Konglish

While in Korea, you may be privy to the linguistic experience called Konglish - Korean & English smashed together. Essentially, these are English words that have been adopted into Korean, with the meaning occasionally changing. This is especially true with regards to technology - words like Internet, computer, homepage, etc. are all the same.

Some are a little different, though. Here's some that we've come across:

Hand Phone - Cell phone
Notebook - Laptop Computer (You often get puzzled looks in an elementary class when you ask them all to take out their notebooks, which they understand as laptops.)
Glamour - A big breasted woman (no idea where this came from)
Sharp - Mechanical Pencil
Skinship - Not a typo. The physical affection between friends, especially of the same sex.
One Piece - Dress
Officetel - We thought it was a telephone designed for offices (Office & Telephone). Instead, it is a rentable office for people that can't afford to have a house and an office (i.e. Office & Hotel)
Cunning - Cheating
Service - Free



PS: I've only got 22 more teaching days until we're back in Canada.

Reesors in Korea: The Sequel

So long story short, I got the job! God's hand has really been in everything we've done here in Korea so far. I now have a job with the public school here in Korea and I start in September. The job is also here in Gwangju, which is what Emily and I were hoping and praying for. We don't know anything else now (more details will be coming) but we do know that we are for sure coming back to Korea.

God is good!

Pictures and Politicians

There's a civic election going on right now in Gwangju. Actually, the campaigns are going on right now - the election will be on the 31st (which is actually a holiday because of the election). Anyway, campaigns here are a little different. People have rented 1 ton trucks and put a combination of big pictures, loudspeakers, big screen TV's or people on them to blare out (visually and audibly) the reasons that you should vote for them. One person replaced "YMCA" with their name as part of their jingle (they all have jingles). They will also park outside our window with the noise cranked for 15 - 20 minutes at a time.

On street corners, campaign workers wearing their candidate’s colors will bow at anything that they possibly can. They work hard since busy street corners will often have up to 20 people bowing to a lot of traffic. Plus, you have to out perform the other people trying to campaign beside you. Emily keeps being given business cards by various politicians and their supporters. (I don't think I'm pretty enough.) She was at a supermarket today where they would read some message over the intercom; the workers would repeat it and then bow.

Anyway, if you're ever campaigning in Korea, here's the apparent strategy: lots of loudspeakers and ample amounts of bowing. How can you lose?

Moving on, though, here are some recent pictures of Emily & me. It's been a while since we've posted pictures but I promise I've been trying to put some up lately. It hasn't seemed to want to upload them for whatever reason. Korea does filter their internet (I'm not sure how, but they do) and it sometimes interferes with our blog. Enjoy!

This is us at Boseong Tea farm. That is green tea growing in the background. Looks like a bush, right? Yeah, I thought it would look more exotic too.

I'm not Buddhist and you're probably not either, so likely neither of us know what this means.

Emily with a big lying Budda. Actually, I think there's two lying down there. This was at "The Temple of 1000 Buddhas & 1000 Pagodas." There's actually maybe 100 Buddhas that we saw and a total of 20 pagodas, but time passes and so I'm sure there was more at one time. Legend has it that all the Buddhas were made in one night. I'm not sure if this is attributed to supernatural causes or just a lot of people working really hard, but that's a lot of Buddhas in a little time.

This picture I am particularly proud of. It turned out really well. It's a bunch of Buddhas at a temple.

This is a picture of me at the beach in Busan. We went there on the long weekend three weeks ago. Children's Day & Buddha's Birthday (both holidays) happened to land on the same day this year. Some holidays are based on the solar calendar (i.e. Christmas, Children's Day) while others are on the Lunar Calendar (Korean New Years, Buddha's Birthday). As a result, many holidays change their position every year.

Finally, just a reminder, it is only 42 days until Emily and I come back to Canada! Feel free to drop us a line, either by e-mail, commenting on our blog or by phone (e-mail us if you want our number). We'll be in the country for most of July & August, so there'll be lots of time for getting together.

Seoul Fashion Mart

And to everyone that mourned with us, we thank you. The Seoul Fashion Mart has reopened, albeit under new management and a new name. The clothes, however, are as gratifying as always.

