I get such a kick out of overhearing two little Korean girls giggling and whispering in the bathroom stalls. It reminds me of my childhood, sharing very important secrets with my precious girlfriends. I can't understand what the girls are talking about, but I'm sure that it's serious business, considering they're in the stall together. My biggest question is "How do they both fit in there at the same time?"
Side note: One of the teachers in my office noted today that I was looking very fashionable these days. She thought that I had become more concerned about my outfits. Sadly enough, I've been wearing the same clothes throughout the winter, it's just that now I'm only wearing 3 layers instead of the previous 4 or 5, thus you can now see what I am wearing. (There was a point during the winter when I seriously asked myself why I bother to get dressed each morning since I wore my coat all day long. I could have come to school in my pjs and no one would have noticed!!!)
~Jen
P.S. After having neglected our photos page for over three months, I finally posted links to the pictures we have posted on Facebook. There are quite a few new albums for your viewing pleasure if you haven't yet seen them online! We'll try to be a bit quicker in posting them next time!!
Having completely neglected this thing called a blog for weeks upon weeks, I thought it might do some good to let everyone know that we're still alive.
So much has happened since our last post. That was us on our way home. And now we've returned from the cozy comforts of our childhood homes, back to a land so foreign from our own... yet still somehow familiar.
Is it crazy that we've grown accustomed to such quirky customs that makes this land so strange? Not that I've necessarily missed these things, but they just feel normal now - optional stop lights, cars driving along the sidewalks, getting packages of pickles alongside your pizza order, seeing old men gather for soju and cards in the middle of the subway station during the midafternoon bustle, and watching old grandmothers text away madly on their cell phones, while sitting next to a young couple who are not holding hands, but rather huddling together so that they can both see the screen of their cell phone-sized TV, which is broadcasting their favourite Korean romance. Yes, this is our home.
There's a lot to catch up on. I'll try to be brief, though we all know that this is a fight I can never win. Our time at home was awesome. We did the requisite family and friends stuff - it was awesome seeing as many people as we did, though of course, we would have loved to have seen more. Our schedule was so busy seeing people that even though Jen and I did virtually everything together, I still felt like I didn't see her at all.
Let me elaborate. Jen and I had lived together before we arrived in Korea, but there was always lots of other people around too. Though we have lots of great friends here in Korea, they are all so far flung from us that it is relatively uncommon for us to see them outside of weekends. As a result, Jen and I are stuck with each other. We see each other and no one but each other all week long. And being surrounded at work all day by people who rarely speak to us because so few of our colleagues can speak English... well, we've grown quite close together to stave off the isolation of our schools!
So, while back in Canada, we were both so busy catching up with our friends and families, we had little time for ourselves. It wasn't until we got back on the plane to Korea that I had a chance to slow down and realize how much I felt I had missed Jen. To go from having hours together every day to the bustle of our visit home was a bit of a shock. It was such an odd feeling having spent so much time together and yet still having missed her. Weird.
Anyway, I digress.
This thing's getting too long though. We'll provide some details of Erica's wedding when I'm not too lazy to post some pretty pictures to go along with a post. Suffice it to say it was a great trip home and an even better wedding - jetlagged and all, we still managed to shut down the party!!
We just thought we'd post a quick blog. We're at the airport in Seoul (stealing an internet signal from the First Class lounge....) on our way to Canada for just over a week.
An early start time today coupled with a LONG flight home will ensure that I am thoroughly exhausted when we set foot on the ground in Canada (we get to fly into the Waterloo airport - so exciting!!) But, we're excited to be coming home for a visit. It will be great to see our friends and family and to be there for my sister's wedding.
I'm also hoping that I can strap my cross country skis on my feet and get out for an hour or two some afternoon. I'm so excited about snow!!
So, we'll see some of you very soon - our Korea peeps, well, we'll see you when we get back!
I'm out.
~Jen
Jen and I really enjoy our life here in Korea. We have a lot of great friends, we have good working environments, there's a lot to do and see around here, and we've enjoyed learning about the Korean language and culture.
One thing that Korea doesn't do quite so well yet is market itself. Its tourism industry is very much underdeveloped. There is, as I've already said, lots to see and do, but it's just not well advertised. Through a lot of word of mouth and a lot of exploring, we and our friends have all kept busy schedules here in Korea.
