The Reesors in Korea

The Wedding

2007-12-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Emily and I went to church and then to my co-teacher’s wedding. It was our very first Korean wedding and it was quite different. Firstly, the wedding is held at a hall, as are most weddings here. The hall will often include everything (food, photographer, hall, etc.) and it’s actually not too bad for price (about $1500 for the whole thing, I think). It’s here that the differences start. To prevent extended narrative, I’ll post in point form.

Brides rent dresses instead of buying. (Really – when are you going to wear your wedding dress again?)
You get the hall for one hour. Previous wedding finishes, bride & guests walk out, new guests & bride walk in.
Wedding pictures are done months in advance, include only the couple and are photoshopped to the nines. You’ll have a picture in France, in a forest, with angel wings, in a pink outfit, in traditional Korean clothes, etc. (The photoshopping doesn’t stop at location, though – cheapest plastic surgery ever. Face, moles, teeth, arms (get rid of the flab), waist, boobs, butt, smile, head shape, hair – anything & everything. Wedding pictures often look surprisingly nothing like the person.
You can take a picture with the bride for 30 minutes before the wedding. She sits on a bench in a little room, you go in, take the picture with her and leave.
Generally, a teacher or boss-type person does the ceremony. They talk a little bit about the groom, a little bit about the bride, give some tips on a happy marriage. My favorite part: the guy kept clearing his throat and horking right into the mike.
There is no cake cutting, kiss, garter toss, or signing of the register.
The mothers walk down the aisle first, light the candles and leave. Then the groom walks down (to the tune of “Here Comes the Bride”) and then the bride (to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”). People may or may not be sitting at this point. Chances are good people will watch this part of the wedding and then continue their conversation or leave.
The bride & groom have two wedding hall workers salute them with swords as they walk down the aisle. After the wedding, as they walk back, the wedding hall workers shoot streamers out of big trumpet looking things.
After the ceremony, there are 3 quick photos at the front of the hall: new couple, new couple & family, new couple & friends. Everybody stand up there (stairs make it easier), smile, 2 pictures, finished and next.
I was the only guy on the bride’s side of the friends. Emily & I were the only foreigners in the building.
My other co-teacher got chosen to catch the bouquet. In Korea, one person is chosen and, after the picture with friends, they stand in front of everyone and catch the bouquet. All of the friends clap. You might have to do a couple of tries in order to get the best picture. Also, if you are chosen to catch the bouquet, you have 6 months to get married, or else you will never get married. (Talk about pressure!)
You give a gift of money (either before, during or after the wedding). Occasionally a present. Sometimes your ticket to eat is based on the size of your gift.
Once the wedding is finished, everybody (minus the new couple & family) go upstairs to the buffet, hand in your meal ticket and sit with the guests from every other wedding of the day to eat.
The new couple then goes and changes into traditional Korean clothes, bows to the parents and they may come up to the food hall to say hello/goodbye. Maybe not.

Interesting and different, to say the least. It’s faster (start to finish, including meal – 90 – 120 minutes) and probably cheaper. It’s a lot busier and more noisy in the actual hall and everything does appear a little rushed to the Western eye. An interesting experience, to say the least. I was really thankful for my co-teacher who sat with Emily & I for the ceremony and dinner. She translated for us and explained what was going on.

After the wedding, Emily and I went shopping and then Emily met some friends for coffee & Dr. Fish (these little fish that eat the dead skin off of your feet, or whatever part of your body you put into the water). I joined them for dinner, came home, finished my lesson for Monday and called it a night.

All in all, an eventful weekend!

The Bake Sale & The (Almost) Free Trip to Hong Kong

2007-12-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

The Bake Sale & The (Almost) Free Trip To Hong Kong

It was an eventful weekend, this past weekend. On Friday, Emily & I went out for dinner & a movie (date night!). We went and saw “I Am Legend” and it was quite good. The premise was fairly straight forward and it had some good scenes. The ending was a bit of a let down, but it was a good see.

Afterwards, we were waiting for the bus and a few high school boys came and talked to us for about 15 minutes or so. They were hilarious and sweet and you could tell they just wanted someone to pay good attention to them. Sometimes, the random conversations can get a little frustrating but this one was definitely one of the “that’s why I’m in Korea” moments.

Saturday was a bake sale put on by one of the foreigners here. He’s got fingers in a lot of things (an import food store, a speakeasy, an orphanage, a school and his own family) and he organized the bake sale to facilitate the transmission of Christmas baking as well as funds for the orphanage. Emily & I made a few dozen cookies and brought them. I think the biggest customers of the bake sale were the contributors. We bought chocolate coconut sponge cake, butter tarts, brittle, cranberry macadamia nut cookies, smartie cheesecake squares and lemon squares. Oh, and cream cheese icing. Amazing cream cheese icing.

In between dropping off the cookies and buying the food (they needed time to set up), we went to a dog café with our friend Stu. You walk into this place and the first thing that greets you is about six dogs of various breeds. You go to one of these places and pay $4 as an entrance fee (includes a free hot or cold beverage) and play with the dogs and cats there. They’re all incredibly tame and it really scratches the dog itch, if you know what I mean. As soon as Stu sat down, a dog jumped up beside him and one on his lap and they both instantly went to sleep. Emily sat with a little Pomeranian, a poodle and some sort of spaniel. I sat with a horse dog (I don’t know the breed, but that’s what it looked like). It’s relaxing in a dog sort of a way.

After the dog café, I got a call from one of the education office people (if my boss was my parent, this guy would be my uncle) and he wanted to know if I wanted to go to Hong Kong with some students for a study trip. My first instinct was “Free trip to Hong Kong – absolutely!” Unfortunately, I have another obligation at the same time so I had to decline. Not every day a free trip jumps in your lap like some tame dog.

Saturday evening, Emily & I had respective parties: a guys party and a girls party. Emily, Vanessa, Meena, Katie and Dawn made gingerbread houses at Vanessa’s house and Justin, Bobby, Dave, Hang-ju, Tae-won, Jae-gong, Leck and I played N64 and cards for the evening. Heaps of fun!

Preaching & Bread

2007-12-09T06:14:00.001-07:00

Emily & I both preached today, I at our home church and Emily at a church in Mokpo. Both sermons went well, though I had one lady ask why I didn't finish all of my prayers with "In Jesus' name, Amen." Apparently, in Korea, they always end their prayers that way. I told her it was a cultural thing and we didn't always finish prayers that way. She wasn't too sure about my answer, and so I said I would try to remember that in the future, which made her a lot happier. In the end, it's not really a big deal either way. Hopefully she got more out of the sermon than that.

We then hopped on a train and went out to the church where Emily would preach. In order to not be late, we have to arrive about 90 minutes early what with the train schedule and all. The worship team was practicing when we got there and there were a few other people that were also there early. One lady wanted to take Emily and I hiking up a mountain for 10 minutes before church started (translate: no less than 45 minutes, in my opinion). Instead, we settled on going "out for bread." Koreans are convinced that all foreigners love bread and, compared to their regular diet, it's true.

However, Korean bakeries often leave something to be desired. Worse still is when they include something that was never desired. The most common surprise fillings are red bean paste and sweet potato paste. In addition, every bread is white and every baked good is sweet, even garlic bread and other non-sweet things. In short, going out for bread was a little intimidating. We said yes, however, and to the bakery we went.

We got some sort of round thing that was supposed to be an apple type bread, cream cheese baguette and fig yogurt for drinking. We went to the little sitting area (convenience stores and bakeries alike almost all have an area for you to sit and eat your stuff, 7-11 included) and we ate. The stuff was all much better than we feared and we had a nice chat.

We went back to the church and Emily preached her sermon marvelously. I was very proud of her and it went really well - rebuke free, even. The people at the Mokpo church are amazing - they're all so kind and there's a wonderful feeling of community there. Everybody just seems to care and want to engage with you. If I had to guess, that feeling increases inversely proportional (love that phrase!) to the size of the church. Bigger the church, less the attitude of universal caring. In that way, small churches are amazing.

We got back on the train and I finished up my lesson for tomorrow and then just enjoyed the ride. Our apartment was a bit of a mess when we got home so we cleaned it up, I made ham/egg/cheese bagels for a snack, finished my lesson on the computer and Emily packed up all our meat from Costco yesterday and put it in the freezer. Portioning is the best.

All in all, a grand weekend though busy and tiring. Hopefully I'll get a day off this week because of tests! It's been almost two weeks since my last holiday, so I think I deserve one now. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until next week when we get the Wednesday off because of the federal election. (Good idea, no? Statutory holiday for election day. I like!)

Mmm... holiday.

The Road Trip

2007-12-08T07:45:00.001-07:00

We took a road trip today to Costco. Yes, Costco is road trip worthy here. The nearest one is about 2 hours away and it's a vital source of things like cheddar cheese, dill pickles, nacho chips and Australian beef. (Korean beef is expensive and American is controversial and therefore demand is sporadic at best.)

We rented a van, hopped in with three of our friends and drove north for two hours to Daejeon. the van was a 9 seater so we had more than enough room. It was a diesel, which cost about $1.60 a liter, so it was $75 to fill up. Pricey, but about the same in the end as all of us taking the train (including the cost of rental and tolls). Also GPS. I will never drive in Korea without GPS. Roads don't have names here - intersections do. Ergo, it's impossible to navigate in a city you have never been to as there is no logical system by which to do so.

Anyway, thanks to the GPS (best $10 I ever spent), we got there fine. We ate well, bought lots and came home. We almost died only once, which is really good for Korea. It was my first time driving on the mainland, so it was a little nerve wracking at first but it was a lot of fun in the end. The weather was perfect, the friends were good and the food is always nice to have in the house.

Good times!

Oh, yeah, and Emily and I are preaching at two separate churches tomorrow: me at our home church and Emily at a church in Mokpo, a smaller city outside of Gwangju. This is my second time at our home church and Emily's third time in Mokpo. We both occasionally preach in both of these churches, and tomorrow is the first time our days overlap. If you think of it, please keep us in prayer! Thanks!

"The $10,000 Mascot" and "Why don't they close the windows?"

2007-12-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

It's official - I (Jon) am a $10,000 mascot. Not that I cost that much to be a mascot, nor that I earn that much for being a mascot. Last week was an English contest and, to cut a long story short, my school won. As I'm the foreign teacher at this school, and the school won somewhere around $10,000 (or $5,000 - accounts differ), I am the new mascot.

I really had very little to do with it - I teach the grade 7 students and it was the grade 8 students that were in the contest. I see them once a month, and a few of them more than that. However, over 100 students were in the competition, so I had far less to do with their success than may appear at first glance. However, I'm still the mascot: the school with the foreign teacher won the competition and (possibly more importantly) the money.

Woo me!

Which brings me to my next point. Sort of.

Schools in Korea have a basic design: hallway with classrooms on one side and a window to the outside on the other. There are slight variations but nothing too shocking. Also, Korean winter has come upon us. It's cold enough to be chilling to the bone (dang humidity!) but not so cold that any building is really built to withstand the cold. Single paned glass, all glass doors, and (of course!) windows open everywhere.

In Korea, there is a rather popular notion that if you have any sort of a fan on while you are sleeping and you don't have the window open, you will die. Experts disagree as to how this happens (the fan steals your breath, the oxygen in the room gets depleted, etc.) but it's a common enough belief. I've got no idea if that leads to most of the windows being open on December 7 or not, but it just might.

The poor students sit in their classroom (made mostly of concrete and therefore is not warm and cuddly) and discuss how cold they are. With the windows wide open.

Which brings me to my second and final point: Why don't they close the windows?

August to December in a Nutshell

2007-12-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

Four months is a long time. In order to bring you the most effective and efficient use of your time, here's the highlights:

I (Jon) have been on TV two or three or four or five times. For sure two, possibly up to five times. The TV cameras were there, they were pointing at me but I didn't actually watch the news to see if I was on. Once was the Kimchi festival, once was a teacher training session, one was a promotional video for an English camp and two were about an English competition this past week.
I was also on the promotional poster for the English festival.
Emily and I have both preached (and will be preaching) in our home church as well as in a church in Mokpo, a town about 90 minutes away from Gwangju.
I've had a great semester and have loved my two schools. They're the same as last semester, but I'll probably be changing in a few weeks here.
I have been teaching at a University once a week for the past few weeks. I've been teaching junior high & high school teachers how to teach speaking, listening and pronunciation. It's been a great experience, and this winter break I teach elementary school teachers similar things.
We set up our Christmas tree today as well as most of our interior decorations.
We're going to China for Lunar New Years (also referred to as Chinese New Years, but somewhat inaccurate as much of Asia celebrates it)
The Jacksons (Emily's folks) will be coming to Korea for the month of January.
We (Jacksons two and Reesors two) shall be visiting Japan for a week in January.
Emily is kicking serious butt with her studies and has one and a half more semesters until the end of all learning and the beginning of all teaching.
We've made a whole bunch of new friends that God has really blessed us with.
We left our digital camera in a taxi.
We bought a new digital camera.
Of the past eight or so weeks of school, I (Jon) have had one full five day week devoid of any sort of significant class canceling interruption or holiday.

Obviously, that's just the highlights that come to mind. Our life here has been fantastic as always and God's blessings are consistently numerous and significant. We've been busy but not really stressed. We have a good life and we're really happy for where we are right now, though we miss our family, friends and Canadian food a great deal.

By the way, we use Facebook more than our blog these days. By "we," I mean we both have it but I (Jon) tend to ignore mine for a few weeks at a time. Basically, it's the same as the blog, but with more pictures.

Funny, Funny Korea

2007-08-10T09:10:00.001-06:00

On a pair of underwear: "Pelvis Panties"

Also, a classic (it disappeared for a while but is back now): "Bodygay"

A chicken restaurant: "Donkey Chicken"

From a friend of mine: "If you are a pastor, then I am in your behind." (i.e. If you are a pastor, then I will follow you.)

Shouted at me by a stranger from across the street: "Hello, nice to meet you! You resemble Harry Potter." (Add that to the list of people I apparently look like.)

The children's book "Who Pooped On My Head?" about a gopher who gets his head pooped on and asks all the other animals if they pooped on his head. They deny it, he doesn't believe it, they prove it by giving an example. Finally, he finds the dog and, in retaliation, poops on the dogs head. Unfortunately, gopher poop is a lot less substantial on a dog's head than the other way around.

I'm sure there's more, but I just can't think of them right now. Maybe more later!

If anyone's still out there...

2007-08-10T08:51:00.000-06:00

So we're not the best bloggers. You probably realized that by now.

Long story short, I'm getting ready to come home to Canada (I leave tomorrow) and Emily has already arrived safely. We'll be there for just about three weeks, at which point we'll head over to Hawaii (Maui, to be specific) and then back to Korea.

To sum up the past while, my schools are going well and Emily is doing well (though really busy) in school. She preached a couple of times in Mokpo, a city about an hour away from Gwangju and last week she preached in our own church, DongMyung Presbyterian. Our pastor was in China for a missions trip and asked her if she would preach, and she did a bang-up job. She spoke about treasure in Heaven and everyone said that her sermon was really well done - an excellent balance of practical, teaching and preaching.

I've been leading a Bible study for our pastor while he's been away (just two weeks). There's about six old men (mostly retired and about 70+) and one older lady. They're all precious, and they are in the group in order to maintain their English so they always have lots of questions. They also fight with each other in a really funny way, especially when it comes to Emily. (They love her - every week, they sit down and tell her how beautiful she is, and how lucky I am. Also, they ask for tips on "how to catch beautiful women.")

