racing Korean style.

Korean road races have a few differences from CDN races:


-race packages are delivered to your home by post, prior to the race day, which means you don't have to worry about getting to the start early or going to pick up your kit beforehand (though I do like the nervous excitiment at race-kit pick up)


-race registration usually closes at LEAST a month before race day.  For example, a race I was looking at doing in Seoul in November is not possible because registration closed on August 28th, 2010. 


-chips come attached to the bib in a little plastic bag, instead of wearing a disposable chip or an ankle strap.


-paying for the race is often done by transferring money into the race's bank account. I have only found one race that allows online payment, and it requires an international credit card.


Our race packages were delivered to our school yesterday for the race on Sunday, and I was very impressed and excited about it!!


We got our bibs, a program with all of the names of people registered for the race (all in korean of course), and a nice new duffel bag. 


Here's hoping we make it to the start line....

one month in. (or out)

a night at gwangali beach

This past week, I managed to check off a few things from my to-do list. 

beomosa

We went to a famous temple just north of Busan called 'Beomosa' with Hailey.  As it was my first time at a temple, I wasn't really sure what to do and found it difficult to take the place's authenticity very seriously.  This was due to my exposure to so much 'fake orientalism', (if I may coin the term), and not because of anything at the temple.  It was a beautiful place, surely a very religious experience for most people, but I found myself more impressed with the trails and forest beyond the temple grounds than the buildings themselves.  I'm sure that my own lack of knowledge about Buddhism didn't help either.

After the bumpy bus ride back to town, Hailey showed us a yummy restaurant in the Pusan University (PNU) district that served chicken Korean bbq. Amazing!  Definitely prefer this over the more prevalent fatty pork bites I've had in our neighbourhood.
The best part of the meal was the table by the door with 5 different varieties of Febreeze:  Korean bbq is cooked at the table at does not leave you smelling very fresh when you leave.

bbq don't mind if i do.

We strolled around PNU, where I found a Mizuno store - with my shoes at a cheaper price than home = YAAAAAAAAAY! This made my day.  


To finish off the evening, we had a (couple) pitcher(s) of beer at a pub, along with some delicious coconut covered peanuts.
A delicious day.


We had a low key holiday week. Headed to Haeundae to see Hailey, and Tim went for a swim  - the only one in the water.

little tim for a big swim

On Saturday, we decided to attemp Jangsan, the mountain behind our house one more time, and managed to manoeuvre our way to the top. What an amazing sight!
We were able to walk around the whole top of the mountain, on top of which there is a fenced in area that is closed due to military activities.

The view was just astounding, and I don't even know if the pictures do it justice, but I think they are pretty astounding as well. 


It's been over a month since we flew out of Canadia.
Things are starting to repeat themselves and I foresee my frequency of blog postings and photo albums diminishing.  


The excitement about being in a new country and at a new job is wearing off and homesickness is seeping in through the cracks.  Having experienced my fair share of homesickness, I know this is nothing major and that I will be 100% fine, but I do find myself getting a little teary-eyed when a Christmas song comes up in Itunes, or co-workers talk about visiting with family over the Chu-Seok holiday. 


Of course I know I am being over dramatic because I am finding myself feeling nostalgic over Halloween coloring pages.


The weather is finally cooling down, and I think Fall will be a beautiful season in Busan. 
I run in my first race here on Sunday.  I don't feel like I will do very well, but I am excited to be in the running community again (I miss my XC girls so much!!!).


We will get paid next Thursday, which will be a big comfort. 


Oh! And! I booked tickets for the IAAF (International Athletic Association) world championships in Daegu next August.  Usain Bolt will be racing there, and it will be super exciting.


So long, farewell, our music class is over. 


love and hearts, 
Jill

hieeeeeeeeee

money.food.language.

to market, to market, to buy a fat fish.

Although it's slowly but surely getting easier, life in Korea has thrown a few obstacles my way and of those, the ones I've had the biggest difficulties with have been money, food, and language, in that order. 

As cliche as it sounds, money changes everything, and with pay day still 14 days away (and counting), it's become pretty clear how much of an affect it can have on all aspects of life. 

