. We were the only people upstairs in the pub so it wasn't like we were really in a pub at all, more like we were in a friend's basement back home!

After that, we caught the last subway and got back to Krista's house. The girls had decided that we would do a girls afternoon/night on Sunday. I was really excited about it. Kyle was going to spend the afternoon and evening with the guys and do guy things and us girls were going out to have fun. And fun was most definitely had!!!!!!!

After church Steph, Allison and myself headed to Starbucks to wait for Jennell and Krista to finish at their churches. Matt and Kyle headed to Kyobo bookstore and were walking around there for a while. After that they headed to the guys house in Itaewon. While at Starbucks we played Dutch Blitz, which I just started playing recently. It's really fun, but when playing by myself I am not that good!! Oh well. We were playing a round when Jennine randomly showed up and she joined. It was nice to see her if only for a little bit. She is always happy and smiling. We looked at the time and realized it was late and we would be late meeting up with the girls, so we ran to Body Shop and bought some stuff and then got on the subway. We headed towards Yeongdeungpo-gu Office (I can't remember the name of the stop we went to and my subway is worn out). So, it was Krista, Jennell, Steph Allison and myself.

We went to a place called "Dr. Fish". It's a little cafe where you go to sit with your feet in water and enjoy the strange feeling of fish eating all the dead skin off of your feet. Yes, you read that right. You have hundreds of little fish in these ponds around the table, you wash your feet in the sinks provided and then put your feet in the water and they eat them. Weird. I screamed but at least we were the only people in there so it didn't really matter. I was not the only one screaming though. For those of you who know me... you know I am very very VERY ticklish on my feet, so this was quite the undertaking for me to do this. We started in the one with the smallest fish and moved to the one with the bigger fish. The small fish feel like little bubbles all over your feet, but the big fish, you can feel their mouths on your feet. So strange. I am glad I did it because where else in the world would I get to experience that???

After that, we headed to a Luxury Noraebang (a place where you sing karaoke in your own private room), although quite disappointed by the lack of country music there, there was a lot of English music and we had so much fun. I even told their little mascot that I would bring them back to Canada with me. She was so cute. We sang for 2 1/2 hours. So much fun.

We sang ourselves hungry so we headed to some random mexican restaurant and ate some food and we were the only people there. After that we headed back and stopped at Starbucks. I think we all had a lot of fun. I am definitely ready for another girls night soon. I haven't had that much fun since we were in Canada and I played Wii and went shopping/ate appies at milestones with wine, and danced to high school music with Caitlin in the living room.

Monday was the Lunar New Year holiday here and all over Asia. It's the biggest holiday of the year. We went walking and taking pictures in Olympic Park (they have sculptures/statues from every country that participated in the Olympics there). We even saw a zamboni cleaning the outdoor rink while we sat in Starbucks again (this seems to be a very common theme, being at Starbucks). We then headedto Chungmuro and walked through some of the exhibits they had up and watched some performances for Lunar New Year. It was fun, but it was cold on Monday. After that we went to Myeong-dong and had Vietnamese food and then quickly left to go to the Rocky Mountain Tavern again to watch the all star game. Can't believe the East won. I was on a mission to try new cocktails I had never tried before, so I had the paralyser, attitude adjustment, melon ball, singapore sling, and some of Krista's creamscicle, almond joy. The best were the attitude adjustment and the singapore sling. Stay away from the almond joy.... way too sweet. The guys headed out for one more beer after the game and Krista, myself and one of Krista's coworkers went to a Noraebang again for an hour waiting for them.

Today we (Kyle, Krista and me) went to Jennell's house in Bundang and she made us homemade soup. It was so good. I think Jennell should open her own soup and sandwich place and I am pretty sure that Kyle and I alone would eat there enough to keep her open!!!!!!! It was absolutely delicious. She lives in a beautiful area of the city as well. Bundang is a suburb of Seoul that you can get to by subway. It was so peaceful there. Her apartment is adorable too. After food we talked a bit with each other and two of Jennell's coworkers and then we went for a walk in the park. It is a beautiful park and I want to go there again in the spring and have a picnic.

So, that has been our vacation thus far. We still have a while to go and we are planning more adventures next!! Enjoy the pictures and the video when I get it up here... hopefully tonight or tomorrow. And Krista.... thank you so much for being so hospitable and loving and letting us stay with you in your tiny apartment on your floor for three nights. Thank you thank you thank you.

Some Funny Stories

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Hey All

Wow, been a while again. Sorry about that. Been busy. I have been working a winter break class at work part of the week and the adult class and for some reason I have been extra tired lately. Finding it hard to be motivated to do very much at all. Kind of annoying, but I guess that's just life right now.

