3 months in.

I apologize that there have not been more frequent posts to the blog, but you know what? There’s nothing interesting going on with us. We don’t do much, other than teach, sit around, play wii, and watch movies. Saving money is boring. But saving money is why we’re here, right? As of tomorrow, the 25th, we’ve been here for 3 months, and we’re getting a little bored. But at least we have friends here, and our friends in Daejeon, and our friends around the country, and we have our wii and our 50+ games… And each other. <3. That’s enough to keep us entertained.

So I know it didn’t happen to us, but it happened to friends of ours, and it is so incredibly funny I had to talk about it. Lauren, Ali and Kevin, a few friends in Daejeon, went to see a Daejeon FC soccer game on Sunday. Now they’re famous. Check out the youtube video, at the 5:20 mark.

Yeah, they got hit by the ball, and their beer splashed all over them. Now apparently the Daejeon FC wants to meet them, let them meet the players, and give them signed jerseys and beer! http://www.dcfc.co.kr/news/news_view.php?num=7877&schtype=&schword=&start=125

Way to go guys!

Next weekend I should have something awesome to blog about, we’re going to Damyang and to the bamboo forest with Laura, Amanda, Dorrial and a couple other people. Should be a good time!

xo nicole

PS – Only 9 more months to go!!

One month down, 11 to go

*A note – it’s currently 6:45am here, and I’ve been up since 4:45am. If this is a bit on the rambling side, you’ll have to forgive me.

Yes, the countdown has begun. I know that 11 months is a long ways away, but honestly, March has flown by. I can’t believe that we’ve been here for a month already! A lot has happened this month, with two trips to Daejeon, one to Busan, a night out in Masan – we’ve been busy on the weekends. But what has been so nice is living above our school. We don’t have to go anywhere if we don’t want to! And a walk to the grocery store is only 5 minutes away. We seem to be going there very frequently, which is good. The Lotte Mart near us has (almost) everything we need, and what we can’t get at Lotte Mart we take a bus to Home Plus and get it there.

Anyways, Ross and I have been kind of sick lately. He didn’t get it as bad as I did. But I, on the other hand, had a throat that was beyond swollen and no voice at all. I ended up having to go see a doctor yesterday, and found out I have tonsillitis. Fun times! I got a shot of antibiotics in my butt, and was sent on my way for only 14,000 won. (That’s about $13 Canadian.) Gotta love Korean health care! I don’t even have my full insurance yet! Then I went to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the medicine in Korea, here’s what it comes in:

Nice and vacuum-sealed packets full of antibiotics, tylenol and other medicine that is supposed to make me feel better. So far it’s working, I guess – I’ve already taken two doses, and while my voice has returned, my stuffy nose and cough are worse. I have to go back and see him on Friday, let’s hope that I feel better by then.

This past weekend we were in Daejeon with Laura, our friend from Busan, and two of her friends Amanada and Dorrial. We showed them around Songchon-dong, and even took a walk through Dongchundang, where Bart was taking pictures of strawberries for a photography project. He put them on the trees for ‘a spot of colour’, then we left them there for the birds. Of course the Korean middle school girls all had to crowd around after to take pictures of what we’d left!

Then we ate at our favourite kimbap shop. It was so nice to have familiar food! I know, I know, I can get kimbap shop food anywhere. But honestly, the kimbap shop in Songchon-dong is beyond awesome. It’s so good, it’s worth stopping in when we go to Daejeon.

Then it was off to Dunsan-dong to go to the arcade (of course we did the 4D ride and the shooting range – I ALMOST got perfect), browsing through 501, convenience beers, and even a stop at Ethnic, the hookah bar.

(PICTURES BY LAURA!)

We continued the night at Yellow Taxi for the return of the Man Wons! WOOOO! It was such a good show – lots of energy, dancing and good times. It was soooooo nice to see everyone again! I just wish I had taken more pics of people, but everyone was having such a good time, I didn’t really wanna pull out the camera too much.