I arrived in Korea with about 1000$ worth of Korean won.  I thought this would be plenty. I am not starving, by any means, and am living quite comfortably (87$ gym membership), but I didn't think I would spend as much as I have. We have finally found a few bank machines that let us withdraw money with a foreign card, and can use our Visa cards at the grocery store, so again, I'd be lying if I said we were hard up at all.  

I had naively, and hopefully envisioned everything in Korea costing no more than 2$, and so I was disappointed to see that groceries cost about the same as home, fruit being slightly more expensive, and clothing is also not substantially cheaper, depending where you go and what you are buying.  I'm not unhappy about this, because the last thing I need is another 3 suitcases of clothes to bring back to Canada.

Things that are cheap include: 

-eating out ( 10$ is expensive for a meal, average price is 5-6$)

-cabs (a 15 minute cab ride is about 5$ for 2 people)

-subway/bus ( 1$ average price, depending where you are going)

-soju (1$ for a bottle, though you'd have to pay me 10$ to drink it)

-ice creamy treats ( there is a sale at our corner store and ice cream is 50cents for one...danger bay)

I see I have seamlessly segued into the 'food' category...

Food in Korea could be better, could be worse.  There are certain things I have already fallen in love with (red pepper paste/sauce, bibimbap, asian pears), certain things that are growing on me (kimchi, bean sprouts), and certain things that I think  I will just have to deal with (white rice, fatty meat, white bread, bottled water).

I find it really hard to find any protein, besides eggs and yogurt.  Chicken is reasonably priced, as is pork, but beef is astonishingly expensive, at almost 20$ for a pound of ground meat.  

Apples are great here, but kind of pricey, about 5$ for a bag.

I guess I am being a bit culturally lazy and just looking for a quick meal that I'd eat at home, and hopefully I will gradually kick my western habits.

When all else fails, there is always McDonalds (about 11$ for 2 combos, not bad!).

shanghai spice burger please.

As for language, it really hasn't been too much of an issue, for most things.  My most frustrating experience has been with trying to register for races in Korea, because all of the websites are in Korean.  This past week, I got really upset, because I found a race on October 3rd that goes across the 7km bridge in Busan.  I could not find any english information about it, and was ready to give up, but I asked my friend Tracy ( one of the Korean teachers at the school) to help me navigate the site.  Not only did she translate it for me, but she called up the race director and registered Tim and me, paid for the fee, and faxed in our information.  I could not have been happier! It turned out that she called on the last possible day for registration.  Thank you Tracy Teacher!

Week 3 of teaching in Korea flew by like ' woah'.  We actually only had 4 'real days of work and on Friday we attended a 2 hour meeting with all of the new teachers at the Corem chain of schools in Busan.  This was a great excuse to not teach kindergarten for the morning, meet some new people, and hear other new teachers complain about the exact same things I have problems with.  Even if there is not much hope of things changing, it's nice to know you are not the only one who feels frustrated with some aspects of the job.

We got to see our friend Christine, and a couple of other teachers that we have met along the way. Most of the teachers are from Canada, with a handful from Australia and the UK.  Obvi I am biased, but I can't help but wonder how the Aussie/English accent comes across to kids who don't know english.... 

While we were at this 'meeting', (which was pretty much a venting session), the kindergarten kids were having a Birthday Party Day at school.  Since birthdays are not a huge deal in Korea, at the school they hold a big party every month for the kids who were born in that month.  Kids here actually use a different age system which makes them 1 year old when they are born, and one year older every lunar new year. 

Here's a link explaining it better than I can:

asian age system explained

The theme for the party this month was Chuseok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving holiday in September (or October, depending on the moon).  All of the kids were dressed up in their Hanboks, traditional Korean costumes, and they were super cute.  I was sad to miss the party, but we will be able to see it next year, because it will be just at the end of our 13 month contract.

Eileen, Kelly and Joy 

When the week was over, we spent part of Saturday cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, then decided to venture up into the mountain behind our apartment, up, up, up the mountain ( Jangsan ).

I was SO happy to finally be around some trees, and nature, and to not smell any sewer-ness wafting through the street grates ( not a common thing, but not pleasant either).

