That makes four different kids falling a sleep this week and we still have one and a half days left in the week. I have to say they are a lot easier to take care of this way than when they are screaming their heads off.
10.3.11
Case #4
Had another one today:
That makes four different kids falling a sleep this week and we still have one and a half days left in the week. I have to say they are a lot easier to take care of this way than when they are screaming their heads off.
That makes four different kids falling a sleep this week and we still have one and a half days left in the week. I have to say they are a lot easier to take care of this way than when they are screaming their heads off.
Changwon - Young City Adventure
This past weekend a group of us made our way to Changwon to celebrate a friends birthday. Being 10 in number leaving from Geoje we were a legitimate crew. We left on Saturday morning taking the 5:45am bus(11200 won). This is early to begin with but being misinformed I was at the bus station at 4:45 and this after going to bed around midnight and waking up at 2:30 to my neighbor throwing all of her pots on the ground. Needless to say I was tired and I slept the 1 hour and 45 minute bus ride away.
My first impressions of Changwon were that it was a nice spacious city as there was an abnormal(to Korea) lack of tall buildings in the area of the bus station. The sun was shining, the air smelt fresh and we in a city that no one really knew anything about, were on a real life adventure!
We took city bus 103 (1100 won) to a place where we would be spending the night, the Hotel Jeowon. It was a nice looking place with clean rooms which was more than we could ask for so we dropped our bags and headed out to explore the city.
We made our way to the sporting complex which had a soccer field, a basketball stadium, a velodrome and a mystery building that looked like it was from Star Wars.
Here we found a bicycle museum with sweet (stationary) bikes to ride.
This amused us until we saw real bikes that we could rent to tour the city. To rent the bikes you needed to have a special card. Since we didn't we went to the office and with a bit of difficulty, gave them a couple of phones as a deposit for them to rent us the bikes. It ended up being 1000 won for 2 hours which was cheap and it was great fun!
On our ride we saw the sights and ate some lunch. Top Tip: Pizza Pro has Koreas worst pizza.
After bringing back the bikes we made our way to the velodrome for the 2:30 races which were interesting to say the least. In Korea the velodrome is a gambling facility, people go there with the purpose to bet on who will win the race. As a result entry is a cool 400 won($0.40). No pictures were permitted so I have no way to show you but there were 7 riders per race, each was wearing a different color jersey and you would bet based on their color. We never really did figure out the odds off winning something based on a random guess and it took 30 minutes between each 4 minute race but definitely a worth stopping by to check it out at least.
Stopped by an arcade with a batting cage to test our mettle.(20 balls for 1000 won)
We then split up, some went back to the hotel to get a bit of a rest while the others went shopping. We met back up at 7:00 and by this time our number had ballooned to some where around 15. We went for supper at Bombay, an Indian restaurant in the same building as the hotel. It was fabulous!
I would dare say that it was the best meal I have eaten in Korea. Prices for a meal range from 15000 - 20000 won($15-20) pretty standard price for what it was and most definitely worth it. From there we finished off the night at the place next door called O'Brians. The next day some of the girls were going to a Korea wedding so the crew broke up and we went separate ways.
Overall I would have to say Changwon was a great place to spend a Saturday hanging out with friends.
I recommend.
9.3.11
Case #3
Today we had another case of, "School till you drool."
This is three days in a row. I was going to say something about it yesterday but I held back because I didn't know how to word the question. I still don't know how to word the question but it would sound something like "why?" Is this really good for the kids?
I have lots to say about Korean education but I am still learning about it so I will bite my tongue for a while longer.
This is three days in a row. I was going to say something about it yesterday but I held back because I didn't know how to word the question. I still don't know how to word the question but it would sound something like "why?" Is this really good for the kids?
I have lots to say about Korean education but I am still learning about it so I will bite my tongue for a while longer.
8.3.11
Case #2
Yesterday when I wrote about the popular Korean saying, "School till you drool" I had no idea how popular it really is. This is from today's 5 year old class:
7.3.11
Interlude
As some of you may have noticed I haven't posted anything lately; there are two reasons for this. First I found out that the internet at my apartment doesn't actually work and second I was away for the weekend.
First: You may be asking yourself, "It took you a month to figure out that your internet doesn't work?" Let me explain. Up until now I have been using an unlocked wireless signal from one of my neighbors to connect to the internet. Now before you condem me for this "theft" you should know that internet is included in my apartment maintenance fee and so I do have a cable to connect to for the internet, it's just that the wireless was so much more convinient. That was until late last week I came home from work hoping to watch the latest episode of Top Gear and I could not connect. So I tried plugging in to the cable coming out of the wall with out success. So I have talked to my boss who will talk to my landlord and get it fixed. When, I don't know but I can only assume that it will happen "soon", which is Korean for whenever he gets around to it.
Second: I went to Changwon this weekend, if you can't find it on the map it is right by Masan. About a two hour bus ride from Geoje. I went with a group of about 9 others to hang out and celebrate a friends birthday. Later in the week I will do a post that will give you the details.
Now that you know why I haven't posted I will let you know why I won't post for a couple of days; school started. As a result there are a lot of things to iron out, more than expected due to some unnecessary(I think) changes.
In America we have the saying, "Shop till you drop." In Korea they have the saying, "School till you drool."
