H1N1 - Otherwise Known as The Swine Flu

Well ...the swine flu seems to be sweeping the nation ...or at least South Korea! There is talk of the entire public school (and in turn private school) system shutting down to try to stop the flu from getting out of control.

But for now - all I can report is that Dong-A (my school) is officially closed for a week. Which leaves us, with a very unexpected vacation.

There wasn't an outbreak in our school, so I'm not overly worried about getting it myself ...but I did have a couple of kids that I taught that either got it themselves or went to schools that closed down because of large numbers of students with the flu.

So - only time will tell. But for now (sitting in a PC Bong because our internet is down ...which may be the worst place because we are surrounded by about 40-60 kids) both Wayne & I are healthy, healthy, healthy!

But stay tuned, because if I do get sick - you better believe you will hear about it, you know how I love to vent and share my pain:)

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The World Series

I bet that everyone can remember exactly where they were in 1993 when Joe Carter hit that ball out of the park and won the Blue Jays their second World Series Championship.  Well, I am always going to remember the day that I spent in Seoul watching game 7 of the World Series between The Kia Tigers and the SK (Incheon) Wiverns.  (And in case you are wondering what a Wivern is - it's a dragon.)  You may also be wondering what the correlation here is (because there are plenty of days in your life that you will never forget - but don't worry, there is more than just baseball to tie these 2 days together ...however you are just going to have to wait for right now.)

First I want to set the stage.  Let me start by explaining that baseball in Canada/United States (while the game is the same) is extremely different.  I will remind you of an earlier blog where I explained how much I wish a world would exist where people were constantly breaking out into song and dance ...well, I found this world this weekend.  Inside the World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.  It was completely coloured in yellow and red and the sound was reverberating off the walls - and didn't end for 5 whole hours.  I didn't know people had this type of energy, much less the love they felt for these 2teams.    

                                         

The people in red (our team) were supporting the SK Wiverns and the people in the yellow the Kia Tigers. Even though our team was the Wiverns (because we live in Incheon, and I honestly believe because their logo is a W for Wayne) we were sitting on the yellow side because we went to the game with a Korean friend who had been given the seats for free ...and well, when you are given that type of opportunity - you don't worry what side of the park you are sitting on. But I will be honest - the momentum of the yellow side almost made me switch teams, but since I had already purchased the hat - I was a steadfast fan.

I need to break to tell you that the couple in front of us, were maybe the cutest couple that I had ever seen.  Every single time that anything good happened for the Tigers, Wayne & I were sure that he was going to drop to his knee to ask her to marry him.  They didn't stop bouncing or singing or waving those yellow balloons for the entire 6 hours.  Loved them!

The entire game was close, but we were up for the majority of the game.  Tension was high, but there was not a moment of silence.  Both teams even had DJ's that lead the entire crowd in song and cheer leaders to keep the excitment in the crowds up.  The Tigers - even had a little (and by little I mean, ridiculously large) tiger of their own! The Tiger that you see below, along with the podiums and the smoke on either side of him, went up periodically throughout the game and made the crowd go nuts!

The Tigers tied the game up in the 7th or the 8th (after 5 hours of baseball, it all starts to become a blurr, thank goodness it was good ball and there was entertainment all around me) and you could feel the tension on both sides of the park.  But in the bottom of the 9th (with the Tigers being the home team) with 2 outs (I can't really remember how many outs, but this will add to the momentum of my story) - Korea's very own Joe Carter steps to the plate and hits a home run to end the series and to become the World Champions for 2009.

To say the crowd went wild would be an understatement - they were ecstatic, never happier and absolutely never louder!  The team ran onto the field, people dropped to their knees in tears, yellow balloons were tossed into the field and fireworks exploded over the jumbo-tron.  The Tigers had won the World Series ...and the only white people present, sitting in the wrong section, cheering for the wrong team ...though, thrilled with the excitment of their day, quietly left the ball park and stashed the losing teams hats inside their bags.

