Life, School and all that Jazz....

This blog is definitely long overdue and, for that, I'm sorry. Life here in the ROK has been something worth getting used to; it's taken a short while (about 3 months now, it seems)to get used to the changes and language and all that. Changwon is a pretty rocking little city, particularly after getting to know my Korean co-teachers and fellow foreigners. It seems that most every weekend is a party and my choice to take the boozing down a notch...or twenty, makes it even more hilarious to watch...and not to mention helping the wallet stay a little fatter.

Anyway, as of late, there hasn't been much on the agenda. All of the exciting things are just around the corner and I couldn't be more ecstatic. The first big deal is definitely going to be Mudfest this weekend! It basically is as it sounds - a whole heck of a lot of mud and plenty of tourists to boot. Apparently it's the thing to do while being here so, I'm doing it!! Who says rolling around in mud with hundreds of other foreigners isn't a good time!?

I guess the next big up-and-coming thing is a well deserved trip to Beijing, China. It certainly won't be an R&R kind of trip and will, no doubt, be a week of being a crazy tourist. I'm going with a couple SLP (the institute I work at) girls and, due to a sweet hook up by one of the girls, we're staying at the Marriott right in the centre of the city and a five minute walk from Tian'an Men Square. Obviously, we'll be hitting up Tian'an Men Square, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and, of course, Silk Street Market for some amazing deals on...well...everything! Nothing says Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas like knock off's.

The last bit of excitement for a short while is my Mum and Aunt Martha's visit to the ROK. I'm certainly looking forward to such excitement and will hopefully a kick a$$ tour guide (here's hoping)!?

Anyway, pictures and more details to follow - I've made a conscious effort to try and write here starting today!! We'll see just how well I keep it up but as more and more exciting stuff happens, I think it'll be easy...or tres difficile...to keep you all abreast of life in the ROK!

Buddha's Birthday Getaway

So another weekend has sadly (and all too quickly) come and gone. This may have been one of the coolest outings I've been able to do since arriving in Korea. A group of 30-something people from Changwon (mostly) all managed to rent out a Pension for 2 nights in a town just North of Busan, called Yangsan. This place was gorgeous!! It was situated right in the mountains of South Korea, had a running river, the sun (for Friday anyway), a clean and 4 large pensions for everyone and an amazing group of people.

It all began on Friday afternoon. Because of Buddha's birthday, Friday was a National holiday thus we all left for the train station around noon and arrived in Yangsan around 2pm. It was gorgeous there...outdoorsy, mountains, fresh air and a cool little river to cool down in for a hot Friday afternoon. Basically the party started the second everyone arrived. Everyone there I may not have known all that well to begin with but after the weekend we all became quite close and got to catch up with others I hadn't crossed paths with since arriving. By Friday night, we were all exhausted from the combination of mass amounts of alcohol consumption and the hot sun. Basically, I passed out at about midnight. Actually, passing out would have been nice but instead it was more of a super uncomfortable sleep...on the floor with only a little thin mat between my back/hips and the hard wood floor. There wasn't much sleep to be had...mayyyyybe 2 or 3 hours, who knows!?

Saturday we started off with a group brekkie - sausages, bread, burgers even - more of a brunch I'd even call it. The BBQ's were going and it was awesome to get some 'American food' - not that Korean food is ick but the tastes from home always have a way of lifting the spirits/moods. Saturday was rainy allllllll dayyyyyy loooooong so we all just pension hopped and hungout with people you wanted to really. Some played Scattergories, others played the guitar and others just chatted/played cards, etc. Really a chill day spent outdoors (under the canopy's) and inside with some cool Changwoner's. Needless to say, there was more alcohol to be had and the night ended with mud puddle jumping from all of the rain that day.

Sunday everyone woke up to, you guessed it, MORE RAIN!!! It never seemed to end until I stepped foot back in Changwon this evening. We all did a good cleanup of our rooms, had another big group brekkie with some eggs, tortilla wraps, sausage, salsa and home fries. Everyone was tired from too much of the overindulgences from the weekend so things were kind of quiet and grumbly but for the most part, everyone was still in high spirits as we parted ways and headed back for Changwon to start up yet another week in the life of a Korean English Teacher.

I don't have pictures up on my computer yet but will get them up soon hopefully so you can see the greatness that is Yangsan!!