Tim showed me the way up through the Dong's steep and windy streets, and into the trails on the mountain side.  There weren't too many Koreans out hiking, but we ran into a few, decked out in their vests and full hiking gear.

Near the start of the trail was an outdoor gym with benches and jungle gyms and stretching stations.  This is pretty typical in Korea, and an awesome idea, I think.  It TRICKS you into working out, cause it's so much fun! Also it's outside, so you can pretend to be Arnold on Venice Beach. Kind of.

a PB lift

As we trekked up the mountain we were pretty cocky, and thought we'd reach the peak in no time.  We took some side paths to do some bouldering (fun, really hard, kind of scary) and were rewarded with some amazing views of Busan.  After some time, and ending up in the bush, we decided to give up for the day and we headed back down the mountain, stopping at a bakery for some tasty treats, of course. 

Saturday night was a write-off, and on Sunday morning I headed out to the gym, hoping to do a treadmill run as I have been feeling a bit wheezy running outside.  I got up to the 7th floor only to find the door to the fitness centre locked!! Choking back tears, I managed to find out through sign language from the front desk staff that the fitness centre is closed until THURSDAY for Chuseok! That's five days!  I was not happy, but don't really have the language skills to ask for 5 extra days on my monthly membership so I just ran up the hill to Venice Beach.

Sunday afternoon, we were lucky to have Randi, another foreign teacher at our school, take us on the subway to Nampodong, a giant market near the Jagalchi fish market, close to downtown Busan. 

It was an awesome afternoon, though I didn't buy anything, there is definitely lots of opportunity to spend money there, if you are willing. It would also be simple to get lost, but we had Randi navigating so, no worries. 

After browsing through counterfeit sunglasses, Northface tshirts, and Adidas track suits, Randi took us to a 'new' restaurant that serves Kongbul, a dish that comes to your table on a grill, with a mountain of bean sprouts, sauce and lean-ish pork.  The staff cook it for you at the table and you eat it with rice, of course. MAN! Was it good! I was hesitant when I saw the bean sprout mountain, but after it cooked down, it was def. a tasty dish. I thought I might faint from the spice, but I couldn't stop eating it. 

This meal cost us 18$ for 3 of us.  Good deal.

garden on a plate

Clearly, I had to wash this down with something sweet, so I bought a waffle treat from a street vendor. Amazing. 

While I was enjoying this, a Korean university student came up to the three of us and asked if we could help him with a school project.  We agreed, and each of us had to pose for a picture doing an extremely angry face.  Strange but true story.

We continued on to the Jagalchi Fish Market, which was a huge building selling nothing but creatures of the sea.   A pretty incredible place... as long as you are careful not to slip on the squid/octopus lying on the ground. 

We made our way home after this, then Tim and I continued our exploring at the Shinsegae department store in Haeundae.

Shinsegae is actually certified by the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's largest department store.  It has a lot of high end stores, like Prada, Chanel, blah blah blah and a big grocery store on the main level.  We managed to find some maple syrup from Quebec and some frozen fries from PEI. Only 20 bucks for the maple syrup!

We'll be back to Shinsegae because Tim is set on taking me skating at the indoor rink.  I scoped it out and know I would easily be the best skater in there.  I'm no Bob Seymour, but I can hold my own in an Asian skating rink, I'm sure. 

As of now we are on vacation until next Monday, due to Chuseok.  No big plans for the week, but I hope to go see a temple or two and maybe go back to Nampodong and actually buy some junk.

I have registered for TWO races, one on the 3rd, that I already mentioned, and another in Gyeongju, (the ancient capital of Korea) on October 17th.  There are a few in Seoul that I'd also like to do. 

I cannot physically type anymore, so that is all for now, thanks for listening, keep fit and have fun!!

xoxo

(gossip girl)

the dong.

Q: What do you call a couple of fruity Korean guys?

A: An Asian pair. 

HAHAHAHAHA!!! 