Work has been great. My kids are adorable and everyday it gets closer to leaving I realize more and more how much a part of me is going to stay behind with them and my coworkers. One of my coworkers, Kate, is actually resigning and our last day working together is tomorrow. It wouldn't be till the first week of February, but Kyle and I are on vacation after tomorrow until Feb. 5. I am really sad about not working with her anymore because she is an amazing coworker. She always makes us laugh and says many funny things (some completely inappropriate without knowing it) and she is always able to make everyone happy. Love her.

Classes have been good. They all got changed around a little while ago so I lost half of my classes to Matt and got half of his. I was pretty happy with the changes, except I don't like some of the boys in my new classes because the attitude is a little over the top. One boy, mP3 won't even really talk to me. When he wants to get my attention (even though he can fully speak the words and in English) he waves a paper in the air at me till I look. I ignore him on purpose because I don't think I should be treated like that. Today he was a little better, but still lacks in the listening department. I have to explain things like 5 times to the whole class just to have them understand, but then after that I have to explain (not just to him, but all the boys who sit in the back) the same thing 5 more times because they just weren't listening. Usually they are too busy writing awful things into their electronic dictionaries for translating or playing some sort of game or talking about me in Korean or just looking out the window.

I did have a funny conversation with one of my classes the other day. I love animal sounds and after learning once what animals sounded like in French, I decided I wanted to know what they sound like in Korean. So I asked my kids.... here it goes... please read them literally as they are spelled so that you can hear it properly...

Dog: mung-mung or wal-wal

Cat: yowng yowng

Baby chicken: bee-yuck bee-yuck

Cow: ooo meh ooo meh

Frog: gaggle gaggle

Sheep/Goat: meh meh

Rooster: Coke-ie-oh co co co Coke-ie-oh co co co

Duck: gwack gek gwack gek


They make me laugh. My favourite are frogs, roosters and dogs. When do dogs ever say "mung-mung" ha ha ha ha. We, me and my students, had a fun time laughing back and forth at each other because for each sound they made I had to make it in "english" for them. I forgot to write down pig, so I will get that tomorrow!!

Also, in my youngest class, I have a whole new class of beginners, they call me "Sam", which is supposedly short for the Korean word for teacher which is "sonsaengnim" and I actually answer to it now. The first time they did it they were saying it over and over again and I didn't even look at them till they starting yelling and waving papers, but then I realized they meant me. It was funny. But, that is not my story. One of the boys needed to use the bathroom and didn't know how to ask me in English. So, he walked up to my desk and motioned for me to lean in closer to him and down to his level and then he pointed down and violently at his "private" area. I felt awkward/suprised at the situation and what someone in our culture would have thought and said "yes, go to the bathroom".

Another story, in my most advanced class one of the students had to read a portion of a story that went like this "What will happen to the little children who play there and the old people who sit on the park benches and feed the pigeons?" and he said "What will happen to the little-ah childrens who play there and-ah the old people who sh*t on the park beenchees and feed the piggins". It was quite funny. I laughed to myself.

Matt and I have been spending time with our adult class outside of work. We really enjoy them so we have taken them out for Dak Galbi and to the movies, etc. We wanted to go the last showing at night of one of the movies and one of the students was not allowed to be out so late, but he called his Mom and said he was with his English teachers and put Matt on the phone, so she changed her mind and gave him a house key and said just come back whenever. The way to a Korean parent's heart.... just tell them you are with your English teacher. Ha.

Last story and then I need to go clean my pig-sty of an apartment.... Matt and I wandered down to the "import store" in the market here in Wonju. Not really a store more a conjested conglomeration (like that one Matt) of nick-nacks from all over.... but we were really excited to see some things. I bought Nutella... so excited. And some funny slippers for Kyle which he hasn't seen yet and doesn't know I bought him. They are bear feet with claws..... ha ha ha. Anyways, we saw cranberry juice and it was Ocean Spray. We were really excited until we saw the price. You know the large bottles you can buy at home??? Well, it was that size and they were charging an outrageous $25!!!!!!!!!!! $25!!!!!!! $25! Yes you read it right!!!! We were shocked and took a picture on the cell phone. Yikes... talk about inflation!!!

Anyways... I need to do the dishes that have been piled in our sink for a few days. Really unmotivated to wash them lately since it is just as cheap to eat out as it is to eat home and eating out is easier.... and I have to fold the laundry that has piled too high on the back of our couch.

Bye for now!!! I will write again before vacation and let you know our plans!

Christmas/Boxing Day Pictures

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Our tiny Christmas tree that we got from E-Mart... made it feel at least a bit like Christmas!













The infamous $85 Turkey!!!!!!










Eating the yummy expensive Turkey!!!!










Phil carving the Turkey!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!
















My new favourite picture of Kyle. It is over exposed like most of these because the lighting inside the cafe was so bad, but I caught him laughing. I love it.














Krista is turning into a bunny after too many rounds of Killer Bunnies. She is kinda crazy sometimes!














Christmas bulb on the tree at Cafe the Mary Jane.










