What we've been up to!

pic#1 - on my way to ISU one day in the taxi

pic#2 - me being a swan at Suseong Lake

pic#3 - us with the new girl (her name is Sam)

pic#4 - my last class at the gov't office 

pic#5 - us in Busan with sparklers

So for another update:

 

My classes have changed around a bit.  My night classes at the government office are now over because it was only a 2-month program.  I am super sad about it because they were such sweet people and we had such a great time in that class.  Friday was my last class with them and we had a little celebration.  Everyone brought food and I bought them all little notebooks that I wrote a little note in for everyone.  I said that it could be their English journals (me and my love for journals).  They were so sweet and ended up getting me a cell phone charm (which is huge here in Korea – everyone has a cell phone charm) that was a little gold pig.  Koreans believe that pigs are good luck and bring you money.  So let’s hope for the best and hope it works.  I said a little good-bye speech and actually got a little teary because they really made my first two-months here amazing.  They have been so accommodating and are so sweet to me.  We are already planning to get together next week, so I know we will all keep in touch.

 

My job at the ISU company is going to be the whole year long which is nice to have something that is consistent.  I had a bit of a rough go with them last week because one day after class they all stayed back and were talking in Korean and I was just feeling a little worried that they were going to send in a complaint that I was a bad teacher or something. (you all know me and my worrying…much like my grama’s…LOVE YOU GRAMA) But it turns out that one of my students who is actually a boss of many of the other students was lecturing everyone telling them to smarten up and that they should be on time, they should not speak Korean in class and respect me more in terms of them looking tired or taking naps in class.  I was shocked the next day to find everyone on time, with their textbooks open and when someone was late, they paid a fee to the student who lectured them all.  I was so confused…it was like the twilight zone.  They explained what happened and apologized and I felt much better about what I had been worrying about.  There’s a little lesson to me about worrying.  Oops.

And it turns out I have nothing to worry about because the next day, after meeting my supervisor’s new assistant, he told me all of the feedback from ISU students and how much they have said I have improved and what a great teacher I am.  They are all really enjoying themselves and really like me.  Yay me!  And I actually have Oral tests this week, which is rather exciting.  I am really feeling like a full-out teacher now.

 

My class with the devil children was actually quite angelic this week.  It may or may not have had something to do with the Korean man that was sitting in the corner the whole class, or his little lecture at the beginning of class…or maybe the fact that the ring leader, MATT (said in a annoyed voice…I cringe at the thought of him) wasn’t there.  Either way, it was quite pleasant and very refreshing.  And this week and next I am covering the other class of children Wednesdays and Fridays until my new schedule starts which is all still up in the air.  But I have learned not to WoRrY about it, because it will all work itself out.

 

One morning last week I got to talk to Bri, Pardy and Jason on the webcam.  It was so nice to see them.  It was their graduation (so proud of you all) and they were all up in the Guelph area and went to visit Jason at his new house in Fergus.  So anyone who wants to webcam, we use Yahoo messenger (Skype was giving me some problems out here).  My username is carlybutler11 so if you wanna look me up, its super fun! Anyway that was definitely fun and I was so excited to talk with them. 

 

I went to Costco with one of my students from ISU and his wife and children. Yes they have Costco here…and its just like you’re in Canada.  His kids were so cute! His little 3-year-old daughter was touching my skin out of curiosity because of the whiteness.  She was too cute.  I stalked up on some nutri-grain bars, Heinz package of ketchup, mustard and relish (I was going through withdrawals), bagels and a big bag of frozen vegetables Which brings up another bitter subject…our freezer broke, so my big bag o’ veggies was soggy for a week until we got a replacement fridge…meh…what can you do? Apparently Elyse has bad luck with Korean fridges.  She went through 5 last year.  Glad that luck is still with her.  Anyway I also bought DILL PICKLES which we were dying for (they only have sweet here…even in their burgers) and we got some other necessities. 