Last week was especially interesting. A new foreigner from America came to our church and sat in on the Bible study. One of the old men, Mr. Oh, had a pronunciation question. Censoring aside, this is somewhat how it went.

Mr. Oh: "Matt, how do you say this phrase - "Full of SH**"?"
Matt: "Actually, that's what some people would think a vulgar phrase."
Mr. Oh: "I know, but how do you pronounce "Full of SH**"?
Matt: "I'll tell you after church. I don't feel comfortable saying it here."
Mr. Oh: "No, it's just a pronunciation question. Sometimes, when I say "Full of SH**, foreigners don't understand me. Do you understand me? F-U-L-L O-F S-H-*-*. I say it "Fulla SH**, but foreigners usually say it like "Full of SH**."

The conversation continued like this for some time, thereby delaying the beginning of the Bible study. I tried to help Matt a couple of times with "Mr. Oh, many foreigners do not feel comfortable saying that in church" but to no avail. It was a pronunciation question, and that trumps comfort level, apparently. I did my best to cover my laughter as the whole thing was extremely entertaining.

This was just one example, but these old men rag on each other every week. It's hilarious, but it's also amazing how much wisdom they have. One old fellow especially is a charter member of the church (about 10 years now?) but still isn't a Christian. However, the Bible study was on treasure in Heaven (same week as Emily's sermon - coincidence? I think not) and Mr. Pae said something equivalent to "When I think about God's character and all he has done for me, it's easy to give. When I was younger, I would only think about money but now God is opening my heart to the poor."

Here is a man who is a self professed non-Christian, and yet the secrets of the Kingdom seem to be laid bare to him. It struck me of the verse that says that God uses the simple things of the world to shame the wise. Spiritually speaking, "From the mouths of children you have ordained praise."

Speaking of such things, and because I'm on such a roll typing, I taught at a teacher's camp these past three weeks. It was really good, with only about one day that wasn't very much fun. The teachers were really interesting to talk to and had a lot of really good ideas. At the end, one of the ladies came up to me and asked me "How do you have so much peace?"

I said God. She said she was a Catholic, but she still didn't have this peace. I said it came from trust and faith in God. She was really intrigued and that we would have to continue the conversation. It was the last day of the camp, though, and we didn't see each other again. However, it just goes to show you how God uses you wherever you are. Emily and I are here as English teachers, but we're used as missionaries. It's not so much about where you are, but about the God you serve.

Anyway, I'm coming home tomorrow! We may post more regularly in the future, or it may be more of the same. Regardless, I'm sure if you check at least once or twice a year there will be something new. Keep in touch!

BBQ

2007-05-12T07:55:00.000-06:00

It is an indisputable fact that BBQ-ing is one of (if not the) best way to cook food. It is borderline sin to cook certain meats in any other fashion. Having fried a good number of perfectly decent steaks since arriving in Korea, I can speak from experience: a frying pan is not a sirloin's best friend.

So a while back, we bought a charcoal BBQ. Essentially, it's a big metal pan. Then, you buy charcoal and put it in your big metal pan. Light, and voila! BBQ.

Friday was a beautifully sunny day, and we had been seasoning some steaks in the fridge for a few days. We figured it'd be a great day to grill up some beef, and it was. We went behind our apartment building and rustled up supper. Here's some pictures.

The Where: Behind our apartment. Not very pretty, but it makes for a good running around area for the kids and a BBQ-ing area for us. There are no lawnmowers here (as there are no lawns) so a large flat area like this is normally either sandy, overgrown or paved.

The Who: Me, getting the charcoal ready to cook. Most people sit like this here. It's also the position you are in if you use a "squatty potty." Not bad, once you get used to it. The position, I mean. Well, the squatty potties too. More on that later.

The What: Seasoned Australian beef from Costco and cut vegetables with butter & seasonings (including home grown fresh dill). Yum yum yum!

The Dessert: Smores, o'course! We used metal chopsticks, which were perfect for the occasion.

The Fans: These kids watched us make the smores and eat the first bit. Very shy (didn't say a word) but fascinated nonetheless. We made them a round of the sweet sweet treat and took this picture. You can see the smores in their hands.

Pictures

2007-05-08T06:16:00.000-06:00

After a relative drought (and now that Blogger has made it easier to upload several pictures at once), here are some random pictures from our life here. Enjoy!

Not every brand name here is run by an English speaker before going into national production.

Written on a mug in a department store. Look closely and read the writing.

Strawberries during strawberry season. A box (usually around 2 kilograms, or about 4.5 pounds) was between $3 and $15, depending on the size and when you bought them. We've probably bought 8 or 10 boxes of them. We'll eat half (usually the same day) and freeze the other half to use in smoothies. Good stuff.

Strawberries again. The season is ending now (probably only a week or two left) so we bought a box and froze the whole thing. Incredibly delicious, I must add.

At one of our three local grocery stores, there is a pet store. For the size of the store, the pet section has a remarkable selection. Including chipmunks, which I didn't realize fell into the category of "pet." We were there again tonight, and they had a cage of probably 10 chipmunks in it. My, but they're hyper little creatures.

Among the various toys available for children in nearly every toy section in every toy store are air soft guns that shoot little white plastic pellets. They are realistic looking, perfect scale weapons. This one is a Smith and Wesson handgun, with nothing on it to distinguish that it is a toy. You can get M-16's, shotguns, a ton of handguns and a couple of rifles. Nothing will cost you more than $20. Every once in a while, you'll see a little gang of boys running around and shooting trees, buildings and whatnot. They actually do have decent shooting power (to hurt, not kill) so they are relatively careful.

Brooke, Ryan and Emily at this little temple we went to for Brooke's birthday. You can see the temple in the background there. I believe (I'm not sure) it's at least 500 years old. Really neat, really small.

This picture was taken about a month ago (early April?). The flowers here in the spring are beautiful and everywhere. This is a little park downtown that was built last year.

We took this picture today. The big plants are trees in our parking lot. The little ones in the foreground are Emily's little herb garden. We've got basil, dill, something, something else and rosemary. All the rain has really greened everything up here.
Every once in a while you will get a pet vendor on the side of the road. We've seen puppies on a pushcart, kittens in a cage, birds on a bike. This time, it was rabbits.

The Prayers You Never Say

2007-05-07T05:07:00.000-06:00

Emily and I went to see Spider-Man 3 last Thursday night (it was released here and in Japan before North America - take that!) and I got hit with a pang of homesickness. It's funny the things that will make you miss home. It was Peter Parker and his friend, Harry Osborne, that did it for me.

Anyway, we get home after the movie and I'm missing...home. There was a thunderstorm that night, which reminded me even more of Canada. Thunderstorms are not common here, and the thunder isn't nearly as impressive as Canada's. However, it was still a good storm. I'm feeling blue, missing people I share a language and culture with and I head to bed.

Long story short, we ended up going to church with one of my students. She invited me and her dad is the pastor there. I don't really know why I said yes - I wouldn't normally. We get there, and it's her older brother that does the translating. Her older brother that is about my age, a Christian, speaks English, neat guy and lives in our neighborhood. He also likes to do a lot of the same things we/I do. We hung out this past Saturday and he invited me to play soccer with some people from his church.

Basically, God gave me exactly what I needed without me even asking for it, and just at the right time. He is really good to us, and I see that more every day.

"This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met... God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6, The Message

When $5 is worth it

2007-05-07T04:57:00.000-06:00

I (Jon) generally have two rules for a hairdresser in Korea: cut my hair short, and please don't talk to me. My Korean is not quite what I would care for it to be, and I tend to get a little nervous when a hairdresser attempts to get chatty.

Last year, I got my hair cut by the same lady all year long. I would go to the haircut street (about 5 hair salon places within two blocks) and I would go to her. Why? She was seldom busy, she cut my hair and there was no small talk. We understood each other.

This year, I've been searching for a new hairdresser. There's a bunch of places in our neighborhood. I started with one, and she was great. Her and her friend would make Emily & I coffee and order us dumplings when we went there. The cut itself would cost $5, and I'm sure the coffee and food cost them $2.50, so it was disappointing but not surprising when they were out of business a month or two later.

I found another place. She was chattier, but friendly. Dang good cut and shampoo for $5. Best haircut I've had in a while. Would she be the new one?

A month passes (I measure my haircuts in months - one month past is time for a cut) and I'm looking for a cut. She's really busy and I don't feel like waiting. I head over to the "Blue Hair Club," which has a Guinness World Record for the most amount of franchises opened in the shortest time, or something. 250 locations in 3 years. Impressive, though I don't see the reason for success.

The lady who cut my hair cut half of the hair on top, used no fewer than six razors on the side and sent me over to shampoo my own stinkin' hair. Short sides, long top, my own shampoo? And still $5? I don't think so!

I repent, learn the error of my ways and head back to the lady on the corner. Good job, shampoo and still only $5. Totally worth it.

Life

2007-05-07T04:43:00.000-06:00

No matter where you live, life inevitably gets into a routine. What was once fresh, exciting and new is now just a regular part of your life. People, plants and pets all end up in the "everyday" pile of our lives.

Not that there is nothing special about these things in our lives. Instead, we need to make the effort to see the spectacular, the unique and the intriguing in the things under our noses.

Life has gotten into a routine here. It is no longer strange to have groups of elementary school children following you up to your apartment so they can talk to you. It is no longer strange to be given kimchi three times in one week from different people. It is slightly strange to be given a beautiful cake from a lady we don't remember but who remembers us.

It is no longer strange to get 7 days off in one month. Regular? No. Unforeseen? No. Appreciated? Yes.

It has become part of our lives for Emily to consistently receive marks above 95% in her school work.

We have a good life and we are thankful. God is taking very good care of us. We are healthy, we are happy and we are making good friends. Life is good, and we are thankful.

Cherry Blossom Festival

2007-04-02T07:24:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was the Cherry Blossom Festival in JinHae, a small town about 3 hours east of us. We hopped on a bus with our three friends, Brooke, Ryan and Matt on Saturday and arrived at about 5:00 PM. There were cherry trees lining every road and major hang out area. They really were beautiful and we spent the evening wandering through the market that had sprung up to cater to the nearly 2,000,000 people that would come over the course of the festival.

One of the most popular meals was halves of pigs, slow roasting over hot coals. There were probably 10 - 20 different tent restaurants that were serving this dish. We partook, and it was fantastic. Surprisingly expensive for Korea, but delicious and worth it in the end.

We ate, we walked, we sat and we called it a night. We were thankful because it was supposed to rain all weekend long, and the rain stopped before we even got on the bus that afternoon.

The next day was not raining, but something worse than rain. It was a dust storm.

Dust from China/Mongolia had kicked up something fierce and it was the worst storm of the year so far. They issue advisories for 400 micrograms of dust per cubic meter. Warnings come at 800 micrograms. Yesterday's storm was 1100 micrograms. We didn't know that. We walked about 8 - 10 kilometers. Within the first hour, we had all bought baby blue masks (quite common here) to help filter out some of the dust. It was a wretched feeling and just made you feel gross all over.

It should be on the west coast of North America within the next two or three days, so tell us what you think!

Dust aside, it was a good time. Culturally, we (being from wide open spaces) were expecting something a little more like a "Cherry Blossom Forest" and a little less like "Cherry Blossom Carnival," which is a more suiting title. Being in Korea, you learn to not expect things to be a certain way but to just be happy for what things are.

For what it was, it was good.

This is your flesh. Say goodbye.

2007-04-02T07:14:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, I (Jon) went to the doctor for a general checkup with some questions I had. I needed some asthma medication, my wrist had been bothering me and I had a mole on my head that I wanted to look into getting removed.

I get the prescription for the asthma medicine, which was about $2. For all you asthmatics out there, that was brand name Ventolin, which will run you probably $100 in Canada. Pharmaceutical companies are evil. I digress.

The mole will be about $20 to remove. I wanted to get rid of it because it gets cut, poked, prodded, etc. every time I get a hair cut.

The doctor says my wrist is likely a bruised tendon and he can give me a shot of anti-inflammatories, no problem. He says this after feeling around my wrist for the problem, thereby aggravating the problem. I say sounds good. Relief would be nice.

So the good doctor ushers me into the "procedure room," which is about 10 beds, two feet apart from each other. You can see what every one else is having done. Perhaps like medical window shopping. "Oh, that looks good! I'll take two."

He asks me to lie down. I think that it's to get the proper angle for my wrist injection. He says it'll be a small incision and asks about previous general anesthetics. I'm getting curious as to what kind of injection this will be. He says he's going to cut my hair.

I'm getting my mole removed. Didn't ask for it, just asked the price of it. Hair - cut. Freezing - frozen. "You'll feel a slight tingle. I'm using electricity to burn it off of your head." Smell - burning flesh and hair. Nurse draws curtain. Burning flesh - not good advertising. I feel the tingle. About two minutes later, a bandage appears three inches from my face. Behold! My mole.

"This is your flesh. Say goodbye." End quote. One of our friends, Ryan, said it would be a good tag line for some new horror movie.

Wrist - still hurting. Mole - gone. Healing nicely too, by the way. Classic Korean misunderstanding.

That's right...

2007-04-02T07:12:00.000-06:00

These are all the people that I, Jon, apparently look like. Each one is said with varying degrees of amusement (gales of laughter vs. genuinely serious) but all with sincere enough belief that that is my "dead ringer."

I just don't see it.

What do these have in common?

2007-03-26T00:33:00.000-06:00

Donald Duck

A Cartoon Baby

A designer

An animation character

Larry King

Matt Damon
Maculay Kulkin

Andriy Shevchenko (A forward on Chelsea)

Rachel Mcadams

Korean Efficiency

2007-03-22T23:29:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note from me (Emily) to share with you a marvel that occurred in our apartment complex this morning. I was just heading out the door to go to the gym - (I know me at the gym, crazy!) When I heard our doorbell ring. I answered it and there was a man and lady standing there. The lady was holding some sort of meter reader machine and the man had a gas meter in his hand as well as a plastic milk crate.

Usually when official looking people are at the door, I just let them in and let them do whatever it is they are there to do because I know that I won't understand them if they try to explain it to me. So I followed my normal protocol.

I kept getting ready and the man and lady proceeded to in about 2 minutes, no word of a lie, completely remove our old gas meter, put up the new one, configure the numbers, clean the wall behind the meter, and test the gas by turning on our gas stove! The man stood on top of the milk crate to reach the gas meter and he was soooo fast! I then signed some thing saying they had completed the job and they were gone!

It was like a flash, I was very impressed, and now we have a shiny new gas meter! I left after that for the gym and when I got back about an hour later they were heading out of the elevator, finished all of the apartments. Now for those of you who don't know, we live in a MASSIVE apartment complex. I think that there are probably 200 units in my building alone. These people had replaced all the gas meters that fast!

Anyway, I thought that was pretty frickin' amazing!! When Korean people want to be, they are crazy efficient! Yep. That's my story. Thanks for reading!

Emily

Just General Stuff

2007-03-12T22:25:00.000-06:00

School has begun for both Emily & I. Emily is knees-deep in IBOLT and has begun a rather heady semester, with nearly 20 credit hours (19.5 to be precise) and is going full steam ahead. She works hard during the day, which is good of her. I'm pretty sure that my experience would be more procrastinatory, should our places be switched.

In the evenings, we've just been relaxing as of late. After nearly two months of holidays, getting up again has taken a little bit of getting used to. We've been heading to bed early (between 9 and 10), but it's been nice to be in a regular schedule again.

The weather has been getting nicer. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be about 15 degrees here. The next couple of months should be absolutely gorgeous, before we head into the searing heat and insufferable humidity of summer.