Another Christmas Bulb.

Christmas in Korea

Sunday, January 4, 2009

So.... now that I finally have a life again I can sit and write on here. Also, now that Matt is back from Canada I can write about Christmas. You see, Matt surprised his family by going home for Christmas and I didn't want to spoil anything for anyone by writing about our Christmas or putting up any photos. Thus the severe lack of posting for the last two weeks.

Christmas here was as good as it could be I guess. We really were homesick for friends and family. We missed waking up and opening stockings and then sitting around being lazy all day and eating Christmas baking till we puked or gained 10 pounds. I did my best to make up for it, but the lack of baking supplies in Korea is astonishing. Not only that, I was limited with the types of cookies I could make as well because, if you remember, I have no oven. So, "no-bake" cookies it was with "no-ingredients" = no cookies. I did manage to make pseudo rice krispie squares. They were "pseudo" because there are no rice krispies either... so I made them with frosted flakes. Sticking with Korean tradition, how everything is uber sweet here, they were even sweeter than normal because of the frosting on the flakes. So, it took us forever to eat them because we were on a sugar high after one bite!

Christmas morning I made brunch for Kyle and I and a couple friends. I made pancakes with blueberries and strawberries on them. Also, I put together a fruit platter with pineapple, honey dew, and oranges. The coconut was fun. It was my first time having fresh coconut and I couldn't stop eating it. We had no utensils to break it open so we used Kyle's utility knife to drill a hole into with the can opener (?) and then I drained the coconut milk. After that we had the dilemma of how to crack the coconut. We were going to slam it against the counter, but being fairly early in the morning and having a metal counter, we opted against that after the first try. Very loud. We decided since I had just bleached and scrubbed and cleaned the entire bathroom from top to bottom the previous night, we would just go into the bathroom and hold the coconut up high and drop it on the bathroom floor. It worked! It cracked in half perfectly. Along with all of this, I made eggs and bacon and tea. It was really good.

Shortly after we had breakfast we went for a walk which severly depressed me and made me cranky so we cut it short and came home again. We were walking around and seeing everyone with their families and laughing and having a good time. Normally, this is okay, and would be okay at Christmas as well, but being out here everything is under a magnifying glass and it just makes you feel awful.

I decided to start prepping for Christmas dinner. Now, you may think "What is Christmas dinner without a turkey?" We were thinking the same thing. So we went to the store on Christmas eve and bought some ham that we thought would be pretty good. After we bought the ham we thought we should look at pre-cooked chickens. They don't have turkeys here. Well... at least that is what everyone including all the Koreans thought.... then I looked up from the chickens. I saw a massive white box and perched on top of the white box was a sign written completely in Korean with a picture of a large cooked bird on it. I knew the only thing big enough to fill that box was a turkey.... I pointed in silence until Kyle asked me "what" and I exclaimed, rather loudly, "TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We were very excited, except it was very expensive. Most foreign things here are, but a cooked turkey with cranberry sauce and veggies stuffed in it, was most expensive. We called our friends who were coming for dinner and asked "Do you want to pay $85 for a turkey?" We all said and excited yes, split the cost and ordered one to pick up on Christmas at 5:30pm.

I think we were the only people who ordered one because when we went to pick it up everyone came out to see who would actually pay that for a turkey. Ha. Foreigners at Christmas will!

We sat in the taxi with our white box and mouths watering and rushed home to carve the turkey and eat some of it. It smelled heavenly and, not sure if it was because we are here and weren't expecting to have a turkey or if it was because it actually was, but it was the best tasting turkey we have had in a very long time. I also made mashed potatoes (which I mashed with a spatula and small fork for a very long time since they don't have mashers here either), carrots and corn. We ate so much food. And we had some wine and then when we finished and were stuffed to the gills, we played some Killer Bunnies (for like 3 hours) and drank tea then called it a night. It was amazing because we actually forgot where we were for a while since it smelled like home and we had great english company.... it was the icing on the cake. We all loved it.

So, Christmas was good... pictures will follow. Thank you everyone for the cards. Justine and Danielle, we love the family photos. We show them to everyone and they are on our fridge. Mom and Dad, thanks for the Christmas card, we miss you and love you too. Thanks to Kathryn for surprising me with a card and giving me an old picture that made me smile and laugh. I love it. It's now on our wall. And everyone else who sent us cards. Thanks!!! We love and miss you all.

Have a good day!!!!! Pictures are coming later when I get home from work or tomorrow morning

(PS. The reason I had no life was because when Matt went home for Christmas our summer intensives started, so we added on an extra 1hr class at the beginning of the day, so I had to be at work for like 1:30pm, I was working all of my classes and on certain days, Matt's classes too or at least preparing things for his classes and I was teaching the adult class everynight on top of it, so I had no desire to be on here after working that long. But, Matt is back and I felt motivated today!)