Inside the Goldfish Bowl

I’m the only blonde girl in this city (that I've seen so far) so I do stand out and having people touch my hair and tell me that I’m pretty is an everyday occurrence.`  I have children come up to me all the time wanting to play with my hair and there is one little boy in my hagwon who is obsessed with me.  He says that my hair is gold and considering the reaction that I get around this city, maybe it's a fitting name for something that seems to be such a valuable commodity.  I don't do much with my hair here.  I did buy some hairspray (and received free stuff) but I've only used it twice and I prefer to let my hair go au natural: wild and wavy.  

To some extent, I now understand how zoo animals feel.  Everyone goes to the zoo and thy not only want to see the animal but they want to watch any type of reaction from the poor caged animal.  Similarly, everyone wants to see how I react in situations.  It’s not their fault.  We all have that innate curiousity. I’m one of the worst people and I’m usually very obvious about looking and commenting but being on the receiving end is very new to me especially on such a mass scale.  On a daily basis, I get the people reacting in a type of way that basically says, “Oh look, the foreigner is trying to cross the street.  Oh, here comes a car that’s zooming towards her on the sidewalk.  Hmmm, let’s all giggle at her as she leaps out of the car’s path.” Yes, this has actually happened.  Discussing the driving skills or lack thereof is for another blog, preferably a video one but I will state that driving on the sidewalks is a regular occurrence.  Hey, who needs a road when there’s a paved sidewalk that’s faster?  

Not to say that it’s always this obvious.  The spectators (as I like to call them) are usually trying to be oh-so-inconspicuous while watching me.  It took me awhile to catch on that they do stare at me even when they don’t seem to be staring at me.  They actually do this subtle side-eye thing so that they aren’t watching you head-on but I’ve been told by the Korean and old-timer (been here 9 years) teachers that this is their way of checking me out.  But often times they just bluntly stare at me while I walk down the street or sit down to eat.  I think I prefer the obvious stares. 

I’ve actually come to a point that this is fun for me.  Every time I walk down the street I pretend that I’m on a catwalk.  I pose at the crosswalk lights and rock my walk to the sound of the music (iPod of course).  Let me tell you, this makes my day.  Some people like to give themselves pep talks to start their morning but I prefer a morning strut down the street to start my day off fashionably with a little catwalk action. 


Don't worry though, I'm too goofy to be taking my "celebrity" status seriously.  On the other hand, whoever said that blondes have more fun definitely must have lived in Korea...

Kimbop With Kelly

This was one of my first meals in a little kimbop shop near my hagwon.  This meal was highly anticipated after my mandatory poke, prod, and check-up at the hospital that was needed for my alien registration approval.  I paid 80,000 for the priveledge of having someone glance into my mouth, doing a colour blind test, a quick vision test, urine test, being x-rayed, getting weighed and measured (bust included, why was that necessary?), and having blood drawn (it left a nasty bruise).  The travel time and wait were the most time-consuming part of the process.  The actual check-up took  all of 20 minutes and during that time, they shoved me from one station to another in maximum efficiency.  Thankfully, my Korean co-worker, Kelly, came with me and translated everything so that the process took very little time.  Afterwards, we decided to walk back to the hagwon instead of hailing a taxi and thus began our bonding time.

Thinking back to that day, I realized that I am a very lucky person to have such amazing co-workers.  At our hagwon, we aren't just a business but we are a quirky, interracial family.  I consider Kelly to be my best Korean friend in this city.  She is kind, generous, and accepts me for all of my craziness.  I've pulled her out of her shell to teach her the western way and she has helped me along in my Korean experience.  I'll have many stories about our friendship later on but I should go back to my time in the Kimbop shop.

Kimbop is a Korean traditional food that is similar to sushi but don't let any Korean hear you compare the two.  According to Koreans, Kimbop is uniquely theirs and they are very proud of this delicious dish.   Kimbop is stuffed with egg, ham, carrot, and other veggies and wrapped in rice and seaweed paper but unlike sushi, it is not made with fish or served with soy sauce or wasabi.  Nonetheless, it is mashita (delicious!!!).  We also had ttoekbokki, a meal made with rice cake and spicy sauce. We ate ours with ramen noodles that were covered in cheese with a side of tofu soup and rice.  Additionally, no meal would be complete without our kimchi, egg, and peppers.

The meal was huge for the two of us but we did manage to polish it off despite our non-stop chatter.  Kelly and I giggled as I struggled to pick up tofu with my metal chopsticks (slippery stuff) and she finally resorted feeding me like a momma bird by telling me to open up as she put food in my mouth.  I've discovered that this is a very common practice.  Oftentimes, I will come to work to have random food shoved in my mouth while co-workers assure me that it is mashita.  Anyways, Kelly was the first to carry out this Korean practice with me and I'll always remember that day.  Ever since that day, she and I are have been on many adventures where I never fail to shock her in some way and she always concludes our outings by stating that I am "so fun."  This is one of the best compliments I can receive from my usually reserved Korean friend...

