Christmas Greeting

Since I'm all the way out here in Korea (and I really don't like writing Christmas cards), I thought I'd do something a little different for a Christmas message to my family and friends. So with a little help from my students and some sweet video software on my computer, I have prepared a video message for you all to enjoy. While I was making this video I also decided that an "outakes" reel was necessary since there are just too many priceless moments not to share. I really hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas-time and make sure to eat a lot of turkey for me.

Christmas Greeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u_ErNoacE

Outakes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_o47WhUzb8

Chomseongdan Altar, Mt. Mani

It's been quite some time since I've done anything 'tourist-like' here in Korea, so decided to visit Kanghwa Island this past Saturday. Actually I can't take credit for the idea, but my English friend David lead the way and I tagged along. Kanghwa Island is located in the North Western part of South Korea, which is about an hour bus ride from Gimpo. The main attraction for us was the Chomseongdan Altar, which is located at the top of Mt. Mani. As Korean legend describes, Mt. Mani is where Dangun, the mythical 'founding father' of Korea prayed to heaven. He probably had a more difficult time climbing to the top than we did since 918 stairs have been built to assists sight-seers. This was welcome to both David and myself as we didn't bring appropriate footwear for a serious climb. The recent snowfall left the path quite slippery is some places, making our trek a little more interesting. Some of the Korean's we met along the way were dressed in serious hiking gear and warned us of the 'treacherous' conditions. They were right to be concerned for us but we also met other Korean's walking up in dress shoes so we really didn't know what to think. The climb to the top only took us about an hour and we were rewarded with a very nice scenic view of Kanghwa Island to the East, and the sea to the West. It felt really good to reach the top and spend the afternoon outdoors. There are many other attractions to see on the island and I'm looking forward to going back to see them over the next couple of months. I'm also glad to be over the sickness that floored me for a few weeks, and that my new camera is working very well. My Korean adventure continues...

Korean Christmas Songs

Here are the links to some really adorable videos of my kindergarten class belting out some classic Christmas songs. If you're like most people you won't be able to tell what the heck they're singing so I'll help you out. The first song is "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and the second is "Deck the Halls." Enjoy and don't feel bad about laughing. These kids can be a handful but they can also be the cutest things in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0NJQ3CZDg4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PovgLefY3FE

Once I get things fixed with blogger then I'll add videos straight to this site. For now this will have to do.

Shots and Saunas

For those who are concerned here is an update on my health. This past Tuesday my boss took me to a clinic to see a doctor and diagnose my illness. After listening to my lungs the doctor suggested that I may have a viral infection of some kind. So the nurse gave me an anti-viral shot (I had to pull down my pants for it) and a prescription for a plethora of medication. I was only prescribed two days worth of meds, which I would take three times a day, and then the doctor wanted to see me again. The pills did help to improve my coughing but after the second check-up the doctor thought that I needed a few more days of medicine. So I did the drill again (same cheek) and I'll see how things are after the weekend. It has also been recommended to me to get a humidifier in my room, which may help my lungs to clear up. The good news is that I don't have night fevers anymore and I have more energy than I did a week ago. I had the idea to check out a sauna after work today to help me relax and maybe assist in the healing process. These kinds of places are quite common and inexpensive in Korea. My experience began with me paying at the front desk and then finding a locker for my shoes. I was then led to the men's locker room where I undressed and stored my belongings. The sauna experience is quite unique to say the least. Men and women are segregated of course, so everyone is naked. First I had to shower like you would at any public pool. Then I had the option to soak in a number of pools of water, each a different temperature. Apparently the rotation of sitting in hot and cold water helps circulation, so that's what I did. I began in a warm pool, switched to the cold, then went back to the warm, then to the cold, then to the sauna, and so forth. I have to say it is quite relaxing and rejuvenating. After two minutes it didn't matter that I was naked in a room full of other men and I just enjoyed my time. I will definitely continue to go to these sauna's as they are dirt cheap ($5 for unlimited time) and very relaxing. It's things like these that make my adventure in Korea that much better.