When we had originally thought about moving abroad and had suggested Japan as a possible destination, almost everyone we told was so excited for us and wanted to come and visit. But after a long series of events that saw us ending up in Korea, it seems as if our final destination wasn't nearly as exciting. And I guess we fell folly to the same marketing as well. We thought Japan would be a great place to be (and not having yet visited, we don't have any first hand experience to draw upon to verify or refute that), but after having spent the past 6 months here in Seoul, we can't imagine being anywhere else.
Why is it that everyone loves Japan? Why do they want so much to visit Japan? What makes it so special? A lot of people have visited the small island country and brought home many positive experiences. Indeed, that is one of the primary goals of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program that Jen and I had originally applied to - to learn about Japan and to spread it's culture around the world once we returned home. Japan is a known quantity. Lots of visitors and a lots of good stories that inspire others to want to visit. Importantly, Japan also has a very well developed tourist industry and makes traveling there easy.
So, if we were in Japan, would we actually have more visitors than we have here in Korea? Incidentally, we haven't yet had anyone visit us, and I think that it will remain that way for our entire stay. It's such a far distance and costs so much that it's not an easy trip to manage. But I digress... Back to the question. More visitors in Japan than Korea? I don't know. Japan is still a costly and time consuming trip. I think that people were just more excited about Japan and made grand plans with their small talk like most people are apt to do when they are excited.
Whether or not our home makes a difference as to how many visitors we get doesn't really matter though. It's purely theoretical. We're here in Korea and not in Japan. I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that although many people wouldn't consider Korea as a top travel destination, it definitely has it's hidden gems.
Life's been good and we're both glad that we had the opportunity to live here.
Now, is anyone going to come and visit us when we're in Dubai...
While Jeff and I are trying to prepare for job interviews, Sara has taken the opportunity to interview me about life. I had posted about being interviewed our blog a couple of weeks ago. Here are the questions that Sara asked me.
1. What was something you found different about China (as compared to Korea)?
We were only there for a week, but we couldn't believe how cheap it was to eat out. It cost us $5 for both of us to eat (like crazy including tea and HUGE bottles of beer! Jeff was an eating monster - and even then we could barely finish our meals most of the time - though I usually was able to finish the beer....) All the food was so delicious too... mmmm!!! It's so much more expensive to eat out (even Korean food) in Korea. A (Korean) meal here will cost us about $10 or more for both of us depending on what we eat...
The other thing that I noticed was different is that Chinese people (at least the ones we met in Beijing) don't seem to bow as much as Koreans. I was bowing more than they were!
2. What was the best moment of your trip to China?
Walking along the Great Wall the second time was amazing. The first time we walked "along" the Great Wall we walked up the mountain for 45 minutes and then walked back down for 45 minutes. We didn't even make it to the top! The part of the wall we walked along the first time overlooked a highway. The second time we hiked 10 kilometers over four hours along a part of the wall that was 3 hours outside of Beijing and in the middle of nowhere. The scenery was amazing! That part of the wall was definitely how we pictured the Great Wall to be (well, aside from me picturing a wall made of china plates and cups as seen in an old McDonald's commercial...) I'm amazed at the time and effort that went into building the Great Wall (3000km over 300 years... that's dedication!) We'll be sure to post a couple of the hundreds of pictures of the Great Wall soon.
3. If you could eat only three foods (choosing just one would be too difficult!) and one drink for the rest of your life, what would they be?
This is hard!!!
Jen
Food: Chocolate, perogies, Thai food (does this count!?!) maybe green curry....
Drink: Black tea with milk (yum!)
Jeff
Food: Pad thai, home made butter tarts (no raisins), channa masala
Drink: Freshly squeezed orange juice with lots of pulp
4. Who taught you how to knit and why?
I really have no idea. I think that I most likely originally learned as a Brownie or Girl Guide... maybe so I could earn a badge (I'll have to check my badges when I get home to see if I have a knitting one...) but I can't remember. Over the years I've tried to learn as much as possible from others (friends of my mom, and my own friends). With the dawn of the internet I have been able to continue to learn new techniques and improve my knitting as I search for patterns and help online.