One Month Anniversary for One

This is a message that I sent one of my best friends the other week.  I thought I would share it because it shows a more personal side of me and what I’ve been going through.  I’m a very extroverted person and even though I’ve become comfortable with spending time by myself, it is sometimes difficult to cope when everyone else has their own lives and I spend 10 hours a day alone at least 5 days a week.  I can’t wait for the weekends because I can see my GI friends or hit up the local club to talk to other foreigners. 

I do love it here in Korea and I accept that I’m going to have a lonely day once in awhile and I accept that this time is meant for personal growth but my first breaking point was last week.  It was my one month anniversary of being in Korea and it was the most emotional day I’ve had since I’ve landed. ended up bursting into tears in the teacher’s lounge when a co-worker asked me how my day had been going.  At that point, I was frustrated with my oversized and rowdy class that has children at two drastically different language levels.  I missed having someone to do activities with or talk to at a deeper emotional level than the obligatory “how’s your day going?”

So here’s a brief (considering what I felt like writing) letter that I sent:

I've been trying really hard to stay positive and see the fun in everything but living alone, eating alone, and spending all of my free time alone is starting to wear me out. The novelty is wearing off.   Also, I've been having trouble with my one class so that has me frustrated and a little emotional. And just not having anyone to talk to about anything serious or personal. It just makes me miss everyone. That's why I'm always on facebook and chatting with people. I get almost no English interaction over here. 

I saw a foreigner the other day in my neighbourhood and I was so excited! I was excited to the point that I think I originally scared him into talking to me. He was friendly and talked to me and he told me that he knows how it feels like. He lived in Gunsan for a few years before moving back to the states but he said he never would have survived being by himself here (he lived on the base. He's an ex GI and is just visiting with his wife but he was so nice to talk to me for so long just because he could see that I desperately needed that kind of interaction. 

I still haven't met any other teachers that are friendly and want to go out. The GIs are always busy but I went to dinner with one the other day and it was terrible. He was tired and boring and we barely talked. It was soooo uncomfortable. All I want is to have people to talk to and go out for dinner with. And for the most part, I'm not even sure I can be friends with most GIs because very few are interested in remaining platonic.

And then it snowed yesterday. I thought I would hate it snowing but it just made me miss Canada. So it was just a really emotional day, thanks for listening…

Koalas and Pandas and Me, Oh My!

Koala bears, me, and panda bears

We just did a zoo unit in class and my students are a creative little bunch.  They always fill my board with drawings about whatever we learn that day.  They were confused about what a koala bear was until one of my "genius" students decided to pull a pictionary moment to provide some more clarity.  We also watched youtube videos of my favourite animal, the panda bear, in all of its cuteness!  This class is so much fun and super cute.  They all clamour for the marker and beg me to play "teacher for a minute" where I give them control over the class for one minute and I act like a student.  I was bundled up that day with sweaters, leggings, and a scarf...do you think it's a good likeness of me?

Am I A Real Teacher?

Now that's a question that I've been asking myself.  I don't have a teaching degree but I have various forms of teaching experience including tutoring and working as an university teaching assistant.  And yet, I don't feel qualified to call myself a teacher.

I was thrown into this environment after half a day of observing a korean teacher and am now expected to teach, control, and connect with 8 classes of students.  They range from age 10-22 and I swear that Korea's infestation of sugared treats must be influencing the children's behaviour somehow.  Either that or they're just naturally crazy!  I have seen them climb the walls!  Literally!!!!  They hang out the screenless windows, jump off of desks, and crawl up the walls by standing on ledges.  I think that padded walls would be a great investment for the school.  If not for the children's safety, then to provide an appropriate setting for myself after I crack.

I love the children.  Most of them.  There are a few that try my patience and make me realize that when I was in school, I was the worst child ever!  I am sincerely sorry to every teacher that I mouthed off, disrespected, or those that cried because of me.  It makes me what to be a better teacher and really connect with my students without resorting to bribery (we'll see how long that lasts).  It makes me appreciate all of the fantastic teachers that I had in my life!

Teaching english is easy in some ways and mind-blowingly difficult in others.  I have to tailor my vocabulary, pace of speech, and even my accent depending on the age of the child, what they have already been taught, and who has taught them in the past.  Even though it kills me to say this, I am thankful that the American accent is very similar to the Canadian accent.  Most of the children have been exposed to American media and teachers and are used to their form of speech.  I have learned to say zeee instead of zed and have learned to choose my words very carefully and use mountains of synonyms on a daily basis.

The thing I fear most of all is the blank faces of them staring at me after I've used every resource at my disposal.  It plunges me into a world of self-deprecation where I feel that I have failed at my job and failed my students.   While this feeling is short-lived, it is still a wake-up call that I have a lot to learn and that hopefully my research, lesson planning, and enthusiasm will get me through another week.  On a positive note, the adult students love me and specifically request me to be their teacher.  One of my students is broken-hearted that due to her work schedule, she switch classes for part of the week.  Maybe I am a good teacher after all...