My health is holding me back...but not for long

I know it's been a while since my last update and I believe I owe an explanation as to why it's taken so long. The main reason has been my health, which hasn't been the greatest for some time. Two weekends ago I experienced quite a strong bout of sickness. I spent basically the whole weekend sleeping which doesn't make for interesting blogging material. I was able to power through the work week and again spent most of this past weekend resting. I've also developed quite a nasty cough, and I'm spitting up a lot a green mucous. A friend here suggested I had Bronchitis which may be the case, but I have yet to see a doctor for a diagnosis. I did however go to the local pharmacist for some over-the-counter medication. At first I wondered how I would explain my predicament, but the pharmacist only had to hear my cough and gave me two different kinds of pills. Those helped a bit I suppose but I think something a bit stronger is needed now. For those feeling concerned for me I have decided to visit the doctor and hopefully he'll have something to finally cure me. I was thinking that I could take a picture of my green mucous to post on my blog, but that brings me to the second reason I haven't updated recently: my camera is broken. It's a very old digital camera and has seen many adventures and I guess it was just it's time to go. I don't feel bad at all since I'll pick up another one out here after my next paycheck, but it means that the month of November holds no pictures. These are the things that happen during ones travels and I've decided just to roll with it. I mean after managing a classroom of twelve sugar-high Korean kindergarden students I feel I can handle almost anything. Now when I say managing I really mean maintaining the thin line between chaos and disaster, but you get the idea. I have to say the teaching aspect has been the most challenging part of my time in Korea so far. There is always so much to do and a lot of school politics to dance around. My afternoon classes of elementary and middle-school students are pretty easy, but my kindergarden class in the morning is a lot of work and sometimes I'm at wits end trying to figure out what to do next with them. I'm so fortunate to have Ann, my Korean co-teacher to help me with the students. I'm doing all I can think of to be the best teacher I can and yet I feel that I fall short of being the good teacher I want to be. However the students do have fun with me and seem to like me a lot so I can't be doing that poor a job. And I do have another ten months to gain more experience. So that's the update for late November. Come the middle of December I should have more stories and pictures to share once my health returns.

Bukhansan National Park

I have to thank my roommate Michael for suggesting a hike this past Saturday. I've always liked climbing the mountains of the places I visit, so it seemed like a great way to spend my afternoon. Bakhansan National Park is located in the North part of Seoul, so we had to take a bus to the city of Ilsan to meet up with another friend Matt. From there we took the subway into Seoul. Once we got off the subway we really didn't know exactly which direction to go, but toward the general direction of the mountains seemed most logical. We cut through a very interesting market selling all kinds of goods like pigs hooves, sting rays, and who knows what else. It reminded me of the Korean version of the farmers market back in Ontario. Eventually we made it out of the maze and headed toward the park. There weren't really any signs to guide us so we just followed other Koreans who were all decked out in their hiking boots, backpacks, and walking sticks. I kind of felt underdressed considering I was only wearing sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt.
We eventually came to the 'entrance', which was really only a small gate that could have lead to a farm instead of the park. It was free to enter the park which was great. So we just started hiking up the trail unsure if we'd be able to make it to the top. From the bottom the peak seemed quite high up, and considering the gear the Korean's around us were wearing I was beginning to think I wasn't adequately prepared. But we kept treking upwards. A little more than an hour into the climb we decided that no matter where we were that we'd head back down at 4:00pm so we wouldn't have to walk down in the dark. We kept moving though and pretty soon we realized that we had basically made it to the peaks. I say peaks because there are many paths linking to other mountains all around us. We found a great perch to sit down, catch our breath, and enjoy the view. From where we sat we could see many people climbing in the distance on other summits. If you had the time and energy there would be a whole weekend of exploring the different views the mountains have to offer. We continued to enjoy our spot though looking over the city and were treated to some great sunbeams shining down.
We had made good time and got to spend close to a half-hour at the top before our set deadline. At some points the descent was a little more difficult than the climb, and since our legs were rubber it made for an exhausting hike back. However the whole afternoon was worth it and it felt really good knowing we accomplished a difficult climb under our circumstances and expectations.

Gyeonbokgung Palace

Considering I've been in Korea for three weeks now I decided to make a day trip into Seoul. My goal was to check out a palace, get used to the subway system, and meet up with a friend from university who is also living abroad. The great thing about Korea is the scale of their public transportation system. I live in Gimpo City, which is roughly twenty minutes from the outskirts of Seoul and therefore not part of the city's subway network. However buses are very frequent and the payment method is more advanced than back in Canada. Many Korean's use T-money, which is basically a small 'proxy-card' device that you use to pay for all buses and subways. All you need to do is press the card to the reader on the bus or the entrance of the subway and it automatically makes the payment as well as showing you the remaining balance on your card. Fortunately my roommate Michael has been in Korea for over a year and knows the routine, so he hooked me up with a card and has told me which buses to take into the city.
I left Gimpo around noon to meet up with my friend Marivn in Seoul. Marvin took me on a tour of the Gyeonbokgung Palace which seemed to be a very popular destination for both tourists as well as locals. It was an interesting place and much of the palace has been restored, but there are still some original stonework and the layout hasn't changed. There was the typical large courtyard for the king's guard, a throne room, living quarters, etc. Different from European castles though was how spread out and open the design is, making the entire compound quite large. There was also a very scenic pond that is supposedly a popular location for couples to visit and have their picture taken. After touring the area we went to visit the on-site folk museum. It had many displays about traditional Korean life that were interesting to see, but we didn't spend too much time in there.
People say that once you see a palace in Korea then you've seen them all. I suppose there is merit to that but I may check out one or two more while I'm here. It felt good to get out and do the tourist thing though. I don't know why, but feel like I accomplished something by visiting a palace.

