The most wonderful time of the year

"It's Christmas in Killarney..." or, rather, Korea.

Having never spent a Christmas away from home ever was a wee bit depressing. The holiday season in Korea is not quite as obvious as it is in Canada. Who knew that I'd actually miss the mass commercialized holiday and the incessant carols being played from Halloween to Boxing Day.

But the foreigners in Jochiwon rallied against all the Grinchy odds and celebrated as best we could.

It all started with a Christmas party at Brenda and Sean's place. Pretty awesome. Full of carol singing and awesome cheese fondue and good times. I even came home with a bottle of red wine that I picked out myself.

Next up came Noraebang (sp?) a week later. Karaoke is a whole new experience here. And it was....awesome. But one of those 'you had to be there' times.

Christmas morning dawned two days later and, after a brunch of waffles and a kiwi smoothie (very good, by the way) Ruth and I headed to Daejeon to the Nam Sung fitness park for some awesome ice skating. Chilled with some middle school girls there, ran over some Koreans, and over all had, yes, a pretty awesome time. Hit up Costco for candy and cream cheese, had pasta at a weird french place (it was awesome pasta, better than some I've had even in Canada), and headed back to Jochiwon. Not the way I imagined I'd ever spend Christmas but altogether it was a pretty good day.

Boxing Day, which doesn't exist in Korea as far as I know, was spent calling family and lounging around at home and ended with a pretty, yes again, awesome concert by a youth orchestra at the Yeongi Cultural Art Centre.

Overall....pretty awesome.

....it's been awhile

So it's been awhile since anything was really posted on this here blog. I don't even have any excuses like I've been busy or anything. Because really I'm not busy at all.
Everything has pretty much fallen into routine. I'm at school from 8:30 to 4:30...ish...most days. At night I sit around, bake cookies...that sort of thing.

This is Jochiwon from the top of a mountain somewhere above town. In the bottom left corner just above the treeline you can see my building...aaaand that's my building from my old building....

My new apartment is bigger than the old one which would be great except that I don't really know what to do with all the space when I don't have anything to fill it with. The only furniture I have in the main room is a tv, my desk, and tiny table with an oven on top of it. Very...homey, what can I say.

So the weeks are fairly normal. And so are the weekends. A couple of times to Seoul, a few times to Daejeon, up a mountain or two, and making the trek to Homeplus and back. 

Our first weekend in Seoul was...an adventure. We did the tourist thing and looked at some palaces and such, climbed a mountain unnecessarily, saw a pretty awesome traditional dancing show thing and shared a hostel room with a Mexican Tae Kwon Do team. Overall a pretty interesting weekend.

A couple of weeks later we trekked up Obangsan Mountain outside of Jochiwon with Brian and Jeremy, a couple of Americans who taught at Korea University. It was pretty awesome except that we had to go over three other mountains to get there.

I think the sign on the....left is for the mountain....

There was a lovely little gazebo at the top and pretty awesome views in either direction.

Nothing much to report otherwise. I guess that's a good thing. I mean it's not like North Korea has invaded yet....just the students being drilled on what to do if anything does happen.

Festivals

The day of the festival dawned sunny and warm. That's a lie. It was sunny but somewhere around -5ish most of the day.

It was a good time and refreshing to be outside the whole day. The problem was that after that day of no classes, and the next day of no classes, and Thursday a whole day off from school....that's just say the lessons didn't go so well this week....

Tug-o-war

I was peacefully working at my desk on a sunny Friday afternoon when my co-teacher grabbed her camera and her coat and asked "are you coming?"

I guess I was.

We marched down the stairs and outside, where it seemed like the entire student body was gathered on the field. It was, in fact, the majority of the students and most of the teachers as well.

My co-teacher explained that for the Sports day on Monday they were going to have a tug-o-war now. I couldn't find the logic in that but I wasn't going to complain about the chance to spend my afternoon outside instead of looking over the same lesson plan fifty times.