SOS Please Someone Sext Me

An Example of Student Scrabble Time

Fridays are game day.  These kids study from 9am until 9pm so they need a break at some point during the week.  I extend this attitude towards my university students as well and they love me for it!  It was the second week with my class of adorable university girls when I broke out the scrabble board because it was such a big hit the week before.  My rules are that the words must be at least 3 letters (preferably 4), the students are allowed to use a dictionary, and that they have to use the word in a full sentence.  This setup provides an “educational” reason for playing games in the classroom. 

Well those girls definitely used those dictionaries.  They came up with words that I had never heard of including xylose and xylene.  We also introduced a new rule that stated you could layer letters on top of one another to create a new word.  For example, train could become plain.  Well one of the girls decided to layer an S where an N used to be. The result…Son became SOS and Next became Sext.  Well she found it in an online dictionary but the definition didn’t make sense to her so it was up to me to explain what this word meant.  The best I could come up with in simple English was that when you message someone on the phone this is called a text.  When a text is sent between lovers (a popular term over here) and involves anything to do with sex (and then I pointed to the core part of the word sext) then it is called a sext.  I continued on stating that this could be a message with words or pictures.  Very confused looks soon turned into shocked faces and rapid-fire Korean talk between the three of them.  And that was the end of the class.

Then came the fun part of telling my coworkers what had happened.  Of course the English teachers understood what had happened but the Korean teachers were confused and even more confused when they searched for the definition with their handy-dandy electric dictionary.  Apparently sext is a catholic ritual of some sort and the teachers weren’t catching on to the humour of the situation.  And so it was once again up to me to explain to my much senior, male coworker what sexting really meant.  In a country where I get minimal english interaction, I have to get my kicks anywhere possible. That means that it was awkward for him but hilarious for me!  My good friend Murphy has sent much worse my way in the past so nothing fazes me these days…

A Korean Winter Wonderland

This is Gunsan’s first snow fall.  I’ve been dreading the snow all month but when I actually saw that it was snowing outside my apartment I was ecstatic!!!!   I hung out of my window to reach out and touch the big, fluffy, Hollywood snowflakes!  The snow only stayed for a day but it was refreshing to see and it made me miss my beloved Canada.  I never thought that I would feel this way about snow.  It is shocking to have these emotions pop out of me.  

The snowfall beautified the city and it made me yearn for a friend to enjoy it with that day.  I wanted to catch snowflakes on my tongue, throw fistfuls of snow in the air, and dance in the streets.  I felt this incredible need to be childish and giggle with delight with someone who is loving life as much as I am.  Instead, I carried out these snowfall adventures solo (probably looking like the crazy foreigner) because everyone else was busy but I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  It’s been an emotional week (that post will come later) but the snow reminded me that even though I am alone in Korea, there are many people who love me back home in Canada.

An Bit of an Update

My new friends, Winny and Andy, have recently became engaged and announced that they will return to South Africa to get married next summer!  I'm so excited for them!!!

My Kettle-ness is Korean-like

I stumbled upon this blog entry from my first week in Korea.  I didn't know what I was in for when I wrote it but now I have a few stories that proves my survival guide to be accurate!

According to my survival guide, “the temperament of most Koreans can be likened to a kettle; that is, quick to come to a boil and quick to cool off.”  I might just fit in after all.  Drama of all sorts is apparently quite common on Korean streets.  My favourite story that this guide has to offer is of the taxi drivers poking each other through the windows of their vehicles.  

Apparently in a society where conservative dressing and a confident composure is the norm, so are the heated disputes and drunken quarrels on public streets.  It also says that foreigners should stay out of such exchanges. I’m thinking that I may have to tone down my own obnoxiousness and bite my tongue even more than usual.  Even though my own temperament may fit Korea fairly well, I must remember that I will be better off to approach such discourse with my head down and mouth closed.  

Additionally, my guide suggests packing 3-4 months of painkillers.  Luckily, I packed a bottle of 500 units.  Do you think it’ll be enough?  Let’s come back to that question in a few month’s time but until then, let the betting begin…

Here Chicky Chicky

I know my posts are all over the place in regards to timeline and this one is completely random. I wrote it last week and am posting it now: 

I got home tonight at 2:30am and what do you know, that darn rooster is crowing again.  I don't mind him as an alarm clock but 2:30am???  I don’t know if this is a nightly occurrence anymore because I think I sleep though the majority of nighttime sounds nowadays. Unfortunately for Mr. Rooster, at this moment I’m trying to fall asleep but all I can think about is how I want to hunt down that rooster, kill it, and make myself some chicken cordon bleu.  Is that wrong?