Mini IPMP Reunion

Soooo...this post comes sort of late. It seems that sometimes life becomes overly hectic and finding time to write epic stories about some of the greatest times you've had become sparce. That said, 2 weekends ago I was able to reunite with Golfetto and OLD Marj in Busan!! It was actually an amazing weekend and, from my side of the story (and hopefully their's too), we had a blast!! Busan was filled with soaking up the rays, drinking like silly people do, bar hopping, getting a taste of a Korean night club (Ghetto Bar) and, my personal favourite, NORAEBANG!!!

Seeing Golfetto and Marji was awesome - mostly just because who doesn't find it really settling and awesome to see great friends from home, in a far away land!? Sharing stories about our schools and discussing IPMP related things again was AWESOME!!! Truly a memorable weekend.

Children's Day

So, this week has been nothing but a blur!! Mostly because of the most amazing excuse for a day off in the middle of the work week; Children's Day!! I LOVE CHILDREN'S DAY! Every school in South Korea was closed today to celebrate your children. My week started like normal: go to school Monday am, work until later, sleep. Tuesday: wake up, get ready for another day at school and BAM!! There was food, food and more food around this small English language school than I'd probably ever seen in my entire life. The kids started their day off at the park playing like crazy people. When they got back, it was time for face painting and then lunch time and then after lunch, more face painting for the other upstairs classes (which I was with), then it was time for their potluck! All of the kids' parents send them with RIDICULOUS amounts of food to share with their class, which included: rice balls, cookies, kimbap, sushi, chicken strips, chicken wings, muffins, cupcakes, fruit, veggies, more cookies, pizza and cake galore and no, I'm not exaggerating one bit. The amount of food these kids inhaled was disgusting! Also, the amount of food the foreign teachers inhaled had us in the staff office in pain for hours after. That said, my favourite little guy, Eric (the one on my facebook pics making the squirrel face) wound up throwing it all back up. The poor guy ate far too much and couldn't handle it all at once. His classmate Alice came tugging on my arm saying 'Jenelle Teacher, Eric BLAH' I knew I was in for a real treat. Luckily I kept it together and managed to get him to the bathroom, to drink some water and change his shirt. Thank gosh it was time to go home no more than 5 mins later.

Today was officially Children's Day aka 'the day of rest' for teachers all over Korea. We all had the day off and headed out to Yongii Lake for a relaxing afternoon in the sun, with some beer and good friends. It was definitely a great day and felt almost like a weekend in the middle of the week; it was certainly necessary! After that, I went with a good friend, Ruth, to get some amazing Indian food at this little random restaurant in Changwon then for some ice cream. It was actually an ideal kinda day!! Tomorrow, back to the old grind again though although it's now Thursday and the week is almost over!! :)

Anyway, there you have it, Children's Day is awesome. Next on the agenda: Teachers' Day - that's next Friday I do believe. It's certainly not a day off but the kids treat you like gold apparenlty!

Latest Excitement

So, this whole blogging thing has apparently taken me forever to get into...or at least like almost a month! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by here as, this Friday, will be my one month mark! There are no words to say really other than time really does fly when you're having fun.

I guess the most recent stories which I have to share are from my life of transition. One month in, and I really do feel like I'm 'at home.' Changwon is an amazing city with plenty to see and do (although I've yet to see and do it all yet). This past weekend I went with a couple of fellow teachers to Naemhae, this amazing beach town about a 2 hour bus ride away. The beach was stunning and there were tonnes of athletic teams and what not out there practicing their respective sports. The water was freezing cold but the sun was out and that's all we needed! Naemhae was quite the experience, that's for certain! Funny story time: while in Naemhae we decided to get some Korean grub. We all went to this little hole in the wall place, sat down and ordered from the pictures on the wall of what they had (we'd had it before at other resaurants and knew we dug our respective meals). It took 4 BLITZED Korean women about 20 minutes to decipher what it was we wanted (when remember, we pointed at the pictures). It was hilarious but maybe more of a 'you had to be there moment'? Anyway, we got our food, it wasn't at all what we ordered but decided that was the day we'd try something new. Welcome to life in Korea!