I started at two new schools last week, and they both seem to be really good. The best part by far is the students. I teach 18 grade 7 classes a week, 3 grade 8 classes a week and occasional teacher's classes. I love interacting with the students and they've got really good attitudes. It is only the second week of class, so that may change. Hopefully it doesn't.

The random holidays have also presented themselves quite nicely. Last week, I had Tuesday off. This week, I've been finished by 12 or 1 on Monday & Tuesday. I've got no complaints at all about this - love the extra time off!

Next week, I go to an English camp for the week. An English camp is easy for me (another person leads the camp and I just assist) but it's a lot of work for the students. They've got class from about 8 AM until 10 or 11 PM. They're long days, but it's been fun in the past. I'm looking forward to it. It's out in the country, so the weather suits the environment well.

Church is going well. We're becoming more involved, but not too much so. We want to be careful that what we do, we do well.

Anyway, everything is going well. The weather is getting better, schools are going well and our home life is good. I've been really aware of how much God has blessed us - we have good lives! More than that, though, is the hope of the life beyond this. If life now can be this good, how much better is life going to be once you get rid of all the sucky things? Pretty dang good, I'm expecting. Pretty dang good.

More Like Guidelines...

2007-03-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Korea is what you might call a nouveau riche country (pardon my French). It's only been in the last 50 years or so that wealth has come here, and automobiles with it. Finally, the common man (and common woman) is able to afford a family size, family style motor vehicle.

Unfortunately, traffic laws are somewhat different here. A few of the ones to whet your appetite:

If you are caught at a red light, you must wait three rotations before you can go. Traffic does not flow North/South and East/West at the same time. Instead, northbound traffic gets a turning light and may go straight. It then goes clockwise around the intersection. Same thing for a pedestrian - only once every four lights can you cross.

And you want to wait for those lights before you do. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Perhaps they do on paper (I'm not really sure) but they certainly don't in practice. In a way, it's refreshing. Jaywalking? People don't stop five blocks back for you. Instead, you stand on the yellow line in the middle of the road as traffic zips by you in both directions until there's a clear spot.

Emergency vehicles do not have the right of way, or if they do they have the same rules as pedestrians - wait for a clear spot and go fast.

Many other rules that Canadians would consider strict (such as stopping when the light is red, not blaring your horn as you zip through ten seconds later) are a little less strict here. Less like laws and more like...guidelines.

I figured out exactly how much like guidelines they were when driving in Jeju. Stop at a minor intersection's red light? Get honked at as people blow by you.

Going 50 km in a 30 km/h zone? Get blown by as people do upwards of 70 km/h.

Stopping for pedestrians? See above.

In order to (genuinely) drive more safely, I began to obey the guidelines. Minor red lights were suggestions. Pedestrians were just friends you hadn't met. Speed limits were possibilities.

Except for the posted speed cameras. Korea has photo-radar equivalent equipment posted on the highways and in cities. They've got signs warning you about it. Photo Police Enforcement - 350 meters. 250 meters. 100 meters. It'll only check your speed as you go under it, and you can see it a kilometer back and even if you couldn't, everyone else is laying on their brakes. So you go from 100 down to 50, under the camera and back again.

It was actually quite fun.

Happy March!

2007-03-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it's officially March now for us over in Korea land. Everywhere else too, actually, so that's not that special. We'll move on.

Lots has been happening and, again, I've been negligent in maintaining sufficient informational flowage. I shall begin with our holiday.

Emily & I, after returning from our three week vacation in Canada, went for one week in Jeju (the Korean Hawaii). This was due to the wonderful gift of a timeshare from Emily's grandma. We flew down on Saturday morning and returned last Saturday. The weather was beautiful - only one half day of rain, and clear blue skies and warm weather for the remainder. We walked along the ocean, went on a tour, rented a car, took the bus and basically had a grand time.

The highlights:

This is a pork meal made from the famous black pig of Jeju. This particular pork (often called "crap pork" in Korean) is only found on Jeju. This pig has a particular story and reason why it has such a...familiar taste.

In past times (and present times too, I believe), a family would have a room in their house on Jeju island. Traditionally, this would be the bathroom but here is where the black pig would live. I'm unsure as to the actual arrangements, but you would basically go into the room, do your business and the pig would eat your...business. Once the pig was of age, you would eat it. The restaurants are everywhere and the meat is actually quite good.

I love it when food has a story.

We did a lot of walking along the ocean. It wasn't quite warm enough to swim in though, so we contented ourselves with sticking our feet in the water. Additionally, all Korean coast is still a protected border so they shut swimming down for the cooler months of the year.

We went on a tour one day and saw a ton of different things. Here's a freshwater waterfall going into saltwater, which is apparently rare. Who knew?

On the tour, actually, was one of the most hostile Korean people we've ever met. She was our tour guide who apparently resented the fact that we didn't speak enough Korean or pay enough attention to her. She was strange, and certainly not representative of the rest of the nation. We did meet a very nice couple from England, though, and that definitely made the tour worth it.

We rented a car on Friday and went to this big hedge maze. On our way out of the maze, these girls came up and asked to take a picture with us. We owe our public.

One of the things about going on holidays as a couple is that most of your pictures end up being either one of you or the two of you like this.

Our apartment room was great - it was a two bedroom with enough of a kitchen that we could do a bunch of our meals there. It looked out on the water and we were able to watch the sun set (one of my favorite things) and fall asleep seeing the stars (another of my favorite things).

Oh, yeah, we also made it to Italy. This is Emily at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

And America. This is me with the Statue of Liberty.

Actually, we didn't make it to those countries. We just went to Mini Land, which has a whole bunch of world wonder type things on about a 1/18 scale. We could have gone to Mini Mini Land, which has the same things but only smaller. (I'm not kidding.)

Here's a picture of our accommodations. "Jeju Tovice Condominium" was our home base for all of our Jejuian exploration.

Finally, on our last day at the airport, I accomplished the last thing I wanted to do in Jeju - pick an orange off of a tree. I'd never seen oranges growing on trees before, so it was wonderful to see them growing in mid-February. The trees were everywhere, especially on the north side of the island. (Over the course of the week, we drove the circumference of the island once, and the diameter three times.) Here is my crowning achievement.

It was a wonderful trip and an excellent way to end our winter vacation. Thanks a ton, Papa & Tutu!

The Video

2007-02-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video and a couple of pictures of the roller coaster, located on the Family Land website, for those of you interested.

I'd put it here on my blog, but I'm not nearly techie enough to do that.

Here is a video of what we have come to know as the "Humiliation Ride." Basically, the guy in charge of your tickets gets to choose how fast you spin, how hard the ride bounces and how long the ride is. He will put whoever he wants to humiliate at the top, and embarrass them over the loudspeaker until they do what he wants (stand up, dance, kiss someone, etc.). Occasionally, he will also say the ride is over, then change his mind and start it again when everyone gets up.

A very emotionally raw memory, as we were subjected to calls of "Dance, America, Dance!"

The menu on the left hand side is different rides available at Family Land. I don't think there's anything too interesting, but maybe there is. Enjoy as much as you wish!

Family Land

2007-02-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Emily & I went to Family Land, an outdoor amusement park that's about 10 minutes from our home. They have a few rides, tobogganing (of sorts), skating, swimming, tennis and even a drive-in movie theatre. The drive-in was actually a pleasant surprise. Methinks we will "drive-in" a couple of lawn chairs and enjoy a movie one of these summer evenings.

Back to the story. We had a day free and decided to enjoy it riding some rides. It was cool out, and there was a chance of rain which did materialize later on in the day, but otherwise a good day for riding. The nice thing about family land is that you share it with about 500 elementary school students, so all the "big people" rides have no lineup. Literally. Emily and I were the only riders for most of the rides we went on. We had to wake up the workers or pull them away from their internet surfing in order to help us. Some of the rides was fine like that. Bumper cars gets a little tedious with just two people.

The advantages to this may seem obvious - no lineup, no obnoxious people, you get to ride as many times as you want. Hey, if the employees are really nice, you might not even have to get off! That'd be great!

Or so you would think.

The warning sign was when we went on the Viking, a boat ride that just goes back and forth. Typical, common ride that is generally held on the more relaxing side of things. However, when you're put through three rounds without stopping, even the tamest rides gets nauseous.

The nice lady that worked on the Viking took a shining to us foreigners and walked us over to the roller coaster - the Dragon Chase (which is also a euphemism for getting high on opium, as a side note). We should have seen it coming.

A relatively tame roller coaster, it goes upside down once, a couple of corkscrews, tight turns and a drop or two and you're finished. It's over pretty quickly, and as everyone else on the ride is a young adult couple, they send us through again without stopping.

And again. And again. And again. And again.

After 4 times, you think it's fun, but you'd be great to get off for a bit. After 7, you start to wonder how to say "Please let me off the ride as I'm not sure another round would be as enjoyable as the first half dozen" in Korean.

Nine times around without a break, they give you the option of getting off. Everyone took it.

Apparently they don't normally open up the roller coaster during the winter, so they either wanted to give us our money's worth, or check to see if it was still working after all that time in storage.

Blech.

Next Stop - Humiliation

2007-02-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, Emily & I arrive in Gwangju, put our suitcases down and go to sleep. Sunday morning, we wake up and unpack. Feeling the spring cleaning smell in the air (it's been about 15 degrees here this week), we decided to do some purging. Of our apartment. We got rid of a whole bunch of junk, including a ton of old clothes we don't wear anymore.

Unfortunately, we were still a little cramped for space what with all the clothes we bought while in Canada. We had a couple of very successful Value Village runs as well as a day or two spent at good ol' WEM. We finished unpacking and assessed the damage. We've needed a new dresser for a while, and a couple of new bookshelves would look great too, don't you think? We thought so too.

So we decided to head down to the market, where you can get all sorts of things, food and housewares alike, for a better deal than at a department store. Unfortunately, the bus system changed about two months ago and we no longer are one bus away from the market. Instead, we must take a bus downtown and then transfer to the subway. This isn't too bad as we had to go to the bank anyway and there's some good restaurants downtown too.

Bank - done. Restaurant - done. Subway - to do.

We get on the subway and find two empty seats. The subway line is really short here (only about 15 stops) and we had to travel about 4, which takes about 8 minutes. We are sitting there, preparing for a nice quiet subway ride when I notice this older fellow (55+) walk over, poke the young fellow sitting beside me and tell him to move. The older fellow wants to sit. By me.

I pray: "Please don't talk to me. And if you talk to me, please don't have been drinking."

First thing that I notice - he's talking to me. Second thing - he's been drinking. I don't mind Koreans, and even Koreans that have been drinking are pretty sociable people (most of the time). However, my Korean isn't so hot and I wasn't feeling like showcasing the extent of my talents that day. Older Koreans that have been drinking, especially men, will either want to practice the English that they know, or not be able to understand that I don't understand. I was hoping it was an English practicer, and not a Korean tester.

He was a Korean tester.

The following conversation all took place in Korean, but will be written in English, just for simplicity. The characters: M = Old man. J = Me (Jon). E = Emily. O = Everyone else on the subway.

M: Do you speak Korean?
J: No, I don't speak Korean.
M: Where are you from?
J: I'm from Canada.
M: See! You speak Korean. I asked if you spoke Korean, and you said no, but you do.
J: I only speak a little Korean.

*Note: By this point, all conversation has ceased in our car, and my conversation with this delightful older man has become the entertainment for ~20 people. Unashamedly, obviously eavesdropping. But I digress...

M: Where are you going?
J: To the market. (I should know by now to be less specific. Naming a specific location means you can't get off before that location. A more ideal answer would have been "shopping" or "walking" or something like that.)
M: How old are you?
J: I'm 26 years old. (*Age is different in Korea.)
M: How old is she? (Points at Emily.)
J: She's 23.
M: Are you a couple?
J: Yes, we're married.
M: ~~~~~ when ~~~~~ (*At this point, I have no idea what he is talking about. Assuming "A little Korean" means "more Korean than I actually know," he loses me. )
J: I don't understand.
E: He said when did you come to Korea.
J: Yesterday. (True, though perhaps not what he meant.)
M: ~~~~~~~~~
J: I don't understand.
M: ~~~~~~~~~
J: I don't understand.
O: Speak English, old man! He doesn't understand Korean.
M: ~~~~~~~~~
J: I don't understand. I don't speak Korean well.
M: You don't understand?
J: Yes. I don't understand.
M: ~~~~~~~~~
O: Speak English! He doesn't understand you.
M: ~~~~~~~~~
J: Oh, look, it's our stop. Goodbye!

By the end of this little play, people were laughing at what was happening and asking their own questions, either talking to us or to the old man. Koreans are friendly people, if occasionally uncomfortably forward. Everyone was just enjoying the conversation and the awkwardness of someone else. To our knowledge, no one was mocking us. Well, actually, there was one person. A little girl, about 5 years old, couldn't understand why I couldn't understand the simplest questions. She was cracking up, and I'm pretty sure she was making fun of me.

Emily & I got off at our stop and had a good laugh about it. A year ago, I probably would have wanted to die. Instead, we saw the humor in it and realized that, a year ago, the conversation couldn't have happened as we didn't speak any Korean.

We left the subway, went up to the market and we did get our dresser and bookshelves. They fit well, were delivered the next day and are now in their place and doing their respective duties.

And it begins...

2007-02-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

So Emily and I have returned. Not from Thailand, as the blog may have indicated and we previously planned. Instead, we decided to exchange Thailand for Canada and visited our home and native land for a glorious three weeks.

The weather was fantastic, the people were wonderful and we both had a really good time. After about two weeks, though, we began to be homesick. Although we were in Canada, we missed our other home. We had a really good time in Canada, but it certainly felt more like a vacation. Our friends and family are in Canada, but our life (other friends, routine, apartment, etc.) is in Korea.

Our trip back to Canada was uneventful. We flew Edmonton - Vancouver - Incheon (Korea's international airport) and took the bus down to our home city of Gwangju. Our flight leaving Edmonton was delayed because security took an especially intense look at several passengers before allowing them to board (one lady came on the plane crying because of what had happened). Other than that, though, nothing of interest.

Our experience as people in a foreign land began the day after we arrived, in a story I shall tell in a separate post. (That way, I get to have two new posts and the same amount of text! What a good blogger I am.)

Here's a couple of pictures from our Canada trip. The first and second are from Emily's birthday, and the third is from a day we went sledding (that's Mom Jackson there).

So it's been a while...

2007-01-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

A long time since the last post, and lots has happened since then. So we shall have a quick and dirty update.

Christmas was good. We saw both of our families via webcam, which was decent. Not quite as good as being there in person, but about as good as it can be. We opened our presents Christmas Eve and I (Jon) preached at church Sunday morning. We then went out for lunch with friends and proceeded to cook Christmas supper and do a gift exchange with more friends. It was a good ol' Korean Christmas.

New Years was also a blast. We stayed in Gwangju this year (last year we went to the east coast to watch the first sunrise of the year) and it was celebrated in grand style. We went out to this really nice Italian restaurant (Italian food and fried chicken are remarkably popular here) and then went downtown. We watched some fireworks (really cool), set off some of our own (also very cool) and had a really great time. Then we went back to our friends house, talked, watched a movie and crashed for the night.

January 2nd, I had a camp that lasted for two weeks. It was from 9:30 until 11:50 every day (not bad hours, if I do say so myself) of 20 grade 5 students. They were from all different schools and their English was generally the best, or their attitude was amazing, and that' s how they got into the camp.

In short, it was fantastic. I had an incredible time teaching the kids and it didn't even feel like work. Well, the 60 page lesson plan (single spaced) I had to write ahead of time felt like work. The camp itself, though, was incredible. I had so much fun and the kids were just gold.