After a short but good noraebang session we headed up to the bus station, had McDonalds for breakfast, and took the first bus back to Masan. All in all, a great weekend!

Let’s hope that I’m better for this weekend. We’re going to try to have some Masan people over for a bit of a party because our roommates will be in Busan. I would love to invite Daejeon people, but we really have nowhere to house them at the moment, as our supervisor is still living with us. The situation is getting a little better, as we’re getting used to it, but we’re still looking forward to the day when we have this place all to ourselves.

Anyways, I think I’m gonna watch some Big Bang Theory and maybe fall asleep on the couch for an hour or so – getting up so early sucks! But I guess that’s what happens when you wake yourself up coughing.

for now…

xo nicole

We made it!

After a 13 hour direct flight, a 5 hour layover, and another one hour flight, we finally made it to Masan on Thursday. Here’s our update!

- We met an awesome girl named Laura at the consulate while we were picking up Ross’s visa (finally! I still have to write about what happened, I’ll get to that), and she happened to be on both our flights, so we hung out with her. It was her first time going to Korea, so we were able to help her go through immigration and get food and such. Although I don’t think she needed that much help, she seemed so comfortable right away. She took a job in Busan, so we’re gonna be close and we’ll be able to hang out.

- We got to the school after our recruiter picked us up from the airport. Dylan has been so helpful with everything, and I would recommend him as a recruiter for anyone. He works for DFL Recruiting. Let me know if you want his contact.

- Our neighbourhood (Samgye) is kind of like a small suburb of Masan, with a much different feel then Songchon-dong in Daejeon. There are definitely more stores and taller buildings then in Songchon-dong, because SCD was all restaurants.  Hopefully soon we will meet more people in our area.

- Our school is very very nice, all wood with U-shaped desks and nice teachers. We didn’t teach at all on Thursday, the school let us unpack and rest and do what we needed to do.Vicki and Paul, the teachers we are replacing, took us around the neighbourhood, showing us where stuff is. I hope they’re able to come back to the area.

- We were super jetlagged, but we needed a sheet for the bed, so we ventured to Homeplus in the middle of the city, and ended up having to spend 60,000 won on a fitted sheet. *sigh* Too much money for something we could have got at home for $10, but oh well.

- We fell asleep at 6:30pm. I ended up waking up at 1:00am, thinking that it was 5:00am or something, but nope, it was 1. Didn’t get back to sleep until 4am. I still don’t think my internal clock is right…. woke up again at 7:30am.

- We taught on Friday for three hours. We shared our classes, and didn’t really teach – we just played a riddle game with them, and the Korean teachers helped to translate if the kids had trouble. It was interesting, and I think our kids are gonna be a lot of fun to work with.

- We headed out to Daejeon Friday night, taking a bus from Masan to Daejeon. It takes 2 hours and 20 minutes to get there, so it’s not such a bad trip. We slept the entire way. It was nice!

- Getting to see everyone in Daejeon has been the best thing about returning to Korea, I think. We ate dinner at the dalk galbi place beside Dada’s, then dropped our bags off at Kim and Bart’s, then headed to Dada’s for a drink, then went to Dunsan-dong to hang out. We didn’t last long there, because we were super tired, but we got to see a lot of people which was super awesome. Made me feel like we were home.

- Today we went on a walk, and got accosted three times by kids, saying ‘hi!’ and ‘nice to meet you!’ and ‘what’s your name?’. Made me feel like a super star. LOL

- Dinner tonight will be at the smoke house, then we’re gonna head back to Masan tonight so tomorrow we can go food shopping and relax before our week starts.

And that’s it! That’s what has happened so far. No pictures, because we’re not shooting pics with our digital cameras, we’re using our new lomography cameras. So we have to get the film developed. But that’s okay, because the pictures will be wonderful. I will try to post pics ASAP though, so everyone can get a feeling of what it’s like in Masan.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! Miss everyone at home already….

xoxoxoxo nicole

Balloons, Food and Rock

This weekend Daejeon is filled with exciting festivals, all in the same area of town.