That is 100% JSeymour original material, don't take credit.

and this porridge was JUST RIGHT

General life:


So, it is Sunday, and another week/weekend has passed in the dong.
I cannot believe how fast the work week flew by, and suddenly it was Friday again.  
The disgustingly hot and humid weather relented a bit in the beginning of the week but came back towards the end and made me wonder again how I could have any sweat left in me at the end of the day. 


Tim and I are both getting into routines.  I usually get up around 6am and go to the gym before work.  Tim sleeps later and goes to work earlier.  


I don't do too much prep for my classes.  I have an hour break during the day and so far that has been enough time to plan my afternoon for the day.  I  have warned myself not to get stressed over the job because it just isn't worth it, and gets me nowhere in the end. 


I have  a lot of great kids in my classes, and only one class that I can't stand.  They are about 12-13 years old, and there is a group of 5 boys who have this Korean song made up that they sing at me which ends in 'che che che CHEETAH'.  I can only assume that they are referring to my freckles.  Pretty clever, guys!


Food:
I finally found some real donuts at a little bakery around the corner from our apt.... DANGER!
These are full-out, Homer Simpson pink frosting donuts, and I ate about 5 in 10 minutes. Amazing.  


Food is definitely the biggest 'barrier' I have found in Korea.  There is no shortage of it, and prices are fairly reasonable for most things, but I find it very hard to get full! Noodles are great, but they leave you hungry an hour later.  Most protein sources are full of fat or are ridiculously expensive:  beef sells for about 18$ a pound, from what I've seen. 


We are going through a lot of eggs, which come in packs of 10, not 12, and cost about 2.50- 3$.


On Thursday, we went to a porridge restaurant where we had spicy beef/leek, and crab porridge. Very similar to a thick barley soup, and SO good. top 3 favourite Korean foods so far. Probably cause it tasted so western....


There are many many Korean treats, which I have been dutifully trying out.  Lots of cookies, and lots of chips, but the chocolate leaves something to be desired.


Everything seems to come with ridiculous amounts of packaging.  Each box of crackers comes with the crackers packed into individual 7 cracker packs, and I have heard tell of individually wrapped chocolate covered almonds.  Ridiculous! Which brings me to my next random category:


Garbage:
Garbage is picked up every other day in the dong. On alternate days, either cardboard or plastic recycling is picked up.  The catch is this:  in order for your waste to be picked up, you must put it into special plastic bags which you buy at a grocery store, and cost about 4$ (for a big one).  This makes a lot of sense, because it means if you have more garbage, you pay more.  It definitely makes you think twice about buying bottled water, etc.  


Of course, there is lots of garbage that just gets left out 'secretly' in regular plastic bags, and eventually gets picked up anyways, so I am not sure that it is the best system possible. 


Jjimjilbang:
As I think I mentioned before, my gym has a bathhouse within the change room that I was too scared to go into.... until now!
On Saturday, after our oil tank for our hot water heater had to be refilled (100$ and only a 1/4 of a tank later), I decided to start showering at the gym. You know what they say: 
"necessity is the mother of invention" or something like that. 


So, after the gym, and 18 gallons of sweat, I made my way to the pools.  What an amazing experience!
The room is fairly big, probably the size of a small school gym (strange size reference I know) with 4 or 5 pools of different temperatures, 3 saunas of different temperatures, 4 rows of sitting showers, and a wall of standing showers.  This giant room was full of naked Korean women of all ages, some with kids.  People in Korea go to these bathhouses with their families and just hang out there.  Tim was telling me he saw an old man in the men's floor just having a nap on the floor.  (Again, napping ANYWHERE in Korea seems to be normal.  I almost tripped on a middle aged Korean man on the steps at the gym today, splayed out with his graphic novel, green tea sippy cup, and bowl of boiled egg shell remnants)


As the shower in the jjimjilbang was much better than ours at home, and costs nothing extra, I will be using it again for sure (slash did already today). 


Last night:
We took a cab to Kyeongsong again last night to meet up with Christine, Hailey and Jen for a Reggae concert at a bar called 'Vinyl Underground'.  On the way, we finally found a bank machine where Tim could use his bank card ( thank God, because 100$ for the next month, would likely not cut it).  