Today was the last day of camp and Emily also finished all of her IBOLT assignments yesterday. With our work behind us, we cleaned the apartment, packed our suitcases and we're ready to hit the road! Tomorrow, we catch the 9:00 bus to Incheon (the international airport just outside of Seoul) for our flight. We're really looking forward to this holiday.

So no pictures for a while (until we get back from holidays) but perhaps a post or two in the meantime.

Later!

MySpace

2006-12-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

So I recently checked out some of my friend's pages that are on MySpace. I was thoroughly unimpressed. What the heck is MySpace, anyway? You go to someones page, but all it has is comments and pictures from other people. I don't want to read other people's comments - I want to see what the page owner is up to. If you want to read what that person wrote, they have to have a blog. Is a blog is the 8 track player of this day and age? Am I behind the times?

Maybe I am a generation behind everyone else on the internet. Or maybe I just don't have the apparently common desire to read what everyone else says to someone. It's like listening to their phone messages. Or reading the text messages on their cell phone. Or listening to half of a conversation on the bus. There's no context, and not really any appeal.

If you can explain to me why MySpace is fun, I'd love to know. Or, maybe it's not fun. Maybe it's the "Emperor's New Clothes" for the next generation. It's only cool because everyone else says it's cool. Maybe they're just waiting for someone to disagree, so they can too. Maybe it's the reassuring feeling of having 96 close and personal friends, seven of which have posted recently so you feel like things are really warming up.

I just don't get it.

Merry Christmas!

Come Again?

2006-12-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Whenever I teach a class, there are certain students that I can count on to know the answer to most questions. They are naturally bright, admirably disciplined, or a combination of the two. Whichever it is, they can help the class (and me) get out of a jam when no one seems able (willing?) to answer a question.

There are other students in every class that tend not to pay attention. Occasionally, if said student is not paying attention, I will ask them the next question in order to reinforce the fact that they should listen in class. This generally works and I find it to be a rather effective technique.

Last week, such a situation happened. I was merrily teaching away (as is my habit) when I happened to notice that a student was (somehow) not engaged in the lesson. How could this be? To remedy this disturbing occurrence, I simply asked him the next question (the nature of which eludes me at the moment). For the sake of the story, let's say it was "What is your favorite holiday?"

His surprising response, which stumped me completely, was "May I burp?"

I stood there for a second. I was trying to figure out some way that "May I burp?" could be related to what I was saying. Students aren't normally so random. I was about to ask for clarification when another student piped up.

"He means 'Excuse me.'"

Ah. Right. Excuse me. Repeat the question, proceed as usual.

UNESCO and Christmas

2006-12-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last night Emily & I went to the 10th Annual Family & Friendship Night, put on by UNESCO. UNESCO, in case you are unfamiliar with it, is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The name comes from the first letters in United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization. Basically, their motto is something like "Since war starts in the minds of men, it must be in the mind of men that the seeds of peace are sown."

The essential goal of this organization is to keep peace by helping different countries see each other as people with their own distinct culture and not as problems. If you can see a different country as people like you with a different culture, peace and understanding will be the result.

I'm not so sure I agree. If all people from every culture are willing to get along, you could likely work out some sort of functional relationship. The problem comes when people unaccustomed to compromise enter into the whole international relations field. That's just asking for problems.

For example, one nation (which I shall allow to remain anonymous) presented their flag and described their nation as "the super hero of the free world." Boos ensued. A comment like that does no one any good, and just aggravates problems that already exist.

Other than that, it was fun to see the different nations, languages and traditions represented. Our friend Matt did a couple of Christmas songs solo on his guitar, and he did well. The food was late, but (unfortunately) the dinner was pushed back nearly an hour due to thing after thing going late.

In other news, we have our Christmas tree and Christmas lights up in our apartment, as well as some miscellaneous decorations. 'Tis the Season!

Just Thai to understand, Gym

2006-12-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

So Emily and I joined a gym yesterday. It wasn't too bad of a price, though the whole sign up process was slighty awkward (any expat would understand - interpersonal communication in a business setting tends to contain some sort of communicational difficulty).

We signed up for one month, which includes the health club machine part (cardio and strength) plus a "sauna." The Korean word 사우나 , pronounced sa-ooh-na (Konglish) is a great place, once you're used to it. It's a naked communal bath, which is incredibly relaxing. Again, once you're used to it. I never thought I would be, but who knew?

The reason we're doing this (this=working out, getting in shape, etc.) is because we are planning on going to Thailand for about 3 weeks during the winter break and we want to be in good shape for when we do. Hopefully we'll see some nice beaches, some good markets and ride on an elephant or two.

We're turning into real snowbirds - we are in Korea for Canadian winter, and in Thailand for Korean winter. I think it's the way God meant it to be.

Today's Lesson

2006-12-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today's lesson is on how to pack something. The students? A can of sardines. The teacher? Korean bus drivers. Let the open of mind and pliable of spirit take heed to what is taught here.

The lesson is thus: there is always room for one more. Not sometimes, not "How many more people can reasonably fit on this bus?" but always. The thought "Man, this is so full I can barely breathe without pushing someone out the window" must never come to your mind. People on the steps, people missing their stops because they can't make it to the door, forgetting what the concept of oxygen is - all characteristics, grasshopper, of a well packed bus.

If you're turning people away, though, it's obviously not packed well enough. If you study and work hard, you too shall hopefully attain to such space efficiency consciousness. One day, the students shall surpass the master and all will be made known.

Say it with me now: "There is always room for one more."

Well done.

Today's lesson is complete.

17

2006-12-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

That's how many more days I've got left in the school year. Not actual day-days, but school days. Between now and the end of December (which is the end of the school year here), only 17 more instructional days remain. This week, I get Thursday & Friday off because of exams. I get the 25th off because it's Christmas. I get January 1st off because of New Years. But, then again, everyone gets those holidays. It's the ones after that that I'm excited for.

I've got 2 weeks of an elementary school camp that runs from January 2 to the 12th, from 9:00 - 12:00 each day. I'm not exactly sure what's happening with the camp (there's a meeting on Wednesday about it) but I'm home free once that is finished. From January 12 - February 7, my time is my own. And from February 9 to February 25th (-ish) is another well deserved break. Emily and I are planning on going to Thailand for a few weeks and perhaps to one other country (Cambodia, Vietnam, something along those lines), so it should be absolutely splendiforous.

Until then, we keep the routine. Emily is working hard on her online courses so that she can finish when I do and we can enjoy the holidays together. I'm planning on taking another TEFL course from the U of S in the winter semester, and also on doing a lot of nothing.

On a completely separate note, the snow came this past weekend. The temperature dropped close enough to freezing that we actually got quite a heavy snow. Well, it was heavy when it was in the air, but it was still warm enough outside that it melted as soon as it hit the ground. As of right now, it's a little chilly (perhaps in the single positive digits) but the sun is shining bright and the world is good all around.

Life is good, and God is better.

Kimchi Festival and PICTURES!!!

2006-11-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Kimchi Festival with some friends. It's about as exciting as it sounds - a festival for kimchi (vegetables, usually cabbage, fermented with red pepper paste). If you like kimchi (which I d0), it was rather interesting. If you don't like kimchi, you can't really like Korean food and the festival would be less interesting. Generally speaking, of course.

Anyway, it was a good time and we had some good kimchi. Being foreigners at a kimchi festival, we stuck out somewhat more than usual and received some nice attention from a group of elementary school girls and an old man. Also a few video cameras and photographers.

A good time had by one and all!

Here's a quick explanation of the pictures. Sorry it's not very well organized, but this is faster. There are some pictures of Emily and our friend Matt enjoying Korean traditional games. (Actually, I don't know if they're traditional or not, but we saw Korean kids doing it so we joined in.) Also of the World Cup Stadium, built for the 2002 World Cup. (That's soccer.) Also some pictures of drawings done of Emily & I. Also pictures of us on this one street downtown. One also of Korean Buddhist monk painting a good luck symbol guy. A picture of our friend with the girls that hung out with us for a while. I'll let you figure out which picture is which. Let's pretend it's a game or something.

Eat Your Wheaties

2006-11-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times - "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." It's true, and I now know why.

Breakfast makes you sturdy. Sturdy, as in strong and leanable. Leanable like you can be leaned (leant?) on.

I skipped breakfast one day and proceeded to take the bus to school one day. I apparently wasn't very sturdy looking, or so it would seem in hindsight. I was just a regular Joe on the bus (or Kim, as the case may be), my business being minded by me and others keeping an eye on their own businesses. The next day, I ate breakfast and I noticed a change almost immediately. I boarded the bus (crowded, as it usually is on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) and my sturdiness was apparent to all.

It was like there was some secret communication through the crowd - "That guy had breakfast. He looks sturdy." Breakfast makes me look strong and secure. Breakfast makes me look like a cushion for falling on when you lose your footing. Breakfast makes me look like a brick wall, appropriate for leaning when going around corners. Breakfast makes me look like I've got some sort of secret trick that keeps me from falling and so everyone is able to "fall on the foreigner" with no adverse reactions. Breakfast + Me = Sturdy, sturdy, sturdy.

On second thought, perhaps I'll eat breakfast once I'm already at school. Sturdy just isn't worth it.

Just One of Those Days

2006-11-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Monday) was just one of those days for me (Jon). Not much specific, but just a lot of little things. Want to know why? I'll break it down for you.

1. It was Monday. (Inherently unpleasant.)
2. It was raining. I bought a new coat (cashmere/wool blend) and was uncertain of the care for it. As a result, I really wanted to wear my coat but had to be careful of getting it wet. The rain was therefore disappointing.
3. Because it was Monday and raining, many people drove instead of taking the bus.
4. Because many people drove, my bus ride which normally takes 10 minutes instead took 40 minutes. I was late for work.
5. Because I was late for work, I was locked out of the teachers room (a communal office) because they were all at their Monday staff meeting.
6. Monday and Tuesday I teach grade 9 students. The grade 9's wrote their exams last week. Most of the grade 9's still have a month of classes. How much do you care if you're finished your test but you still have classes? Yeah, about that much. My first class was miserable.
7. Monday is the busiest day of the week for me with 5 classes to teach. My co-teacher asked if she could move a class from Tuesday into my only spare in the morning. No big problem, but it means I taught 6 out of a possible 7 classes on Monday.
8. Lunch involved a fair amount of seafood. (I'm allergic to seafood, as a refresher.)
9. After lunch, I got a phone call asking me to go out and teach an English camp for a week. Right now. "Leave school, pack your stuff and come out to camp." Great news! I leave school (ten minutes before my only spare of the day was to start), change, half pack and...
10. I get another phone call. "It doesn't work for you to come to camp. Go back to school."
11. I go back to school. Now, I'm justifiably late and the bus goes like a speed demon. House to school in 20 minutes, including walking time. I have now spent my only free time going home and coming back to school.
12. Because of the wasted spare time, I am now behind in my work. I spend some time in the evening working and...the computer crashes. Our computer has this sucky habit of crashing whenever it feels like it's working too hard, and gee by golly, if it wasn't working too hard right then.

By that point, I figured that I had enough of the day. I went and joined Emily on the couch and figured it was finished. If I just sat on the couch, nothing else could happen to me. I experienced some real "God Joy" though since I didn't really get frustrated or angry at any point. I came close with the cancelled camp invitation, though. Instead, I felt a "joy without reason," in a day where almost everything seemed to be going wrong.

I'm still happy it's Tuesday.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had our first actual Thanksgiving in a home since 2004. We had a turkey dinner at church last year, but no turkey at home. This year, we remedied that. We spent Friday night at our friend's and then went over early Saturday morning and put the turkey in our other friend's oven. The other four people we were having Thanksgiving with all live within a block or two of each other so it meant we had easy access to everyone's apartments.

Turkeys are rare in Korea - most people have never eaten one. Suffice it to say that three foreigners walking down the street (which is enough of an attention getter) carrying a huge stuffed turkey in a pan (we washed and prepared it before transporting it) caused many people to stop in their tracks and stare as we went by. One lady in the elevator muttered something about "That doesn't look delicious..."

Anyway, it was in the oven at about 9:00 AM, and then we went back to the first apartment and just relaxed, watched a movie and hung out until about 1:00 or so. We went back to the turkey apartment only to discover that the oven had gone out! We had no idea when it would have gone out, so we relit the oven and tried again. About 45 minutes later, we checked the oven again - still on. 45 minutes later - turned off. We lit it again and decided it had one more chance. About 30 minutes later, it had gone out again.

So here we are - it's about 3:00 (we were planning on eating at 4:00) and the turkey is at least 3 hours behind schedule. Since we had no idea when the oven went out the first time, we had no idea how much longer we needed to cook the turkey. We had no meat thermometer as Koreans tend not to cook large chunks of meat at home. We were hungry, we were tired and we just wanted to eat some turkey. There was a vote at the end - salmonella or safety. Some of us didn't care whether the turkey was done or not while others reasoned that dry turkey was better than group sickness. However, majority and hunger prevailed and the turkey was pulled out around 7:30.

To cut a long story short, the turkey was done and we were finally ready to eat at around 8:30. We had the works - mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, turkey (obviously), homemade buns and apple pie. We ate quickly, we ate muchly and it was fantastic. I'd be willing to wager that a grander feast was never seen in that Korean apartment.

After dinner, we sat around and played some Bond on the N64, then some spoons (card game) and hung out for a bit. It was a really good time and there were (and still are) plenty of leftovers, which is the second best part of Thanksgiving dinner. It was a grand ol' time, had by one and all, and I was thankful that we were able to do what we did with the people we could.

(We have some pictures which we will post soon. Maybe.)

Take 35 of these and call me in the morning

2006-11-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

I (Jon) was struggling with a cold a few weeks ago. Since I needed to keep teaching, and our supply of western cold medicine is running low, I figured I'd hit a pharmacy. I wanted to avoid a hospital or a real doctor as they tend to give you a shot in the butt for any old reason and I prefer my butt unshot, thank you very much.

Pharmacies here are a little different than in Canada. The employees are trained (at least somewhat) how to give out medicine. The basic deal is this: doctors and pharmacists (apparently) had a fight a while back. Doctors would only give a prescription for about 3 days worth of medicine, making the patient come back every time they needed a refill. The doctors did this to make money off of each visit. The pharmacists got upset because people were only buying 3 days of medicine at a time. The retaliation?

"Don't have a prescription? That's okay! We'll hook you up with what you need."

What has evolved is a pharmacy that will give you pretty potent medication for a paltry price without a prescription. I picked up pills for a sore throat that contained morphine. No questions asked. Usually, it's $2 for a pack of 10-20.

But I digress, and digression is the seed of many things. I'm not sure what, but it reminds me of this story...

So one of the cold medicines I got came in a pack. The instructions were to take one pack with each meal. "Good enough," I thought, "I can do that." I get home, have a meal and open the pack, only to find...

One pack is about 35 little pills that smelled like something you give a pet rodent. Thus the title, thus my story.

The End.

Home Alone

2006-11-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I look like Macaulay Culkin (the kid from Home Alone 1 & 2, in case you don't recall). Many students have told me. Many different students from different classes and different grades and different schools. *Sigh...*

One teacher said I looked like Matt Damon. I'll go with that instead.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, Emily & I rented a car with our friends and drove to Daejeon (2 hours north) to hit a spa (naked communal bath) and Costco (not naked communal shopping heaven). It was really nice to drive instead of taking the train (though the train is phenomenal as well) and we were able to get more stuff.

