Notes2selfs -- Yes, we are English teachers!

Singapore

2008-05-31T22:45:00.001-07:00

Malaysia

2008-05-31T22:44:00.003-07:00

Leaving Daegu

2008-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

SO LONG DAEGU AND GOOD BYE!

Farwell Office Party

2008-04-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

GIRLS...LET'S DO KAREOKE AFTER THIS!

I THINK THAT'S AN INTERESTING POINT OF VIEW

HAPPY TIMES

YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Downtown Saturday Night

2008-04-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

The big night in Daegu is Saturday. A lot of people go out to eat, visit friends, and head downtown. It is always crowded and busy downtown on Saturday, as you can see from the video. I have also added some shots of Chilseoung market. Check them out on the left.

North Korea

2008-04-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Before we leave Korea we will be visiting the DMZ. This will be the last thing we do in Korea before leaving for Thailand. We were interested in doing a tour to North Korea, but decided against it because you are not permitted to actually observe the daily lives of the people. The tour has one purpose: to take tourists to see Geumgangsan Mountain, which every South Korean dreams of visiting at least once in their lifetime. The tour bus doesn't take you into town and only drops you off at the mountain and your hotel. The hotel is owned and managed by a South Korean Company (Hyundai) and resembles an all inclusive resort with shopping,golf,tennis etc. You never have to leave the industrial complex- good thing because it is forbidden. From what I read, its sounds like a little S. Korean micro-city transported to the mountains of North Korea. Too bad, we really wanted to visit N. Korea and see the contrast to S. Korea.

In December 2007, the N. Korean Government opened a tour to Kaesong City. It is quickly booked up.

I highly recommend looking at this link to see illegal photographs taken of North Korea by a Chinese tourist.
PicturesNorthKorea

Big Bang-Lies Koh Jid Mal

2008-04-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Lauren digs this song.

Big Bang - Farewell

2008-04-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

Big Bang is a boy band here and all our little girls are in love with them. The middle school kids don't care for them that much.

Jewelry- One More Time

2008-04-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

The little kids love this song. In the last scene the group does a dance move where they reach over their heads and touch both of their fingers together. Our students crack up everytime and say "baby one more time".

Hitting Students

2008-04-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Koreans have a different approach to disciplining kids at school. In the States teachers are not allowed to touch a student without getting slapped across the face with a lawsuit. Not the case here, I have personally seen my manager smack a middle school student for making a smart remark towards her. Korean discipline style varies from teacher to teacher but here are some common ways to shape up kids:

The head shot - I was wondering why my kids always say "head shot" in my class. It finally clicked when Heather (foreign teacher) asked her partner(a Korean teacher) about the crack in her red Bic pen top. Her partner said she cracked it when she pulled back her pen with her fingers and flicked a students head. Hence, the head shot! She said it was the third one she had broken that day. Heather asked "why do you do that?" Her reply was "Because they couldn't answer the question".

Standing - The Foreign teachers are trained to have their students stand up at their desks if they are misbehaving. The Koreans take this to a whole new level. Today, I saw a student in the hall holding his hands above his head. He was in front of the classroom window waiting for the teacher's permission to enter the room again.

The cheek pinch - After class, teachers grab their students cheeks and pinch them tightly as they yell at them.

Squats - the hall monitor makes the kids do squats with their hands out if they are acting up.

Re-test - This is the most feared punishment. It is a study room where students are sent if they fail a test. They must go to this room to master the lesson. They cannot leave until they have proven they have learned the material. Teachers can also send students to re-test for an hour if they speak Korean or are misbehaving.

Homework - This is the worst punishment and everyone gets it regardless whether or not they are good or bad. From now on, I will laugh at any student form North America that tells me they have too much homework. We have students at our Academy until midnight doing re-test because they failed their English tests.

The English Academy we work for gives about 4 hours of homework per week. This does not sound that bad, but you have to consider that academies are after school learning centers. The children have their normal school workload to do as well. Plus, on average, a Korean student goes to three different academies. The most popular academies are English, Math, Science, Japanese, Piano, and Chinese. Of course, English is by far the most popular. And on top of all this, they spend two Saturdays a month at school for four hours.

When we ask students what they want to do on Sunday or for their day off they all say "take a rest". Dana: "What do you mean take a rest, you don't want to play?!?!?" Students: "No, just take a rest and not study."

Nurse and Chicken Intestines

2008-04-08T23:59:00.001-07:00

As we all know, in life there are highs and lows. Lauren and I had a real doozy of a low that blindsided us, knocked us on our backside, and left us down and low for three weeks. One cold winter night, Lauren and a space heater developed a close bond which resulted in weeks spent at the lovely Fatima hospital. Because she slept so close to the space heater, she had to battle an infection, get a skin graph, and recover from third degree burns far from the comfort of the United States. It was a difficult period - adjusting to hospital quarters(Lauren slept in a room with 5 other women), medical practices (Tylenol is considered a powerful painkiller), doctors(respect them and don't ask questions), and nurses. However, during that trying time we met and befriended a lot of good people including a small boy named Yong Han, Dr Hong, Dr Cho, and our adorable nurse Hibis.