 

We also visited Suseong Lake, which is a very small man made lake that has swan boats and is about the size of ponds in people’s backyards back home.  Okay, maybe not that small, but I don’t think it’s really a lake.  Either way, it was nice to be around water and I think we will definitely be going back there to go on the swans.  It was far too windy for any thing of the sort the day we went.  Instead, we just went around to some of the carnival games, and had a beverage on a really nice patio restaurant.  We then went downtown and went window-shopping for a bit, and met up with Alec, Anto and Eoin for dinner at an Indian restaurant.  The curry was amazing and Elyse and I really enjoyed 2 bottles of wine J yum!  We met up with some other friends and had a good night out.  I have officially passed off the “new girl” title.  Our friend Hannah has a new roommate from the UK that just got here.  Honestly its so weird how it happens, but I feel so comfortable here now that I am not the new girl.  I have successfully bonded with a lot of great people and have made some really good friends.

 

Sunday was a nice day spent downtown.  Elyse and I met up with Sue and Anne (both her and Jill’s previous co-Korean teachers) and had lunch, coffee, shopping time and girly pedicures.  I was in desperate need of one and was a little shocked when they didn’t soak my feet?! And they used cold water? It was rather shocking but my toesies look pretty in pink. Oh Oh…and I finally found some high heels that fit my monstrous feet! They are beautiful and were fairly cheap and are actually really comfortable.  Yay! I was so excited…now I can fit in with the Korean ladies…well kinda. 

 

Other exciting things that happened this past week:

 

We got Bri’s package in the mail. J Very exciting! We were so happy to get mail and Elyse was very tempted to open it when it arrived at the office, but was sweet enough to wait for me to open it.  It had a birthday present in there for Elyse and Maple cookies for us to share.  I actually brought some of them to my final adult class because they wanted me to bring something Canadian.  The package actually couldn’t have come at a better time.  I was having a hard time thinking about what I was going to bring…being in Korea and all…and realizing that we don’t really have that much “Canadian” food that isn’t stolen from another countries cuisine.  Either way, they loved them and thought they were very “delicious Canadian cookies!”  Oh and how could I forget the salt and pepper that Bri sent us.  We had a hard time finding salt and pepper here, so she stalked up on Mcdonald’s and Wendy’s salt and pepper packages and sent us a really big collection! We were so excited.  Elyse actually used some on her tomatoes tonight and was all smiles! Thanks Bri!

 

If anyone wants to send us some mail, feel free.  I love getting real mail.  You can send it to the office at:

Carly Butler and Elyse Wenzler

24F Youngnam Tower

111 Sincheon-dong

Dong-gu, Daegu

701-750 Korea

 

Thanks again Bri!  You’re a peach!

 

I had some interesting conversations about some Korean beliefs this week.  One of my students was absent on a day that I had handouts, so I kept a copy for him and wrote his name in the corner with a red pen.  When I handed him the papers he had missed, he saw his name in red and gasped and looked at me in shock.  I had no idea and later found out that writing a persons name in red means death.  Wooops.  I formally apologized to him and felt really bad for not knowing, but he understood that I just wasn’t aware of that belief.  I have since thrown away all of my red pens. 

 

Also, I had a pretty in depth conversation about the consumption of “dog” meat.  It was actually a very informative and interesting conversation, but I still do not ever want to see it or try it.  One of my students was actually telling me that when the Daegu Games was going on in 2003, he was responsible for going around to the traditional Korean markets to make sure that there was no display of dog meat for sale that the tourists and media would ever see.  He said he visited the markets 3 times a day to triple check.  Most of the students in my class didn’t agree with it, or eat it but they said that they respected their ancestor’s decisions to consume it for the reasons they did.

 

I’ve been playing some interesting games in my class.  Every Friday we play games so we’ve done Scattergories (which is a favourite of mine), Taboo, Charades, I Spy and Pictionary. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.  They are adults so they can’t be too kiddy, and they also can’t be too hard.  Ohh I think I may try Balderdash since that’s another one of my favourites.