The students went in teams of sixty and I must say, it was a pretty impressive event. They all seemed pretty glad to get out of the classrooms and to have some leisure time.

It was quite the event. I'm pretty sure I have never seen anything quite like it. And really I was so happy to be outside and standing that I didn't mind almost getting hit by shoes, slippers, or soccer balls.

Remembrance and chocolate

On this day: Remembrance day in Canada, Veteran's day is the US, and Pepero day in Korea.

For myself, remembrance day was always very emotional. The last four years the Redeemer choir sang at the memorial service at the Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton and the songs we sang for that service have been going through my head all day. The pieces chosen for that event all seemed to touch my soul in a different way.

I listened to those pieces on my way to school this morning.


I arrived at school and I discovered it is Pepero day in South Korea today. A sort of valentines day where students give their teachers and each other a popular Korean snack called Pepero: a stick covered in chocolate. The students were flooding the office all morning to give their favourite teachers some pepero and every was happy and cheerful about this holiday.

Way to ruin the mood, Korea.

Relocation

It's Thursday of my first official week of teaching. It's been....an experience. The kids here are really great and the whole week has been pretty awesome. I've met other foreigners and even some Koreans who speak English, which is always good. Everything was going really well and then my co-teacher threw on me yesterday that I was going to be moved from my cozy little apartment into something....new.

I'm not going to lie I was a little freaked out. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen and I was finally feeling nice and comfy in my 'flat'.

My co-teacher took me for a drive to see if we could find the building. We trucked around a kind of sketchy part of town and I was getting more and more anxious. I was happy where I was but it was not possible to stay there because it was the higher-ups who decided this. Mrs. Shin gave trying to find the 'Seyoung' building and we started to head back to my apartment. And then she spotted it.

Let's just say I'm not so anxious anymore.

The building is new, and owned by the father of a student at the school. The apartment is bigger and, best of all, I think it even has an oven! Clearly the only thing lacking in my current space.

The big move will be in December, so I'm going to be packing my backs and heading South, a couple of blocks.

A busy, busy place

Seriously. The office is warm, but the hallway is frigid. And yet people keep leaving the door open.

And where did all these people come from!!!!

First day

It's my first day of school today. It's blowing my mind.

Ok. The mind is back.

I'm still waking up earlier than necessary although today I'm not sure if that was because I'm on the wrong time or because I was so bloody nervous for today. Either way, not a whole lot of sleep was acquired.

So I trotted off to school a little earlier than I would have preferred but it was a good thing I did as I would have been late if I had left when I originally planned.

The first teacher I met was standing outside the school gate. He was one of the Korean-English teachers. Nice guy. He directed me to find my co-teacher....just not very well. They do the whole no shoes thing here...you have to wear slippers instead, which are actually flip flops. Very comfortable but really not very warm, especially when EVERYWHERE I go it's cold, except outside. It's like they haven't come to grips with the fact that it is turning into winter and it's very cold at night which makes all the buildings freezing cold...including my apartment which still has no gas line and thus has no heat and only provides me with cold showers.

So I ran all over school trying to find Mrs Shin, was told by several different teachers that she was in several different places, before I finally ended up back in the main staff room with a nice warm cup of tea which wasn't so pleasant because now I was too warm from all my running up and down stairs (4 floors of them) and was directed to wait for Mrs Shin. Oh happy day.

Sitting in the teacher's room means that every teacher that walks past feels they need to introduce themselves to you , even though most of them speak very little English, no matter how hard they try, bless their little hearts. The only two that I remember, amid all the Kims and Lees was the vice-principal who informed me that she was the 'second teacher'. At the time I just smiled and nodded and she left me alone eventually. The other one was another male-type Korean English teacher. Beats me what their names are now though. Maybe I'll learn them eventually?

Eventually I met Brenda, the Irish lady I was told worked here. She's nice and makes her job look very easy which I don't know if I should take to mean it actually is easy or if she's just that good at it.