The band was awesome and the bar was packed, hot, and tons (tonnes?) of fun.  I am pretty sure the bar tenders were just rinsing out the used glasses with a sink of water, but I am still alive, so, no harm done. 


Following some dancing to sneaky beats, we went on a mission to Mickey Dees.
For our first course, we had a number 2 and a number 4 (big mac and bulgogi burgers), and then followed this with a 10 pack of chicken nuggets. 
For dessert we ( I ) enjoyed a Lotte chocolate ice cream cone.  


And now this entry is one trillion pages long, and it is time to sign off. 


We'll SEE YA!


-JaeKae.

the 'job'.

Banana class

We are gradually settling into our apartment up on the hill in the Dong ( our neighbourhood is called Jaesong-2-dong) and have finally managed to unpack our suitcases and do our first load of laundry. 


The first week of work went relatively well, but was definitely tiring and we were both happy to see Friday finally arrive. 
Our schedules at school go something like this:
9:45- 11:20 - kindergarten classes, 40 minutes long each, with a 25 minute break between
11:20 - 12:50  - lunch break, we usually go home and eat boiled eggs and carrot sticks and tuna.
12:50-2:00  - more kindergarten classes
2:00 - 5:30 ( or as late as 8:30 on some days)  - elementary students, middle school students, classes are 50 minutes long, 10 minute break in between. 


I am really enjoying the teaching, mostly because it is very relaxed and the kids, for the most part are great.  In their first year at a private school ( Hagwagon) each kid gets an English name and there are some hilarious ones, as well as some strange gender-switched names:


-Justine and Joy (boys)
-Jack Jack
-Sonic
-Nike
-Zena (pronounced Jena)
-Chris 1, Chris 2
-Aqua
-Jupiter


There are also lots of common names (Amy, Tommy, Brian, Kevin, Becky) which of course remind me of people I know with these names. It blew my kindergarten's minds that I have  a sister named 'Amy'. Other things that blow their minds:


-when Jill teacher speaks Korean
-stickers
-CDN money
-drinking from a big water bottle
-seeing any teacher at any time not in the class (ie hallways, stairs, etc.) , they are like mini paparazzi without cameras.


All of the kindergarten classes are named for fruits (Kiwi, Orange, Apple, Banana, etc) and they have 5 periods a day and a lunch time.  Hello full-day Kindergarten! Our school is private, so the parents pay for their kids to go.  The other, older kids come after their regular school day, and usually go to other lessons (piano, art, sports) after or before coming to Corem (our school). 


I enjoy the kindergartens the most, because they are the most easily entertained and are also really smart and well - behaved.  It's pretty safe to say that every kid over the age of 6 has their own cell phone.


As I said before, teaching is pretty relaxed here, especially compared to my experiences in Ontario.  There are no 'nut-free' zones, and it is considered perfectly acceptable to hug kids, high five kids, or drag kids out of class for bad behaviour.  Not that I am excited about corporal punishment... but it is refreshing to be able to show affection without looking over your shoulder for a lawsuit from a parent. 


We work with 4 other foreign teachers, 2 are American and 2 are Canadian. They are AWESOME and have been nothing but helpful since we arrived. I don't know where we would be without them. 
We also work with... 7? other Korean teachers who are also awesome.  They teach English to the kids as well and help us with discipline issues and things like parent communication.  Everyone at the school has been super welcoming and we both feel really lucky to be in such a great work environment. 


From what I have gathered by talking to other teachers, our hours are pretty long at Corem, but you win some, you lose some.  There are pros and cons to every teaching job here, and I would take longer hours over a negative work vibe any day. 


School/work took over our life during the week and this weekend we finally got to see our friends Hailey and Christine who are also from Canada (Hailey from Fredericton and Christine from teacher's college in Ottawa).  We went to Hyundae beach for a little sunshine, then Hailey kindly took us for a walking tour around her neighbourhood.