 

I’ve officially experienced some of the Korean monsoon season.  Apparently their rainy seasons are pretty intense here and could last up to a month.  Friday we had the craziest rainfall I have ever seen.  I was soaked.  And speaking of being soaked, we went to Busan this weekend because the guys had a soccer tournament.  Us girls went up Saturday morning and met them at one of the high school’s they were playing at, and well let’s just say there was a bit of confusion before meeting them and we were walking around aimlessly without a taxi in sight, in the downpour of the century.  It was quite entertaining actually.  You just had to laugh at it.  We were there for the game and were quite the cheering section so that’s all that matters.  Although our beach weekend wasn’t overly sunny, we all did enjoy ourselves and made the most of it (and let’s be serious…I secretly enjoy clouds…a lot less energy is spent worrying about sunscreen and shade).  Our hotel was definitely a token “love motel” with the tacky mirrored walls, assorted wallpaper and romantic coloured headboard but it actually had a really good view of the ocean and had a nice little balcony and everything.  We spend some time on the beach telling stories and having some beverages and lit some fireworks and sparklers.  It was quite fun!

 

Well that’s that.  I am really enjoying myself out here and want to recommend it to everyone.  If anyone needs a getaway, come on down! You’ll have a free place to stay!!!  Just throwing it out there.  Actually we do have some visits planned for this summer that are going to be super exciting.  Sarah and George at the end of July, my mommy in the beginning of August and Lauren in the middle of August for 3 whole weeks! SOOOO excited! Anyway I am always missing and thinking of you all!!

Long Weekend Extravaganza

This past Friday was the Korean version of Remembrance Day, which is their day to remember those who died for their country.  There were Korean flags all over the city. Elyse and I decided to do something Korean on this day, so we went to Apsan Mountain.  It’s not too far away and you can actually see it in the distance from our apartment.  We got dropped off near the bottom and made our way up to the cable car entrance.  Yes unfortunately we didn’t quite climb the whole way up the mountain like most Koreans do, but we did the best we could (I honestly don’t know how they do it, even just walking up to the cable car was a pretty steep trek).  As we walked up, we stopped at a beautiful temple and got some pictures.  We peaked inside at all the amazingly detailed paintings and assorted Buddhist flowers arranged along the ceiling.  There was someone worshiping at the time, so we were respectful and didn’t take any pictures, but the lit candles made the atmosphere of the temple very quaint and picturesque. 

 

As we continued up the mountain, the forests were aligned with many traditionally looking gazebos and huts, and strangely around the mountainside, were random exercise machines.  This didn’t shock me all that much because near the river close to our house, there is exercise equipment all over the place.  But come on, as if climbing a mountain isn’t enough work as it is, let’s have a little work out while we are at it.  The view when we got to the top was breathtaking, (aside from the bit of the foggy day we chose to go on) and this is definitely something we will be doing again.  Oh and another strange thing to add…you should have seen the ladies wearing heels up there.  You are on a mountain for goodness sake.  But welcome to Korea…the ladies do EVERYTHING in their heels…I feel like a shlup in my flip-flops.  Anyway…aside from that observation, we really enjoyed our time and even took a bit of time to just sit up there and embrace the moment (I may or may not have forced Elyse to do this).

 

After the mountain hike (I’m still calling it that) we went and met up with Sue, Elyse’s previous co-Korean teacher to have some coffee.  We went to a really cute restaurant called Tuesday Morning that was a very modern but homey place.  Afterwards, we went for dinner at Bennigans, had some great food, brough Sue back to our place to show her the apartment, and then went out and met up with some friends for a couple drinks.  Sue was so cute when we were on our way to our apartment.  She had to stop at a convenient store and get something to bring as a housewarming present because in Korea it is considered rude to come to see someone’s house without bringing something.  So she got us a case of juice.  What a sweetheart! That night at the bar, we all made a Euro Cup pool and I got Portugal and Romania, so if anyone need a team to cheer for, go for these!

 

The next morning we decided to go to Woobang Towerland which is a very fun amusement park.  It’s definitely not comparable to Cedar Point or Wonderland, but it was still fun.  They have a ride that is similar to the Bat at Wonderland that goes forward and backwards and Hannah went on with me for her first rollercoaster ride ever! They have a huge tower (hence the name “Towerland”) that we went up and watched a guy bungee jump from.  They also have a very swanky restaurant and lounge like in the CN Tower that we went to and had some drinks in.  The view was amazing as the sun set and the brightly lit city began to shine.  Ahhh, so pretty!  Even though the city lights are really just a waste of energy, for some reason I find it fascinating and beautiful.  Maybe it was growing up in Leamington and only seeing signs for “Wendy’s” and “2-4-1 Pizza” in lights.  I have to admit though having said that, I do actually miss Leamington a lot being out here.  Even just to see one open fields or a house with a backyard, I don’t think we all realize how lucky we are to be blessed with such space in our country.