1) The Daejeon Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

This is down by the river over by the Expo Bridge, and it’s supposed to have balloons flying high in the air… except yesterday when we went, it was too windy, so they weren’t flying. But the guys were shooting off fire from the balloon baskets, and we bought a kite to fly, and it was all good. At night, we left the Rock Festival (see below) to go watch a wonderful fireworks display (Koreans know how to do some fireworks!), and to light a lantern and send it flying. You write a wish on the outside, and then light a block of something on the inside, and the hot air makes it rise into the sky. Ross and I lit one, Rachel and Justin lit one, and Russell lit one. When you see all of them in the sky (probably like 50 or 60 at a time) they look like stars. It’s gorgeous!

Balloons lying on the ground… waiting….

Fire!

The awesome panda balloon

Mel, you’d be proud… we got to fly kites!

Beautiful fireworks

Blowing up the only balloon that went up yesterday

Our city is awesome.

Send that wish into the sky!

2) The Deli Tour Show (World Food)

This was in the KOTRA building at Expo Park, and also had some booths outside. It wasn’t very interesting – just some booths with Korean food, a few international booths (mostly Turkish and Indian), and a couple tourism booths. I thought it was especially funny with the tourism booths.

This makes me want to go to New Zealand.

Anyways, here are some pics from the food and stuff.

Korean sweets

The spin for soju wheel. We won three bottles!

It wasn’t all that interesting, but it was worth it go and eat some tandoori chicken and samosas and shwarmas. Mmmm, delicious. Oh, and they also had these bookmark things that advertised the Rock Festival, and on the bottom it said it was good for one free beer. We totally took like, 30.

3) The 1st Daejeon Rock Festival

This is what drew the most foreigners, apparently from all over the country. It was nice to know that so many people were coming to our backyard to come party. It started off really cool, with a screamo band scaring away all the Korean families (LOL) and preparing the scene for the foreigners to have a nice party. Our whole group ended up hijacking one little table near the beer tent, and pulled over about 20 chairs. The free beer coupons really helped, except that the line for the beer was like 70 people long… they honestly needed another beer tent. And more bathrooms. But the rock was decent, the availability of foreign food was nice, and the friends were great. Unfortunately, it ended much earlier then the organizers expected, because of the neighbours complaining. Apparently Koreans don’t like rock music.

Anyways, we’re going back to the hot air balloon festival today, so that we can hopefully see more balloons and maybe even ride in one… that would be super cool. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks, because we’re having a great weekend here!

xoxo nicole

Saturday afternoons are for being lazy

I’m about to leave in a few minutes, but I figured I would just write briefly about stuff.

- Last weekend we went to a festival near our house at the local historical park Dongchundang. Here are some pics! (The green pancake looking things were good, the brown rice was better, but the tea was the best!)

- Brittany, our coworker, is apparently no longer working with us. Not sure the details, but we have a new coworker – her name is Young, but the kids know her as Taylor, since we already have a Young teaching at our school. She is Korean, but moved to Mississippi when she was 11. So she’s got an awesome southern accent and is a lot of fun to hang around with.

- Next week is Chuseok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving. This means we get 3 1/2 days off of school. When we first started working at Swaton, we thought we would get a whole week, but things at hagwons change fast, and you have to be flexible. So at least we get Friday morning off too. I think we’ll be traveling to Seoul to do some cultural stuff with Kim and Bart and whoever else wants to come along.

- Tomorrow we are going to Everland, the super large amusement park in Korea. It has the world’s steepest wooden roller coaster. I can’t wait!

Here are some pics of our kids at school – Ross took the ones with the fisheye, I took the other ones. They’re dressed in hanbok, the Korean traditional dress, because of Chuseok.

