So it's looking like July 3rd is going to be the day that we come back to Canada. Emily and I are rather excited to come home, to say the least. We're looking forward to seeing everyone and just spending good time with good people.
And good food. Lots and lots of good, good, English speaking food. Korean food is great, don't get me wrong, but there are a few things we really miss.
Like green beans. And fresh corn. And cherries (people think you're funny when you talk about all the cherry blossoms and then ask where the cherries are). And salads (salads here are funny - they have red beans and corn and almost always thousand island dressing on them). And Tim Hortons. And iced tea. And root beer, sweet sweet root beer!
Deep fried chocolate bars (if you haven't had one, you must), real deli meat, Dairyland chocolate & 2% milk, beef that isn't $45 a kilogram, grapefruit juice, frozen juice in general, slurpees (7-11's on every corner, but not a Pepsi slurpee to be found!) and real hot dogs, just to name a few.
Korea is great, but we sure are glad to be coming home.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Old ladies and umbrellas
Hi, it's Emily this time - I know that I have been super lax in blog posting lately! I trust though that you have enjoyed the creative stylings of my wonderful husband!
I wanted to share a quick anectode that happened to me the other day.
It was pouring rain - really hard Asia rain that we just don't get in the praries. I was rushing off the bus to head to the grocery store, huddled under my trusty umbrella when I felt a tug at my umbrella handle. I looked over to see a very cute old korean lady huddled with me under my umbrella. She apparently had not been as proactive as I - and had neglected to bring an umbrella of her own.
There is not a lot of pretention among Korean people especially with older Koreans. The lady was getting wet, I had an umbrella, so naturally she would wrap her arm around me and my umbrella and share my dry oasis. Its a little bit unnerving for the unitiated when Korean ladies take your bag on the bus to hold because you are standing, or look through your bags when you come back from the grocery store, or look over your shoulder at the bank teller, or touch your hair and your skin and mutter in Korean.... the list goes on. I've gotten suprisingly used to these occurences, and so was hardly phased with the cute lady and my umbrella.
In my broken and poor Korean, I asked where she was going and she pointed in the general direction of our aparment complex. And off we went. It was raining SO hard and the lady would look at my every so often and laugh. I know that she was juiced to have a story to tell all of her cronies about walking in the rain with the "waygeuk" (foreign) girl.
It was fun and cute and reminded me again of why I live in Korea. This culture challenges me to give up a bit of my bubble that I have built around myself.
I didn't get to go to the grocery store that day but I did meet a great lady who saved her hairstyle from the rain and put a smile on my face!
I wanted to share a quick anectode that happened to me the other day.
It was pouring rain - really hard Asia rain that we just don't get in the praries. I was rushing off the bus to head to the grocery store, huddled under my trusty umbrella when I felt a tug at my umbrella handle. I looked over to see a very cute old korean lady huddled with me under my umbrella. She apparently had not been as proactive as I - and had neglected to bring an umbrella of her own.
There is not a lot of pretention among Korean people especially with older Koreans. The lady was getting wet, I had an umbrella, so naturally she would wrap her arm around me and my umbrella and share my dry oasis. Its a little bit unnerving for the unitiated when Korean ladies take your bag on the bus to hold because you are standing, or look through your bags when you come back from the grocery store, or look over your shoulder at the bank teller, or touch your hair and your skin and mutter in Korean.... the list goes on. I've gotten suprisingly used to these occurences, and so was hardly phased with the cute lady and my umbrella.
In my broken and poor Korean, I asked where she was going and she pointed in the general direction of our aparment complex. And off we went. It was raining SO hard and the lady would look at my every so often and laugh. I know that she was juiced to have a story to tell all of her cronies about walking in the rain with the "waygeuk" (foreign) girl.
It was fun and cute and reminded me again of why I live in Korea. This culture challenges me to give up a bit of my bubble that I have built around myself.
I didn't get to go to the grocery store that day but I did meet a great lady who saved her hairstyle from the rain and put a smile on my face!
Monday, April 24, 2006
Public Humiliation
So we went to Family Land (Gwangju's personal amusement park) last week with our friends from Kansas. It was really fun because we went on a Monday morning so it was only the four of us and about 800 elementary school students (who were too short for most of the good rides).
As a result, many of the rides were started for us specifically and we rarely had to wait in line. It wasn't overly spectacular, but it was a good day. There was a roller coaster, a spinning-type ride, a 3-D thing (that made me sick, by the way) and the usual other attractions.