We stopped to eat at 'Kimbap heaven' and had a few Korean dishes, including my favourite Ddakbokki, yum!! We then walked through the market area and saw some interesting things for sale, likesuchas:
-bees in a bag (live)
-frogs in a bag (also live)
-eels


I was pretty excited to find a donut stall, and paid a pretty penny for a delicious looking pastry, then I tore it open and discovered a filling of...... chicken soup. 
Most disappointing food experience yet, but oh well.  After having bean-paste filled cake, I should have been expecting something like chicken in a donut.


Following that adventure, we bought some banana ice cream cones, which  of course made everything ok. 


After going home for a short nap, we met up with Hailey again and tried to take a cab to Kyeongsang University district, but ended up very far away at Pusan National University instead.  We took it in stride and hung out at a 7-11 for some soju for a while.  Can't say my first soju experience was one I loved, but hopefully it will grow on me.  Hailey mixes a mean drink.
We did manage to make it to Kyeonsang after that, and felt like we were in Canada again because we ended up at a 'foreigner' bar called Foxy, filled with lots and lots of non-asian faces (including the long lost Miss Jennifer Sheehan!!! Who started us off with a rousing rendition of the FHS song, NBD).  


Generally, things are going awesome, and I definitely feel like I have been here longer than several days.  The heat is hard to escape but from what I hear this is not much different from home.  I am somewhere between the hostile and excited stages that the 'culture shock' experts talk about, but I find that rocking out to Justin Bieber (or J Derulo, Kesha, etc.) is usually a pretty good cure. 


Fwef! That's a lot of reflection, now time for a day of cleaning.... pictures of the apt to come soon:)
Lovelovelove from Jill on the hill!

The gym.

Bustin' it out to Bieber.

Just need to make note of some experiences at the gym, before they become normal and I forget that they were once very weird to me. 
For anyone who is in/has been to Korea, don't mind my ignorance or interpretations of what I see... I'm sure I am getting 90% of it wrong!


The gym is called " Spazen" and it has 7 floors. When you go in, you must take off your shoes, then lock them in a little locker in the lobby with a key from the front desk.  The fitness centre itself is on floor 7, but there are change rooms, saunas, pools, a napping floor, and a 'food court' on the floors in between. My favorite is the napping floor, where people are just napping on their mats on the floor.  Napping anywhere seems to be the norm in Korea. I also see a few people napping on the stairway landings when I walk up to the 7th floor each morning.  


After arriving on the 7th floor ( I still haven't used the change room yet... but I'll get there) you can put your 'indoor' shoes on.  Most people seem to store their shoes at the gym outside the fitness centre doors in cubbies, but I have just been bringing mine each day with me. 
The fitness centre has about 15 treadmills, free weights (but only up to about 60lbs), stationary bikes, weight machines, a room for classes, and of course a few vibration machines... old school ones with belts. They seem to be a hit with the older crowd at the gym... I think they would make me throw up. 


The view in the fitness centre is amazing. Because it is up on the mountain side, and there are windows on both sides, you can see the city and water down below, and the mountains up above... very nice view. 


The people at the gym are very nice, but I think they may be scared of me.  One older lady gave me the thumbs up today, I think she was telling me I was a fast runner ( or maybe I just chose to interpret that :)). I tried to catch the eyes of some guys, just to make some friends, but no luck.  I guess I am very scary looking. 


After my workout I decided to be brave and venture into the women's changing room ( which I only found by chance, because I saw another lady walk into it - the signs are all in Korean). 
Right inside the change room door is a snack bar that looked to primarily sell hard-boiled eggs.  I am not complaining... it's an excellent healthy, post-workout snack!
That was about as far as I got, but I will see if I can go further, maybe find the pools and or showers tomorrow - our apartment's shower leaves much to be desired, including water pressure.


Anyways, hopefully I will slowly unravel the mysteries of "Spazen" and can soon look back on my own stupidity about the experience :)


BYYyyyeeeeeee!!!!!

K Pop

Here I sit in an apartment on a mountain in Jaesong-2-dong, Haeundae, Busan, South Korea and it is pretty crazy how normal it all feels.  Canada feels like a long time ago even though it's only been about a week since we left. 