Mrs Shin showed up right after, led me upstairs to the third floor to 'my' office, or at least my desk, and rushed me off to observe a class. It was taught by Brenda and the co-teacher who had met me at the gate. It was also FULL of very hyper fifteen-ish year old boys. It was....an experience.

Which apparently needs to be repeated everyday this week, at least 3 times at day. Fun times.

Lunch was also an experience. It is the first time I've eaten in a cafeteria and it was...well let's just say I've never seen anything quite like it.

And hopefully never will again. Except on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week.

And now I sit and wait for my day to be finished...in four hours.

Whoa

Something just walked into the PC bong....I think it might have been a girl.....

Either that or it was a guy with long hair, a pink coat, tights, and a skirt.

There have been stranger things to happen....

Made it.

Whew. I'm finally here. Who knew that one of my MANY schemes might actually happen. Blows my mind actually.

There's so much to say and not a whole lot of time. Actually I have all day but I might get lung cancer or something sitting in this PC bong for too long. I had no idea there were still places that allowed smoking....there are actually smoking allowed signs. Never seen one of those before. It's not a bad place actually. The guy who 'runs' it knows I can't speak korean and he's nice enough to tell me how much I owe him in English which is more awesome than it sounds.

So I arrived on Friday morning at 4 am, got into an airport taxi and slept for most of the 2 hour trip from Seoul to Jochiwon, the town that I'm living. We went right to the school I'll be teaching at and my co-teacher met me there. Her name is Mrs. Shin and she's pretty awesome. Her English is good enough to converse with but I've got to take it easy on the sarcasm because it definitely escapes her.

I never knew it was so hard NOT to be sarcastic.

It's Monday today, and my fourth day here. Here's what I've been doing:

Friday: Arrived in the country, went out for breakfast with Mrs Shin, which was awesome by the way because I LOVE Asian food, went to my apartment, which is pretty small but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to be bigger, unpacked, napped, met Paul, the American I'm replacing, took a little trip around town, went back to my apartment, went to the GS, which is a little convenience store by my apartment, and went to sleep.

Saturday: woke up at 2am because the guy upstairs was being loud. I'm hoping he tripped, or fell out of his bed. Had a hard time sleeping after that, finally got up at 8ish, piddled around the apartment until about 10ish, went for a walk to the school and back, found out my gas line was cut because the girl in there before me hadn't paid her bills (no wonder my showers were cold), had a lunch of duck with Mrs Shin, and headed to a PC bong to email and stuff, went home, went to bed.

Sunday: Met Paul and headed with him to a church service in Daejeon, the very large town/city about a 20 minute train ride from Jochiwon. Had church, met awesome people, went to lunch with them, headed for the train, had to wait, watched some break dancing while waiting, headed back to Jochiwan, met some other English teachers, more Americans (they're EVERYWHERE, these Americans), had supper at a Chinese resturant of all places, went home, went to the 7/ll, bought some more jam for breakfast (I never thought I would need that little bit of non-asian food so much) and an MGD, went home, watched some Band of Brothers with the converter I'd bought in Daejeon, and went to bed.

Monday: Pretty dull today. Slept longer but the people in the apartments around me were up a whole lot later than they were on the weekends so I was still out of bed by 8, breakfasted, watched some more Bof Bs, drank coffee, and headed to the PC bong I had gone to with Mrs Shin on Saturday. It's the farthest one from my apartment that I've found but it's nice and the guy who 'runs' the place is nice and knows I can't speak Korean. He puts up with me pretty well, cleaning industriously around me. I try to be polite and move out of the way but these people take polite to the next level and there's no arguing with them. And so I sit.

This country is unlike anything I ever imagined and I haven't even started working yet. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow when I start.

Phew.

The Time has Come

And here I sit. The bags have been packed, the goodbyes said, and my trip has finally begun.