Enjoy!

xo nicole

Hiking, an incredible storm, and an ambulance ride

This weekend was extremely interesting. We stayed in Daejeon in an effort to save money, but came out with some wild experiences. Saturday was only the tip of the iceberg. We were sitting at the DQ convenience store near our house, playing cards at 1:00am, and not only had a bag of water thrown at us, but had the cops called on us because we were too loud. In a neighbourhood like ours, it seems almost impossible to be too loud. But maybe it’s because we speak English, that our voices carry and stand out. Oh well. That’s over with, onto the more important and crazy day – Sunday.

Kim, Bart, Jen, Matt and our new friend Erik came with us to hike Gyejok mountain, which is the closest mountain to our house. It has many paths, a fortress wall, and is really close to our house – how can we not climb it? It’s the same mountain that we climbed back on New Years Eve, but we decided to take another route. The day seemed great – beautiful weather, great friends, and the ambition to actually climb a mountain. This is rare for me, especially because I haven’t exercised for a long time. But, I figured it would be a great way to save money and do something awesome.

We started out about 12:30, with kimbap, melons, and lots of water. We walked past the 570 year old tree, and the pavilion for education built in 1607.

Then we headed up the mountain. It definitely did not take as long as I thought it would, and it wasn’t as steep as the last path, but as it turns out, we only went halfway. This was about 45 minutes into it. Then Matt and Jen suggested that we go to the fortress wall because no one but them had been up there, and it wasn’t going to be up hill, but more flat. That worked for me – I got excited about seeing it. It took about another 40 minutes across the ridge to get there, but it was worth it! Such a neat sight.

While we were up at the top, we started hearing thunder. We decided that we should start heading back, but it was too late. It started to POUR. A torrential downpour. Horrible. (Actually, at the beginning, it was refreshing, because we were so hot and sweaty… but then it got bad.) We had to basically run between trees because the lightning was all around us – it was LIGHTNINGTHUNDER, not lightning….. thunder. Scary! I got really scared, and ended up running while crying, and because I’m me, I twisted my ankle.

Yeah, I twisted my ankle. And I was crying BAD. And I was scared. And we still had to get at least 30 minutes down the mountain to the halfway point.

We made it there, and I got to sit down and relax. I stopped crying eventually, and my ankle got better as I sat. The rain stopped, and we decided that we were going to start down the mountain. I was limping a little, but I knew I was going to be okay if I took it slow and had someone close to me in case I fell.

There was a guy, though, selling drinks and food here, and stopped me. He mimed calling someone for a ride, and I figured it might be better for me to ride down. I thought he might be calling me a taxi, or his friend might take me, but NOPE! He called an ambulance! Not only that, but it was an ambulance for expectant mothers!!

I have a feeling that this was the only ambulance that could make it up the mountain. I just keep telling myself that… and NO, I’M NOT PREGNANT.

Anyways, Ross came with me, we were both soaked to the bone, and the ride down was crazy steep and bumpy – almost as scary as the lightning! I kept laughing though, because this whole situation was a little ridiculous. I didn’t really need the ambulance, but I couldn’t turn it down because they had come so far.

Once we got to the hospital, the doctor peeled off my wet shoe and sock, and started touching my foot. It was sore, but nothing that I felt was gonna cause me trouble. I should have just said it doesn’t hurt anymore, and play it off. Instead, I told him that it hurt, and he sent me in for an x-ray. *sigh*

After, he looked at the x-ray, saw an old fracture, and told me he was going to put a splint on it. *double sigh*

I wore it home, and through a full day of school today, and took it off when I got home, because it wasn’t a walking cast. It was hurting my right hip more then my foot, and I figure I can look more presentable without a cast for my open classes then with it. (Even though I could have gotten some pity… but that’s not what I’m looking for.)