Banshees in the Neighbourhood

My first week in Korea was an interesting experience but I must say that nothing has gotten under my skin like the crazy lady in the building across the alley.  On my fourth night in Korea I was woken up by a woman screaming.  The first thing that raced across my mind was “oh my gosh, someone is being murdered” but after about 30 seconds I realized that this was not the case.  I don’t care what language is being spoken, some things are easily translated just by tone.  I quickly deduced that she was furious at her husband and was verbally berating him.  I assume that it was because he came home drunk or something (very common here).  You’ve never heard insane female shrieking until you’ve heard this. This woman’s yelling started out like a normal angry tone and quickly turned raced up the scale into what I would think would be unintelligible shrieking to their Korean neighbours.  She went on for at least an hour!  Lights are on all over the building across the way so it was obvious that she had woken up half the neighbourhood but to my surprise no one was shouting at her to shut up or had called the police.  By the way, this was occurring at 4:00 in the morning. And my rooster starts his morning song at 7:00am so I was not a happy camper at this point.  Once again, I didn’t sleep much and went to work tired and cranky. 

Well that wasn’t the end of it.  The next night I was woken up once again.  This time it occurred at 5:30 in the morning and of course no one shouted back at her.  It was obvious that she was even angrier this time around.  I’m 90% sure that this woman was beating on her husband because after smacking sounds there was the whimper of this poor man that was probably begging her to calm down.  I’m not sure if police get called for domestic disturbances in this country but they probably should have been called.  This time around I opened up my window and screamed at her to “shut up and go to bed.”  It didn’t work.  In hindsight, I should have learned how to say it in Korean the day before.  I haven’t heard anything from her since that week but once again, I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve started sleeping through the noise or perhaps she decided to kick her husband out or seek out anger management classes.  

No wonder people think women are crazy!  They must have spent some time in my neighbourhood.  Just when I thought that I wouldn't be disturbed anymore, there was an incident at 1:00am the next week.  I don't know what was going on and I wasn't about to open the door to poke my head out and see.  That's saying a lot because I'm the type of person that is always listening in on the building drama in Canada.  I find it more entertaining than TV and I figure that if anything were to happen then I can give an accurate statement to the police.  Anyways, I woke up to another woman screaming and pounding on a door down the hallway.  It sounded like she was trying to get someone to come out and from what I could hear, it sounded like there was a man on the other side trying to calm her down.  Unfortunately for him, it didn't sound like he was lacking some skills in the negotiation department.  This woman just became angrier and angrier.  Eventually, I could hear the door open and another woman came out crying and trying to speak in between sobs.  Once again, I'm not sure of all the details but it was definitely not pleasant to listen to.  

I'm telling you, being around all of these events make it seem like I'm in the middle of a Korean soap opera (which are quite amusing).  So the new question is, what's a girl have to do to get some sleep around here?  Oh well, at least I can say that my neighbourhood isn’t boring…

F*** You

Well today’s class was interesting.   Guess what my students couldn’t wait to talk to me about.  All nine of them couldn’t wait to give me the finger and tell me that it meant F*** you.  Apparently, from what I could piece together between the shouting and hand gestures, was that a foreign student had taught them this at school today.  They had absolutely no understanding that this was something that you do not do towards a teacher.  So after scooping my jaw up off the floor, I tried to cover up my shock and downplay the “badness” of this behaviour.  They just thought that it meant that two people wanted to fight each other.  They were all hysterical with laughter to the point of tears and my boss was peering into the classroom to see what all the hooplah was about.  

I endured twenty minutes of them giving me finger in between fits of laughter.  It finally ended with me explaining to them that if they were to do that in an English school then they would be sent to the principal.  Then I had to explain what a principal was.  It kind of took the seriousness out of the situation.  To put things into perspective, this was the class where I confiscated three exacto knives last week because they love cutting things up and throwing them in class or carving into their books when they think I’m not looking.  They are an awesome group of kids but they are so rambunctious that I feel like I should be using a lasso to rope them in, hog tie them, and then gag them just so I can get some silence to teach.  I let them have their fun today because tomorrow they have a final test that has these poor kids stressed to the max and I just accepted this behaviour as proof that they were finally cracking under pressure.  

So that’s just a little peek into my classes.  Wait until you hear what scandalous phrase I had to explain to my university students…

Let's Play Kill the Cat???

My first week sleeping in my new apartment was anything but restful.  While I did manage to sleep peacefully for the first night, the remainder of the week was filled with what seemed to be the soundtrack to a horror movie. 

I should start off by stating that I am a deep sleeper.  I’m the kind of person that conks out and stays like that until morning.  I can be poked, prodded, and moved from location to another and I will rarely wake up.   My old roommate used to come home from school and blare the music and sing to her heart’s content  and when I would come out of my room hours later she would be shocked that I had slept through our household recital.  And so, spending almost an entire week enduring auditory torture was a new experience for me. 