We have stayed in touch with all of the medical staff after leaving Fatima, especially "OUR NURSE", as she is commonly referred to in our small group of friends. I mention Hibis because of the strange times we have shared with her. She is very lonely and is trying very hard to find a boyfriend. As a gesture of appreciation for taking such good care of her while in the hospital, Lauren promised Hibis that she would introduce her to some boys. On the first night we hung out with her, Hibis had a huge craving for chicken intestines and pushed us to eat them with her. We politely refused, even though she made it sound appetizing. The intestines are flavored in hot chili sauce and cooked in such a way that makes their walls crunchy and their insides chewy. Our refusal did not get us off the hook though, because the next time we hung out she was still craving those intestines! This time, however, I didn't disappoint her. She was exactly right, they are chewy but at the same time crunchy! I have a new love for intestines and last weekend we went out for dinner again and this time we had grilled pig intestines. I prefer chicken!

Spring Fever

2008-04-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

You know it's spring in Korea when the Cherry blossoms are blooming. I took pictures of them near the park by our house. This is where all the old men hang out and gamble.

We have less than a month left in Korea so I have added some random pictures of Daegu. We are getting excited to leave but we will miss our country of residency for the past year and a half.

Fish Food

2008-03-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have always been curious about the thought processes of the human brain. For example, how could the ideas of the water bed, the vacuum haircut, and the whoopee cushion possibly be conceived? How is it possible to envision such wild ideas? And how on Earth was it determined that using fungus eating fish would be an excellent way to clean feet? Did some genius's brain say "Hey body, here's an idea, put your foot in that fish bowl and see if they'll suck on your big toes!" This must have happened or otherwise we wouldn't have Dr. Fish Spa Books.

In Korea it is completely normal to visit with friends over a cup of coffee, maybe browse over some books, and if you have time dip your feet into a small pool of fish. That's right...for about two bucks you and your friends can spend quality time together getting your toes nibbled on by fish. That's if you can get past the idea of literally becoming human fish food. Lauren couldn't overcome the idea, but for Barry and me it was easy! We giggled like school children as slimy fish lips sucked the dead skin off our dirty little feet.

Lunar New Year Trip - It's the Year of the Rat

2008-02-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

Trip around Korea for Lunar New Year. We are trying to get out more and see Korea before we leave. This trip took us up to Chunju, Danyang, and Suanbo. There is beauty in Korea, you just have to go out and find it, then crop out all the ugly parts in the picture.

Longest Commercial in History

2008-02-04T09:06:00.001-08:00

Lauren's 30th Birthday

2008-02-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

I am extremely late in updating the events that occurred for Lauren's BIG 30. I think Lauren handled her birthday well. The crying was limited because she had family and friends cheering her up with a number of wise-cracks and jokes. This helped make light of this melancholy birthday, she especially enjoyed her re-gift of the coffin with the black rose. Liz, nice return! I have never seen her laugh so hard.

We celebrated Lauren's birthday on the Saturday before January 15th with our friend Barry, who's birthday is just a few days before Lauren's. We left Barry's apartment around 8 after giving our gift to him, which was a skinny belt. Korea has been very good to Barry's waistline. We headed to The Holy Grill, which now serves a decent burrito. It is decent food, considering that the owner is Canadian and the Korean cooks have just learned how to make some tacos! We cut the birthday boy and girl's cake and started indulging in libations.

Berkley was the next stop -- this bar is owned by an elderly eccentric Korean who has a hairstyle similar to Albert Einstein’s. The name of the bar is fitting, like Berkley, California, the bar is very laid-back. There are a ton of cozy couches and a variety of chill music to be heard. This is by far Lauren's favorite bar in Daegu, ironically, it is also the only bar in town where you can get a bottle of white wine.

After meeting a few friends at Berkley, we decided to change the scene and headed to the military bar called Itaewon. This joint is notorious for fights breaking out and for the occasional head-butt from random guys. More often than not, these fights break out because you happen to be talking to someone else's girlfriend. I guess we were looking for some entertainment when we decided to go to Itaewon and lucky for us, we were not disappointed. At Itaewon we met a guy named Wolf and a guy who took his scooter a little too seriously. Plus, low and behold, a fight broke out!