And thus ends a day that I will never forget.

ps. I was really the only one that stashed the hat (and that was more because it was ruining my hair) - Wayne wore his (and his jersey) proudly for the rest of the night!

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Skype

I have fallen in love with skype.  It is the most amazing portal to home, allowing me not only to talk to people, but to see them at the same time!  It's incredible ...and it's free.  I had my first skype date last week with my cousin Shannon, her husband Phil and their beautiful baby Hayden.  Since then, I have talked to so many people and I am always worried that I am going to be incredibly sad and homesick once I am done the 'conversation.'  But for some reason it has had the opposite effect, it has made me feel closer to home and more connected with my world back there.  So, if you can't tell - I love it.

This is perhaps my 'encouragement' to everyone at home to get skype so that we can talk and have dates, and also my thank you to everyone that has had some fabulous dates with  me!  I love them and can't wait for tons more.

If you have yet to download skype, it's super easy ....all you need is a webcam, which are cheap and can be picked up at Future Shop.  Then visit - www.skype.com and download the program!  Search for me using lori_89@hotmail.com and we can start 'dating'!!

And no, that wasn't a commercial for Skype or Future Shop, but if they would like to endorse my blog, I would be more than happy to recieve royalties for all of my praise:)

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Catch What You Eat

I don't know about anybody else, but I have a serious issue eating anything that was either alive 30 seconds before, or has the ability to look at me from the plate.


This past week there was a festival in Sorae. Sorae is a suberb right next to ours and is literally a 3 minute walk from our school. The festival started off with a parade (sorry, no pics, I watched from the 6th floor right before class ...and I won't lie - you aren't missing much, there were 10 times the amount of people in the parade as there were watching it) and was (from what I have been told, and from what I saw for myself) all about fresh fish. Which is pretty much my nemesis since I have come here. Not really the fish themselves, but the smells that come from them and turn me green.


Anyways, the first night hosted fireworks (again - no pics, I apologize, I watched from the cafeteria while I ate my dinner ...maybe I should start carrying my camera everywhere!) and the festival lasted for 4 days - Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. We meant to go on Sunday afternoon and to leisurely walk around it, but I have been feeling really crummy and we were up late Saturday night at the concert, so we didn't make it too far that day. But just as we were leaving work on Monday evening (9ish) one of our coworkers called us and asked us if we wanted to grab some soju at the festival with them.


We are never ones to turn down soju. But I may have rethought had I known that the soju would be accompanied by things with legs and eyes. Kidding ...everything is an experience ...at least I keep telling myself that:)


So we headed back up to the office and waited the classic Korean 60 and then were off for the festival. The festival had calmed down considerably, and it had been raining for the better part of the evening, so things were looking a little desolate, but we did manage to find a restaurant for some tasty treats.


If you ask me if I like seafood in Canada, I will say "Absolutely!" However, (and this is a warning to all those that come to visit) if you ask me in Korea, I will be extremely hesitant to be any more affirmative than to nod and say, "ummmmm ..a little bit." Seafood at home, and seafood here - extremely different. I am sure that a true seafood lover would argue that seafood is incredible here, it's completely fresh (right off the boat and then out of the tank before your very eyes) and cooked right in front of you. But honestly, I love the creamy butter and yummy cocktail sauces that accompany our seafood at home ...that, (as I am beginning to realize) make it a lot less like fish, and more like something Westernly edible.

But hey - when in Rome. I figured I would try it out. So I said, "sure, bring on the seafood, I love shrimp!" Ummmmmmm ...did you know that shrimp have legs? I sure didn't. And I will be honest here, I'm not even sure that I was aware that in one state shrimp even have eyes. I took one look at the plate handed to me and said, "never, ever will I eat that." And if Wayne didn't stop naming them and making them talk to me, I think I was going to vomit right on that table.

I managed to successfully get down a clam. Not sure how much I enjoyed it, but I put on a happy face for all those watching expectantly. I even ate my first oyster. But that was about the extend of it. While my Korean counterparts, and even my very white boyfriend consumed a great deal of fresh fish, cooked on the grill right in front of us ...I drank down that soju and firmly shook my head every time something was offered to me! But no one can say that I didn't try it.