Just to give you an idea of how serious school is here in Korea, this 5 year old is going to be at school, in class from 9:00-5:20 with 1 hour off from 2:30-3:30. Today was his first day and by 5:15, after crying a few times because he was so tired, he finally fell asleep. Side note: Korean age is deceiving, he is actually about 45 months old, also today his mom dropped him off before 8:45 and picked him up after 5:45)
A lot more about school in Korea later.
First: You may be asking yourself, "It took you a month to figure out that your internet doesn't work?" Let me explain. Up until now I have been using an unlocked wireless signal from one of my neighbors to connect to the internet. Now before you condem me for this "theft" you should know that internet is included in my apartment maintenance fee and so I do have a cable to connect to for the internet, it's just that the wireless was so much more convinient. That was until late last week I came home from work hoping to watch the latest episode of Top Gear and I could not connect. So I tried plugging in to the cable coming out of the wall with out success. So I have talked to my boss who will talk to my landlord and get it fixed. When, I don't know but I can only assume that it will happen "soon", which is Korean for whenever he gets around to it.
Second: I went to Changwon this weekend, if you can't find it on the map it is right by Masan. About a two hour bus ride from Geoje. I went with a group of about 9 others to hang out and celebrate a friends birthday. Later in the week I will do a post that will give you the details.
Now that you know why I haven't posted I will let you know why I won't post for a couple of days; school started. As a result there are a lot of things to iron out, more than expected due to some unnecessary(I think) changes.
In America we have the saying, "Shop till you drop." In Korea they have the saying, "School till you drool."
Just to give you an idea of how serious school is here in Korea, this 5 year old is going to be at school, in class from 9:00-5:20 with 1 hour off from 2:30-3:30. Today was his first day and by 5:15, after crying a few times because he was so tired, he finally fell asleep. Side note: Korean age is deceiving, he is actually about 45 months old, also today his mom dropped him off before 8:45 and picked him up after 5:45)
A lot more about school in Korea later.
1.3.11
Duck Island
As many of you do not know I am in the process of writing a book. As it is a top secret project I can not tell I can tell you a lot about what will be inside but I can tell you that the title will read something like this, "How to Answer Your Korean Boss' Questions". Little did I know how soon the knowledge I have been using to write the book would come in handy.
This past Monday at school my boss came up to me and said, "Today for supper we are going to an island to eat duck." Thankfully I have retained some of what I have written and I managed to muster an ok. This satisfied her and she was off to do the next thing.
I on the other hand was affright, what had I just agreed to? It wasn't that I didn't want to go for supper, I did, the thing was that I had forgotten to bring my camera and I remember saying that I would take pictures of the next meal I ate in a restaurant. I ran to my boss, "Do I have time to run and get my camera after work?" "No time." "Noooo...."
Maybe this was all part of a dream I had during my after lunch nap, sleeping off the delicious mashed potatoes and meat loaf that the other teacher made, but these pictures suggest otherwise.
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| 12 Sides and a Salad |
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| A few in the group |
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| The Duck |
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| The full spread(missing the rice) |
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| Wrapped Rice |
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| Unwrapped Rice |
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| Completed meal(Sides have free refills and so they still look full) |
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| They had a bear in the entrance |
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Morning Toast
Today I went to the store to buy some bread and I am used to buying what I call a "half loaf". Because Koreans don't eat a lot of wheat products the only bread that I could find was packaged in a size that I could be compared to half of a standard Canadian loaf of bread, about 8-10 slices. Being the bread lover that I am this didn't satisfy me for but a couple of days. In fact I had already resigned my self to tri-weekly trips to the grocery store that I aptly named "Bread Winner" trips. Bread because that was the purpose of the trip and winner because there was always the possibility of them being out of bread and thus the chance of losing.
Little did I know the surprise I was in for today. As usual I go to the place where they sell bread grab a bag and head out but today was different. Being a holiday I literally had all day and so I took a little extra time to look around the bakery. What do I find just three shelves below the "half loaf" bread that I have been buying? A whole loaf of bread, and not just any loaf, it could be the longest loaf of bread in the world!(doubtful but you never know) It measures in at a whopping 26 slices! To put that in perspective, a standard Canadian loaf is just 16 slices, this is almost double! Just to count to a number that high I either need to use all of my fingers and all of my toes or half of the bills in my wallet. It is so big that it can almost touch both sides of my apartment at the same time.(notice how a picture can even capture it's length) Not only that but I am pretty sure that they made it just for me, as you can see backwards in the picture it is called Morning Toast. What do I use all of my bread for? Making toast in the morning! Coincidence? You decide.
Little did I know the surprise I was in for today. As usual I go to the place where they sell bread grab a bag and head out but today was different. Being a holiday I literally had all day and so I took a little extra time to look around the bakery. What do I find just three shelves below the "half loaf" bread that I have been buying? A whole loaf of bread, and not just any loaf, it could be the longest loaf of bread in the world!(doubtful but you never know) It measures in at a whopping 26 slices! To put that in perspective, a standard Canadian loaf is just 16 slices, this is almost double! Just to count to a number that high I either need to use all of my fingers and all of my toes or half of the bills in my wallet. It is so big that it can almost touch both sides of my apartment at the same time.(notice how a picture can even capture it's length) Not only that but I am pretty sure that they made it just for me, as you can see backwards in the picture it is called Morning Toast. What do I use all of my bread for? Making toast in the morning! Coincidence? You decide.
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