Our next stop was, Old School. This joint is a popular watering hole of ours. They have an enormous projection screen that shows the latest music videos from the states and they serve 30oz steins for 3 bucks. We received an extra treat that night-a bunch of dudes with their shirts off, getting their freak on. Seeing that was the least of our problems, we were about to meet Chris, one of our managers at Moon Kkang. He is from Newfoundland and if you are Canadian, you know what they say about Newfies and if you're not, I will fill you in:

Newfoundland is a region known for its population of die hard drinkers and partiers. Once you have made contact with a Newfie, you are immediately held hostage and are forced to drink at their command.

By the time we met Chris it was 4am, our senses were already weakened, so our attempts to resist his invitations to eat were futile. And thus, we fell into the Newfie trap!

We walked what seemed like an eternity, then got into cab, and then walked some more before we arrived at the secret after hours Korean restaurant that never closes. Mind you, we were still in the presence of the Newfie so the Soju was flowing like water. Shortly after sitting down and having our first bottle of Soju, two large stew bowls arrived. From what I remember, it looked like someone hacked the spine of a cow in half and then threw them into a pot of boiling water with some veggies and red pepper paste. I picked at the bone for small chunks of meat with chopsticks, while Lauren starred at me with disgust.

The night wasn't over after our delicious meal because we were still in the Newfie's grasp. He invited us to his apartment to watch the sun rise over Daegu. It was there on top of his roof, looking over Daegu, that we ended Lauren's 30th birthday celebration.

Sky Jump Into 2008

2007-12-30T05:59:00.000-08:00

We celebrated the final days of 2007 by jumping off of WooBang Tower. Guess who's idea this was? Every year Lauren tries to find new and exciting ways for me to lose my lunch. This year we walked out of a tower onto a steel platform and jumped 123 meters down to the ground.

We felt like stunt men when we changed into our flashy jump suits. Then we felt like celebrities because a small audience gathered to watch us make the plunge and children were cheering for us as we reached the bottom. It was a lot of fun and at the same time scary. The best part was watching Lauren dangle from a steel rope in mid air while saying "I'm scared".

Happy Belated Birthday Dana!!!

2007-12-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Dana's birthday was December 6th and here's how we celebrated the beginning of the end...well, the end of his twenties! For his birthday, I took him out to Outback (a major treat in Korea!). We had a nice meal and then I sneaked off to ask the waiter to bring out a slice of cake for his birthday! It took an awfully long while and I had to convince Dana that I wasn't feeling well...so we could stick around the restaurant. Eventually, the cake came, but not just one slice! The waiter actually ran down to a bakery down the street, bought an entire cake with candles and served it to us! It was so sweet!!! The staff then proceeded to sing Happy Birthday!!! They even took a picture of us and printed it out in a card -- the total royal treatment at ole Outback! After that, Dana got a mini party at work...with another cake!!! On Friday, we met Barry, Cass, and Barry's girlfriend up for some mexican food (another major treat in Korea!). Plus, he got another cake!!! So, 3 cakes and 2 homestyle meals!!! Not so shabby for partying in Daegu!

Muju Mountain

2007-12-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

The only benefit of living in a cold country surrounded by mountains is, of course, the ability to ski in the winter. Around the first of December, the thought of skiing down a snow covered mountain fills us with excitement, which makes up for shivering every time we walk out the front door. However, during this same time period our brains start going into a hibernation and our ability to reason suffers. For some reason, we don't think it is going to be cold while we imagine ourselves racing down champagne powdered slopes. Doesn't it stand to reason that if we are cold in the city, then we will be much colder a couple thousand feet higher on top of windy mountain? Of course, you idiot, but that didn't stop us from going to Muju Mountain again this year.

We decided to take a day trip up to our local ski resort this past Saturday. It was a rough day that started with a 5am rivalee and it was followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride up to the mountain. We slept most of the ride up. After getting geared up, we took our first run down the baby slope to get warmed up and to get comfortable on skis again. We soon found out that the baby runs were as advanced as we were going to get for the day. There wasn't enough snow on the ground for them to open the lifts on top of the mountain. Depression soon set in upon this discovery, followed by numbness in Lauren's fingers and toes. To make things worse, it started snowing! There is only so much Lauren can take before she is warming up next to a fire in a lounge complaining about how much she misses Florida.

The Importance of Winning in Korea

2007-12-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

The following is an email I received from a member of the Moon Kkang Reinforcement Staff:

Hi Everyone! Our Reinforcement Team has a new member again, his name is 'HYUK'.
He was a professional soccer player, so he didn`t study English very much.
However, he is currently studying English and will try his best.
If you have a chance to meet him, please give him a warm welcome.
Soon you will meet him on December 8th.
Anyways, take care of your health.
Enjoy your week Hyun ^^

The Reinforcements Staff's role is to help foreign teachers with housing and daily issues related with living in Daegu. It is obvious by the email that winning in the Daegu soccer tournament is extremely important to our employer. I feel he has hired a professional soccer player, solely, for the purpose of playing soccer. This winning attitude plays a huge part in Korean culture. GO MOON KKANG - FIGHTING!!!