I awoke to sounds of barking, whimpering, squealing, and howls that brought about visions of a dog being brutally beaten.  I tried to pull the covers over my head and fall back to sleep but it was so loud that, even after closing the window, I couldn’t fall asleep.  I had difficulty figuring out where exactly the sounds were coming from and I, being a dog lover, considered the possibility of trying to go out and rescue this poor animal from whatever pain was being inflicted upon it.  Then I decided that it was probably a foolish move on my part to try to be the foreign rescuer and that I would just ask my coworkers about it the next day.  The sounds finally subsided after a couple of hours and I managed to get a few hours of shut-eye. 

The next night brought about even more disturbing sounds that have I’ve only heard one other time in my life.  I had been staying with a friend up in Edmonton and we were housesitting out in the country.  We were taking care of two dogs, a flock of cockatoos, and an outdoor farm cat.  We hadn’t seen the cat at all during our brief stay there and we had started to get worried.   We were almost asleep one night when we heard squealing and hissing from outside.  It sounded like the cat was in battle with a coyote and was on the losing end.  Thankfully, we found the cat the next morning and it was safe but that noise was like nothing I’ve heard before…until Korea.  

For two nights, I tossed and turned being woken up constantly by shrieks and wails of cats until I was finally convinced that the horror stories must be true. Before I came to Korea, I read a few stories about rogue individuals that do this withI read a few stories about rogue individuals that do this with stray animals. So that's what I thought was happening.  Someone was taking these animals and beating them until they were tender enough to kill and eat in dog/cat soup (yes, they do eat that here in some places).   I know it seems dramatic but at the time I was so horrified by the thought of inhumane animal butchering that I couldn’t take it any longer.  So at 2:30am, I threw on a jacket, grabbed a flashlight and my phone, and headed out to investigate.  In hindsight, this was not a smart move nor is it recommended (mom, don’t tell dad).  So I wandered the neighbourhood following the sounds of a dying cat until I came to an empty dirt space behind a building that was close by.  So I creeped up closer and peered over the fence.  That’s when I saw them.  The mini gathering of tom cats.  The rest of them watched from their perches on the fence post while two others circled an abandoned truck.  They were not a happy bunch of kitty cats.  Think of a tamer version of demonic cats.  Anyways, so I broke up the fight, shooed them away, and went home ready for a good night’s sleep.  Now when I hear the cats and dogs in the nieghbourhood,  I can put my ear plugs in and be guilt-free all night long.  Now that I've been here for awhile I've also realized that the whining dog is somebody's pet that doesn't like to be left outside at nighttime and is left to "self-soothe."  A very anti-climatic ending but in this case, I was glad that it turned out to be so.  

Well those were the first few nights of my time in Korea but stick around for my next post, Banshees in the Neighbourhood…

Let’s Sprinkle in a Bit of Paris…

Welcome to the Paris Baguette!  This is South Korea’s secret pleasure and I’m sure it will be my downfall.  The word popular doesn’t even begin to describe these scrumptious delights.  Though they are delicious, it took me a little while to figure out why these café treats are so popular.  Apparently, household ovens are very rare in Korea (insanely expensive) and so breads and pastries are something that you can only buy in the stores.  These stores stay open until past 12am and I’m starting to wonder if they’re a 24hr-type of store because I’ve never seen one closed even on my early morning walks.  Some of them even have a coffee station so you can sit and chat with friends over a pastry and cappuccino. 

The other thing that draws people in are these delectable desserts.  I’ve had to fight the urge to splurge on one of these decorated masterpieces and eat it all in the name of Korean research.  I’m slightly apprehensive of just diving in because I’ve learned that things are not always as they seem.  For example, when I was in Mexico for one of my girlfriend’s (and fellow blogger –lionslacelattes) wedding, I was overjoyed to see an abundance of desserts.  Chocolate cheese cake, tarts, chocolate mouse, and other treats but we soon realized that the chocolate was nothing more than cream or mouse masquerading as a girl’s best friend.  There was no richness, no sweetness, and no creamy goodness.  As a result, I’m almost content to merely gaze upon these works of art and imagine what they taste like rather than deal with another dessert disappointment.  I wonder how long I can hold out…?

Let's Go for a Coffee!

There’s nothing better than spending a Sunday morning with new friends in a little coffee shop.  “What new friends?” you ask.  Well, let’s begin with my theory.  I think that by moving to the other side of the world I momentarily confused the cosmos and things began aligning to my advantage (at least for that for that first week).  As a result, I was walking home from work last Friday (my second full day in Korea) and out of the corner of my eye I noticed two foreigners carrying giant boxes and coming my way.  We met at the corner of the crosswalk and without a second thought I jumped right in and introduced myself.  Later on, my new friends would tell the story and claim that I had a lost look on my face and seemed overwhelmingly overjoyed to see them, lol.  They were some of the first foreigners (people not from Korea) that I had come across and I was not about to let that opportunity pass me by and of course, I jumped right in and introduced myself.  After a bit of chit chat, I learned that my new friends were an about-to-be-engaged couple from South Africa and have been in Korea for quite a few months already.  One thing led to another and I scored an invite to church for Sunday morning.  I met up with my new friends at a Paris Baguette Café where they kindly bought me a tea and a treat for breakfast before church.  The cappuccinos were adorable with their decorative hearts in the topping and I thought that it was well-suited to my two coffee companions.