School is going well now. Previously I had mentioned that it sucked being thrown in there and feeling like I was being fed to the sharks. Now, things are actually starting to make some sense and it's not even half as overwhelming as before. It really did take some time though and hell, I'm still learning more and more everyday! The system is quite confusing but eventually I'm sure it'll just become more natural. Speaking of school, this Wednesday is 'Children's Day' aka we all have the day off of school which is going to be awesome! It's supposed to be kind of cloudy, which is lame, but we're going to all make the best of it with a 'Cake in the Park' day whereby, all foreign teachers (or those who want to come) are going to hit up the Lake, eat cake, play frisbee, chat, drink and be merry. What more could anyone ask for on Children's Day?

I guess another entertaining story was this past weekend. I spent it not only soaking up the sun, on the beach, but also trying out the Noraebang (essentially karaoke but each group of people has their own private room where they get booze, a fruit tray and some fishie appy's. You get to pick your songs, just like karaoke and just belt out the tunes like it's your job! Basically, I love the noraebang, as I'm sure you'd all assume by now. I did everyone back home proud by belting out the lyrics to everyone's fave, 'Don't Stop Believing' by none other than Journey!! Needless to say, the throat was a killing the next day.

The social life out here is out of this world. There seems to be something to do every night of the week. And, if you're not out with fellow teachers than it's super easy to find something to tinker away at. Changwon is the type of city that's not too big and not too small however every foreign teacher knows each other, which is crazy but tonnes of fun!

I guess the final thing I have to mention here is the change!! Obviously I knew going into this process there'd be a lot of changes for the next year but you really don't ever realize just how much. Language is a huge barrier and I have come to realize that just buying groceries is a job in and of itself. Everything is in a font/print that you just do not know (although I've started trying to teach myself a little from online and a book I got at the airport). You quickly learn how some of your students must feel when learning English. Although it's frustrating (both in and out of school) with the language barrier, it's been funny to see how my acting skills and sound effects have improved. Another challenge is the 'rudeness' here. To the Koreans it's normal to walk past someone and elbow/push them over but to foreigners (or at least myself) a sorry would maybe be nice?! The other day I was in the E Mart (huge store full of EVERYTHING) and was checking out and the woman behind me literally dug her knuckle into my back so that I would get out of her way. It took me by surprise but she didn't say anything...just knuckled me again and then pushed her basket into me so that I'd get her point. It's things like that where you don't really know an appropriate reaction (since they wouldn't understand you in English anyway).

Anyway, that's about enough for now. This post is getting extremely long winded!! Will start doing more frequent updates soon!!

Toodles and love!

April 12th - A delayed post...

Firstly, it's AMAZING here!! I'm in Changwon City which is Southwest of Busan and is gorgeous!! The city is fairly coastal - as in it only takes like 30ish mins to get to Busan and the beach there which makes this girl happy!! Anyway, that's just the first impressions as I've only been in the city for about 5 days!! Still fresh meat! HA!

Anyway, school is good - had my first day today and was severely overwhelmed but the other foreign teachers are AMAZING and have been sooooo helpful that it makes it all so much easier! There are 3 American girls, 3 Canadian girls and an Irish chap at my school in terms of foreign teachers - all of which are hilarious people and I have no issues with any of them. As for Changwon City; however, this city is FULL of international teachers!! You see them everywhere and everyone ALWAYS says hi to each other, etc. It's definitely one of thoseuper friendly cities where most teachers know each other and recognize one another from O'Briens Pub on the weekends (which I've yet to get a taste of but there is DEFINITELY more than enough time for that)! All that said, back to the point, classes! Today was my first day at school and I just observed all the classes. They all last only 40 minutes and seem to just fly by super quickly!! The only thing that gets me is the INTENSE amount of SLP crap they have - there are more books than I care to even try to remember and just when I felt like I had something down, they something more my way which just confused me more. I'm sure in the next like 2 weeks things come together, until then, I"ll be lost in this crazy oblivion! YIKES! HA!! Oh well, funny/terrifying sries to come i'm sure! The kids I met are hilarious and there are stories in the next paragraph as this one has become far too long!