Just some stats for ya:

Canada       Population 33,274,000            Area  9,984,670 km2           

Vs.

Korea         Population 72,326,462            Area     220,186 km2

 

The weeks activities included getting PAID finally, which was quite exciting! Guess who’s a millionaire?! Well Korean style Millionaire in terms of Wan…but who’s counting! But I do have to admit that it looks pretty darn cool in the passbook.  Before I got paid, I was having a bit of a rough week in terms missing home and such and the most random things happened to me throughout the week.  Monday morning I was thinking about my life’s path and wondering what the heck I am going to do with my life and what do you know, I walk into my class and see a blank white board except for the words: “Carpe Diem – Seize the day!”  I don’t know who wrote it but it definitely spoke to me.  Then while I was getting onto the subway later that week, I was thinking just how much I was missing home and all of a sudden, a guy walks past me with a H.J. Heinz t-shirt on.  It’s funny how little things like that happen just at the right moment. Both of these random things instantly made me feel better. 

 

My Japanese lady friends are so sweet to me.  This week Sunny brought me a sandwich that she had prepared for me earlier that morning.  She cut off all the crust and packaged it up all cute with a drink and all.  My Korean lessons are still coming along.  It is very difficult learning a language that is so foreign, but I think it’s good for me to see just how challenging it must be for my students.  Anyway Justine and I went for a nice walk and did our regular Tuesday language exchange and when I got back I did a bit of housework.

 

Oooh, ooh…and also exciting news…Elyse and I found some whole-wheat bread.  They don’t have much of that here, so I was delighted to find some at a Paris Baguette shop on our way to get our bankbooks updated.  On our walk back to the apartment, we saw some protestors walking around in response to the US Beef Issue that is going on in Korea.  Earlier that day in Seoul, there were more than 70,000 protestors demonstrating their candle walks at the government offices and there was support country-wide because even Daegu had something like 5,000 protestors.  You should see some of the signs they wear that have a cartoon picture of a cow with an American flag and a SKULL on it just to emphasize how bad it actually is for you.  Sometimes you even see people dressed up as a cow holding a sign that says all Korean that I am assuming says: “No US BEEF!”  Oh boy…pretty intense stuff.

Anyway I am heading to bed, I am officially a week behind in the postings...so I will be sure to update you on the rest soon.  Miss you all!

Sport Sports and More Sports

It’s been a while since I last updated sooo lots to say, lots to say.  Last weekend we went to a Daegu Samsung Lions baseball game.  It was incredible.  We had great weather and there was a big group of us that went.  I, along with thousands of other crazy Koreans, sported lovely blue polka-dot hats for 500 Wan ($0.50) to shield ourselves from the rays.  Of course they would have these here.  It was a true blessing though due to the fact that I forgot my trusty sun-umbrella that day.  They ended up wining the game and Elyse and I were the pro’s of the hour.  All of our friends from the UK had never experienced a baseball game so we were teaching them all the rules to the game.  Elyse was actually surprisingly full of knowledge on the sport! Very impressive. 

 

The next day, we had another sports day at one of the universities just outside of the city.  The guys we hang out with are in a foreigner league and had a game.  Because of the long day and night before, some people had a bit of a rough go, but it was still an exciting game.  They unfortunately lost, but I think they learned their lesson for next time, no staying out till sunrise the night before.  Crazy bats. Anyway, it was actually really nice to go outside of the city for a bit.  The university was located in amongst the mountains and had a spectacular view from the stadium.  The cheering sections consisted of all the ladies and we actually extended our spirit by offering our leftover pizza to some Korean kids.  We said they could have it as long as they cheered for the ORANGE team.  Oh and by orange, we mean hunter/construction worker/neon biker reflective gear orange.  Whoa…were they ever bright jersey’s.  But at least we wouldn’t forget who was who.