More pics ...

I told you he was naming the fish and making them talk to me, I believe this one was named Cindy. Disgusting.

I'm not even honestly sure that I know what that is in the pot ...it came out of the hugest shell I have ever seen.  But this gives you a good idea of how we cooked everything.

That's a shrimp with spicey sauce on it ...Cathy eats the heads right off them! Eyes, brains and all. That's hardcore, the majority of Koreans/fish loves won't even go near the head.

My coworker Cathy & my boss Betty ...very happy about the fish outting! The bottles in front of them: one large bottle of hot, hot, hot sauce (enough to kill me) and a bottle of soy sauce ...2 necessities in Korean culture.

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Junior College

First let me explain, before I take you on a tour of our school. Right now our school is in an almost completely vacant building, aside from a few random stores downstairs. That being said Dong Academy takes up 3 floors in total. The 4rth floor (my floor) is the Junior College, the 5th floor is a completely korean floor (Korean math, science, etc.) and the 6th floor is Kids College. Wayne & I signed up to teach in the Junior College (grades 4-6) but we have found ourselves (both - all day Tuesday/Thursday, me - one class Monday/Wednesday/Friday) teaching in the Kids College (grades kindergarden - 3.) Wayne likes the older students better, but I have to admit that I love the little ones. They are so much fun and sooooo cute! Though, I don't teach younger than grade 1.


This blog will take you on a tour of the Junior College and show you what our classes look like and where we do all of our magical planning each and every day! I have yet to take pictures upstairs, but be excited because it's super cute and fun up there with birds hanging from the ceiling and colour everywhere!

Alright, we will begin our tour with the front of the building ...bet you didn't expect it to look like that ...

Thank goodness we are in an English zone ...I would have been in trouble otherwise:)

Next is the inside of one of our classrooms.

One of my students being 'creative' on the board. His name is Anthony and he's super cute.  I think I mentioned in another blog that a ton of my students call me Lollipop teacher:)

A picture of my class hard at work! You may wonder why the windows are red behind them ...it's because almost every window in Korean buildings have advertising on them, telling people what is in the building.

Here is a picture of my desk!

Apparently even management has difficulty with my name (this is my Kids College schedule) ...they have now fixed it to, 'Lorry' ...close enough I suppose.

Wayne's desk!  Team Leader has everything organized and in its place!

Here is our library ...half of the classrooms are located to the right of the library.  The rest are down a separate hallway.

This picture is solely for my mom. She will feel better that Korea is fully equipped with sanitation stations everywhere you go. Now ...do I use them?

The above picture got slightly misplaced, but this blogging program is slightly frustrating to navigate (I know, I make it look easy) ...but this is a picture of our office from the outside doors.  It's not always so messy, but we were getting ready for an event:)  But ps. Wayne's desk had nothing to do with the event.

And that concludes our tour for today ...tune in next week when I will walk you through the upstairs Kids College!

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A Korean Hip Hop Concert

I wasn't quite sure where to put this blog - either into the "All Things Korean" category, or the "Things To Do and See" section. But decided on the to do and see, because honestly - if you ever (and I sincerely doubt that the majority of you are ever going to have this opportunity) but if by chance someone walks up to you on the street out of nowhere, with tickets in their hands and is offering to take you to a Korean concert - one word - GO! There is no experience like it.

It starts off with purchasing glow sticks in the streets. Wayne was slightly hesitant, but was easily pursuaded and we would have stuck out even more (than 2 white people amongst approximately 3,000 Koreans) without them! Once inside the doors we are handed glow bracelets and 2 large baby blue tubes that you fill with air so that you can bang them along with the music and cheer on the bands. Very exciting.