Okay, this is better now! So, funny kid stories from Day 1! I was called 'long' far too many times today which made me laugh EVERY time!! Another girl named Joanna is a little hellian demonic child but asked me infront of the other kids today why my 'these' (boobs) were so like 'that' (big) and the other teacher, Kieran, and I almost peed our pants with laughter. It was definitely the funniest thing to have happened thus far! Oh, I was asked about a trillion times about my nose stud and what it was by them coming over and into my 'personal bubble', staring at my face and pointing to the side of their nose. I always respond by telling them it's jewellry - they can't pronounce their 'L's' well at all so it gets them every time, which brings me to my next story. I have managed to keep the nickname "Jenelle" here. The kids had a somewhat tough time saying 'Jen' so I made it hard by adding two "L's" to the mix and becoming 'Jenelle Teacher'. It makes me laugh hearing them say the name Jenelle and I tell them to stick their tongues out at me when they say it...they seem to dig that! Their fave questions to ask are: 'Jenelle Teacher, where are you from? Are you from Canada?" (they're good at knowing the Canadianess by now I guess....) AND I look pretty hell damn similar to another teacher from Halifax; Jessie Teacher. Ummmm....what else about the kids could I tell you? They're basically pretty cute...and although I THOUGHT i'd dig the kindies best, I've taken a liking to the elementary level kids more since they actully seem to kinda 'get it' a bit more. The kindies are crazy and make me sometimes - dependant on the class - rip every hair out of my head, one at a time. As sad as it is, I've also started to pick and choose the one's that just make me smile no matter what. There's this boy named Thomas and he has teh shaggiest head of hair I've ever seen on an Asian child. He laughs at EVERYTHING and is a bit mischievious but you can't help but smile when he says/does something ridiculous. I've also started to love this little shy boy named Sammy - quietest kid I may have EVER come across and won't say boo to me but I caught him eyeing me down a couple times today and then he gets kinda embarassed and looks away. He told Kieran Teacher (whispered to him) that 'Jenelle Teacher is pretty' and that was super cute! Actually, come to think of it, I'm not Jenelle Teacher, it's more like 'Jen-ew-l Teacher.' Last but not least, there's Jason who told Stasia Teacher she smelled like a dog and that just made me laugh really hard so why the hell wouldn't I like him? PLUS, he's super duper smart in school and probably the tiniest kid at the school too! Last kid story about Joanna (the demon child from above): she turned around to me in class today and stuck her tongue out at me to ask what was on her tongue. When I had no idea but was pretty sure it was snot I asked her if she picked her nose and she said 'no jenelle teacher but it does taste like....like.....chicken!' Another almost peeing my pants moment had occured!

Hmmm.....in other non kiddie news: I have my medical exam tomorrow which definitely NOT looking forward to - blood test, urine samples and poking/proding just doesn't spell great times to this girl. But after all that is said and done, then the director of the school, John, will send in for my alien registration card which means that, when i have my hands on that card, I can get a Korean Bank Acct., gamble in Korea, get into select clubs/bars apparenlty, get a cell phone (which I'm dying to get... is that pathetic?) and basically live life in Korea. As of right now I'm just kinda in limbo so to say. Whatever, it'll all happen in time, I'm just SOOOOO glad to have my bloody luggage back after 2 wonderful days of having NOTHING - that sucks! I guess just glad it happened now opposed to when I was backpacking Europe years ago and on the go 24/7. Whatever, that's life.

The social life around Changwon City is crazy good times! There are tonnes of restaurants, festivals and norebong (sp??) which is essentially karaoke as well as a couple int'l bars (we can't get into local korean bars apparently) so you're never bored out here!! Last weekend was the Cherry Blosm Fest - pics up on FB for those who are interested and this up and coming weekend we have a 'Girls' Nite' every Thursday (or so they tell me) as well as an SLP party (the school I work with is SLP - kinda a language school chain through Korea - this particular school is full of absolutely the richest kids alive...or at least in Changwon City, it' unreal) - these SLP parties get pretty silly I've been told so should be fun/interesting, especially since it's th the whole staff - Director included! HAHHA!! Then on Satty we're going to some concert one of the girls really wants to see in Busan, which is apparenlty only like $10,000 WON/person each way - not tooooo shabby at all (about $10 CDN) annnnnnd I happen to have a couple friends from jobs past who work in or around Busan...hopefully will get to seeee them!!

Anyway, I think that's about enough for now!! Sorry this turned into something more of a epic novel but apparenlty things are going pretty smoothly...

Talk soon and hope to hear from you all!!! :)

Cheers,
Jen(elle)

xoxo

I hope you're all doing just amazing!?!?!?!?! Keep in touch for sure!!! I love email and snail mail so if you want that addy too, I'll send her your way! HAHAH!!!! Hint hint friends!!!