Except for my one evening out with my co-workers, these were the first other foreign teachers I had met and they were absolutely delightful!  I shall nickname the lady of the hour as Winny and her fiance as Andy.  Winny is so full of laughter and has an externally young spirit even though she almost 10 years older than myself.  Andy is much more of a practical sort but is a charming and well-spoken gentleman.  They told me about how they started dating long-distance after being matched up by a friend back in South Africa.  At the time, Winny was living in the UK for work but feeling a little homesick, Winny called home and asked a friend to give her a phone number of someone who could tell her a good South African joke.  That person was Andy.  Random, eh?  I loved this story and it was quirky enough to resonate with me.  They had only been dating for a little over a year when Winny decided to make a career move and teach English overseas and her hunny followed suit.  So they've been here for about 7 months and been loving it and growing together as a couple.  Such a daring and romantic couple!  I am definitely looking forward to spending more time with them.  Unfortunately, they work opposite hours to myself and they are in that couple-type stage where they would prefer to nestle down into their home for the evening rather than go out and live it up in Korea.  But we will make it work and see each other when it is possible! 

Let’s recap the first week.  I’ve been in town for less than a week and I’ve already partied it up with my crazy (but married) coworkers, found an English-speaking home church, and met a couple of new friends.  Not too shabby for a Murphy girl.  

Words to Grow By…

This blog post is dedicated to the “yellowshoegirl” and the special ladies that encouraged me to take the plunge and move to the other side of the world so that they could live vicariously through me while I pursue new experiences and live a new life. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to bring a lot of knick-knacks or memorabilia with me to create that oh-so-cozy feeling of home but I did manage bring a few photos of some of my inspirational ladies as a visual reminder for me to keep pushing forward and to always be true to myself. My best friend has a creative spark that has caused her to become obsessed do-it-yourself and craft blogs.  The other day, I decided to purchase some awesome decorational stickers to brighten up my apartment.  That same day, the yellowshoegirl had posted a link that outlines how to create wall art similar to that of artist, Kathryn Anderson, host of http://kandeart.blogspot.com/ with the thought of setting it up in her own home.  

Taken from:
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/how-to/how-to-make-a-string-tree-wall-mural-home-hacks-109655 

Due to our freaky psychic connection, I had already decided to set up some tree art in my place. If waking up on the right side of the my adorable bed isn’t enough, I now have my very own tree of inspiration to remind me of all the things that my friends and family back home would say to me on a daily basis.  So now, there is a little piece of all of you with me in Korea…

My Zone

Sitting at home alone with very little to do makes Mackenzie a very bored girl.  And so, I've had to find a few venues and new friends to provide me with some entertainment.  In the week that I've been here, I have discovered that Koreans love the night life, soldiers are a pretty decent bunch to hang out with, and that other foreign teachers are not as friendly as one would expect.  Now each previous statement carries a story of its own but today I want to tell you about the place where I've found refuge.  

As far as cafés go, this particular one is nothing special but it is close to my apartment, almost always empty, and has a nice sunny section that I can curl up in to carry out my philosophical reflections or blog writing.   Personally, I think that South Korea heard about Canada and decided to take the best of Tim Hortons and Starbucks and try to combine them to create this place.  In the end, it seems like Starbucks won out in the vibe, menu, and price categories but Tim Hortons squeezed its way into the name.  Tom ‘n Toms may not completely embody the Canadian ideals of crack coffee at a cheap price but the name was enough to catch my attention and draw me inside for a much needed mocha.  

The first time I visited, it was fairly busy (something I’ve discovered is unusual in this location) and I was the star attraction as far as the staff were concerned.  It was my third day in the country but I was able to piece enough Korean together to order a decent mocha in my reusable yet gigantic travel cup (it lives in my purse and I am rarely without it).  After giggling at what I assumed to be my terrible pronunciation, the baristas got to work on my order while everyone else stared at me while I made myself comfortable.  Sidenote, I think I now know how the zoo animals feel while everyone gawks at them day after day.  Anyways, being a blonde “celebrity” around here does have its perks.  That day I managed to score a cookie “on the house” and the best seat in the place.  Hopefully they will begin to recognize me as a regular and become more comfortable around me.  I think that this may be one of my new writing locations.  The only downfall of this place is that they don’t fill my travel mug all the way up to the top like they do in Canada.  This means that I pay the same price for less of a caffeine dose.  Darn it, I miss the good ‘ole, fill ‘er to the top Tim Hortons…

Home Sweet Home...