Yes, an open class. For kindergarten. Parents are going to come, and I have to teach in front of them. *triple sigh*

Anyways, I have to prepare for it, so I’m going to go. But yeah, that’s my story. It was a good weekend, one that I will not soon forget… but next weekend, I’m going to check the weather before I do anything.

xo nicole

Korean photo booths

Last night we went out to Dunsan-dong, and went into the arcade that I *love* in there. They have a whole slew of photo booths, but I’ve always been afraid to try them. Well, my fear has disappeared, and now I know I can handle them, because we had a little photo shoot! Ross also put on a dress! Here are the results:

A midnight walk

Ross and I were terribly bored last night; we didn’t feel like going out to the bars, but didn’t want to stay in. So, we decided at 11:30pm to head to Expo Bridge in north Daejeon. It’s super close to Expo Park (hence the name, Expo Bridge) and it is absolutely beautiful at night. It is all lit up, with two massive blue and red loops over the bridge. It’s perfect for pictures, and it goes right over the river – what a perfect way to spend a summer night, right?

We told the cab to take us to Expo Park, because on the way he would drive right past the bridge and we could tell him ‘yogi’ (here) and we’d get out there. Instead, he decided to take us as close to the bridge as possible, then turn right and head up to Techno Valley, which is nowhere NEAR Expo Park. I think he knew where to take us, just wanted the extra money. Anyways, we called our co-worker Summer, and she told him where we wanted to go. At this point, it was just past midnight, and the stupid lights on the bridge had gone out. We were VERY VERY disappointed, until we found something even better – the Light and Beer Festival! It was on the ground of Expo Park, and it was a complete, fantastic surprise! I took a video when we first got there, here it is. (And yes, I know, you can’t see the bridge like I said you could in the video, but I have pictures. Don’t worry.)

Anyways, of course Ross and I started taking photos of the lights.

Now, Expo Park is really big. It was the site for the 1993 World Expo that they had here. This is where the Space Observatory is, and the amusement park, and a whole whack of buildings dedicated to science and technology (that’s what Daejeon is famous for). Ross, being the explorer that he is, wanted to venture further onto the property. I was a little scared, but agreed to tag along for the sake of art. We found some pretty cool stuff. (All of these shots are long exposure, meaning that he kept his shutter open for a long time in order to let in as much light as possible. Trust me though, it was pitch black outside once we got away from the lights.)

(Ooooooh, spooky ghost…. lol)

Then, Ross decided that he wanted to sneak into the amusement park, Kumdori Land. Now, there aren’t any gates because it’s free admission (you have to pay for the rides with tickets), but that doesn’t mean it’s any less risky and scary. All in the name of art, right? I was almost to the point of freaking out, but I decided that what’s the worst that could happen – we’re asked to leave? We’re foreigners, and I don’t usually like to play the foreigner card, but it could come in handy if we got caught. Here are his pics.

As we were leaving, a security guard came up on his bike, started talking to us, asked us where we were from, and that was it. He was totally friendly, and we could have probably stayed around to take more pictures. So, at least we weren’t in any trouble!

Then we decide to actually walk toward the bridge and the river. There, Ross took some more wonderful long exposures of Expo Bridge, and I took some funky light shots.

See, THAT is what the bridge looks like. Each of the loops over the bridge are lit up with either blue or red (the two Korea colours). It’s gorgeous.

Then we walked under some other bridges, because in America you can’t really take pictures of big bridges (something about homeland security…) so this was Ross’s opportunity.

Then we took a cab home, and called it a night. All in all, a wonderful three hour, very random, photography night.

xoxo nicole

TAE HAMINGUK!!!

I will eventually blog about May, *sigh* when I have the time. What is more pressing (and more exciting) is the World Cup! South Korea is doing really well – they beat Greece 2-0 on Saturday, and today they play Argentina. Argentina is a good team, so hopefully they’ll win.