Halloween parade

Since October 31st is approaching our school thought it was a good idea to teach the students a little about Halloween. So on Thursday and Friday we had a Halloween Party with all the students which was really fun and quite entertaining. The school trasformed one of the classrooms into a 'haunted room', we dressed up in what costumes were available, we organized some games to play, and of course we gave the kids an incredible amount of candy. However the best event was the Halloween Parade on Friday where all of our students dressed in their costumes marched to the local pavillion to trick or treat. I say marched when it was really more like very hyperactive sheep-herding. Of course the children all looked adorable in their costumes and we had a good time, but it took a lot of work to keep them all together. Most of the students are given English names to make it easier of the teachers but most of the time you have to say it four or five times to get their attention. There are two particular boys, Jacob and Donny who listen the least and cause the most problems, but the rest are generally obidient when not distracted by the tiniest curiosity. You can see me in one of the pictures wearing a purple clown wig that the students found hilarious. I tried to get them all to look at the camera but it wasn't meant to be. Oh well. I hope you get the idea though. Right now my favourite student is Minsu. He's the one in the pirate costume giving the peace sign. He can be quite a handful but he's also very sensitive. Every student has a phonics workbook to help them with spelling and pronounciation, but Minsu likes to rip out his pages and make paper hats or airplane. However when we're making a craft and he slightly tears his construction paper he comes crying to me terribly upset and wanting me to fix it. So he's my buddy. Jacob is another unique student (he's the one in the stripped shirt not wearing a costume. Erin (another foreign teacher) has taken a liking to him and got him a little toy ball on an elastic string for his birthday. She gave him his present in the morning while he was in detention writing lines, and once lunch time came around he had traded it away with another student. I hope these stories shed some light on what our days are like. I'll share more every once in a while.

My apartment

It's about time I talk about where I'll be living for the year. My employer has placed me in an apartment about a fifteen minute walk to the school (five minutes by bus). It's an older apartment building but still rather nice compared to the apartment I used to have in Winnipeg. I'm on the fifth floor of the building and since there is no elevator I have to take the stairs everyday. From the pictures I've posted you can see what my front door looks like. I have the convenience of an electronic key-pad which removes the need to carry a key with me, definitely a selling factor for me. As you can see there is a kitchen, living room, my roommate Michael, my bedroom, and the laundry area. What I find particularly different though is the bathroom. You may notice that there isn't a separate shower area in the room. This is because the WHOLE ROOM is the shower. A sloped drain located in the center of the floor captures the water, so all I have to do is use the shower wand to wash myself as well as clean the room. I think the Korean's are on to something here. Basically my apartment is where I chill after work from Monday to Friday since there isn't time to go into Seoul and to be honest I'm pretty tired after spending the whole day on my feet. Michael and I usually just watch TV (what few English channels we have), eat, talk, and do our own internet stuff. It's a pretty good set-up I think and it should work for the rest of the year. So that's a little information about my living conditions which I hope you enjoyed.

