Korea the Beautiful

Korea is a very beautiful place, the entire country is surrounded by mountains and is between the Yellow Sea, The Japanese Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Even though there are so many people in such a small space the mountains are still beautiful. Most of the picture above were taken at Hanok village there is a large Bamboo forest there and this was also the home of the Emperor when he visited Jeonju.

Hanock Village Field Trip - Kinders

Today's field trip was sooo much fun we got to go and see a part of Jeonju that was built in 1907. The area has a lot of Japanese influence and is very beautiful. The leaves were just starting to change colour and the kids had so much fun running around.

This particular area we visited was part of the Emperors palace and it is very beautiful with octagonal roofs and a lot of symmetry to the designs. It is a very special and historic place of great value in the Korean culture and I felt very fortunate to get a chance to visit.

for more about Hanock Village please visit http://hanok.jeonju.go.kr/FLSite/default.aspx there is an information video however you would have to speak Korean to understand.

The Kids

One of the best things about Korea is the kids they are very cute and enthusiastic to learn.

Pic 1 - These little guys are called Kinders they are age 3-5 and come everyday from 10-3pm they learn drama, arts and crafts, science and have story and game time. Everyday before they leave they line up and say goodbye to each of the director and the admin staff. They are very cute and all have matching bright yellow back packs.

Pic 2 - This little girl is named Hilda she is my buddy. I teach her in one of my classes she is very shy and tells me "teacher my Englisshee is no good" She is very cute most days I have my prep right after her class and when I come down stairs i find her sitting and my desk waiting for me. She is very smart and knows she is cute so most days she gets me to help her with her homework.

Do you Know what your Shirt Says?

This T-shirt is meant to be warn by foreigners and translates to say - Do you Know what your shirt Says?

Classic!

for more fun shirts meant to be warn by foreigners visit... www.baboshirts.com *** Note some are funny others are inappropriate so proceed with caution.

Koreglish Part 2

So here we go again... Another week and the Koreglish shirts are still plentiful. It seems there are more shirts with random English writing no one understands that there are actual shirts.

In Korea it is the latest cool fashion to wear English shirts. It does not matter what they say or if anyone understands them but that is the must have trend of the year. So here back in popular demand for a second week I introduce to you Koreglish T-shirts

1) Finish and ers thinking. If it does so, somthing can be seem, and it is suppose to come
2) XGIRL STAND
3) PINK FLOYD - In the Flsh (Le Stade Olympique)
4) MAINE STATE - It seperates from state of Massachsettis
5) Best Imagination and Nearby

Jeonju Zoo Part 2

So here are some more adventures from the zoo. One of the first things I noticed when I entered the zoo (besides the smell) was the design and layout. The zoo was built in a circle with different houses for each type of animal. For example there were bird houses and cat houses that were one building divided into 4 or 5 enclosures. Everything was also very close together. There were a lot of animals they were just very near to the next habitate. Somthing else different was the selection of animals in cages not just in the petting zoo but actual cages. These included dogs, chickens, goats and pidgons that is right just common birds! However the zoo was fun and was a good walk and had a lot to see. It made for a fun day

Koreglish

Koreans Love Enlgish! I think it is awsome how hard they try to speak English and want to learn. However it is about time they fired whoever proofreads for them. I did not have to look hard to find these examples and there are many more out there. People walk around all the time and have no idea what the heck they are wearing, what it says or the meaning. Given the nature of these shirts there is an obvious reason they don't understand what it means. Can you figure it out?

1) Community College - Easier than "Ifular" College

2) Red Heart as long as you eachother everything will turn out okay...

3) What if his was he only tree left to hug?

4) You will naver know until you try I better make plans cheer up everyone

5) French Girlish Mood - How is it going? - with my Dogs?

Okay so I use to feel bad about my ability to proofread! However now not so much! However I will try to improve and pay more attention to detail.

Love and Prayers!

CONGRATULATIONS RYAN AND JES!