We thank you for your sympathy and ask that you would now share in our joy.

Delinquency Runs Amok

It's been a while since our last post, and apologies all around for that. We've been quite busy lately and it seems like a lot has happened. For the sake of brevity, though, I'll just run the highlights.

My interview went really good and I finally got the last piece of paper that I needed from Canada (my criminal record check). I'll find out on Thursday whether or not I've got the job and I'm thinking that things look good.

We mailed off our income tax returns last week. We were a little worried that we would end up having to pay a bunch of money, but we actually get a return, which is great. God blesses us when we're faithful!

Our individual responsibilities are about the same as always. School is going well for me and Emily is keeping really busy as well. We actually have three new teachers starting at the school within the next three weeks or so, so that'll be great. Perhaps I'll have fewer classes, which would be a mixed blessing. I love all my students and I love my job, which is something funny for me. There's still that feeling of "I'd rather stay home" most days, but once I am at school I love my job. (I've got a couple of students that are calling me beautiful and handsome on a daily basis. We're minor celebrities as we go about our daily lives. This'll never happen again.)

Two weeks ago Emily & I went to Busan (a city on the east coast) for a long weekend (Buddha's Birthday & Children's Day). It was really good and really relaxing. This past week we went to two different temples and a green tea farm. Green tea is funny - it just looks like a bush. I thought it would be more exotic.

Emily and I are going paintballing this weekend and next weekend. The foreigners center here is putting on a trip with two dates and Emily and I are going both times. Carpe diem.

Anyway, that's the quick version of things going on. Everything is great and we're really excited to come home. We arrive in Edmonton on July 3rd in the early evening and I (Jon) will be in Canada for sure until August 21 or so. Emily will likely be here longer because I will have to do 10 days of orientation in Seoul if I get the position with the public school. If not, we've got a back up plan.

So that's about it for now. Things are busy but good. We're still having a lot of fun and we're getting into a good routine. Korea is a good place.

PS: I'm addicted to green tea. I find that a cup of green tea after every meal helps the digestion and whatnot. (Just another sign I'm just getting older, eh Jordan?)

Interview Part 2

So I had my interview last week. Long story short, I went to the bus station at 6:00 in the morning (the first bus was at 6:05), bought three tickets before actually getting the cashier to understand me, and successfully made it to my interview. There was another fellow going in for an interview on the same day and we actually met on the bus, which was nice.

The interview went really well. It was at the Korean National University and the people were really nice. The whole interview was only 20 minutes long so I was back in Gwangju by 2:00 PM, leaving lots of time to get to the school and teach.

Anyway, I'll know whether or not I got the job on May 24th. Things look promising, but we'll have to wait to see for sure.

It's all who you know

Today I went to go tutor my friend like I do every Tuesday morning. Today though he said "can you help me with something today?"

I said sure, so we hopped in his car and drove to his aunt's gym/swimming pool/sauna/hot baths. Appparently she runs the place and wants to attract a foreign audience. We go into her really nice office and she pours me tea from the coolest little tea thing on her desk. I love Asia!

She talks on to my student in Korean and then we all stand up and she takes me on a tour of the facility. Its a little older but really nice and quiet. In the end I walk out with a free membership for life and a months free membership for Jon. PLUS three free month passes to give to my "foreign friends".

The lady thinks that if foreigners come to the gym it will attract Korean people - and she is probably totally right! Heck, I'll be a tourist attraction if it means I can swim and work out for free!

As we were leaving I turned to my student and said, "In English we have an expression it's all who you know, and today we saw that in action!" I love the connections we are making here, Korea is all about networking it seems. My other student has a brother who is a doctor so she said if we are ever sick he will look after us.

It really is all about who you know, I've never been so well connected in my life!

Interview

So as many of you may or may not know, Emily and I are planning on staying in Korea for a few more years yet. Emily will finish her degree through IBOLT (a wonderful educational institution) and I will be working in the public school. That's the plan, at least. I've got my interview in about 12 hours and it's in a different city, so I've got to catch the 6:05 AM bus to Jeongju (about 3 hours away) and make it back in time to teach in the evening.

I'll let you know how it goes.