 

After the game, some of us went to the Outback Steakhouse and then head to Billibow for some bowling/pool.  We played in teams and Elyse and I actually did really well! Also, when we were there, there was a birthday party being celebrated, and they did a crazy fire show.  They were throwing bottles up like in the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise.  They used fire and did crazy tricks.  It was quite the show. 

 

The week was a typical workweek.  (It’s funny how I can say that now that I have been here for more than a month…WEIRD!) Elyse and I have a rotation of orange kimbob shops that we got to for dinner so we don’t out-do one or the other.  We had one close to the hospital, one close to downtown and I just found another one by the government office I work at to add to the mix.  I am doing good on the hobby front.  I am officially almost done by 3^rd novel out here.  Impressive isn’t it?  As most of you know, I am not a loyal reader.  I always start and NEVER finish books…so I am pretty impressed with myself.  I always read on my commute to make the time fly!

 

On Wednesday my supervisor called me to see if I could fill-in for a part time teacher who called in sick.  So I had to go in and teach some kids for an hour and a half.  Man am I ever glad that I primarily teach adults because I don’t know how Elyse and the rest of them deal with them.  They are crazy kids.  And the fact that they don’t understand what I am saying is so tough.  My Thursday night class was insane too.  It doesn’t help that there are almost 20 of them and they are all at a really beginner level English.   But I am learning as I go and getting advice from other teachers all the time.  I am trying my hardest to not wish anything bad on each of the devil children in my class…they are the typical disruptive, mocking, sit-at-the-back-of-the-room boys who annoy the crap out of me.  And I don’t quite have perfect control over the class because as I was trying to discipline Matt (the ringleader of the devilish boys), the others all went crazy behind my back throwing umbrellas and teasing the girls.  After I noticed that Matt wouldn’t even do what I told him to do (stand in the corner – it sounds mean but you should see this kid) I just gave up on that…and continued teaching for the benefit of the good students. I still need to work on that and get some tips from other teachers.  Although I did try a little bit of group punishment which seems to work.  They are on teams and lose points every time Matt is a little devil and the rest of his team starts yelling at him…its great.  After Wednesday’s class that I covered, I was so relieved to go to my adult night class because there were only 5 of them there and we all decided to just visit and practice our English through conversation, which was so nice.  We are all getting to know each other really well and I am enjoying it so much.  Ahhh how I love teaching adults!

 

Thursday night Elyse, Hannah and I got dressed up all perty and went to finally see Sex and the City! We went to the late show so before the movie, we went out and got some wine at “That” bar and then had some CoSmO’s of course at the Holy Grill.  The Holy Grill is a restaurant owned by a Canadian and he had the Stanley Cup game playing.  In Canada, the game had already been played and the results were out, so Moose (the owner) was wearing his Red Wings Jersey and was sure to cheers Elyse and I about the win.  Elyse wasn’t too happy being a Maple Leaf fan, but I enjoy the Wings, so I was happy.  The movie was great and we had a spectacular girly night.

 

More to come on this past weekend…which was a long weekend…yay to Korean holidays!

Elyse's Rooftop Birthday

Well last weekend was Elyse’s birthday, which was a lot of fun!  We had some people over on the Saturday night and had a little rooftop party, which was very Korean of us because of the picnic style get together.  They sell these cushioned picnic blanket thingy’s and we bought 4 of them and had a nice little gathering on the roof of our building.  It has a nice view and we played some tunes and hung out.  Ryan Krokofsky came to visit.  We went to university together and he is living in Daejeon, which is a couple hours away on the KTX.  It was nice to have him here and party with him and show him Daegu. 

 

We went for Galbi which is the bbq style dinner where you cook up your own food.  It was wonderful and we celebrated with some Soju and beer.  Ryan and I went out on the town the next day hitting up the shops that Ryan loves and doesn’t have in Daejeon and watched some of the festival that was going on that weekend.  There were crazy drinking contests going on, and at one point, there was a “couples chugging contest” and a couple the age of my grandparents went up and actually did really well.  Man, can EVERYONE drink here! It’s insane.  They were even handing out free samples of the alcohol everyone loves.  You should have seen the line up for that.  We tried it just to say we did.  Their wine is quite different here.  Its called Makgeolli and is super strong.  My students at the adult company told me that if you drink too much of it, you don’t recognize your own family.  Haha.  Oh Koreans.