More stuff, specifically, is a turkey. They're about $50 each, but we picked up one of the last remaining 3 turkeys, and were happy to do so. This Saturday, we'll do American Thanksgiving with two American and two Canadian friends of ours. We'll do it up right - stuffing, potatoes (sweet and original flavor), fresh made buns (Mom's recipe), gravy and the works. This'll be far more authentic than last years meal of slow-cooked chicken.

Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) has passed us by, as has Canadian Thanksgiving. But lo and behold if American Thanksgiving isn't high nigh upon us! One of the downsides of being an expat is that we miss all the holidays from home, but we celebrate the best you can. One of the upsides, though, is that you get to celebrate the best you can with everybody else's holidays from home.

Fortunately, there's Americans at church. What does that have to do with anything, you might ask? Well, if you asked, I might tell you. However, you didn't ask. How do I know you didn't ask? Because I'm smart. That's how I know. I'm smart.

I'll tell you anyway, though, and you're welcome to ask after the fact, should your heart be so inclined. Our pastor is an American fellow and so we get to have another turkey dinner at church the following Sunday. Yup, two genuine turkey dinners, the second being rounded out by such things as rice, kimchi and the like. Not too shabby, all things considered - two gin-u-wine turkey dinners in about 8 days. We're cooking a turkey for the church dinner, so somewhat of a fleshy "service fee" shall be deducted from the beast before we bring it to church.

Shh! Don't tell!

Anyway, a Happy Belated/Early Thanksgiving! Whatever country you're from and wherever you call home, may you know and appreciate the blessings that God has put in each one of our lives. A grateful heart never runs out of things to be thankful for.

Pictures

2006-11-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while, but here are some pictures from the wild and wonderful world of Korea! Due to a complete negligence in posting, a great many events have passed undocumented by this here blog. As such, the pictures shall be random and various in their variety and arbitrary order.

Here's a picture (obviously) of some of our church friends. Emily had to do a devotional for school so these are the people that volunteered their time to listen. Great people, them!
If you've ever considered leaving a fridge unplugged with the door closed for six months - don't. These pictures don't do the fridge justice - every dark spot is mold. Nasty, stinky, smelly, three hours of cleaning worth of mold. We actually switched fridges about a month after this picture was taken - our current fridge is huge, new and amazing.

The view from our apartment (one from each side - sorry the second one's not amazing). That's not smog in the first picture (just so you know), it's mist - Korea was famous for its misty mountains long before Middle Earth was.

Here's a picture from my sports day. Tug-of-war is done differently here on a sports day - two classes start at either end of a soccer field and run towards the middle where there are three ropes. You can choose how many people go to each rope, but you have to win two out of the three to win the match. It's really quite funny to watch. You will notice the grass field - incredibly rare for a school. It's normally sandy. Also, the picture is taken from the office. Basically everything you see (which is a soccer field) is all of the "playground" that they get. Land is expensive here - apparently if you "sold" Korea, you could "buy" six Canadas.

This is what a majority of shopping looks like in Korea - stands on wheels set up for the evening. They'll sell anything from puppies to jewelry to T-shirts and DVD's. It's my favorite kind of shopping since everything is dirt cheap and you don't have to go "in" to take a look at what they've got. This is a picture taken on our trip to Seoul with our friends Brooke & Ryan.
As long as we're being completely and utterly random, here's a picture from my birthday. We went out for shabu-shabu (an incredible meal of thinly shaved beef and a really tasty soup broth) with some friends. On the left, front to back, is Brooke, myself, Philippa and Carol (Brooke I worked with last year and Philippa and Carol I met this year). On the right, front to back, is Ryan, Emily, Jeong Eun, Mi Ok (two of my co-teachers) and Eun Gu (a friend from church). It was a good birthday, especially because there was good people to spend it with.

Across the street from our apartment, you can go hiking along a path for quite a distance. We've followed it 45 mintues in but no further as of yet. As you walk, you will come to three exercise areas where people actually do work out. Situps, parallel bar exercises and crazy looking hoola hoops are just a few of the calisthenical wonders that you'll experience.

Anyway, I'm not going to make any promises to post more regularly or anything like that. Check back every once in a while and hopefully there'll be something new when you do.

Update

2006-11-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

It may seem like a long time since we've sent out an e-mail. That would be because it has been a long time since we've sent out an e-mail. Things have been really good here so far this year and it's funny how things like e-mails and blog posts and whatnot can just fall by the wayside.

As Julie Andrews has taught us so well, when we're going to start somewhere we should probably start at the beginning. Since it seems like such a very good place to start, that's exactly where I shall begin.

Emily and I both arrived safely in Korea, I on August 22 and Emily on September 3. My job orientation went really well and I met a lot of really neat people. The sessions were useful and (generally) interesting, which I guess was a first. I hung out with a group of people from England and we played a lot of soccer and had an overall good time. The facilities were sufficient (not amazing, but apparently good enough to write home about) and the food was well thought out. It began with a lot of western style food and a little bit of Korean food and ended the 10 days with mostly Korean food and a little bit of western food, which should help with the cultural adjustment for the people new to the nation.

Emily arrived on my first day back in Gwangju (our city) and so we walked into our new apartment together for the first time. I'm glad that we were together - alone, that thing would have eaten us alive. The previous occupants had left a fair amount of "stuff" behind in their apartment and the moths/ants had taken leave to move in. It was a few days of cleaning and some new furniture, but now it looks smashing and we really enjoy it. It's a good size and it's in a great neighborhood.

I am teaching at two different middle schools (junior high) - Yong Bong and Buk Sung middle school, for those of you familiar with the area. They're a little far from home, but both schools are fantastic. The people I work with are amazing and I love the students. Their English level is certainly lower than the students I worked with last year, which presents a special challenge. However, they really are neat kids. I teach grade nines at my Monday/Tuesday school (Yong Bong) and 7 & 8's at my Wednesday/Thursday/Friday school (Buk Sung). I work with a total of seven different co-teachers and they're all gold.

Emily's been continuing her degree through IBOLT and that has been going well. She's been keeping busy with it and never ceases to amaze me with how disciplined and productive she is. On top of her full time studies, she also maintains the apartment and does most of the cooking. She's been enjoying her courses, which is good.

Church has been also going well. We've been back at the same church as last year, so it's good to be with all the people we know and love again. We haven't gotten involved as of yet, but we're likely to start doing something soon.

The weather here has been absolutely fantastic. Fall in Korea is gorgeous - weather in the mid 20's (Celsius), leaves turning brilliant shades of yellow, brown and red and the occasional rainfall. It's the best time of year here. As of today, the weather is still around 20 - 25 degrees in the day and about 1/2 of the trees have actually changed or lost their leaves.

My schedule has been blissfully erratic thus far. I've been working for about 9 weeks so far and have only had 3 five-day weeks. There's been sports days, exams, picnic days, school festivals, camps, singing competitions and other such things to liven up a regular schedule.

We also have our address and phone number ready and working. I got a cell phone (my first one ever!) so if you want any of that information, send an e-mail to either myself or Emily and we'll let you know.

To sum it up, this year is even better than last year was. We're really experiencing God's blessing here and we love it. We do love and miss our friends and family in Canada, but we're also making a life for ourselves here.

Please do drop a line sometime as it's always great to hear from people back home. An unfortunate part of my working during the days is the fact that I can only phone Canada on weekends due to the time difference - Canada is working while we're sleeping and I'm working while Canadians everywhere are enjoying their evening. Emily is home most of the time during the days, though, so feel free to phone anytime. Well, not anytime - do the mental math conversion of time zones and figure it out first. Then please do call! We are sixteen hours ahead now, with daylight savings time.

We love and miss all of you very much. God bless!

Jon

PS: We are perfectly safe here and feel no danger or threat from anything happening on the northern side of the Korean border. Rest assured!

A reminder of why we do what we do

2006-11-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I know many of you have probably already seen this video, but I thought I would post it here. This reminds me of the incredible adventure of travelling and encourages me to keep doing what we are doing here in Korea. Jon and I are excited to travel this winter to see more of God's incredible world.

This movie was created by a guy named Matt who had a passion for travelling. He was sponsored by a chewing gum company to take a 6 month journey around the world. All of the pictures are real! Enjoy, and let it remind you of all that this world has to offer!

You can read more of Matt's story at www.wherethehellismatt.com

Love, Emily

Korean Snacks

2006-10-23T20:46:00.000-06:00

Here's some of snacks that Emily and I have encountered over the past 14 months (has it been that long already?) in Korea.

Available From A Cart on the Street:
Baked sweet potato (no butter, sour cream, etc. - just peel & eat with your hands)
Various dried seafood (including, but not limited to, squid, octopus and cuttlefish)
Fruit on a stick (pineapple, honeydew melon, strawberries dipped in melted sugar and covered in sprinkles)
Nut Cakes (Small sweet cakes with a variety of nuts available: peanut, walnut, chestnut)
Cotton Candy
Ice Cream
Silk Worms (always bubbling hot, ready for your enjoyment!)
Some sort of little hermit-crab type shellfish (like Spitz - just suck out the guts and spit out the shell!)
Waffles/Pancakes (the pancakes are stuffed with honey & peanuts and taste, strangely enough, exactly like cinnamon buns)

Other Snacks:
Cuttlefish Peanut Chips
Shrimp chips (like shrimp flavored puffed rice)
Dried corn
Chestnuts
Roasted potatoes with salt
Duk (Not like quack-quack duck, but a sticky rice cake)
Ramen noodles (like Ichiban noodles - they're everywhere!)

All in all, Korean snacks tend to lean more towards salty, healthy and vegetable-esque. Basically, Korean snacks are real food instead of processed forms of non-food (eg. chocolate bars, candy, pop, chips, etc.). It's all very admirably healthy and certanly unsatisfying.

Bargain Basement Medicine

2006-10-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

I (Jon) have officially completed my first visit to a Korean hospital. Nothing was seriously wrong (I rolled my ankle playing soccer) but I figured it'd be best to go and see a doctor and get some X-Ray's, just in case. To make a long story short, I was admitted, saw the orthopedic surgeon (specialist fellow), got X-Rays, a follow up visit with the doc, discharged and picked up my medicine in less than an hour. The cost (including the prescription medication and the tensor bandage)? $17. Not too shabby.

A private medical system can be wonderfully efficient. Yes, yes, I know, slippery slope and all that. However, for those that do not have to visit the hospital very often, a cheap and efficient medial system can be a refreshing change from the emergency room in Canada.

An interesting aspect of Korean culture is that people go to the hospital for EVERYTHING it seems. If you are ever sick, you go to the hospital, especially if you are going to miss something due to said illness (school, work, appointment, etc.). It was shocking the first few times I asked a student "What did you do yesterday?" and they replied "I went to the hospital." It essentially means they went to the doctor, but it's a lot more extreme when you say "hospital."

In addition, once you've been to the hospital, many people continue on with their day. In Canada, if you are feeling sick with a cold or flu, you stay home and rest/feel better. That way, you get recover quickly and you don't get anyone else sick. However, many Korean people will come to work/school sick as a dog and proceed to spread it around. Generous? Yes. Appreciated? Not necessarily.

End of the Sports Day

2006-10-12T22:38:00.000-06:00

The sports day has drawn to a close. The students have run, dodged, pulled and cheered (that was the girls/non-athletic boys part) and they have received their due. I did my share by not embarrassing all of Canada in a soccer game. Was I great? No. Did I suck as bad as everyone was assuming I was going to? No.

Be proud, Canada, be very proud.

Foreigners in Korea

2006-10-11T20:07:00.000-06:00

When you move to another culture (or even just interact with that culture on a regular basis), you will be sure to experience friction due to the conflicting worldviews. This is just part of life and it's called culture shock. Everyone will go through it to some extent or another and different things will affect how well you overcome it.

Many people here in Korea have adjusted well. In Korea, things are done differently from Canada, which makes sense - Korea is Canada. Some people, especially a certain nationality, can not seem to grasp this concept. When moving to Korea, expect Korea. It's not wise or considerate to expect things your way or wonder why "they don't just learn English."

I read a quote about it on the internet the other day from the Government of Canada website on teaching English in Korea. Here it is:

"There are many foreigners in Korea who came and stayed; they have carved out their own niche in Korea and want to remain for a long time. Many others, however, eventually reach the point where they feel it is time to leave. With luck, you will realize this before it affects your life too profoundly. It is time to leave when you begin to be negative about the country and its people. When you no longer want to go to work, dislike your students, become irritated with everything and everyone and have angry discussions with others of like mind, it is time to go."

The same is true of Canadians in Canada. Don't like where you're at? Leave. As the saying goes, love it or leave it.

Sports Day

2006-10-11T19:44:00.000-06:00

Today and tomorrow are sports days. This is the Korean version of the Track & Field day that all of us loved so much during elementary school. Essentially (to my understanding), it is a two day competition in which you compete in various sports (dodgeball, soccer, etc.). If you win, you continue. If you lose first thing in the morning on the first day, you are out and you get to watch everyone else play for the rest of the time.

Oh, and if you're a girl, don't worry about it. Girls can't play soccer anyway so they just sit and watch.

To translate this into relevance for me, I'm entertaining myself for the next two days. No classes, no duties (beyond the normal stuff, which is just about finished two hours into the first day) and nothing but free time.

Look for a few posts in the next couple of days!

Classroom Tales

2006-10-11T01:29:00.000-06:00

Due to a relative lack of posting during the early days of my public school educational career (as a teacher, not a student), I shall occasionally blissfully recount some of the entertaining escapades that followed me on my journey.

I (apparently) am extremely hot stuff. Well, not anymore, but when I first arrived at my two schools, girls would wait for me outside the cafeteria just to watch me leave. The interest has diminished considerably since then, but I still receive calls of "Oh, handsome guy!", "Beautiful!" and "I love you!" from both female and male students. Not too bad of a way to start off a new job.

And now for something completely different... Our cheese was stolen. 2 kilograms of good ol' cheddar, gone. Right from our fridge. Strange, you think? There just so happens to be a perfectly logical explanation. Really.

Finally, I (Jon) will be appearing on the Korean version of American Idol. Seriously. Only it's not country wide, it's just our city. It's also just elementary school students competing. In English. So really, it's an English song contest for half of the city's elementary school students and I am one of the judges.

So I still get to be Simon Cowell.

Home Again, Naturally

2006-10-09T17:48:00.000-06:00

Emily and I returned from our week long holiday on Sunday. We went to Seoul for Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) which was a six day holiday this year. Not too shabby! We had a good time going to a bunch of different restaurants and markets. Some friends of ours came and joined us on Thursday (we left Monday) and we spent a couple of days together. It was a grand ol' time!

As a sidenote, everyone here in South Korea (that we know) is fine. The nuclear test in the north has yet to affect us and (in all reality) they're not really aiming at us. It's quite interesting to be here in South Korea for this whole season of international politics. Emily and I have really seen a different side of things than is presented in North America. Basically, North Korea isn't as bad as they're made out to be (not saying that they're normal, just that they're not as bad) and America has a different international reputation than it portrays at home.

It's interesting to watch, to say the least.

Anyway, things are good and we're doing well. That's it for now!

A New Routine, or "Newtine"

2006-09-24T22:43:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since the last post, but rest assured that we are in Korea and are doing well. I (Jon) have sat down on a number of occasions and composed a new post. However, since the internet browser was in Korean, I would accidently delete it. You only have to do that a couple of times before you stop. I just got the browser at one of my schools into English and so my dedication is renewed. I also have my lessons planned until Friday, so I'm doing well.

Anyway, some quick things: Our apartment is clean and furnished. We got a good deal on the furniture and now only need a bed, which should soon be coming. We live far from where we did last year but are in a great neighborhood, close to everything we need and want.