Then it starts. The lights go down, the flashing lights hit the stage and all of a sudden everything breaks out into song and dance. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I said dance. The first band, called "Cool" (uh-huh) consisted of about 8 singers, who did choreographed dances to every single one of their songs. It was at this point that I was certain I had died and gone to Korean Hip Hop heaven. Who needs to understand words, dancing in itself is a language that speaks loudly to me. And I will not lie - Wayne actually turned to me and said, "This is awesome," while banging his big blue tubes and wearing his glow necklace. I seriously thought I might lose my boyfriend ...but not to worry, it wore off after a couple hours of reality.


Anyways, I nicknamed this band - S Club 7. Yes, they were that good.

The next band was called The Blue and I won't say too much about them because honestly - though I think I would have maybe liked their music the most (had it been in a language that I understood) they were kinda boring because it was slow, there weren't enough dance moves and there were only 2 guys. So, skip.


Next was the band that everyone was waiting for. It was explained to us before we went to the concert that we were going to a Gangster Rap concert. Now, having never been to that kind of concert, I had absolutely no idea what to expect ...but the music I recognized. Their first song started to the tune of "Jump Around" by House of Pain. It was too much. It started with 3 Korean males dressed in red matching jumpsuits. At different times, other singers/performers joined them, but they seemed to be the main band. I forgot to mention - they were called DJ DOC and known for their 'harsh' language.

I will explain them like this - they were an angry version of Eminem, meets N'Sync. You may not believe that such a combination could ever exist. But I assure you that it does. Because, while you can tell that the crowd is both absorbed and appalled at the same time in the profanity coming out of these singers mouths as they rap ...they are also performing a choreographed dance. Wayne & I watched in stunned silence as these 'thugs' did spins and moves that would make Justin Timberlake proud.


Welcome to the Korean Hip Hop concert. I promise you, an experience that will never disappoint.

And just when you think that it could not get any better, because you have loved your evening - you get your parting gift. As you are leaving the concert, they are handing out bottles of Soju. For those of you that don't know what Soju is (blog to come) it is essentially like vodka here, that Koreans drink straight and drink with everything!

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Korea is Teaching Me Patience ...

...or at least trying to! Maybe that is the greater reason why I came here this year, maybe I will come back with the ability to wait for things patiently and to understand that things cannot happen instantaneously without getting frustrating ...or maybe, I will come back a complete wreck, having used up all of my freakin patience in this country.

Examples of the lessons in patience that I am currently undergoing:

I have been here for approximately 23 days and I am still waiting for a dresser and some type of furniture (whether that be a couch or another single bed) to sit on. We currently spend all of our time sitting on the bed ...may seem fine, but I assure you, it's at the point where I may throw that bed through the window soon.

Along with not having a dresser or a couch, I also do not have the internet or cable yet. Again, I have been here for 23 days.

Yesterday we went to wait for the bus. We continued to wait for that bus for another hour and 10 minutes, because there is no regular schedule. It comes when it comes.

My school schedule is such that you have to be here for an allotted amount of time (hence the opportunity to write blogs) ...regardles of whether or not you are teaching. Thus - I wait and watch the clock from 7:15-9pm. Every single evening.

Last week we had our coworkers over for a housewarming party (and no, there was nowhere for them to sit) one of the girls was bringing the dinner. We waited until 11:30pm for it to come, over 2 hours from when we all left work.

Whenever we meet up with people, it is said that they will typically be the 'Korean 15 late' ...which means 15 minutes late. I think they may want to rename it to the 'Korean 30 - 60'.

The list goes on and on, but I'm guessing that you get the picture!

ps. blogging is very therapeutic ...it also wasted about 20 minutes of my wait time tonight!

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Nanta

Loosely translated - Nanta means "to pound on something" and I like to translate this to be somewhat synonymous with 'Stomp.' But it also translates onto the stage as fabulous!

Yesterday, Wayne & I spent our Sunday afternoon with some of our Korean colleagues and went to the play Nanta. The funny part about it was that Nanta has been around in Korea for the past 12 years and is the longest running play/performance of it's time, but none of our colleagues have ever seen it ...while Wayne has. I suppose it is more of a tourist attraction, as there were many people there from all areas - Japan, China and a handful of either Americans or Canadians (tough to distinguish until you talk to them.)