Congratulations to you on your OCTOBER 11, 2008 Engagment!

God Bless, and may your life together be everything you could ever hope for and dream for and more!

Jeonju Zoo Part 1

Jeonju Zoo is a pretty interesting place I had no idea what to expect given the fact admission was only 1,300 won is about $1.30 however I was surprised in a good way. This zoo is not like the Toronto Zoo at all.

Jeonju zoo is a mix between a petting zoo and a regular zoo. They have traditional animals from all over the world like Zebras and Elephants and pythons and stuff however they also have full display houses for chickens and goats. My guess is that the types of animals we pay no special attention to in North America and not all that common here for people to see in Korea.

My fav was the giraffe people were just walking up to the cage and feeding him apple and he seemed pretty happy about all that. He was one on my fav animals, others seemed kinda sick and dirty. The bears made me sad because there were like 3 of them in a really tiny little concrete room with nothing to do just look out the window.

But overall it was good. I feel down and sprained my ankle becuase the side walks were pretty bad however Asia and me falling over seem to go hand-in-hand and I am tough and can take the pain :)

Until next time God Bless and keep Praying for me!

The Museum B/Pusan

So one of the final attractions that I visited in the City was the historical museum. Korea has a very long history of well over 5000 years. There were many interesting artifacts collected through out many periods of history.

Around 500A.D. many early Koreans (or at least inhabitants of this region) practiced some very unconventional beauty procedures. Starting from when people were born they would have there skull compressed at the front because they wanted a flat large forehead in that culture this was considered to be the standard of beauty. There were some skulls on display of this flat forehead feature that were really strange to look now but were the norm during that period.

Also Korea was one of the first cultures in the world to create paper and so a lot of the meuseum was dedicated to the craft of paper making and early scrolls.

Busan Aquarium

The absolute highlight of my trip to Pusan was the visit to the Aquarium. Ever since I was little I have loved the water and getting to see the beautiful fish and sea creatures up close was so much fun.

One of the best things about this aquarium was that a lot of the species were collected locally. Korea is maritime culture and they have a lot of respect for the ocean and its creatures. Not much of the signs were in English however enough was in English that I knew what I was looking at. My favorites was of coarse the giant Sea Turtle, however I also enjoyed playing with the star fish and taunting the sharks.

When I first went into the aquarium there were no brochures in English so I asked this man wearing a Pusan Aquarium Polo shirt if he had any. Anyways it turned out that he was the GM of the Aquarium and had gone to Waterloo university he was very helpful and shared a lot of valuable information about the aquarium. Than he gave me a complementary ticket to the glass bottom boat and a chance to feed the fishes and sharks. What an amazing experience. If you are ever in P/Busan check out the Aquarium it is right on the beach.

God Bless.

p.s. I will post the trip to the cultural museum later in the week.

Busan/Pusan

So this past weekend I had a chance to travel to the Southern most tip of Korea a city called Pusan/Busan. It is called both becuase the actual name is Busan however in Korea Bs are pronounced like Ps. It s a very diverse city surrounded by high mountains with the Sea right there. Korea is not actually in the Pacific Ocean it is between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. So the water in the second Picture is Actually the Sea of Japan. and that land mass in the distance is an island belonging to Japan. It takes about 45minutes by ferry to travel across the sea to reach the Japan Okasaka sea port from B/Pusan Korea.

The weekend I visited this city was very busy becuase it was the 13th annual PIFF which is the Pusan international Film Festival so there were all these big Asian Stars in the City this weekend. I saw a mob of people screaming and some guy wearing sun glasses however I could not tell you in the least who I saw or what work they did. Oh well! Somthing else interesting about B/Pusan is that they have just put in a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games to be held in their city.

While I was visiting I went to a large Aquarium and to a few museums and visited the beach I will have to save more picutures to post during the week because generally during the week things are fairly average and not much really happens. So I will say more about B/Pusan later in the week.

Until than God Bless!