I’m settling down nicely in this foreign place that I should soon start to call home, or at the very least, my home away from home.  Though my apartment is small compared to western standards, it is a livable size for one individual especially one that is pint size like myself.  At first glance, it looked  like I have all the amenities that are necessary for an comfortable and efficient manner of living but once I began living out my life and trying to establish a daily routine, I soon realized that daily living was not going to be so simple…

My itty bitty kitchen

My living area

Let’s begin with the basics shall we?  Though my apartment was seemingly clean when I moved in, I wanted to start fresh with a little bit of OCD-type cleaning.  That meant dragging out the few pots and pans that were in my cupboards , moving the appliances, and taking a look under the sink.  And not surprisingly, what did I find?  Grease, dirt, and I’m pretty sure there was a substance that could be classified in the mold family inside my cupboards.  No need to worry though.  I broke out the cleaning supplies (that I thankfully ordered to be at my apartment when I moved in), threw in some elbow grease, and began a three-hour-long relationship with my scrubbing pads (yes, multiple, lol) and got down and dirty, the old-fashioned way.  I will say that I now believe in the power of the orange cleaner and the importance of doing a little bit of investigating to make sure things are up to one’s standards.  Now my apartment, or at least my kitchen and bathroom, is move-in ready.

My heroic substances!

Trail marks of an unknown substance

I have no idea what they were cooking

My multi-purpose bathroom

While some people like the feeling of living out of suitcases, I’ve had my fill of nomadic living.  In the past two months I’ve lived in my apartment, at a friend’s in Lethbridge, upstairs in my parents’ house, downstairs in the house, and crashing at various Calgary friends.  So while I’m sad to have left you all behind, I’m glad to have a place to call my own once more and a place to hang my “hat,” or in this case, my clothes…

My new "hanger"

Well I Definitely Know how to Make an Entrance

So my job today consisted of shadowing the other English teachers and answering the questions that students asked me about myself and Canada.  Turns out they think that kangaroos live in Canada and that chocolate is pretty much the greatest food ever.  Their favourite question turned out to be “how old are you” and in an attempt to answer indirectly, I told them that I was older than twenty but younger than thirty.  It’s important to keep my age a secret to some degree because in this Confucian society, age equals respect.  The class seemed to accept this answer and I feel that I’ve built a good rapport with them already, especially the teenage girls.  Unfortunately, it may have been a little too bond building too fast.  One of the girls had a green cast on her leg and I tried to show the class my own scar from breaking my ankle.  The class thought that breaking my ankle while wrestling in the snow was exciting (I personally thought that the green cast girl’s story of falling down the stairs was even more so) but when I raised my leg up on the desk to show them I ended up showing off more than I expected.  All of a sudden I heard “Teacher, your dress!” and realized that I had flashed the female side of the class.  Thank goodness these classes fall into the same social set up as a junior high dance and the male side of the class were tucked to the left so they missed out on the whole show.  Now the question is whether I can make it past that memorable slip up and have them remember me for something a little more appropriate.  Not to mention that my female co-worker was also sitting right in front of me and I’m sure that my first day of an ESL teacher shall always remain the day of Mackenzie’s panty-slip-up in her mind.  Well that’s my first day in a nut shell.  If this is any indicator, this should be an interesting year…

I Called Him Jaws

Meet my new “flatmate.” This little guy was lucky enough to spend the night with me especially because it was without my knowledge let alone my permission.  So imagine my surprise hearing him buzz around this morning and pulling the shades up to see this monster of a beast.   It took me about ten minutes and, I’m ashamed to admit, a lot of squealing while I wrangled him out the door and into the hallway.  To those of you who I have saved in the past from spiders and bugs, this was a moment where I wished I had a bigger, braver me around to have dealt with this.  I hope that this was a fluke giant and that the other bugs in this country are of a smaller caliber.  I’ve never been one to cringe from the creepy crawlies but I suspect that this foreign land has some creatures that could do some damage.  I think I’m just being a big sissy because I’m still recovering from those nasty shots that the doctor gave to me the other day.  While the flu shot made me nauseous for four days straight, the hepatitis shot is still swollen and there is a significant lump where the injection was made.  Now I have loonie-sized welts all over my body from being bitten (I’m assuming) from some invisible bugs because I definitely don’t remember something buzzing around me that could do this sort of damage.  Maybe winter in this place will be a good thing and kill off these blood-sucking monsters before they drain me…

Oh Goldilocks, Where Shall you Rest?