For those of you that know me very well (or perhaps I am more transparent than I think) know that I absolutely love musicals and all things that sing and dance! I even went to see Highschool Musical in the theatres and I am begging my brother to download Fame and send it this way because I think it will change my life in some dramatic way. I dream about a world where you could be standing in line at the mall, or sitting alongside your friends in the cafeteria and all of a sudden the room would just break out into a song and dance number. I get chills just thinking about it.

I also lay awake some nights wondering how I could be blessed with a love of performing and entertaining, but without any type of talents to go along with this love. I guess that falls into the category of 'Life's Not Fair.'

Anyways, Nanta was incredible. It combined humour with dancing and acting throughout a storyline that kept the audience entertained for the entire one a half hour performance. They even included the audience in the storyline a number of times and had people in hysterics when they were dragged onto the stage. Although it was set in a Korean kitchen, there was a great deal of english spoken and there was never a language barrier for the guests ...the facial expressions combined with the motions of the actors were enough to tell the entire story.

The cast was fabulous, consisting of 5 different actors and from what I can tell, they have about 5 different sets of actors that perform the play. The play all takes place in the kitchen, where a wedding is set to take place in less than 2 hours time. And I will say this - that kitchen becomes messy and the knives that they use (along with the fire and the water) are real! You would be amazed at how many pieces they can make out of a carrot or a cucumber.

I would recommend this show to absolutely everyone that comes to visit us, it was worth the money and the theatre was small enough that every single seat would be fine to see the stage from.

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Friends

I found out what I deem to be the most interesting and perplexing thing that I have yet to encounter in the Korean culture. Koreans can not and will not be friends with people that are not the same age as them. This is why, when Koreans meet new people they will automatically ask them their age, to determine whether or not they can be friends with them.

Doesn't that blow your mind slightly? And they are very blunt and real about this fact.

Which means - Trina, Carina, Tanya, InField girls ...if we were Korean ....we wouldn't be friends. Sooooooo strange to think about it.

Aaaannndddd ...for the record Andrew - they do not consider siblings friends. Younger siblings are below them. (So technically - you should start bowing to me!)

Makes me thankful that our culture is very different in this regard.

As a sidenote: Koreans are actually a year (or potentially 2 depending on when your birthday falls) older than us because when they are born they are automatically one, and then they age every new year. Which would make me 30 already, without a 30th birthday party ...which does not sit very well at all.

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The Grasshopper and the Road

I just wanted to confirm for those of you that might have wondered - PMS is definitely just as bad when you are in a different time zone.  In fact, I might even argue that it is slightly worse because you are without the comforts of home. Horrible.

But: just when you are certain that you are going to kill someone because you are so grumpy and every situation is frustrating you ...an 8 year old tells you that the book you are about to read, entitled "The Grasshopper and the Road" is probably going to be about a grasshopper that starts hopping down the road and gets squashed.  And says this sentence in completely broken english, with a huge grin across his face, making sure you understand what he is saying by the dramatic hang gestures that go along with the sentence ...but dead serious at the same time.

Classic. Gotta love kids. And that is when you realize that there just might be a cure for hormones ...maybe.

And yes ...poor, poor Wayne:)

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Our Apartment

I know that this has been a long time coming, but I would like to welcome everyone into our apartment!  I have to warn you that 'someone' may be sleeping at the time of these pictures (therefore the bed is unmade) and we don't have any real furniture in our 'living room' ...but if I wait for that to come, you may not see these pictures until we get home!

So, here we go ...first this is the building in which we live. 

And then we are going to enter through the front door ...

...and walk right into the kitchen.(How cute is our red table!)

Our family room, which is straight through the kitchen is currently home to our clothes and our fridge ...and not much else:)  But it is definitely on it's way to getting organized!  Now if we could only get ourselves a dresser ...

