The Home Opener

Well, the sun wasn't shining, but the stands were certainly packed. Saturday was the home opener for the Incheon Wyverns and you better believe that their biggest fans were there ...in full force.  As you saw in my post about the Final Game of the series last season, the Koreans take baseball seriously and one of their games is a completely different (and fabulous) experience.  So, after purchasing, hats, jerseys ...and even a flag we took our $8 seats to watch the Wyverns beat Deageon 3-2 in a great home opener. 

Check out some pics.

And then afterwards we took our party back to Nonhyeong (that's our town ...and I am certain I did not spell that correctly, but I tried) ...enjoyed some bbq and had our own little championship game ...and the girls beat the boys ...just for the record.

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Our New Apartment

It's been about 2 weeks now and we are just about settled into the new apartment.  Just in time too because starting this weekend April is going to be full of visitors.  First Matt comes for a week and then my parents arrive on the 23rd of April - woohoo!

I will say, I am really enjoying the new apartment.  The little bit of added space really makes a huge difference, and will be huge for our visitors ...now they can actually have their own room.  Oh the luxuries.

I won't show off my fridge this time, first because we haven't been grocery shopping in awhile, and second because it is actually shorter than me now, so even if I wanted to stock it we pretty much cap out at some eggs, a bottle of beer and some juice.

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The Proposal

IT HAPPENED!

A little background: Valentines Day is celebrated in 2 parts in Korea. On what we consider Valentines Day (February 14th) the girls buy for the guys ...typically chocolate or cookies. Wayne & I went out for steak and a club sandwich, both with french fries. And then a month later (March 14th) is White Day. White Day is for the girls, and is now officially my favourite day in the entire year.

More background: About 3 weeks ago Wayne & I went to Seoul with a colleague of ours, who has a friend that is a Professional Jeweler to pick out a ring. I thought it would be a lot like Sweet Home Alabama and I would just be surrounded with sparkling jewels and have my pick, not completely the case. It was a lot more back alley, with crowded stores, jam packed with jewelry of all kinds. But we chose a setting and then then we had decided on a stone awhile ago.

We decided to go with an amethyst for a few reasons. Not on the bottom of the list is that is super, super pretty and purple. But on the more reasonable side, it's extremely expensive to buy diamonds in Korea and I would have to walk around (and go backpacking) with it for the near year, uninsured. Not practical ...and to be honest, I have never loved anything more than my ring. It's pretty, it's unique and it's totally me. Wayne is set on replacing the stone with a diamond when we get home, but we will see.

Anyways, back to my story ...which takes place on White Day (Sunday March 14th) and started extremely early for me. At 6:30am Wayne flipped on the switch in our bedroom and walked out the front door. When I eventually rolled over in bed I was faced with a brown piece of paper, a pen and riddle that told me I would be traveling to the 3rd baseline. After stumbling around the apartment for a good 20 minutes, I finally made it downstairs and outside and realized that I had absolutely no idea what a baseline was. I will blame this on sleep deprivation and excitement because I have played baseball for most of my life ...but it literally took me 10 minutes of standing in the cold not moving to come to the realization that the clue was leading me to the ball diamond that we walk past at least twice every single day.

Once there I was met with another clue that took me back to our mailbox and then across the street again to some trees and eventually back to the recycling area of our old apartment. Wayne & I have been watching season after season of Survivor for the past few months (10 seasons in less than 3 months) so we are obsessed and the challenges that he presented me with were sooo perfect and totally Survivor. Then came the Bachelor part of the plan.

My next clue led me up to a path in the woods. After debating for awhile about which path to take (there were 3 and I wasn't completely certain where the clue was directing me) I chose the one on the right and started the trek. Eventually (not quickly enough) I found him. He was standing at the end, and I felt exactly how those girls must feel when they walk down that long path to get to the bachelor, except that I was fairly certain he wasn't going to be sending me home.

After some very nice words (which I can't say I can completely remember, I think I was too giddy) he got down on one knee and made me the happiest girl in the world ...at the exact same second that a hiker passed us on the path. We should have gotten him to take a picture, but my brain was not focused.

So that's my story, and I have to say ...it was perfect.

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Favourite New Pasttime

I have found my new favourite pasttime.  I don't think that I have ever really enjoyed anything more ...I may even love it more than spicey Doritoes.  If not, it's definitely a close competition.

Naming kids.  It's got to be almost as good as giving birth to your own babies, they seriously feel like they are a part of me after I give them a name.  Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to do this too much since I have been here, as the majority of kids already have names once they make it to my level ...but this has been a great week.

Not only did I get to name 2 of my new students who are at the beginner level, but I also got to name our new teacher - and she's an adult, I have changed her life, in a very positive way.

And I am certain that there are a couple people out there that are going to be both proud and impressed with the names that I have chosen.  For the little girl - Leah, and for the little boy - Andrew.  And for the new teacher - Lindsay!  I jumped up and down when she chose that one from the list ...now I have a little piece of home in my office every single day.  She may get annoyed with the number of times I am going to say her name throughout the day ...and she may find it slightly strange that all of a sudden she needs to discuss One Tree Hill updates with me, make suggestions on new haircuts and share a glass of wine at the end of every single stressful day.

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Month 6: February 2010

(Wayne says that this picture is normal, but I'm sorry - I have never seen a tree on the back of a truck before, much less 4-5 trucks carrying trees in a row.  I chalked it up to one of those 'you don't see that every day' experiences.)

There are moments in your life that you are always going to remember exactly where you were when they happened.  For instance, I can remember being at Camp Oneida the day that the world found out that Princess Diana had died.  I also remember Professor O'Neil telling our entire Retail & Marketing class that we would forever remember her because we all found out about 9-11 together.  Now I will always remember waking up at 5am and filling our apartment (it's a small place) with 6 Canadians & 2 Americans (they didn't stand a chance) to watch Canada win the gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I am definitely proud to be a Canadian.  And at the same time, I am proud to be in Korea and see the excitement with the kids about all of their athletes and victories.

This month was an absolutely exhausting one.  We are down teachers on our floor and it was final test month, so about 13 written tests later and 60 marked ones ...all I wanted to do was sleep.  But that wasn't really in the cards this weekend.  The school year for Koreans ended a few weeks ago and the new one starts March 1st, and with that our entire 6th floor of teachers has changed as well.  And we seem to be gravitating towards a consistent send off for all that leave the country, something classic and to remember Korea by ...if you haven't guessed it yet ...it's the Nora Bong.  We sang our hearts out Friday night and didn't get home until after 5am.  This is a country that does not sleep until the wee hours of the morning and does not wake up until early afternoon.  It suits Wayne perfectly, but I die - I'm too old for it and I pay for it for days to come.  But it makes for some interesting memories.  Check it out.

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