My first week

My busy week of teaching is finally over, which now gives me a chance to write about it. I began working at Gimpo SLP Language School on Monday October 15. Michael (my roommate/co-worker) and I grabbed some Korean-style breakfast and then showed up for work at 11:30am. The school is about a twenty minute walk from our apartment, but we take the bus sometimes. When I arrived at the school I met my employers and my other co-workers, three foreign teachers and four Korean teachers. The other teachers were relieved to have me there as they had been filling in for my classes since the beginning of October. I was immediately thrust into the kindergarden class, teaching one period before lunch and one after. My duties also include feeding these students their hot lunch, which the school provides. When I first heard that I was going to teach this age-group I wasn't all that worried, but after spending a week with these wild children I'm starting to wonder. It's not uncommon for them to hit me or each other, rip pages out of thier workbooks to make airplanes, steal each others toys, and generally run around the room screaming. It takes two teachers just to control twelve students, let alone try to teach them anything. There are really only three boys who cause the most trouble, but they're so disruptive the whole class suffers. So I spent my first week of kindergarden doing all I could to get these munchkins to listen to me and my voice is hoarse as a result.
The afternoon classes are much better though. These classes are smaller and the students are older, ranging from six to fourteen years old. My schedule is divided into Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes and Tuesday/Thursday classes. I teach six, forty minute classes from 3:00pm - 7:30pm. All the students follow the SLP program, so as teachers all we have to do is use the books provided to teach each lesson. There are of course other tasks I need to do, but generally the lesson planning is all done for me which is sweet. The biggest stress for me this week was orienting myself to each class. With twelve different classes/levels to keep track of it has been difficult for me to figure out how much material the students have covered for half the month. But I now feel caught up and once November rolls around I'll be almost fully prepared. Basically this week has been a blur of activity and I'm so glad it's the weekend. There is of course a lot more I could talk about, but I'll pace myself and keep it to one subject at a time for now. More to follow. I am also trying to figure out how to properly post some pictures, but I've been tinkering for about an hour and I'm gettng nowhere. I promise that pictures will be available soon.

One thing left to do

After a week of waiting around for my visa I finally have it. This has been quite a frustration and at times very stressful considering I've had to pack, book a flight and order Korean currency all without the one thing I've needed all along: my passport. I'll give you a taste of what my last two days were like. Yesterday morning I received a phone call from my employer Mr. Brian Lee, saying that my visa has been issued in Toronto. Not understanding that I live an hour away (and that Canada's transit system is not like Korea's) he asked me to go right away and pick it up. I told him that I had already paid for ExpressPost and that I should receive it in the mail sometime today. This is where the stress began to build for me. First, while checking my tracking number online my heart sank as the screen said: Unconfirmed Status, Tracking Number Not in System. At first I assumed that the Korean Consulate failed to actually mail out my visa. So I phoned them only to be told they had sent it out in the mail, and that both myself and Mr. Lee had phoned them quite enough. As a side note, it's quite something to have the staff at the Korean Consulate-General know my name and situation without me having to repeat it over again (a testimony to the amount of communication between us). But getting back to my visa that now seemed to be lost in the mail. I contacted Canada Post to figure out why my tracking number was not working, but my only answer was that the system was not updated. I also got other unpleasant news: that even if my passport was in the mail I shouldn't expect to see it until Friday at the earliest. This was news to me as I assumed that I had paid for next-day service. So I continued to check the internet every half hour hoping for verification of my tracking number. Around three o'clock my stress was at it's peak. I had no idea where my passport was and I had only one business day left to find it and book my flight. I decided to at least try the post office at three thirty, since that was when the mail usually comes. Amazingly my Express Envelope was there. I'm a little confused how Canada Post claims you can track your shipments online, but their little system certainly came close to putting me over the edge. Now that I have my visa all that is left to do is book my flight, which will be departing sometime Saturday or Sunday (I hope). Before I know it I'll be in South Korea, and then my blog can truly begin.

Waiting to leave...

At the moment I am stuck in Ontario awaiting my Korean work visa to be processed. Over a week ago (Sept. 22) I had my visa application couriered with UPS to the Korean Consulate in Toronto, but I have run into some issues over the last week. As I was in the process of moving from Winnipeg back to Ontario I decided to courier my visa application ahead of my arrival in Ontario. I was unaware that the Korean Consulate does not accept packages sent via UPS (or any other courier besides Canada Post) so my application and passport were re-routed back to Winnipeg late last week. Fortunately I was able to have those important documents shipped from Winnipeg to Ontario, which I received today. However since the visa offices at the consulate are only open from 8-12 on weekdays I was unable to make it in time for processing the same day. Added to the delay is a Korean holiday on Wednesday October 3 which will close the consulate for the entire day. This means I have to wait until Thursday October 4 to visit the visa offices in Toronto, the very day I was planning on leaving the country. This has been a frustrating ordeal but I am optimistic that now everything will fall into place rather quickly. With a little luck I'll be leaving sometime this weekend or at the latest next week. The standard time to have a visa processed is five business days, but my employer has written a letter to the Korean Consulate asking for an acception to speed up the process. Hopefully this will be enough to get me to Korea only a few days behind schedule. This has been a frustrating week but it is also allowing me to spend a few more days with family and friends before I leave for a year (or longer). Stay tuned for later updates.