We're getting settled into our respective roles, (me teacher, Emily student) and are enjoying having evenings free. Even though I'm gone longer in the days, we do more than we did when I worked in the evenings. I have wonderful co-workers and most of the students are really good. Not all of them, but a percentage high enough to see God's blessing in where I am.

We will have a phone and the internet in our apartment by the end of the week as well as cell phones. We were going to go to Thailand next week (we've got a six day holiday for Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving) but someone had to go and have a military coup. Honestly, couldn't it have waited three weeks? Anyway, it's for the best it didn't work out. Instead, we're going to Seoul for the same time with some friends and just going to spend some time in that city (about 14 million people there and a thing or two to do).

That's about all new for now. The updates will be coming more often now and so please do stay tuned. We love to hear from all of you so please drop a line when you get the chance.

A box of chocolates

2006-09-06T19:23:00.000-06:00

And so life has been so far this time in Korea - we're never quite sure what's going to happen from one day to the next.

The second year in Korea has begun in smashing fashion. Orientation went well for me (Jon) and I met some really great people. I really enjoyed experiencing all the different cultures and dorm life for the first time. (Not everything was pleasant, but it was still wholely enjoyable.)

Emily arrived last Thursday safe and sound and we reconnected on Friday in Gwangju. We went to our apartment where, lo and behold, the previous occupants had left six months prior to our arrival. What exactly would this entail?

For one, they left the apartment strangely half full. Couch, bed, bookshelf, desk, dishes, dresser? Not at all! Digital camera, laptop, shoes, toothbrushes, dictaphone, garbage, boxes, clothing and bedding? Absolutely! Why wouldn’t you do that if you had to head back to America in a hurry?

The worst things by far have been twofold. Firstly, the fridge was unplugged but left closed for six months. Difficulty imagining what that would look like? We'll post pictures in a couple of days.

Secondly, the lack of human occupants in the apartment apparently communicated somehow to dozens of mini-moths that they were welcome to come in. We found worms, cocoons and moths all over the place. We’ve been killing them as we find them and they’re getting fewer and fewer. Hopefully the destruction will soon be complete.

Other than that, the apartment is a large two bedroom with three balconies. We’ve got good surroundings (5 minutes walking from 3 grocery stores) but we’re far from the rest of the city, such as downtown and our friends. Last year we lived south central, this year we live so far north we can see the end of the city from all of our balconies.

At this moment, I sit in my second of two schools that I’ll be teaching at this year. I teach 21 – 45 minute classes per week, which isn’t too bad. The rest of the time I have to be at the school, but I don’t really have to do anything constructive. I’m here doing a blog while the teacher behind me (all the teachers’ desks are in the same room) is sleeping and the one beside me is surfing the internet. I’m seriously considering taking my masters degree during working hours. Why not?

Anyway, we really enjoyed our time in Canada and it absolutely flew by. It’s hard to believe we were there for 7 weeks. I think our time here will be good and that it’ll go quickly. Emily has been keeping busy cleaning the apartment and unpacking as we slowly make room for stuff to be unpacked into. She starts her IBOLT (online degree) in about 10 days here so she’ll be right busy with that and her other commintments throughout the week.

We’d love to hear from all of you that keep up on our blog. At this moment, we have neither phone or internet in our apartment (you need your alien residency card to get those and I’ll have that in about another 2 weeks or so) so there’s really no way to get direclty ahold of us. Feel free to e-mail us and we’ll reply when we’re near the internet (which is during work for me). We’ll pass along contact information when we get it.

That’s it for now! Adios.

I've arrived!

2006-08-22T21:30:00.000-06:00

So I (Jon) have made it back to Korea. As such, the blog shall continue. My time in Canada was great, involving lots of good people and good food. It went incredibly quickly and I can hardly believe I'm back in Korea.

I arrived at the University for a 10 day orientation Tuesday night at about 12:30 AM after a very long day of travelling. I've already met a ton of people and it's going well so far. The program looks relatively interesting and there's lots of time to get to know people.

So far, I've learned a bunch of new words. Korean? No, no, no... English. But not like English language English, England English. My roommate (a good all around guy) is English and we've been playing some "football" (soccer) on the "pitch" (field) near our dorm.

We actually had a big game of foreign teachers against the Korean high school students that were around today so I'm totally "knackered" (very tired). I find myself slipping into various accents, depending who I'm talking to. English, Irish, New Zealand-ish, American, Australian and Korean are all here so it's a beautiful mix of people. God really did do it the best when he created people.

It's really good to be back in Korea. I can totally see how God has had His hand in so much of this. I'm really excited for this year and there's a bunch of good stuff that's going to happen, I'm sure. I'm hoping to keep up with some of the people I've met over the next year.

To sum up, life in Korea is good. Emily is hoping to get here by Thursday but the flights may not work. If they don't work, she'll be here next Thursday.

"Cheers!" (Talk to you later)

We Come Home Today!

2006-07-02T09:31:00.000-06:00

Alberta Bound
By Paul Brandt
Sign said 40 miles to Canada
My truck tore across Montana
Ian Tyson sang a lonesome lullaby
And so I cranked up the radio
Cause there's just a little more to go
For I'd cross the border at that Sweet Grass sign

I'm Alberta Bound
This piece of heaven that I've found
Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground
Everything I need beneath that big blue sky
Doesn't matter where I go
This place will always be my home
Yeah I've been Alberta Bound for all my life
And I'll be Alberta Bound until I die

It's a pride that's been passed down to me
Deep as coal mines, wide as farmer's fields
Yeah, I've got independence in my veins
Maybe it's my down-home redneck roots
Or these dusty 'ol Alberta boots
But like a Chinook wind keeps coming back again

Korea vs. France

2006-06-26T09:32:00.000-06:00

So Korea is out of the World Cup. A draw with France set the stage and their loss to Switzerland sealed the deal. One of the goals by Switzerland was (apparently) scored offside, but they ended up losing 2 - 0 so it doesn't really matter. There's a great deal of discussion as to how the CEO (or whatever) of FIFA is Swiss, causing the officiating to become somewhat less than objective. Ah well, it's over now.

We went to watch the Korea vs. France game. We went to Chonnam University again with some friends and arrived at 1:30 AM in order to secure seats on the road for the 4:00 AM start. It was packed, though not as busy as for Korea vs. Togo.

They gave out sparklers for everyone to light at the opening kickoff. It was pretty neat but kinda creepy with all the sparks flying everywhere. We were sitting in a parking lot with a big screen set up and a projector showing the game. We were actually watching everything in reverse as we were sitting behind the screen.

People were sitting anywhere they could to see the screen. I'm not sure what this building is, but it was in the parking lot right beside where we were sitting. More and more people kept going up on the roof all night.

This is on top of a "That'll be $5, please" booth.

Us with our friends. If you go to a Korean soccer game, you have to wear red. Korea is called the Red Devils, which comes from a soccer game in Mexico (I guess) where Korea ran so fast that people said that they looked like red ghosts. The word "ghost" got changed and the Red Devils came to be.

Our Day of Mountains

2006-06-25T10:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (Saturday) we went on a day trip with our friends, the Porters, and a teacher from the school, Brooke. We went to this little temple nestled up in the mountains that was over 1300 years old. We also stood on a mountain peak at the southernmost end of Korea. We also stood on a mountain that you could see the east & west coasts of Korea from.

It has to have been some of the most incredible natural and ancient beauty that I've seen. Here's some pictures, but they won't do justice to anything that we saw.

The mountain that you can see both coasts from.

This is the temple in the mountain. It's really only about 3 meters by 3 meters in size. It's really small but really beautiful and it has a great view.

Here is where we went.

Brooke, Emily and Ivory on a bridge at this other temple we went to.

This is at the same temple as the bridge picture. If you count three rows from the front and five back, that's Buddha. Four over and seven back is Buddha too. Nine over and six back? Buddha. And the one that's thirteen over and seventeen back is Buddha too. There's actually 979 Buddhas here. That's a lotta Buddha.

Shoes aren't as easy as they look

2006-06-23T10:24:00.000-06:00

Everybody has their rough days. Today (Friday) was test day for me (Jon) at the school. Emily comes in every Friday to help out with the tests. I see the kids on an alternating weekly basis and so this was my last day with this set of kids. I really love teaching at this school and I really love the kids so it was a little sad for me. I also had yet to print off any of my tests which can make for a stressful time if there is a lineup at the photocopier at the school.

Anyway, we were a little rushed getting out of the door and I had to change my insoles in my shoes. I saw my grubby running shoes (we had gone to the gym previously) and decided I couldn't get away with wearing them so I took out the insole, put it in the other shoe and then put that shoe on. I put on my other shoe and went to school.

As I was sitting down during the speaking tests, I started to cross my legs when, lo and behold, I noticed my grubby running shoes. I was instantly confused as I had thought that I decided not to wear running shoes. I checked my other foot, and the truth became shockingly clear.

I had on two different shoes.

Who does that? People wear different socks, yes. Clashing shirt and tie? Okay. Different shoes, unintentionally? I haven't seen it. But my students did. And people on the bus did. And people at the supermarket did. I told my students it was for good luck for Korea as they play Switzerland this morning at 4:00 AM for the World Cup. They believed me, but I still felt stupid.

So next time you're in a rush and you can't decide which shoes to wear, double check on your way out the door that you actually made up your mind.

On a different note, here's a couple of pictures of my grade 5 class. It's an energetic class full of good kids and the pictures turned out really well, so I'm glad. Of all the things we've experienced here, I think that my students will remain among the best parts of Korea. (Most days.)

The girls. Sweeter than honey and some of the neatest kids you'll ever meet.

The boys. A rowdy bunch but really good kids that make you remember what it's like to find fun and energy in anything.

Nobel Peace Conference

2006-06-17T10:32:00.000-06:00

We went to the Nobel Peace Laureates Conference yesterday and today. We were only planning on going to one session yesterday but it was so interesting that we decided to come back for a second helping. There was also a luncheon that you could have gone to but you had to have registered ahead of time and we, assuming it would be more boring than it was, did not.

Long story short, there was an uprising in Gwangju in 1980 where the citizens rebelled against an unjust government, took control of the city and then were crushed (killed, slaughtered, etc.) by the army 9 days later. It's called the May 18 uprising and really sparked a movement towards a truly democratic and free South Korea. The conference was to commemorate that and a conference that happened in 2000 between South & North Korea.

There were a ton of interesting speakers and they gave you a bunch of free stuff. I (Jon) was struck by how humble and "normal" looking the laureates all were. In the one session, there were reserved seats in front of where we were sitting. A bunch of people came and sat in them and I was wondering what made them so special. It was a lady that looked like a librarian, a business man type fellow, a lady that looked like she could have been a janitor and another lady that just looked like she was there for the heck of it. (One fellow actually took Emily's conference bag by accident. We thought it had our camera in it so I ran after him to get it back. He didn't have our camera but he did take her Kleenex.)

As it turns out, all of them had won Nobel Peace prizes. It's amazing how much of a difference one person really can make.

Anyway, here's some pictures!

Registration. If you look carefully, there are four lineups: Family names starting from A - J, then K, then L, then M - Z. I was confused until I remembered that nearly 50% of Koreans have the family name Lee, Kim or Park.

Here are some of the speakers. These are the people that have won the prizes as well as people representing organizations that have won peace prizes (eg. Amnesty International, International Red Cross, etc.) The fifth from the right is Mikhail Gorbachev. Sixth from the right is Kim Dae Jung, the former president of South Korea (the conference center where this was held is named after him).

Video of the reaction of the crowd when Korea scored!

2006-06-15T06:08:00.000-06:00

Tae-Han-Min-Geuk!

2006-06-14T23:11:00.000-06:00

Tae-Han-Min-Geuk, is the official name of South Korea and a popular cheer that we heard many times on Tuesday night at the soccer game, the story follows:

So we went to watch the soccer game at a local university on Tuesday night. It was crazy! I (Emily) arrived at about 7:30 to try and meet some friends. I found them but it was impossible to stay with them and wait for Jon at the same time, so they left and I got a spot to watch the action. The university had a giant stage set up with some local bands playing which were pretty good. The area kept getting more and more crowded with people, all wearing red shirts and many scarves, flags and devil horns. (The Korean cheering people are known as "red devils" - hence the horns)

Jon and his coworker Brooke arrived at about 10:45PM because it was impossible to get a taxi and the crowds were so large they couldn't get to where I was. Finally we all found each other and watched the game on a giant screen. The game was awesome and Korea won which was so cool! The fans were so enthusiastic, they all know these cheers that they would yell in unison. And when Korea scored they would all stand up and dance and shout. It was a crazy night! We will never forget it!

Here are some pictures of the excitement!

World Cup Fever

2006-06-12T11:06:00.000-06:00

South Korea has got it bad. It's really fun to watch everyone getting ready for the World Cup. Korea's first game is tomorrow at 10:00 PM and my last class of the day is cancelled so that everyone (students and teachers alike) can get to a TV in time to see the game. Emily and I, along with some of the other teachers from our school, are planning on going to the World Cup Stadium (from 2002) to watch the game on a big screen along with several thousand other Koreans.

If it works out, we'll post pictures, of which there should be some good ones. It should be a grand ol' time.

Go Korea!

Our Anniversary

2006-06-11T09:25:00.000-06:00

So tomorrow (our time) is our second anniversary. It's been two wonderful years that I've been married to my wonderful wife. Since both Emily & I are busy tomorrow, we decided to celebrate our anniversary tonight. Emily gave me a blender, which I was incredibly excited for. I've been dying for things to blend, so no fruit is safe.

We had strawberry-banana smoothies for breakfast (a great little blender it is!) and listened to the hockey game on the internet. Go Oilers! We then went to church (45 mintues late because of the hockey game) and then went to Dunkin' Donuts for a snack. We had to go back to the church for a prayer meeting thing and then we went to Burger King and then to a movie. After that, we went to a video arcade, came home (another smoothie, of course), played canasta and called it a night.

All in all, a most enjoyable and unorthodox anniversary.

Mikhail Gorbachev, The Dalai Lama & Jimmy Carter

2006-06-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

What do these people have in common? Yes, the answer is obvious. They're all Nobel Peace Laureates! These people have done great works in our world toward the betterment of human existance across the globe.

And they're coming to Gwangju.

Yes, Emily and I received our tickets in the mail today. We are going to get to see some Nobel Laureates give speeches on different topics next week. It should be most interesting. We're not actually sure who is going to be there - hopefully all of the above people and then some, but perhaps not. There's been political problems with the Dalai Lama's visa. Apparently China would get upset if South Korea granted him a visa, so he may not be coming.

Regardless, it should be a good time. Whoever it ends up being there, we'll tell them you say hello.

A Great Picture

2006-06-05T11:57:00.000-06:00

Emily and I went on a cultural tour this past weekend to a folk village in Nagan. There are 85 families that actually live in this village in a (relatively) traditional manner. We did see the occasional satellite dish, motorbike and air conditioning unit, but most other things were quite traditional.

This fellow here possesses one of Korea's "Intangible Cultural Assets" (everything is numbered and catalogued here) since he is really skilled at making things with straw. Notice also the skinship at work.

12

2006-06-02T09:14:00.000-06:00

The number of garlic cloves that Emily and I ate with supper tonight. Each.

Konglish

2006-05-29T09:40:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-23T11:08:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-22T09:29:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-20T09:45:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-19T09:23:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-09T03:39:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-01T21:08:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-01T08:47:00.000-06:00

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.

What to eat, what to eat...

2006-04-27T10:27:00.000-06:00

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.

Old ladies and umbrellas

2006-04-26T04:19:00.000-06:00

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!