This is my bed.  Isn’t it adorable?  After sleeping on a couch for a month back home, I thought I would be overjoyed to sleep in a normal bed once again.  Not to say that the couch wasn’t comfortable, on the contrary. It was too soft.  To the point that I would become enveloped in its cushions every night and would slide into the back crease so that I would have to wrestle my way back to the surface in the morning.  So after a long day of travelling I am shown my new flat and see this precious little bed.  After a little encouragement from the school director to have a rest despite my remarks that I was full of energy I finally caved and jumped into bed, literally.  And to my disappointment, everything that I had read about Korean beds was accurate.  It is definitely comparable to sleeping on a rock.  Even tenting when camping provides an opportunity to wiggle my limbs into a crease of the earth.  This cute little bed was false advertising that swept me in with its promise of coziness and instead provided me with an evening of shifting and sliding to find the perfect position that would avoid my left shoulder, provide neck support, and allow for a few hours of sleep.  I awoke many times during the evening and forced myself to sleep until sunrise and then napped once more until I nearly suffocated under the covers due to the sun beaming down on me.  So though I did manage to find a somewhat comfortable position, I must still ask myself…how does this Goldilocks make her bed into one that is just right…???

So It’s a Survival Course…

I’m currently reading the Seoul Survivor and am finding it to be quite interesting.  I’ve already discovered, within five minutes of reading, that I’ve already broken quite a few rules in the Korean culture not to mention throwing in countless idioms in regular conversation.  In fact, out of the twelve that the author suggests to erase from my vocabulary, in the twelve hours that I’ve been up and about, I have already used seven of these.  Not to mention that I find it quite odd that a common greeting here in Korea is “Have you eaten yet?” and this is not an invitation to go for dinner but just another way of saying hello.  So yesterday when I said yes that I had eaten and I told my co-workers that I had eaten by myself in the restaurant downstairs they were shocked that I had been able to order by myself and against Korean culture, had eaten by myself. I find it very relaxing to be able to go and have lunch or dinner by myself although I'm going to have to get used to people watching me while trying to be inconspicuous about it. I think I should take it upon myself to sit and stare back, even take it up a level and allow myself to be slack-jawed while watching them, lol.  I wonder what other kinds of societal faux-pas I shall take part in while I'm here?  

YOU HAVE NOW ENTERED THE KOREAN LIMIT...

Hi everyone!  So I'm trying to figure out the computer that is all in Korean so bear with me if my posts aren't as high tech as they could be.  Oh where to begin?  Well I guess I should outline the my journey for everyone.  It was a long one so I will probably break it down into posts because even though I am an avid talker it takes a lot more energy to organize everything into coherent sentences.  So here it goes...

I had told everyone that I would make it out of Canada before the first snowfall but unfortunately, true to my procrastinating ways, I missed that goal by a day (still not too shabby).  I awoke to a thin layer of snow on the morning of my departure and while putting the dogs out on the chain in the morning I looked up to see the geese noisily flying south and knew that I too was shipping out.  I was packing until the very last minute trying to lighten my bags by 8lbs and 3lbs.  And so, I implemented a very chaotic rotation system of weighing each bag using two step scales, a luggage scale, and passing the bags back and forth between my dad and I with each of us standing on the scales and my little brother looking between our feet trying to get an accurate reading of each scale.  This is all after pre-weighing my luggage at the airport scale earlier in the week and determining that I was going to have to decide what crucial items would not make the cut.  In the end I had to abandon two pairs of shoes, my shampoo, a few lotions, and whatever clothing items that were unlucky enough to be near the top of the pile. So after a hectic morning of running last minute errands (copying documents, picking up food, etc.) my parents and I went out for a quick lunch at the local chinese restaurant (here they call it jampon as far as I can figure out (phonetic pronunciation?)) and then packed the rest up in a flurry.  Off to the airport I went and said my goodbyes.  Thankfully I didn't cry but I'm sure that will come later once it sinks in that it will be a long time before I see everyone again.  Anyways, so off to security I went. 

Here I thought that it was going to be a long and boring wait at the airport until my flight left because I checked in at 4:30pm and my flight didn't leave until 7:05pm but true to my style, some unlucky stranger became the target of my chit-chatting affections.  This guy was standing in front of me in the security line-up and I noticed his toe shoes strapped to the outside of his bag.  I couldn't help myself but start up a conversation that then led into us sitting down and having a coffee while waiting to board.  Jimmy turned out to be pretty interesting.  I deduced that he was not a student (his style was casual but higher quality), carried MEC baggage, and was in his late 20's. He provided me with very little information while he challenged me to guess what he did.  I figured he was in some line of oil business and it turned out that he is an engineer in Calgary but was heading to Australia to visit a friend.  I discovered that he designs bow ties as a side business (I know, so random, lol) and he showed me a few of them online.  Apparently bow ties are now fashion forward so men, start stocking up! Well then it was boarding time and we discovered that we were only a row away from one another.  Even so, we plugged in the headphones, opened up out reading material, and waited for the next 3 hours to pass until round 2 of travel began in Los Angelas. 

Well I've been up for, well due to this time change I'm not really sure how long, but I'm going to head to bed and I shall continue with my story in the morning.  So welcome to my blog.  I promise it will get more interesting once I get some sleep and find some action in this city!  So stick around and keep connected!