Maybe finally is the wrong word.

As I sit here in gate # C35 with the old ladies chattering behind me and the kid screaming in front of me I realise just how lost I'm going to be in a country where I don't understand even one word of the language. And I haven't even left the country yet.

Back to the finally bit.

It seems like I've been preparing for the this trip for a very long time now. It was strange today to actually tell people that I knew when I was going, instead of just "when I get my visa" because I have not only my visa but my plane ticket and boarding pass as well.

huzzah.

Ok, so the enthusiasm that is flowing over resembles a plugged toilet, but I'm trying.

The pilot has trotted by followed by the flight attendants with their awesome kerchiefs. Time to prepare to board this flight.

Korea, here I come.

Better watch out.

Getting closer....

One more update before leaving....hopefully.

The visa is applied for, the online test completed. Now comes the waiting game.

Amid comments of "why are you still here", "when are you leaving for korea", and "if you're still here on (insert date here) can you babysit for me" I am struggling to persevere through the uncertainty and nerves that have arisen from this decision to travel half-way around the world.

But alas, it seems to late to change my mind.

After successful shopping avec Maria I have everything....and maybe a little more....than I need to survive the trek across the sea. Now all that is left for me to do is pack. Which, according to Maria, will be a feat in and of itself (usually I ignore the peanut gallery).

Also on my list, put there by my mother, is cleaning my room and the various boxes left in the garage from my moves in and out of the house over the last four years. We'll see how that goes.

And so it goes....my disorganised life is slowly becoming more organised with lists that are somehow being completed.

Mom, I'll try not to leave my room a mess for you to clean up.

The mail

I have finally acquired everything needed to continue on to the next step of my going to Korea process. My list is as follows:

1 - signed, notarised, validated copy of my diploma
1 - official, notarised, validated copy of my police check.
1 - validated, official transcript
2 - professional references on letter head
1 - soul
1 - signed clause that maybe mentioned something about firstborns....

Today, after work, I shall trek over to the post office, or the UPS store because, as much as I want to believe in our postal system I just don't trust them not to loose this stuff.

Just one step closer to the rest of my life.

Almost there....

Another small update on how things are going....mostly in response to having people ask me, wherever I go: Why are you still here, or, why haven't you left yet, or, shouldn't you not be here?

And it's always great being greeted with "Just leave already" by a certain someone....you know who you are.

And then there's asking if I'm going to North or South Korea. Seriously? You're asking that? Get real people. North Korea. Obvi.

Not.

Things are a little behind where I'd like them to be due to the negligence of a certain professor who was supposed to hand me a reference. But all if forgiven....mostly and I've moved on. My hope is by tomorrow to have sent my package of goodies to my employers who will do some strange Korean magic to said goodies and send them back to me, ready for Visa approval. Once I get them back I can go immediately to the Korean Consulate in Toronto (nice place by the way. Classy building and landscaping and stuff. Gets my hopes up for their country) where my Visa will be applied for. 5 to 10 business days later I should have my visa in my hand and be on my way to leaving this county for awhile.

My plan is to leave as soon as I get my visa and stay with Kristin for a bit. Otherwise I'll be arriving just in time to start teaching strange boys in a strange country with no orientation whatsoever.

Sounds fun.

Not.

Maybe North Korea doesn't sound so bad after all.

Update

Just to update:

I have an official job in Korea. A boys middle school. With an Irish lady. Should be interesting.

There will be only one other female teacher there....that's the Irish person. At least she's Irish. Too bad she's female.

I still have to get my visa but it seems I am not expected to be there until November 1st, not October 1st like I thought.

No wonder I was freaking out and they had no idea what was wrong with me.

New and Improved

So here it is.....a new blog.

Mostly for my upcoming trip to Korea (the Southern kind) I thought I'd start a new blog.
Maybe I'll remember to post things.
Maybe I might fail at that.
Maybe I'll do my best.
Maybe not.