Public Humiliation

2006-04-24T09:16:00.000-06:00

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.

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.

Seoul Fashion Mart

2006-04-23T09:58:00.000-06:00

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."

Coming Home!

2006-04-12T11:01:00.000-06:00

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!

Who knew?

2006-04-07T20:44:00.000-06:00

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.

Test Time

2006-04-07T20:28:00.000-06:00

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.

Things that are cheap in Korea

2006-04-05T12:13:00.000-06:00

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

April Fools

2006-04-04T08:57:00.000-06:00

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.

Ponderables

2006-04-03T09:50:00.000-06:00

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.)

Have you ever eaten live octopus?

2006-03-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

I (Jon) haven't. I have recently confirmed that I am indeed allergic to seafood. Not severely, mind you, but enough to encourge my abstaining from sea dwelling creatures. Should the occasion arise where my allergies have finally stepped aside, I perhaps will one day try the Korean delicacy of octopus.

Koreans generally serve octopus three ways: boiled, raw and alive. I did try octopus once (I think it may have been raw) when I was still not sure about the allergy. Boiled - well, boiled octopus isn't really anything too special or spectacular.

Apparently the live octopus is a little dangerous. The octopus doesn't want to be eaten and so it will fight you, sometimes to the death. True story. Some people have died trying to eat live octopus because it has suctioned onto their faces and they have suffocated.

Other people, if they did not chew a tentacle well enough, would be later suprised to find that it had crawled out of their stomach and is now poking out their nose.

More mild forms of discomfort while eating live octopus may include (but are probably not limited to) suction cupped lips, teeth, tongue and cheeks. Remember - this fellow is alive and does not want to be swallowed. The legs are also smart enough to fight back without being attached to the head.

Rule of thumb when eating live octopus: chew well and chew fast.

Best of luck!

Phone cards, Filipinos and Hand Shakes

2006-03-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

So Emily and I have taken to going to a Korean sauna every Sunday after church. (See previous blog posts for more detailed information.) Long story short, it's a good place to relax and just feel like you're "getting away from it all" in the middle of the city.

This past Sunday we went there after church and before supper with a friend. We sat on the heated floor (so nice!) and did our Korean homework. We're both in Korean lessons right now and it's really doing us a world of good - we're learning a great deal, though it is a challenging language.

While we were doing our homework, a man came up to us and started talking to us. (As an aside, Koreans have far more phyiscal contact with their average fellow human being than Canadians do. When you shake hands, you will likely end up holding the handshake, or holding hands, for a large part of the conversation.) Though strangers approacing us is not unusual, this man was not talking like any stranger. We knew him from somewhere, and he knew us. We figured out that he was the man that sells us our phone cards ($16 for about 6 hours to Canada - good deal) and he bought us a traditional Korean drink (sweet rice water) and gave us some discount coupons for the sauna. A very nice gesture for a near stranger.

Anyway, we thanked him and went our seperate ways. Emily and I finished our homework and went up to shower and meet our friend for suppper. (The showers are the naked part, as a reminder.)

I was sitting in the hot pool, just enjoying myself and ignoring everyone else when, lo and behold, the phone card guy comes and sits beside me and starts talking to me! Now, this is pushing my comfort barrier, though I feel as though I at least owe him the common courtesy of talking to him, which I did.

Then it gets worse. Another foreigner (this time from the Philippines) came and joined our conversation. I had not yet met this fellow, so he introduced himself and we shook hands. The downside, though, is that the Korean fellow asked the Filipino fellow a question as the Filipino and I began our handshake.

And so it happened - the longest handshake in the history of mankind. As we are holding our handshake (naked), the conversation happens. I'm about to be late, I'm not comfortable and I need to finish showering. Really, what better time is there to talk?

Eventually, the handshake ended and the evening went on. The rest of the evening was thankfully clothed and handshake free.

Picture Update

2006-03-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

It was great to see the Jackson's smiling faces. This is them in the airport as Emily picked them up. They have since come and gone (our computer was dead for a majority of that time, hence no related postings) but here's some reminiscing for all y'all that weren't here for it.

This is a picture of us at a temple on Mudeung Mountain, the most popular mountian in Gwangju. It was cold that day, but (apparently) spring comes in March in some places in the world. This is one of those places. It's like heaven, where winter is less a way of life than it is a season.

If you go to the market, you can see buckets of pigs heads. I think that's noodles on the one. You can see the nose and ear of another in the bottom right corner. Some people think it's a little gross. I, however, see the upside. If the head is outside the restaurant, it can't be served inside.

Costco has pretty much every thing here, including fresh fish. This was probably in the ocean mere hours previous to this picture.

Us mere minutes before the Gyro Drop at Lotte World, the world's largest indoor amusement park. (We're outside here - it has an outside component.)
The Gyro Drop. It's a 70 meter free fall, so it'll get your blood going. Lotte World was really fun, but someone died on one of the roller coaster about two weeks after we were there. That is one of those things that is better to know after you leave.

Shabu shabu, quite possibly one of the most delicious meals in existence. Spicy broth, vegetables, shaved beef, noodles and fried rice to finish it off. It's an amazing three course meal for 10 bucks a person.

Shabu shabu again. Seriously, try it if you get the chance. Unless it's not good shabu shabu. Bad shabu shabu should not be done.

Anyway, that's a small taste of the Jackson's visit to Korea. More will come later - we don't want to overwhelm you!

Life in Korea

2006-03-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

When you ask someone how their life has been, people will often give short, non-detailed answers. "Fine" or "Good" seem to be about standard fare. I think that people often think that their life is less interesting than other people. (Of course, there is the exception to that, but those people are often full of themselves, and who wants to talk to them anyway?)

So, here's an update on what has become boring and everyday to us, but maybe it'll be more interesting to you.

My (Jon's) school is still going well. My classroom is on the third floor, which I normally really enjoy. It's got less children traffic, less noise, it's warmer in the winter but hotter in the summer (though fewer mosquitoes), and I all-round just enjoy it. However, I've discovered a new favorite thing: going downstairs to the first floor at about 5:50. That's after the first class (right now I'm teaching from 5:00 - 9:00 one week and until 10:00 the next) and it's when all the grade 4 & 5 students are coming and going. If I go downstairs at that time, I'm greeted with a chorus of "Hi teacher!", "Mr. Jon, hello!" "Teacher Jon, hi!" and so on. It's a lot of fun.

Emily and I have started up Korean classes again. We each go twice a week, though on different days. Emily is in the intermediate, and it's going well, though difficult. I am taking Beginner 2, and I can keep up enough, if my partner and I work together to make sure both of us are understanding. Korean is a beautiful language, though difficult to learn. Everything has to do with the suffixes. Apparently it doesn't happen accidentally.

Church is going well, also. We are making good friends and we're really starting to fit in. We love the preaching and it's a great place to spend time in God's presence with other Christians.

After church is our Bible study groups, which lasts until four (blech!), but then Emily and I have taken to going to the sauna (in Korean, 짐찔방, I think. That may not come up on your computer, depending on the fonts you've got installed.) It's really relaxing and a great way to just end the weekend and start the week.

Right now we are in the midst of trying to figure out what we're going to do for the next five or so years. Both of us want to go back to school and (money wise), Korea is the perfect place to do that. We do need to find schools that will be good enough to accomodate our particular needs (Emily's got a good thing with the IBOLT option, but I'm not so lucky).

Our computer has been broken as of late, but we should have it back from the service center by tomorrow. Apparently, it was just too full of dust, so it was overheating and shutting down. It was incredibly frustrating, let me tell you, but it's good to have it all fixed up. It is really dusty here - if you sweep your floor one day, it will likely need to be swept within hours. Nobody knows where this dust comes from, but it is everywhere.

Having Emily's parents here was really nice. It helped to open up the wonder of Korea once again. After enough frustrating and embarrassing experiences (which we have had enough of over the past 8 months), you can sometimes just give up on shopping or trying new things. Having the Jacksons, though, helped us to try some new things. We had a grand ol' time together and it made us really miss Canada.

Right now Emily and I are in a PC room - an internet cafe where you pay about $1 an hour (it's an expensive one) to use computers and play all sorts of online games. StarCraft is among the most popular, with a national league and people that earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to play this computer game professionally.

Well, that was a long and essentially uneventful blog post. Life in itself is often interesting, though, which is something we are learning.

I thought that this was a fitting clip for our experience!

2006-03-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

GJ Video and GJPix

If you can't go to China, China will come to you!

2006-03-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

Being in part of Asia makes you want to see the rest of Asia. Jon and I would love to travel to Thailand, The Phillipines, Malaysia, Japan and China. But if we never get the chance to go to China, apparently this weekend a little bit of China will be coming to us.

As one of Jon's students informed us yesterday, this weekend the yellow dust is coming. Oh no, not the yellow dust!!!! Brought in on a lovely wind all the way from the Gobi desert, Chinese sand will soon clog our lungs, give us rashes, scratch our eyes and cover our furniture in enough dust to write our names in.

This phenomenon apparently happens each March as the sand in the Gobi desert dries up and the winds blow a certain way. We haven't seen evidence of it yet but it sounds pretty cool in a "I hope I can breathe tomorrow" kind of way. :)

We have been instructed to wash our faces whenever we come in from outside and to wear masks and long sleeves. We are also supposed to avoid excessive sweating and harsh skin cleansers. I think the whole thing is kind of cool personally, how many people can say that they have been attacked by yellow dust from China?!?!?!?

When the giant clouds of yellow dust appear on the horizon I will let you know, but for now I will breathe easilly albeit perhaps for a short time!

Finally, some justice

2006-03-03T00:27:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, Emily and I went to a sauna with her parents. It's essentially a giant hang out room with different hot saunas (temperatures from -13 to +70 degrees celcius), tv & movie rooms, a computer room, cafe and a bunch of relaxing chairs and stuff. Basically, you can just go and hang out. It's really nice.

When you pay your five dollars to get in, they give you a uniform (clay-brown for the girls and white for the guys) and the girls also get two towels each. At first, I was a little upset. Why do the girls always get better bathroom treatment?

Finally, some justice.

The girls were given two towels because that was all they get for the day. The guys have unlimited access to as many towels and face cloths as you wish. The girls will often have no face lotions, hair gel, etc. whereas the guys have it in abundance.

This is the first time where the guy's bathroom is finally better than the girls.

Things That Make Sense

2006-02-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Having been here eight months now, Emily and I have noticed some things in Korea that just make sense. Take a gander and see we can make anything catch on in Canada.

The bathrooms have tile on the floor, walls & ceiling. That way, it doesn't matter how wet the floor gets. There's also a drain in the floor, so you can just spray down the bathroom with the telephone shower when it's time to clean.

When you go to a restaurant, you get amazing service and they don't expect you to tip. They do a good job because they want to serve you and not for the money. As a sidenote: when they throw in something for free at a restaurant or a store (which they often do), it's called "Service." In Korea, service means free and is free.

You buy a card for the bus that you put a balance on and then use instead of money. There's an electronic sensor that beeps everytime you get on the bus. It can read through your purse or wallet, so you don't even have to take it out. You also get a discounted fare when you use the card.

When you drive, you go when you can and park where there's space. Everyone has their cell phone number on their dashboard, so if you have been blocked in, just phone the person and they'll come move their car.

If you do something stupid and get hurt, it's your fault. You can't sue someone else for your mistake. (Well, it feels like that, anyway.)

There seems to be more trust, integrity and common sense here. When you pay for a hotel room, you don't get a receipt. When you make a reservation, you don't give a credit card number. There are even some small towns that have convenience stores that run on the honor system.

You have a PIN number for your Credit Card.

You have assigned seating at movie theaters.

You take a number at the bank and then sit in nice chairs until your number is called - no line-ups!

A pair of reading glasses, including an eye exam and coated lenses, is about 50 bucks.

Income tax is 4%.

Everyone carries mounds of cash without the fear of being robbed.

You can walk around at any time of night and still feel safe.

Kids eat far less sugar, and you can tell. The twos don't have to be terrible. I (Jon) can pick out the students that eat the traditional rice & kimchi for breakfast and the kids that had chocolate frosted sugar bombs.

Most places don't open until 10:00 AM. Who wants to be up earlier than that, anyway?

Public transportation that is cheap and efficient. Your average taxi ride is $4. City buses cost 80 cents. You can get on the train, first class, and go across the country for about $45. You can take the bus across the country for $28.

Income tax is 4%. (That one is worth two. After income tax, pension and health care, Emily and I take home about 92% of our total income.)

Utilities cost $150. Total. For everything. Put together. Heat, water, electricity, garbage, cable, internet, and apartment fees.

Happy Valentines Day

2006-02-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

Emily and I had a wonderful Valentines day celebration. I picked Emily up a dozen yellow roses at one of the flower stores that I pass on my way home from work, and they have turned out to be beautiful. She bought me some chocolates and some wonderful green tea. We then went out to TGI Fridays (an Maxwell Taylor's/Red Robin's type restaurant) where we had steak and ribs.

For those of you fellows that forgot and/or didn't do anything for Valentines Day and you need an excuse, simply come to Korea. The 14th of every month is a special "Love Day."

February 14th, girls are supposed to give guys chocolate. I had several of my students (male and female) give me chocolate. On March 14th, White Day, the guys reciprocate with flowers or chocolate. These days are both very special and are a lot of fun for couples.

"What if you are not a couple?" you may be asking right now. Well, the day for the singles comes next. April 14th is for everyone who didn't get chocolate from anyone in February or March. On this day, all the single people eat cold noodles and cry because they don't have anyone in their life.

Isn't that special?

They have arrived!

2006-02-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that Emily's folks have arrived safely in Korea. They had a safe and good trip, landing in Korea two days ago and arriving in Gwangju yesterday. Jet lag does not seem to be a problem so far, which is just one of God's many blessings.

We went out for supper last night (sam gyip sal, which is essentially fried pork, lettuce and side dishes) and they really enjoyed it. The ladies in the restaurant gently hovered over our table all through the meal, making sure our meat was cooking properly (you cook the meat on a burner at your table for this meal), plates were not empty for long and even bringing out forks when it seemed like the chopsticks were a bit of a losing battle.

Kudos to the Jacksons, though - they didn't give up and persevered with the chopsticks to the end of the meal.

It seems like Korea is going to work out just fine for them.

Happy Birthday, Dear Emily...

2006-01-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

So Monday, January 23rd was Emily's birthday. I (Jon) had to leave for work at 9:30, so we had to get up a little earlier (at the crack of 8:00) so that she could open her presents. I got her a black goldfish (two, actually, but one didn't want to be present and died beforehand), a hair blow-dryer and a new scarf, among other miscellaneous items.

I then went to the school while Emily stayed home and received birthday congratulations from a variety of people over the phone (thank you to everyone that phoned and e-mailed - it meant a great deal!). She then came into the school because I had a test that she supervised for me.

(When the kids have a test it has a speaking and a writing portion, so I pull the kids out of the class one at a time for the speaking portion and Emily supervises the writing portion and then entertains them for the remainder of the class.)

Several students remembered her birthday and gave her some gifts and cards, which was very sweet and cute. We finished the day and then went for supper at VIPS (Very Important Person Society), which is like a salad bar/steak restaurant. It was fairly nice and the food was pretty good.

Anyway, we got to eating and Emily and I ate nearly identical portions of everything, except that I tried the chicken pilaf, whereas she did not. After I had dished it up, I noted that it smelled funny. After I had put it in my mouth, I noted that it tasted funny. However, being in Korea and having tasted some of the things that I have, I just figured that this was chicken pilaf done Korean style.

Boy, was I wrong.