5. Where will you be five years from now?
Geeze... um.... Jeff's answer:
Two kids, a dog, a Volkswagon, and a white picket fence... "How else would you answer that?" he asks. That wouldn't be my answer.
Maybe working in Waterloo? At education related jobs that are fulfilling and meaningful. Jobs we are passionate about. Maybe with a kid... and a cat? With one car - being able to bike or walk or take public transit (!!) to work... living in a house (or an apartment... or a condo... I don't mind living in a small space, I actually kind of like it...) As long as the place we're living has no mold and sunbeams galore I'll be happy.
Although I love having some security in knowing what is going to happen in 5 years, I also find that it is fun to see what will happen. We have plans, dreams, and ideas as to where we'll be in the next five years, but we're open and flexible to whatever might happen in the future.
Thanks for the questions Sara!
Jeff and I have just returned from our week long "honeymoon"/winter vacation in Beijing, China. The week was great fun and included two Great Wall hikes, a Peking Opera, an acrobatics show, Peking duck (we're vegetarians, but we HAD to try it...), the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, a Hotong tour, a visit to a pearl (I originally typed purl!!) market, a silk market, and a trip to KFC for Jeff so he could have his egg tart.... oh yeah, our trip also included fireworks. LOTS of fireworks! When we first arrived in Beijing our tour guide told us that it was impossible to see fireworks in the city, we had to go outside Beijing in order to see a show since fireworks are illegal in the city centre - boy was he wrong!
The above video is not ours (we didn't think about taking a video until the morning after, and by then it was too late, but this video depicts exactly what we saw on February 6th - the beginning of the Spring Festival, more commonly known as Chinese (or Lunar in Korea) New Year. We watched the fireworks from our hostel window. The whole sky filled up just like this (this video was taken in Beijing 2008!)
Througout the day we periodically heard firecrackers being set off, the short ones that don't fire high into the sky, but that do make A LOT of noise. By the time midnight rolled around the fireworks were in full swing and didn't stop until at least 1:30. There were about four hours of solid fireworks that night - I'm pretty sure that most of them were set off by the general population - we certainly saw a few that were a little too close for comfort for me!!!
Walking down the street was insane too. We had to make sure that we watched where we were going since people were lighting firecrackers everywhere. It really did sound and look like a war zone. The next morning we saw the carnage of the night before - red paper and cardboard were strewn everywhere along the small streets where we stayed!
Over the next couple of days we'll try to get our pictures posted and post a few more blog entries.. there is certainly a lot to blog about!!
We are also preparing for another trip - our trip home to Canada for my sisters' wedding. We leave in a week!
So we're off to catch a 5am bus to the airport. Not sure if we'll get a chance to blog while we're away, but we'll be sure to share our stories once we return. Back in a week!!
Today the computer technician in our school came and asked me to come to her office to help her with something. I had no idea what to expect, but I decided to see if I could help her out.
I arrived at her office and she sat me down at her desk. She then presented me with a single spaced, one page English essay that she had written. She is applying for a working holiday in Canada. I pulled up the paper and began the task of gently correcting poor English. It's not that this woman has bad English, she has very good English, but it's hard to write in a language that is not your own. She usually had the gist of what she wanted to say but just needed me to help clean it up.
What I found most interesting was the fact that she spent four weeks in January taking a TESOL course when she was visiting Canada. I knew that she had been in Vancouver but I didn't realise that she had spent that time studying English. I did notice that her English was better, but had just attributed that to her having spent four weeks in an English speaking country.
At one point in her essay she talks about her experience in the Canadian school system (she spent one week doing a practicum). She was amazed that the other teachers spoke to her and didn't make her feel like an outsider just because she was Korean. She spoke about how great it was that Canada was a multi-racial society. The other point that she made was how different the school systems in Korea and Canada are. She said that Canadians focus on process, whilst Koreans focus on the product. She loved the Canadian system because it doesn't focus as much on tests... it focuses on students learning at their own pace. Although this may not be entirely the case, it is a pretty fair assessment of the two education systems, at least from my limited exposure to both.