 

We went for some great Japanese for dinner on Sunday night before Ryan went home, and it was one of those restaurants where there is a conver belt of all different types of Sushi and you take the ones you want.  The plates are colour coordinated and the prices of each colour are on the wall so you know how much each plate is going to cost.  It was delicious and we had a lot of fun!

 

The rest of Elyse’s birthday celebrations that week on her actual birthday were very exciting.  Alec and I went shopping and got her some presents and we had a Christmas eve type evening where she tried to convince us to let her open her gifts early.  Even just one.  Sherry and Rob, we now feel your pain of the begging for presents the night before.  But we insisted that she wait till morning.  I had to leave for work around 10, so we all woke up early to watch her open gifts.  It was so much fun and she got some very nice things.  Alec and I are too good to her.  Hehe.  There was a giraffe theme, which was quite entertaining, and Alec even bought her a giraffe stuffed animal that sings and dances.  We love it.

 

That night we went out to Billibow and there was a good crowd of us.  We didn’t get too crazy though because Elyse had to wake up at 8:30AM to go to a mountain with more than 100 kids with the school.  She was not impressed.  But that night, the school took us out to dinner with all the Korean staff that work with us.  It was nice because I don’t really get to see them all often, because I work outside of the office, but we all ate some really good food and bonded.  There was a great band playing at the restaurant (which was set up like a brewery) and we experienced some crazy drunken Korean dancing from these old businessmen that were TOO funny!  Elyse even got put up on stage because it was her birthday.  It was a riot!

 

The rest of the weeks highlights include getting really confused when I was entering the subway one day and heard this VERY loud warning bell that went off to practice what would happen in the instance of an earthquake.  I was so baffled.  I am sure my face said it all.  I had just left my Japanese gals and it was SOOO loud and ear piercing.  Across town, Elyse experienced the stopped traffic and was also confused.  She called Alec and told him that the weirdest thing was happened.  Not a car in sight was moving.  Everyone had just stopped (which is odd for Korea, cause they are crazy drivers). Eventually we came to the realization what exactly was going on, and thought that there should have been better instructions about this sort of thing.  Especially for foreigners.  I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go into the subway or not.  So I just stood there and looked around like the most confused foreigner ever I am sure.

 

We also opened up our banks accounts this week, which was very exciting.  Being in the bank made me think of TD and made me miss everyone I work with!  TD Gals, you would be glad to know that we have a one-up on them.  They have to wear uniforms which make them all look like flight attendants (not that there is anything wrong with that Steph).  And you would be interested to hear that people take numbers rather than stand in line.  That would actually be nice and maybe cut down on the stares of death we get when there is a big line up.  Hehe.   Eva, they also have a number system for the side staff too.  There are two sets of numbers you take from.  One set is for basic banking, and the second set is for opening accounts, seeing someone about investments etc.  I think you would have enjoyed seeing this.  They were really nice to us though and it was a good experience.  They actually gave really good customer service and realized that we had been waiting a while, so they took us up to this VIP office and opened up my account from there and offered us tea and candies.  Laaa Di Dahhh. 

 

Oh and another weird experience that happened to me that I want to share was when we were on our way to open our bank accounts.  I was with a co-worker from the office, and she stopped to get gas, and all of a sudden this man with a camera came up to the window and asked Claira (the girl I went with) something in Korean that I didn’t understand obviously.  He started taking this photo of her through the side mirror and had the gas-pump-boy hold up the gas nozzle and pour liquid down to make it look like the gas was dripping.  As we left, after the quick photo shoot, I asked, what the heck was that? And Claira explained that he asked her if it was ok if he took her picture for the paper for an article about rising fuel prices. I was so excited that I was part of the photo shoot and told her once she got a copy of that picture in the paper that she would have to save me a copy.  It’s the closest I’ve been to a claim to fame in Korea so far.