The trip over was a piece of cake.  Tim left from Ottawa and I left from Fredericton on Tuesday evening, August 24th. We met in Toronto where we also met up with our recruiter, May Kim (ESL recruiting) and then with my sister, Amy and her boyfriend Chris.  We checked in to Korean Air, said some more goodbyes, gobbled down one last CDN meal at Tim Hortons (of course) and then ventured  off to our gate.  Given that our gate was comprised of 95% Asians, I already felt like we had left Canada before we even boarded the plane.

The 13.5 hour flight was great.  We had our choice of movies, slept quite a bit, and ate our first Korean food.  Tim played some video games on the tv screen, but I opted out of that.

We arrived in Seoul at about 4am on Thursday morning, and wandered around the Incheon airport for a few hours before getting on our last short plane to Busan.  We were both struck by how safe we felt as soon as we arrived in Korea.  People were sleeping on benches all over the place, and we followed suit.  I got to see a neat automatic toilet cover in action ( difficult to explain via blog, should have taken a pic).

We arrived in Busan later Thursday morning, where our vice director, Michelle picked us up.  She drove us to our temporary home at the Shanghai Motel in Busan where we stayed for an hour before going to meet our new co-workers for lunch.  The motel we stayed at is known as a  'love motel' because in Korea these types of motels are used primarily for extra-marital purposes and the like.  Also, young couples who typically live with their parents until married, go to these hotels with their bf/gfs. 

We met up with our co-workers at the school (Corem English Institute(?)) and walked down to have some bi bim bap at a restaurant nearby.  YUM! Basically rice with unknown vegetables and an egg on top.  I am sure I will be able to differentiate the food better later on, but right now it seems that most things are 'rice, unknown vegetables, and sauce'. 

We then returned to the school and observed a few classes and did some orientation before taking the school bus down the hill to our love motel and conking out for the night. 

The next day we also spent observing, and was also followed by conking out at about 8pm at the love motel. 

On Saturday we were taken to the hospital by Michelle in order to get our medical tests done which are needed for our Alien Registration Cards.  It was neat to see a hospital in a different country, but it was basically the same as a western hospital.  We had hearing and eyesight checked ( I won, with 20/40 vision) and then peed in a cup and donated about 500mL of blood. 

After having starved all Saturday morning ( prior to bloodwork) Tim and  I took our first cab ride (3$) down to Hyundae and splurged on burgers at ' Char Burger'. We both agreed they were the best we'd ever had.  We then went to a store called ' Home Plus', which in Korea is similar to Walmart or Sears at home, a 5 floor department store with groceries and a food court on the first floor. 

We were a little disappointed that prices weren't as low as we had hoped, but this is only our first shopping experience, so we are not making any generalizations yet. 

On Saturday night we met up with our co-workers again for a going away party for Jenny and Nakao, the teachers from Ontario who we are replacing at Corem.  They took us to Gwangali ( pronounced Gwana- Li) Beach to a couple of bars and to meet a bunch of new people ( local and foreign). The night was a blast, and I was introduced to my new favorite food ever : DDUKBOKKI. Yes, Margaret, I found them. 

This little treasure is made of rice pasta and swims around in hot pepper paste, covered in cheese. OMG, amazing. 

We stayed out at a bar called ' Thursday Party' on Gwangali beach until about 2am, which is pretty early by Korean standards, then took a 6$ cab home ( cabs are cheap!)

Saturday we went to Hyundae beach, via cab of course, and walked through Dongbaek park on our way to the beach... beauty!! We then bought Tim a new bathing suit (5$) and proceeded to rent some inner tubes to go play in the giant waves.  What an amazing day!

We met a random Korean on the beach who offered us some bread, to which I said 'no thank you', and then he went on to tell me he was a bread maker (oops). 

Saturday night was another early night before starting work again on Monday morning. 

There are many more details that I am sure I've left out, but the first week in a new country is a lot to take in and remember and write down!

I have been running most mornings, along the river that leads into the ocean, on a really nice path. The weather has been REALLY hot and humid ( yes Ottawa, hotter than you) so it has been a bit of a struggle at times. 

Tim and I joined a gym just down the street from our school/ apartment, and it is going to be one of my favorite places, of that I am already sure. 

I miss you all and would love to hear from you!!! HEARTS!!