My current situation gives me 40 minutes twice a week with each of my ten classes. My classes have at least 32 students, sometimes 35. All of my students are at different levels. Some of them can speak amazing English, others struggle to answer the question "How are you?" I find this to be a challenging job. I long to spend more time with my students, whatever level they're at, to help them along the process of learning English. For now, I will have to work with what I've got, to try my best to help my students become excited about learning English. I am excited to hear a Korean teacher talk about how much she enjoys the process education system. It gives me hope that one day Koreans will put less stress on getting good grades, and more stress on the process of learning.
So last weekend we hit up one of the local aquariums. And by local, I mean an hour subway ride away. But hey, it's still in Seoul. Anyway, this place was truly unique. I'll start off by saying that this aquarium also had an artistic side to it and not only was it showcasing the sea life itself, but also some of the, well, containers of that sea life.
Exhibit A. Ok, it's a little hard to see the actual fish in this photo, but trust me, they are there, swimming right next to Ariel and Sebastian (the characters from The Little Mermaid). So the aquarium had a little section that wanted to challenge the notion that fish should be kept in conventional fish bowls. Certainly not all of the aquarium's wildlife were kept in such unique structures (most, in fact were in the usual mundane aquariums that we expect to see). But there were some who had different homes. In the end, I don't think that the inhabitants really would know the difference, so... why not? At times it seemed a little off-kilter and bizarre, but since then I've come to appreciate this section of the aquarium more and it is quickly becoming one of my favourite parts of the visit. It's something distinct that really sets it apart from the rest of the aquariums that I've seen. Oh, I should also point out, if it wasn't enough that these fish are housed in a vending machine "fish bowl," that this vending machine is, indeed, a functioning vending machine that guests can use to purchase beverages. Yes... yes, we're in Korea, folks.
Is that shortbread?
Can someone tell me why there are fake cookies glued to the wall of an aquarium?
Thanks for posing, Vanessa!!
So unlike the vending machine, you can actually see the inhabitant of this display (well, sort of). I hope, also unlike the vending machine, that this is not a functioning house for this little crab!!
See the little ducky. That's where the water is.
Here is Jen being a tour guide again. I think she's got a new career ahead of her - well, unless her customers start catching on that she's just making everything up!! Notice the expression on Sue's face. She has that are-you-crazy-what-are-you-talking-about kinda look. Jen, it doesn't look good. Remember, she was a tour guide herself in the past. She knows when you're making things up! Alison is busy taking pictures of Jen's so-called evolution fish!
Not sure if bats are typical at an aquarium... but I wasn't complaining. They were cool.
And of course, what outing isn't complete without the random crazy photo of Jen and myself. "The shark's eating us!!!!"
There you have it. Hope you enjoyed it.
The Coex Aquarium.
I just spent the past 45 minutes writing about our adventures with our landlords (complete with Korean characters and everything!), and for some reason it has disappeared! Oh the joys of technology!!!
I'll make this one short... Last night our landlords showed up to fix our dripping pipe under the kitchen sink. This is just one of the numerous times that we have had our landlords in our apartment, helping us with something... usually it's the hot water. They arrived, he with a paper bag of tools to fix the leak, and she with her usual enthusiasm. He got right down to work, she came and joined us on the floor. We were watching a movie (Beowulf) and had set ourselves upon the floor (sadly it's more comfortable than our couch!) in front of my computer. I had my knitting out and she was so intrigued. I brought out my socks, mittens, scarves, and hats that I have finished since arriving here... she was amazed. It's funny, I get so much attention from the ajumas (grandmothers) of Korea when I bring out my knitting. If I'm on the subway, the ajumas will invite me to sit in the seats designated for the elderly, disabled or pregnant. They watch, enthralled, as I knit socks, mittens, or hats, it's pretty cool! Well, our landlady LOVED my knitted items.
After the drip was fixed our landlords told us how old they were (I think they were really just fishing to find out how old we are!) He is "seven zero" (minus a year because he's Korean - you are a year old when you are born here) and she is "six two". Both of them work out - he can do 70 push ups and 50 sit ups. She works out at the gym... at the end of the conversation we even got to feel our landlord's arm muscles... madness I tell you!! All of this conversation happened in broken English and Korean, but we were able to understand the gist of it.
I must say that living here certainly doesn't leave us bored... it's not very often you get to check out your landlord's pipes!
I will leave you with a bit more Korean culture.... this gem was introduced to me by some grade 5 students. I kind of like it, but I have no idea what it's about! Enjoy....
~Jen
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