There was, however, one unique ride that I have never seen before. It was a giant circle with seats around the edges. There were no seatbelts and not even specific seats. It was slanted with the front towards the audience and spun (relatively) slowly and bounced back and forth. Rather tame, we thought, so we lined up and got on. A timid looking man took our tickets and let us board.
Turns out it was the ride of public humiliation. "Timid little man" was only the mask of "sadistic, sarcastic, let-me-make fun of you" man. The ride was controlled solely by him, so he decided how you spun and how you bounced. That wasn't the big deal, though. He had a mean streak in him. If he wanted to make fun of you or make you do something, he would put you at the "top" of the circle and bounce you, making fun of you over the loudspeaker until you did what he wanted.
When we were on the ride, he put the four of us at the top and started saying "Dance, America, Dance! Come on, America, Dance!" Fortunately, his English was limited (he was saying that in Korean) and so he couldn't pick on us for too long. Every time he got frustrated with us, he spun another fellow to the top and made fun of him.
Essentially, the ride could last for 15 mintues or longer, depending on his mood. The audience was bigger than the lineup. For the people before us, the operator played a really funny (only in Korea) joke. It was "the ride is finished, it's okay to stand up, just kidding, ha-ha you all fell over" joke.
Anyway, it was a good time. Not that we'll do that ride again, but we can say we did it.
As a result, many of the rides were started for us specifically and we rarely had to wait in line. It wasn't overly spectacular, but it was a good day. There was a roller coaster, a spinning-type ride, a 3-D thing (that made me sick, by the way) and the usual other attractions.
There was, however, one unique ride that I have never seen before. It was a giant circle with seats around the edges. There were no seatbelts and not even specific seats. It was slanted with the front towards the audience and spun (relatively) slowly and bounced back and forth. Rather tame, we thought, so we lined up and got on. A timid looking man took our tickets and let us board.
Turns out it was the ride of public humiliation. "Timid little man" was only the mask of "sadistic, sarcastic, let-me-make fun of you" man. The ride was controlled solely by him, so he decided how you spun and how you bounced. That wasn't the big deal, though. He had a mean streak in him. If he wanted to make fun of you or make you do something, he would put you at the "top" of the circle and bounce you, making fun of you over the loudspeaker until you did what he wanted.
When we were on the ride, he put the four of us at the top and started saying "Dance, America, Dance! Come on, America, Dance!" Fortunately, his English was limited (he was saying that in Korean) and so he couldn't pick on us for too long. Every time he got frustrated with us, he spun another fellow to the top and made fun of him.
Essentially, the ride could last for 15 mintues or longer, depending on his mood. The audience was bigger than the lineup. For the people before us, the operator played a really funny (only in Korea) joke. It was "the ride is finished, it's okay to stand up, just kidding, ha-ha you all fell over" joke.
Anyway, it was a good time. Not that we'll do that ride again, but we can say we did it.
The public humiliation ride. Notice the Michael Jackson eyes in the background.
Emily and friends, England and Tucker.
Emily & I in a mini traditional Korean house.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Seoul Fashion Mart
I'd like us to take a moment to mourn the passing of a good friend. Your favorite and mine, the Seoul Fashion Mart, has been closed. Being the first store that Emily and I purchased clothes at, we were obviously moved to find that they were packing their merchandise into boxes and closing their doors. Full of cheap knock-off clothing, it always had something new to entertain us.
English in Korea is very popular, much the same way that Oriental writing has come in and out of fashion in Canada. People wear things without the slightest idea of what it says. Sometimes this has horribly inappropriate results (4 year olds should not be wearing explicit shirts) and other times it is rather humorous. Some of them just have giant pictures of people like Justin Timberlake and Orlando Bloom ("Who broke Orlando's heart?") and others have more writing on them.
Some of the most memorable (and appropriate) T-shirt sayings have been:
"Chair" (With pictures and names of different chairs on it)
"People make noises when they're sick"
"Sunshine makes me high"
"I've got the giggles"
"Look who's turning two today! Two! That's twice as old as one!"
"Come, let's walk with vigorous strides"
"Speedy Car Wash - GD Midget Power"
"Life isn't always beer and skittles"
"A Bathing Ape - Ape shall never kill ape."
"Canada - Established 1868" (That's the wrong year, just as a reminder)
"I'll bet you wish you had a boyfriend that would buy you all sorts of presents, like jewels and rubies, but you don't. Maybe next year, when you've got boobies."