Visiting Busan

so for the last few days I have been visiting Busan/Pusan it is in the southern most tip of Korea. There are many beautiful beaches and a huge aquarium. As soon as I get back to Jeonju I will post pictures.

Canada2Korea

I just wanted to say thank you to Spring and Mike my recruiters for their help with sending me over to Korea. They have been excellent recruiters and have worked hard to make sure that I had the best possible experience when I am here. They were always available to answer my questions and were very good advocates for me, communicating with the school and the director and making all the arrangements for me when I came here. The company Canada2 Korea is very reputable and has very hard working people. They have a lot of passion for the country and for the students who go and teach. I choose Canada2Korea because of the high level of knowledge about the area, Spring was born in Korea and is very familiar with the area. I would recommend this company to anyone who is interested in teaching English overseas, has a passion for teaching and wants to make a difference.

Gaeksa

Last night I went to Gaeksa it is a resturant entertainment district with shopping and eating and stuff. It was a lot of fun. Some of the prices were really good others of them were really expensive. It was very crowded and people just drive on the side walk and will go through pedestrian walkways so it can be very dangerous. Taxis and motorcycles especailly are really bad for this.

However it was fun and I was able to get a coat for only $5 so I will be warm here since the weather is getting colder.

Thoughts on the First Week

So I have been in S.Korea for exactly 1 week come tonight. It has been a really rough week. I feel lonely and homesick constantly and more than anything just want to hug my family and pet my dog Sandy.

Asides from the emotional roller coaster the job itself is okay. The kids are well behaved and most of them really want to learn. I work about 30 hours a week and have spent the rest of my time working on applications for school and trying to get financing for when I go back to school in the fall.

Most websites and resources I found online say that homesick is the worst in the evening however I find the opposite to be true. Ever morning I wake up at 3am in a panic confused and disoriented. I know that these symptoms will get better in time as I get more busy and establish a routine, however until this happens it is upsetting.

Rain Rain Go Away

So Right now it is Thursday afternoon at 2pm which means back home it is 1am in the morning. One of the biggest adjustments since being here is the weather it is constantly raining so much to the point that the streets are often flooded. I am still so new in town that I have not found anywhere to buy an umbrella so I always end up at work soaked and cold.

The rain is very think and the wind is warm so the rain sticks to me in a weird way it is very uncomfortable because you cant just rub it off. I live a 10 minute walk down the street from the school and it is intense and feels like much longer.

The other thing about walking anywhere is the drivers. I have found since I have been there that there is not much respect for human life. No one where seat belts and most cars the backseat don't have seat belts. Also people will be on their mopeds without helmets just handing onto their babies, banking corners and driving fast. Taxis are the worst cause they will drive fast and not look when turning the corner causing me to have to jump out of the way several times.

Things I Like About Korea

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/maps/map_country_koreasouth.html

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Okay so when you are in a new place it is really easy to think about the negative and compare what you don't like to what is good and you enjoy at home. So this is my attempt to be a proactive positive thinker and enjoy my new experience. So I am going to list as many things I can think of that I like about Korea in the next 3 minutes. I am a pretty good typer (but a bad proofreader since I go so fast) so sit back and enjoy the list of good things about South Korea

1) everyone smiles and waves at the oegugins (Foreigners)

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2) the city is clean

3) the kids are really cute

4) they have yummy fruit

5) prices are fairly cheap

6) the Internet connection is really good

7) there are a lot of other Oegugins in the area

8) the language is much easier than Chinese to learn to speak

9) everything is close within walking distance

10) technology is really advanced

11) the cars are cool some have 3 wheels

12) their is a lot of history to the country

13) entertainment is pretty cheap

14) the chalk is like white out but it just whites off

15) they are eager to learn

16) It is really safe in general

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okay so 3 minutes is over I am still really home sick to the point I am sick every day almost constantly however looking at the bright side is important. Also setting small goals and time lines to get through to the end.