Halfway through my ice cream dessert, my stomach started to seize up. I wasn't sure if I was suddenly full or if I was ill, but we figured it was a good time to go home regardless of the circumstances. I made it to our apartment and proceeded to have the worst night of my life in recent memory.

I made at least 10 trips to the toilet to violently expel the contents of my stomach in a most noisome and unpleasant manner. While not puking my guts out, I laid on the couch moaning in agony because of my stomach cramps. I was up no less than 3 times in the night to continue the routine, finally emptying the last bit of chicken pilaf at about 6:00 AM. Emily was kind enough to teach for me on Tuesday, while I lay at home and recuperated.

Minus the ending, the birthday was good.

And my advice to you: Don't eat the chicken pilaf.

The Korean Subway vs. The LRT

2006-01-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Korean subways are an experience unto themselves.

Actually, they are quite similar to the LRT in Edmonton.

Except that they're sparkling clean.
And quiet.
And safe.
And efficient.
And fast.
And they go from somewhere you are likely to be to somewhere you likely want to go.

Perhaps they're not so much like the LRT after all...

The fastest 3 years of my life...

2006-01-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

As many of you will know, I (Jon) left Canada 6 months ago at the ripe old age of 22. My birthday is September 10, 1982, so I soon turned 23 by all familiar calculations. However, Korea has a different way of reckoning ages.

The first 100 days of anything is a very important milestone in Korea. Babies, for example, turn one year old 100 days after they were born. The reasoning (which makes more sense than Canadian age does, in many instances) is that the child was alive for nine months before they were born, so they are one year old 100 days, or about 3 months, after they are born. After that, everyone turns one year older on January 1 (which is something that I don't understand as much).

So my birthday being when it is, I would have turned one on approximately December 20, 1982 and two on January 1, 1983. I therefore turned 25 on January 1, 2006.

I have aged three years in only six months, which has certainly been the fastest three years of my life.

Our holidays

2006-01-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

CAUTION: LONG UPDATE.
Summary: We got back from our holidays safely and it was an amazing time. There are pictures at the bottom for those that wish to skim.

We went to Busan and Seoul (as we had planned) and it was cheaper and easier than we were expecting. It cost us 210,000 won for five nights accommodation (which is about 210 dollars), which was wonderful. We left at about 9:00 from our apartment on Friday (the first day of holidays) and went to Busan. We arrived around 1:00, checked into our hotel (http://www.centralhotel.co.kr/e_index.html) and then went and had Subway. We were very excited, as deli meat and buns of any sort are nonexistent here. It was delicious and cheaper than we expected. We then went to the beach, walked by the water for a while and then called it a night. The next day we wanted to see a little bit more of the town so we went to a Foreigner's Street. It really showed us how limited our worldview still is.

We were expecting a foreigners street to be full of English restaurants and shops, but what we found was Little Russia. All the stores had their names written in Russian and there were Russian mob bosses (or so they looked) lurking at us from every corner. It was a little unnerving (eastern Europeans sometimes have that way) and so we went back to the same beach area and went to a restaurant called Bennigans (your average middle of the road western type restaurant). It was great because we had an ocean view and could see all the preparations happening for the first sunrise.

We went and saw the Chronicles of Narnia in the afternoon, which was quite good. Movies here are great. It's only 7,000 won for a ticket and you get assigned seating, so it doesn't matter when you show up for your seats. We enjoyed it and then walked down to the beach again to see what sort of New Years eve festival was going on. There was some sort of cultural festival in a different part of the city that we (fortunately) decided to bypass (it looked incredibly boring when we saw it later on TV). The fun seemed to be on the beach, though, as dozens of vendors were selling 35 ball Roman Candles (fireworks) for 2,000 won. On the way in, we saw the "No Fireworks" sign, but hundreds of people were doing it, so we figured we'd have cellmates if we got in trouble.

It was really funny - you had your basic people shooting the fireworks into the ocean, your drunk people with the weaving aim and the little three year old kids who are not quite sure what to do with the lit fireworks that their parents have handed them. We set off two tubes each (eight dollars well spent), watched everyone else do theirs for a while and then went home to watch the countdown on TV. Unfortunately, the commentators watch wasn't quite right, so the countdown to the New Year started at about 4 instead of 10. Nevertheless, it was a good New Years Eve.

The next day we woke up at about 5:00 and took the subway (along with thousands of Koreans) to go to the same beach (again) and watch the sunrise, which was to take place at 7:35. We stood right at the water (big waves would soak the people that weren't paying attention - it was funny) and so we had great "seats." So good, in fact, that the TV cameras were jostling us to try and get the shot of the sunrise. If you just ignore them, they have to let you be and go somewhere else (which is what we ended up doing and what they ended up doing). Korean culture is funny sometimes. You need to be very assertive and very stubborn. To do so is not rude, and to not do so is to lose the good spot on the beach that you've been saving for the last 90 minutes.

There was an airshow with helicopters, people sending out wish balloons (balloons that people tied wishes to that they would then let float above the water), scuba divers, band performances (they played this intense music that sounded like an action movie sequence - it felt like North Korea was about to invade) and a boat parade. All in all, it was well worth it and we had a really good time, though we were exhausted. We slept most of the way to Seoul (which actually took almost 5 hours by bus, which was a long time).

When we got to Seoul, we checked into the guest house that we were staying in (http://www.kimsguesthouse.com/), got a pizza and then called it a night. (Pizza and fried chicken places are everywhere here.) The next day (January 2) we went to Lotte World, which is the worlds largest indoor amusement park. It was really fun, though the lineups were quite long. We went on every ride that we had time to, including this one called the Gyro Drop. It is a giant pole that they slowly raise you up 70m (about 210 feet) and then drop you at about 100km/h, so it's a really fast free fall. It was very intimidating and could hold a lot of people (about 50 people per try) so the lineup was always short. We went on it a couple of times, as well as some roller coasters and other such things.

We went to Sizzler for supper that night, which is a grand feast of a buffet. They had fajitas, tacos, salads, soft ice cream, good drip coffee, (and one of my favorites) potato skins with real cheese sauce. We ate enough to be sufficiently stuffed and then went home.

The next day we went to a giant market ( the whole area has 30,000 shops of various sorts) and meandered there. Emily got 2 new shirts for 6,000 won total and I got some new socks. They rotate what stalls are open every day and we were there on the women's clothing/winter coats/underwear day. We would have really liked to have gotten a bunch of funny T-shirts, but no such luck. We then went to Subway for supper (for the third time in 4 days) and to a second hand English book store. We bought some books and went back to the guest house.

We came home the next day and got ready for classes, which were on Thursday & Friday. My schedule for January is really good, but odd. I teach from 11:10 - 12:45 and then I have lunch until 3:10. I teach until 6:25 and then I'm done. I don't actually teach any more classes (I don't really know why) so it's not any more difficult, just longer. The week went well, especially because it was only two days. I've got some new classes and I lost some classes, which is too bad, but such is life.

Today (Saturday) we went on a cultural trip put on by the GIC (Gwangju International Center). It was only 10,000 won each and it included our transportation, a tour of a Korean traditional wine making facility, lunch, entrance to a swimming pool/spa, a tour of a temple and they provided snacks both ways on the bus. It was really neat, and a very authentic cultural experience. The wine was not grape wine as we understand but rice wine mixed with aloe. The meal was a traditional Korean meal, where everyone has their bowl of rice and then about 10 communal side dishes in the center of the table where you just grab a mouthful at a time with your chopsticks.

The most cultural experience was certainly the swimming pool and spa, though. The swimming pool is co-ed and you wear a swimming cap and trunks, but the spa part is different. Guys go with guys, girls with girls and everybody is in the buck (AKA: fully nude, naked, in your birthday suit, nekked, etc.).

There was a lineup of probably 20 showers along one wall with everybody scrubbing their little hearts out and then a good half dozen different pools for sitting in, some hot, some cold, some flowing, some outside, etc. The girls had even more, some with green tea and the like in them. There were also stools with mirrors and telephone showers, for those that wanted to get an even more thorough clean. There were also a bunch of different saunas and stuff like that. Public nakedness is very different here. It's just a commonly accepted part of life, and it's not really a big deal at all.

Well, not a big deal in the sauna, at least.

So that's been our life in the past week. It's been really busy but really good. We had a great holiday and we both feel refreshed and relaxed. One thing we enjoyed was the number of different people that we met. We stayed with a Finnish fellow and a guy from Washington while we were in Seoul and then on the cultural trip we hung out with this couple from Minnesota, three people from England, and a different couple from Quebec. We then had supper with some Canadians and a girl from Ireland. However, the people that top the chart was this Russian physicist (that sounds neat if you say it out loud) who has a degree higher than a PhD (available only in Russia). His name was Igor and he was married to Olga, which Emily and I found both appropriate and amusing. That has been one of my favorite parts of Korea - meeting people from all over the world.

Some pictures:

This is a dog decoration that they put (permanently, I think) on the beach. 2006 is the year of the dog, so this is to celebrate that and to help ward off evil spirits.

Fireworks on the beach. Sorry for the blurry.

Whale killing wish balloons. One balloon must have had a hole because it only made it about 30 feet out before it landed in the water. Everyone laughed at it.

First sunrise of 2006. We're 16 hours ahead of (most of) you, and this was on the east coast of Korea, so it really was pretty much the first sunrise anywhere in the world of 2006. It was really fun!

Look at all the people! We were in the middle of the beach, so this is only half of the people. There were about 700,000 people that came to see the first sunrise in Busan last year.

Jon at Lotte World. See the creepy people in the background?

Emily at Lotte World.

Emily outside the spa.

The temple on Jiri Mountain. Nearly every mountain (all the big ones, anyway) will have a Buddhist Temple. This temple burned down about 400 years ago, but they rebuilt it, so it's a 400 year old exact replica of one about 1600 years old. Sometimes the age of Korea astounds me.

Emily & I at the temple.

Well, that was our winter holidays. Hope you enjoyed reading about them as much as we enjoyed having them!

(This blog posting was taken mostly from an e-mail I sent to my parents. I hope they don't mind...)

Christmas in Korea

2005-12-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Christmas is now past but I hoped it found you well. On our end of the ocean, I guess we got a little more of a white Christmas than the rest of you. Below is a picture of one of the snowstorms that we were hit with. It's the most snow (and the worst) that has been in this area in at least 70 years (I heard as much as 100, but who can be sure?). It was actually declared a natural disaster zone.

Here's a picture of a snowman that we made in the park across the street. Although this snowman has three parts, Korean ones only have two. Fortunately, there was enough snow that we could make it in our traditional fashion. We made it after school one night, but it was apparently missing by the next morning. If you see him, let us know.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree. It's a full four feet tall and it was only $7 from Home Plus. Christmas was great but we really missed all of our friends and family. Through the wonders of modern technology, we were able to connect with much of our family, which was great.Finally, here is Emily with the Kimchi mascot. We went to the Kimchi festival a few weeks ago, which was a lot of kimchi, and this fellow was the mascot. Emily doesn't like mascots, but she was kind enough to pose for this photo.

We miss you all and hope that your Christmas was great. So, until later, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tales from the classroom

2005-12-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

So far, I have been loving teaching in Korea. I don't think I could teach elementary full time or in Canada (there's just a few cultural things to my advantage here), but I love the situation that I'm in. Most of the kids are amazing, and with the exception of a scant few, they are generally amazing. It's fun, often amusing and very fulfilling.

Some things that I've found amusing so far (just as highlights):

Brought to Class:
Balloon animals
A lifesize replica of an AK-47 machine gun
A grasshopper in a pencil case
A rather large snowball (it snowed and the grade 3's brought me a present)
A hamster in a pencil case

Said in Class:
"The crap bit my hands." (Koreans don't have much distinction between L/R and B/P in their language so it was actually supposed to be "crab")

"Teacher, I think your wife is pretty. You... you are so-so. So I think she is better than you."

(Said of a little finger puppet)
Student: "Teacher, this is my god!"
Teacher: "Oh, that's not good!"
Student: "But it's my bodyguard!"
(And my misunderstanding becomes apparent. What I heard as "god" was actually "guard.")

Written on a Fill-in-the-Blank Test:
Here's your meal. Be careful! Your waitress is hot. (The correct answer was "plate.")

Oh, Canada...

2005-12-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal...

About two months ago, we get on the phone to the government of Canada and we tell them that we've left the country. We don't live there anymore, we live in Korea, here's our address, blah blah blah. The Reesors have left the nation.

About two weeks ago, we got a letter in the mail from the Federal Government. Curious as could be, we opened it up to discover a GST Cheque! Yes, indeed, people who live in a different country are apparently eligible for GST cheques. I'm not sure how, but we got our cheque for $81.39.

Two days later, we got a letter in the mail from the Federal Government. Curious as could be, we opened it up to discover a bill from the government for... $81.39! They mailed the cheque and two days later, they mailed the bill. Apparently people who live in a different country are NOT eligible for GST cheques.

Two days later, we got another letter. It was a summary of everything that had just happened. "Credits issues, payments received, amount owing, etc." The long and the short of it is this: the government needs to talk to itself a little bit more.

Fortunately, it only costs 58 cents to airmail a cheque back to Canada from here. Go figure.

Gwangju is like a box of chocolates... You never know what you are going to get!

2005-12-01T00:56:00.000-07:00

Ah, I love this city. It is certainly never boring here!

Take today for instance. Jon and I decided to go downtown to catch a quick lunch before he headed off to school. We took the bus and our bus took a detour so we had to walk a long way. This isn't all that unusual. Our bus passes through the main "square" so to speak of the city and it is often closed to traffic for something or other. I have enjoyed many random festivals in this spot! Today we figured was another such festival.

Our afternoon progressed normally - we ate our lunch and began making our way back to the school. On our route we came across what appeared to be a protest/strike/sit in/demonstration or something of the sort. Finally we have the reason for our bus detour! Anyway it seemed a little serious and protest like - certainly not a festival, so we walked through it and to the school.

About a half an hour later I was heading to the bus stop to go home, having already forgotten about the protest. Ah, but friends - it had not forgotten about me.

All I wanted to do was cross the street, walk to the bus stop, catch my bus and go home. Oh if only things were ever that easy! I made it to the intersection to cross the road only to see that the sit-in protest had turned into a parade! We are talking about hundreds of people here, walking down the street where my bus is supposed to be! The police were directing traffic so it was still flowing in both directions just only on half of the width of the road. The other half was my parade. I finally made it across the street (walking through the protesters!) And then realized, my bus stop is in the middle of this parade, how does this work?

Long story short I saw every single protester walk by me, singing and pumping their fists. I still have no idea what they were protesting about nor will I likely ever know. At one point I wondered to myself - should I be nervous right now? Are they protesting about foreigners or something? But I looked around and saw little kids and old ladies waiting for the bus with me and everything seemed ok. I smiled and waved at the protester guys and they smiled back. They sang their protest song. I waited patiently for them to move on. Many busses came while the parade was going past and some brave Koreans ran through the protesters to the middle of the road to hail a bus (yes you hail busses here - otherwise they won't stop for you) luckily, my bus came just as the protest was ending.

I gratefully sank into my seat, glad to be off the road and out of the cold. It still took a ridiculously long time because we were following behind the protesters (we were going so slowly that the protesters kept passing us - maybe I should have just joined them!)

Anyway, I made it home in one piece! What an adventure. It was a little bit surreal but fun nonetheless!

Tonight Jon and I are going to opening night of the new Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter is unbelievably popular here, it is SO crazy! We already have our tickets for tonight and theaters here have assigned seats so that's nice. That should be fun.

Anyway thought I would fill you in on my adventures and misadventures! We love you all so much and happy December!

Emily