English in Korea is very popular, much the same way that Oriental writing has come in and out of fashion in Canada. People wear things without the slightest idea of what it says. Sometimes this has horribly inappropriate results (4 year olds should not be wearing explicit shirts) and other times it is rather humorous. Some of them just have giant pictures of people like Justin Timberlake and Orlando Bloom ("Who broke Orlando's heart?") and others have more writing on them.
Some of the most memorable (and appropriate) T-shirt sayings have been:
"Chair" (With pictures and names of different chairs on it)
"People make noises when they're sick"
"Sunshine makes me high"
"I've got the giggles"
"Look who's turning two today! Two! That's twice as old as one!"
"Come, let's walk with vigorous strides"
"Speedy Car Wash - GD Midget Power"
"Life isn't always beer and skittles"
"A Bathing Ape - Ape shall never kill ape."
"Canada - Established 1868" (That's the wrong year, just as a reminder)
"I'll bet you wish you had a boyfriend that would buy you all sorts of presents, like jewels and rubies, but you don't. Maybe next year, when you've got boobies."
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Coming Home!
Yes, the rumors you have heard are true - we are coming home!
I notified the school about three weeks ago that I was not intending on renewing my contract. They said that they understood, but that they were hoping that I was going to stay for at least one more year since things were working out so well. At least we know the door is open for the future!
Right now the dates are a little tentative, but we're looking at perhaps July 3rd as a return date. My contract finishes at my school as of June 30th, but it'll be a little easier for us to fly out on the Monday as opposed to the Friday.
As some of you may or may not know, this is not a permanent move. Emily and I will be in Canada for the summer and then we are planning on coming back to Korea in September. I would like to work for the public school and am in the process of putting together my application form for that. I've got a couple more papers to get and fill out, but it's coming together!
This year has been amazing and has gone unbelievably fast so far. We have loved our experience here in Korea (as evidenced by our intentions to return) but we do desperately miss our "home and native land." It will be good to come home.
See you soon!
I notified the school about three weeks ago that I was not intending on renewing my contract. They said that they understood, but that they were hoping that I was going to stay for at least one more year since things were working out so well. At least we know the door is open for the future!
Right now the dates are a little tentative, but we're looking at perhaps July 3rd as a return date. My contract finishes at my school as of June 30th, but it'll be a little easier for us to fly out on the Monday as opposed to the Friday.
As some of you may or may not know, this is not a permanent move. Emily and I will be in Canada for the summer and then we are planning on coming back to Korea in September. I would like to work for the public school and am in the process of putting together my application form for that. I've got a couple more papers to get and fill out, but it's coming together!
This year has been amazing and has gone unbelievably fast so far. We have loved our experience here in Korea (as evidenced by our intentions to return) but we do desperately miss our "home and native land." It will be good to come home.
See you soon!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Who knew?
Sometimes my students are a lot sharper than I give them credit for.
For example, as many people have pointed out, this past Wednesday at one hour past midnight, the time would have been:
01:02:03 04/05/06.
Such people then immediately point out that this will never happen again. I showed this to one of my classes and then immediately pointed out that this would never happen again. One of my students, though, being sharper than me, simply mentioned that it would happen every thousand years. (3006, 4006, 5006... = 06)
Go figure.
For example, as many people have pointed out, this past Wednesday at one hour past midnight, the time would have been:
01:02:03 04/05/06.
Such people then immediately point out that this will never happen again. I showed this to one of my classes and then immediately pointed out that this would never happen again. One of my students, though, being sharper than me, simply mentioned that it would happen every thousand years. (3006, 4006, 5006... = 06)
Go figure.
Test Time
Yesterday (Friday) I gave my students a test. It works out really well because Emily comes in to the school on Fridays and supervises their writing test while I pull them out of the class individually in order to do a speaking test. When they're finished their writing test, Emily will often play a game with them or show them a movie on our laptop.
We've taught them 7-up, wink murder (or assassin, as some know it), pictionary, charades, taboo, the animal game (for those that know it, "clap-clap-donkey, clap-clap-snake") and four on the couch, each with varying measures of success. It usually makes for a more relaxing day, which is really nice.
On the writing test itself, I had the students write sentences using different vocabulary words. Sometimes the sentences are more amusing than others, and yesterday was one of those sentences.
The word: "Born"
The sentence: "Be born to the purple."
In a separate class, I had the kids tell me about their favorite trip as their speaking test. The one fellow (in Korean grade 9, Canadian grade 8) told me about a camp that he went to with his family last year (Canadian grade 7). It was his favorite trip and he got to learn all sorts of very interesting things. The biggest problem? People were talking during the presentations so he couldn't hear the teacher.
