Holiday Weekend in Busan

For our last school day off until New Years, three of us decided that we would take a trip to Busan! Busan is a port city on the bottom right side of Korea:

So opposite side of the country from Songdo and Incheon, but it only takes 2 1/2 hours to get there by train! Such a small country. We left early Saturday morning and were able to check into our hostel a little after 1 pm. The place we were staying was really tricky to find, but Koreans are nice about helping foreigners out that after a few tries we were shown the right way. It was a really cute place:

Our bunk beds:

Little Kitchen area:

And some reaaallly steep stairs to get up to it, with Cassy:

After we checked in and dropped off our bags, we went back to Busan Station, which was the train station and surrounding area with lots of restaurants, shops, and bars, and walked around for a bit. That's when we noticed there were tons of american guys around. Tons. And then we saw all the signs hung up around saying "Welcome U.S. Navy!" and so yes, that weekend was shore leave for a couple of U.S. Navy ships! The whole weekend they were everywhere- shopping and buying things like crazy, in restaurants ordering one of everything off the menu (yes we saw this), and of course letting loose and drinking. But they did have a midnight curfew to be back on the boats so they started all of this early. Needless to say it made it for an interesting weekend and a lot of fun! So after grabbing some lunch we started walking around and exploring the city. We came across a very random British exhibit at one of the huge Korean department stores and just had to take some pictures:

 Now Sam is actually British but has never ridden on one of the red buses or had her picture taken with one of the Royal Guards! (She's from Wales) So her first time to do both was in South Korea of all places!

 I was pretending to be Godzilla:

Next we went to Jalgachi Fish Market, a huge and very famous market on the ocean where they bring all there fresh catches and other things to sell. It's both outside and inside, so here are a few things we saw inside (and remember, this is all alive and moving, except for the stingrays!):

It was pretty crazy. Everything I've never wanted to eat! I felt like I was in an aquarium instead of picking out something for dinner. But you can pick out whatever you want, and then there are restaurants upstairs that will cook it for you!

After we went through that and did some more exploring, we decided it was time to just relax and have a drink before we decided what was next. We went back to the Busan Station area and found a random little Korean bar that had no one in it but us. Seemed like a great place to have a beer and play some cards (which Charles sisters always seem to have on them) so I taught Sam and Cassy how to play Indian Poker, which they loved! Needless to say, instead of just having one drink then going back to our hostel to change and go to dinner and then out, we decided to stay and drink more beer and play Indian poker for a few hours!

I had brought my Forrest Gump sayings playing cards!

Sam:

Cassy:

 Haha and me:

Haha it was great. After that we went to a bar/dance club, which was of course filled with Navy boys. It was a fun night, met a few fellow Southerners (South Carolina and one guy was from Ft Worth!) had entertaining conversations and did some dancing.
Oh and Sam wore her first cowboy hat:

So that was Saturday, I think Sunday and Monday need their own entries so I'll have to write about what happened then a little later. For now I need to go to work! Stay tuned for Busan: Part 2!

Spelling Bee Competition!

Last Wednesday at ECC we held a spelling bee competition! All the kids participated, and competed according to their age groups, and whoever won received a month of tuition free! So pretty big incentive! The english teachers took turns choosing and reading the words (except Sam because of her Welsh accent) for kids. It was a nice way to break up the week! Here's the gym all decked out (and Cassy):

 Bora and I giving instructions to the kids:

Me reading off one of the words to Lui:

Cassy reading off some words for my class of 7-8 yr olds I teach a few times a week:

Some of the younger kid's words were just as hard as the older kids! These little kids have just amazing english skills. One of my little Stanford girls, Jenny (she's 7), won the spelling bee for that group, so on Friday her mom bought all the teachers pizza and cokes!

In other news, I have a fever and was ill this past weekend. It was quite miserable, I don't have ice so I just kept getting towels and washcloths wet and then sticking them in my freezer and then laying them over my body. I was just burning up and it was the only thing that made me feel a little better. My fever broke late Sunday night so I've been feeling much better today, just weak. Working with kids is going to be the death of me this winter!! But I'm taking my medicine, drinking fluids, and plan on being in full on vacation mode for our 3 day weekend in 4 days when we go to Busan! It's our LAST days off until New Years! Very sad but at least we're taking the opportunity to do some traveling! Ok until later!

An Eventful Week

So a lot has once again happened this past week. We got a new English speaking teacher at our school, Dan, and.... lost him. That's right, Dan pulled a runner! His first day at work was last Thursday, so he shadowed all of us, told Bora that he could teach better than us, and then on Friday called in sick. Ya, we knew it was probably a red flag if he was already was skipping work, but we giving him the benefit of the doubt. Sam even called him to check up to make sure he didn't need anything like food or medicine. Then I come to work on Monday and Bora tells me that he's gotten and a plane and already back in Canada! I mean, really? He's going to give it one day and then just head home with his tail between his legs? Who doesn't give it AT LEAST a week or month? It takes so much effort to get all your documents together (and money!) and to apply and everything, why would you only stay one day?! Anyways, it was pretty crazy. But we already have a teacher lined up to take his place, it's someone who's already in Korea but their contract is up at their school so they'll be taking the position here. I'll let you know if they stick around!

In other news, I received a present this week from one of my students with a really sweet note! I love presents for no reason!

It's a travel bath set, so will come in handy while I'm here! I was also invited to two korean weddings this past week! The whole invitation process is a lot different here, they only pass them out 2-3 weeks ahead of time and there's no rsvp'ing or anything, you just show up or you don't. And you can bring as many people as you want! The first wedding, Robins, is this coming weekend and I can't go because I'll be in Busan! Here's her invitation:

She very nicely wrote it in English on the 2nd flap because as you can see everything else is in Korean! And then the second wedding is Amys (both Robin and Amy are Korean teachers at my school) and her's is October 8th, so I will be going to that one! I'm excited to see a traditional Korean wedding, should be interesting.