More importantly then the actual games, is the support that Koreans show to their team. Red shirts flood the streets when the games are on, and there are more then enough songs done by K-Pop artists to support the team. Here’s the best one, from the group Super Junior (yes, that’s the name of the group).

Anyways, people here are so hyped for it, you honestly can’t get away from it. So, instead of fighting it, join it! That’s what Ross and I have done, along with all of our friends. We bought red “The Shouts of Reds” shirts, matching wrist bands, and even bought bandannas.

We wore our gear to World Cup Stadium on Saturday to watch the Korea vs Greece game, and watched the game with probably about 25,000 other people. Here are some pics, and a video after Korea scored the first goal.

This is a double exposure shot. We aren’t behind glass or anything… lol

They had masks of the players. Behind the masks are actually Rachel and Justin.

One of the screens we watched the game on.

Tonight is, like I said, the Korea vs Argentina game. I’m waiting for Ross to get off work so we can find dinner and head to Dunsan-dong (downtown) so we can watch the game. We are once again both sporting our red shirts, and I’m even wearing red shoes and red ribbons in my hair!

I know I should be supporting a team like America or England (America for obvious reasons – Ross, and England because of my grandmother) but I like supporting Korea. Korea has become like a second (or, I guess, third) home and it’s been fun to get into the spirit. I even think Korean support of their soccer team could rival Canadians and their support of hockey. I mean, it’s that crazy here. Too bad for Koreans that the World Cup only comes around once every 4 years. Yes, I know that the Olympics only comes around once every 4 years as well, but we also have the World Championships and the Junior Worlds to cheer for.

Tae Haminguk! (Republic of Korea!)

xoxo nicole

Drivers in Korea are INSANE

Today, while on our lunch break, my co-worker Brittany and I saw some of the crappiest driving ever. Without a doubt, some of the most inconsiderate driving imaginable. While waiting at a crosswalk (which had no lights, but still had the painted lines) a taxi driver HIT A STROLLER. The child inside was okay from what the looks of things, but Brittany and I could only stand there in shock as we stared at the pieces of stroller lying on the street. The mother wasn’t as distraught as I thought she would be – I mean, I would be crying and yelling and kicking the driver of the taxi, who got out of his cab to make sure everything was okay. I think after he pulled his cab over to the side of the road, he was asking her what doctor to take the child to to make sure he’s okay, or at least to drive them home, because she was pointing down the street, then she got in the cab. Brittany and I both thought this was crazy as well, because I mean, I wouldn’t like to get in a cab that just hit my child. Come on!

But honestly, it was one of the scariest moments I’ve had in Korea. Come to think of it, just about every scary moment I’ve had in Korea has involved cabs. Taxis here are crazy. They drive like maniacs, dodging other cars and merging into lanes that they don’t have any space to get into. They are almost as bad as the delivery guys on their little mopeds.

I don’t think I blogged about it, but a while back Ross, Russell and I were waiting for a taxi when a delivery guy sped out of Dasarang Chicken, and while going too fast around a curve wiped out and face planted on the road. He just laid there for 30 seconds and didn’t move. Now, if I were in my own country, or at least a country that I could speak the language in, I would have been rushing over to help and to call 911. But NO ONE WENT TO HELP HIM. Not one person for like 5 minutes. It was only until a couple came up and made sure he was okay. Actually, the guy was more concerned with the bike then anything. He took it for a test ride up the street and back. But the delivery guy’s face looked like a damn horror movie – he was scraped up from the middle of his cheek to his forehead. He took the  bike back to the restaurant, but when we got into a cab 5 minutes later, I saw him back driving!! If that were me, I’d have gone straight to the hospital! Screw the chicken, the people can pick it up themselves.

But yeah, people just tolerate driving like this. It’s crazy how wild drivers can be. I am SO glad that I don’t drive here, and that Ross doesn’t either. And I am so grateful for the safe driving laws that we have in North America. Now if people would just stop drinking and driving…. but that’s a whole nother story.