And now ...since I think that I am currently on an episode of Cribs, here is a look inside our fridge.  And for those of you that are fairly observant, you will notice that we have some pretty important pics on the fridge:)  (And Linds, if you are wondering where my fav pic is ...it's my bookmark so that I can see it about 5 times a day!)

And if you had of turned left when you entered the front door, rather than making your way into our kitchen, you would have walked right into our bathroom.  Are you wondering where the shower is?

The entire bathroom is our shower stall!  Yep, it just sits over top of the sink and the whole bathroom floods when we shower.

Again, Cribs.

And, if you walk straight through the front door ...you would find our bedroom!  And on this particular day, someone recovering from the night before.  And a mess:)

And last, but not least, our 'balcony' ...which is home to our washing machine.  And apparently Hallsy was not lying, there are no dryers here.  So you can only imagine what our place looks like on laundry day!

And that concludes the tour of our apartment, I hope that you enjoyed the ride ...and if you would ever like a more personal tour, we would love to have you as our guests!

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Extra, Extra ...Read All About It ...

Well ...it took less than 2 weeks to have a run in with the Korean police force. And I swear mom, it wasn't my fault!


As you will see in the pics below, our neighbour invited us over for a 'little fire,' and well ...we all know how good Americans/Canadians are at managing the size of fires! If by managing you mean, making sure that we get the biggest fire possible. Except that we forgot that we weren't in Matt's backyard in Acton, but next to a new building being built, about 50 yards from the road in South Korea.

Needless to say, we were at the bonfire for no more than 10 minutes before the cops arrived. And since you are seeing these pictures from our upstairs window in our apartment, it is safe to say that Wayne & I ran out of there at the first opportunity!

ps. we have a pretty good video from our window which I am trying to upload!

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Chuseok

Wikipedia defines 'Chuseok' as the following: Originally known as Hangawee (한가위) (from archaic Korean for "great middle"), is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, notably the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, it is held around the Autumn Equinox. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food.


For us, this meant a gift from our school (24 cans of tuna,) a day off of work, a bottle of wine, and a potluck with all of the foreigners in our area! In short, tons of fun.


From what I can gather, Chuseok is a great deal like Thanksgiving at home, except that it holds a great deal more emphasis, some considering it bigger than Christmas in this culture. I spoke with one of my colleagues and she said that everyone typically goes to the first born sons home, or the grandparents house, depending on the family. The women spend the better part of Friday cooking, and then the majority of the day on Saturday cooking and preparing as well. When I asked what the men are doing while all of this is going on? She didn't have much of an answer. At home, I am certain they would be on the couch watching football ...here, not so sure.


The actual holiday is on the Saturday and the feast is on the Saturday night. (Which explains why the PC Bong - the Computer lab that we go to) is absolutely busting at the seams with children right now ...their moms probably wanted them out of their hair while they prepared. I can't even imagine how much food they have after over 10 hours of cooking, with all of the women in the family contributing! Also to note is that a married couple always goes to the mens family dinner (don't worry mom - I reminded Wayne that we are neither traditional or Korean.) Their feist consists of traditional dishes and they give thanks to their elders.


What did we do? Well ...since this town is kinda like a ghost town right now, with pretty much nothing open except for the odd restaurant and the 7/11 (yes we have a 7/11!) we gathered all of the white misfits in the town and set about cooking half-assed meals in our barely functioning kitches!

What we ended up with was yummy though! As you will see (to the left), Wayne & I (and I am good to admit that it was 90% Wayne) cooked 'traditional' shephards pie with pork rather than beef! Also a part of the dining table (a blanket on the grass) was grilled cheese, an apple/chocolate concoction that was fabulous, pasta salad and hot dogs! Can't go wrong ...when Canada meets the United States, this is what we come up with.

So we met at a nearby park at 5, had downed all the food by 5:30 and were slightly intoxicated by 5:30 ...ended up to be a very fun evening!

Wayne even managed to get himself a parting gift ...

...(this is a metal bird off a fence near our place!)

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