That invitation's all in Korean, so we'll have to ask Bora about when and where it is. That's it for this post, I'll make a separate one about the spelling bee!

Mid-September Already?

So I feel as if I've caught up on my blog posts (this is my fourth one tonight, so if you haven't read the others, read those first!) and now I'm sitting here thinking that I can't believe I'll be doing report cards again next week because it will be the end of the month! I feel like I'm getting better at teaching, and there are always funny stories to tell and hear about amongst us ecc teachers. I was telling Sam this past weekend that I have one class of 8 girls and 1 boy that are 9-10 years old and are my worst class, uh they are awful. And there is no discipline system here, we can't give them detention or send them to the principle or call their parents, so these kids can be out of control sometimes. Well one thing I found that really works is if they're acting out to make them go stand up in the corner and do their workbook! Haha I have no idea where it came from but one day I just got so frustrated with one them that I made her do it, and it really works. Sam teaches the really little kids (3-4 years old) so she always has funny stories about ridiculous things these kids do. Just never a dull moment that's for sure!

So I though I would make a short list of things I've learned about Korea so far that are fairly different from America:
1. White skin is in! Most of the face and body lotions here having a bleaching element in them to make the skin whiter, so you have to be careful when purchasing those things here! Even US brands like Clean & Clean have a bleaching ingredient in them here! They love the pale look!
2. Koreans like big noses. Most Koreans have small petite noses, which in America is fashionable. Well here it's the opposite. Now my nose has always been that one thing about myself that I'm sensitive about, you know that one thing for the question " If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?". Well here I get strangers telling me all the time how much they love my big nose. And they're being so nice about it, to them they're giving me this compliment, so of course even though I'm just so embarrassed that they're pointing it out I have to be nice and say thank you. For example, on the Subway on Saturday this Korean girl sits next to me and starts talking to me in English (happens a lot, they like to practice) and she starts talking about my nose and how my face is so small but then my nose sticks out so far and it's so beautiful! You just feel like you're in some parallel universe, the one thing you dislike about yourself is the one thing that everyone is pointing out that makes you beautiful here!
3. Korean elementary school boys wear nail polish on a normal basis here. They love to wear nail polish, they are proud of their nail polish, it is completely normal. Definitely different from the US!
4. As a foreigner you get told on almost a daily basis how pretty you are. You definitely get a huge confidence boost being here haha! I'm going to come back to the US and have a hard time with being normal again! Sometimes I forget how different I really look because I don't see myself from their eyes. But then I look around and see Sam with her blonde hair, light eyes, and pale skin amongst a sea of black hair and dark eyes and think, oh right, we look reaaaaally different.

Ok there are so many things but those are good enough for now!

This past weekend Sam and I went to Seoul for the day. You can find drugstores that that have American products so she needed some face care things. We were also looking for an English Bookstore, which I know I saw one last time I was there, but I couldn't find it this time! We also went to Myeong-dong (the massive shopping area) and looked around for a long time. And then for dinner we went to Outback Steakhouse! Oh my gosh it was so good. I got a Mango Chicken Grilled salad and it was heaven. That is the first real salad I've eaten since coming here, they just don't have them, so it was amazing. So very American of me to go to Outback, I know, but it was so good.

I also finally bought a cell phone this week, it was about time! It's an old school flip phone, but it was only $30 and then I just have to put $10 a month on it. So now I will be able to get ahold of everyone and text finally! Well, everyone in Korea that is.

We got a cool front in today so now all this week the it's going to be in the low 50s at night and mid 60s during the day! Fall is definitely here! Anyways it's Sunday night so I need to get ready for the week ahead, sorry for not posting for awhile but I think I made up for it well enough! Until later!

Everland!

On the actual day of Chuseok (Monday September 12th) Cassy and I headed to Everland! Everland is the Korean version of Disneyworld. Getting to Everland was quite a journey. It took a long time and at some points we had no idea where we were going, but once we made it there it was so worth it! It was the first weekend of their Halloween theme, so everything there was decked out! And they were selling Halloween costumes and trinkets in all the stores to! I love Halloween so much! Here's some pictures:

They had a big Halloween parade later in the day:

Everland's like a cross between Six Flags, Disneyworld, and a Zoo. There's a big Safari ride that we went on too! You ride in a big bus through different animal habitats:

And of course you have to walk through the gift shop to exit:

They're all so close! After the Safari we found a candy shop and just had to get a few goodies! It is impossible to find gummies or candy corn here, so we had to have some:

The park is broken up into different areas of the world, so after "Africa" and the Safari, we headed into Germantown!

Not exactly your traditional German food! They also had a big Halloween maze and haunted house area:

Ah here's one of me going through a funhouse:

The European section of Everland had a massive garden that was so beautiful with tons of fountains:

Can't really see it well but it was so pretty. Let's see we rode one of the roller coasters in the American section of Everland, one part was decorated all old school 50's diners and rock 'n roll, and the other part was the old west:

Yep, Korean cowboy. Everything looked so pretty lit up one it got dark too!

And then just goofing off with all the random things in the shops:

 That hat even had a little panda poofball tail at the back of it! it was a very popular hat, we saw a lot of korean teenage boys wearing it around!And then Cassy clawing me with a giant panda paw:

It was so much fun and definitely worth the trouble it took to get out there. I bought myself some little cat ears to wear for the school Halloween party just in case I can't fine any costume stuff anywhere else. They're on little clips, and the cat ears have small pearl studs in them, they are really cute. So that was how we spent our Chuseok! Definitely not in the traditional Korean way!