The type of camp: Accounting. A grade 7 student's favorite trip was an accounting camp where he went to learn how bankers can maintain accounts long-term. And his biggest problem was that he couldn't hear the teacher.
This country is a completely different world sometimes.
We've taught them 7-up, wink murder (or assassin, as some know it), pictionary, charades, taboo, the animal game (for those that know it, "clap-clap-donkey, clap-clap-snake") and four on the couch, each with varying measures of success. It usually makes for a more relaxing day, which is really nice.
On the writing test itself, I had the students write sentences using different vocabulary words. Sometimes the sentences are more amusing than others, and yesterday was one of those sentences.
The word: "Born"
The sentence: "Be born to the purple."
In a separate class, I had the kids tell me about their favorite trip as their speaking test. The one fellow (in Korean grade 9, Canadian grade 8) told me about a camp that he went to with his family last year (Canadian grade 7). It was his favorite trip and he got to learn all sorts of very interesting things. The biggest problem? People were talking during the presentations so he couldn't hear the teacher.
The type of camp: Accounting. A grade 7 student's favorite trip was an accounting camp where he went to learn how bankers can maintain accounts long-term. And his biggest problem was that he couldn't hear the teacher.
This country is a completely different world sometimes.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Things that are cheap in Korea
Taxes - $35 a month
Tylenol Cold - $1.50 a pack
Taxi ride (10 - 15 minutes) - $4
Bus - $0.80
Subway - $0.65
Supper for four people, Korean style - $14
Average grocery shopping trip - $60
Ice cream bars - 3 for $1
Doctors visit - $4
House call for a repairman - $8 (Even if there is no real problem. Emily and I had a repairman come for our stove - apparently there's some sort of safety valve for the gas that is hidden right at eye level. How were we supposed to know?)
Scooter - $300
Movie - $7
Socks - $0.50 a pair
I think that this is where I write...
Experiencing another culture firsthand - Priceless
Tylenol Cold - $1.50 a pack
Taxi ride (10 - 15 minutes) - $4
Bus - $0.80
Subway - $0.65
Supper for four people, Korean style - $14
Average grocery shopping trip - $60
Ice cream bars - 3 for $1
Doctors visit - $4
House call for a repairman - $8 (Even if there is no real problem. Emily and I had a repairman come for our stove - apparently there's some sort of safety valve for the gas that is hidden right at eye level. How were we supposed to know?)
Scooter - $300
Movie - $7
Socks - $0.50 a pair
I think that this is where I write...
Experiencing another culture firsthand - Priceless
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
April Fools
April Fools day is celebrated in Korea, only it's lying day. You're allowed to (supposed to?) tell lies all day long.
And tomorrow (April 5) is Arbor Day in Korea, where everyone gets the day off and you go plant trees. Well, I should say that it was supposed to be Arbor day tomorrow. It's not a holiday anymore, as of last year.
Of course.
And tomorrow (April 5) is Arbor Day in Korea, where everyone gets the day off and you go plant trees. Well, I should say that it was supposed to be Arbor day tomorrow. It's not a holiday anymore, as of last year.
Of course.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Ponderables
These are two of the things that smarter people have already figured out and other people don't really care about. I think about them when I'm bored and it blows my mind. Kinda.
When you look in the mirror from 30 cm (your eyes to the mirror), is your reflection 30 cm or 60 cm away from you? For example, if you had a zit that you could see from 10 cm in the mirror, how close would someone else have to get before they saw it - 10 or 20 cm?
If you gave someone one dollar today, ten cents tomorrow, one cent the day after, 0.1 cents the day after, etc. for all eternity, they would never have two dollars but rather 1.11111.... dollars. However, since you are giving them money for all eternity, shouldn't they have an infinite amount of money at the end as opposed to less than two dollars? (I know there's not an end to eternity, but work with me here.)
When you look in the mirror from 30 cm (your eyes to the mirror), is your reflection 30 cm or 60 cm away from you? For example, if you had a zit that you could see from 10 cm in the mirror, how close would someone else have to get before they saw it - 10 or 20 cm?
If you gave someone one dollar today, ten cents tomorrow, one cent the day after, 0.1 cents the day after, etc. for all eternity, they would never have two dollars but rather 1.11111.... dollars. However, since you are giving them money for all eternity, shouldn't they have an infinite amount of money at the end as opposed to less than two dollars? (I know there's not an end to eternity, but work with me here.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)