Wonder Girls - Tell Me

2007-11-24T21:31:00.000-08:00

If you catch me singing in class it is to this song. The kids love my moves!

Turkey Day

2007-11-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

We had another Thanksgiving dinner in Korea without any turkey. We wanted to carve a 10 pound spam into the shape of a turkey, but the 10 pound cans were all sold out at Costco. No turkey, no cranberries, no squash, no stuffing, no spam - I'm sure your spread was much more enjoyable than ours. Just look at what we got served to us at our local restaurant. Please notice the hot dog on the grill - it was very depressing. We made light of the situation and joked about how it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving unless we have ours mothers home-cooked kimchi. You haven't lived until you've had my mom's kimchi on Thanksgiving!!

We also have a random video of a crazy street vender that caused a whole bunch of noise this morning. We could hear him from our apartment because he had his speakers turned up to full blast.

Space Bunnies and Witches are Sighted in Daegu

2007-11-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

Halloween marks our one year anniversary in Korea. This time last year we had many questions running through our heads: Why is everything so confusing? Why am I shocked about our living standards? Why did we come to Korea in the first place? These questions can finally be answered now that we have immersed ourselves in Korea for a year. The answers are - I don't know!

Just because we are walking through life clueless doesn't mean we can't have fun, and our idea of fun is scaring people. We made it our mission on Halloween to scare as many Koreans as possible in a cultural exchange. We exchanged screams for laughs! Lauren, Heather (another teacher we work with), and I ransacked our supermarket for costumes. Fortunately, we came up with some good ones with the limited options. Lauren won first prize with her very scary witch costume. The character came naturally to her. Heather won second place. She had the kids running and screaming from her all day at school. It is sad to say, but I received last place. I couldn't decide if I wanted to be an alien or a bunny, so I fused them together and became a space bunny.

We had all the kids frightened at school because Koreans don't celebrate Halloween. They were all taken back by the experience, especially the little ones. My ears still hurt from the screams Lauren and Heather received. My kids just called me crazy and laughed at me, which isn't any different from a normal day at school.

I felt a bit inadequate because my costume wasn't scary, so I had to figure out a way to really scare the kids. I decided to abruptly fling open my fellow teachers doors while they were teaching class, yell at the top of my lungs and throw candy at their kids. It worked like a charm and all of the kids and teachers jumped out of their shorts! I was also able to scare the devil out of Lauren and her kids as well.

After school we went to our corner store to scare the owner, Mina. I don't know what scared her the most: jumping out and screaming at her, the way we looked, or thinking that she was about to get robbed.

We continued our night of horror by jumping and screaming at unsuspecting Koreans. As a result of our night, I mastered a surprise attack technique. I quietly sneaked up to people and looked over their shoulder with my alien mask. This technique almost got me in a fight, but it was well worth it because the screams from innocent Korean girls were well off the Richter scale. Hehehehehe....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

How We Survived Japan With a 7 Day JR Pass

2007-10-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

PLAY THE BELOW VIDEO BEFORE READING

Japan- the land of the rising sun. Been there, saw it rise, and survived! That's because we were up before the sun, chasing down trains. It was a mad dash to see how much of Japan two people could possibly squeeze in a course of seven days. Well, the answer is "a lot" and we were only equipped with a Japan Rail pass, an outdated Lonely Planet, and two bad senses of direction.

We started off the trip in Pusan, a port town an hour away by train from where we live. We did the research and found it more economical to take the ferry to Fukuoka, Japan rather than flying into Tokyo, so we set off to fight the high seas. The Sea of Japan was a little too rough the day we left, which made Lauren second guess our decision to take the ferry. Our boat rocked back and forth as it crashed through 6 foot swells, which caused Lauren to turn blue and green in the face. She spent the entire ride next to a trashcan waiting to revisit her breakfast. Three hours later we reached Japan.

We noticed a clear difference in our setting upon landing in Japan. There weren't anymore more Kias on the streets, just Toyotas! Joking aside, there was a huge difference in scenery. Everything seemed orderly, the streets were new and clean, the architecture was simple, and there was no garbage to be found. Plus, everyone was so polite and courteous. We didn't stay in Fukuoka long because it was just a starting point for us. We only stayed the night in Fukuoka because the ferry trip included a 1 night hotel with the package. We used our time in Fukuoka to acquire our JR passes and to let Lauren recover from her seasickness.

The next morning our intense schedule began. We rose with the sun at 6:00 am with high spirits and a need to cram as much sightseeing in as possible. We left Fukuoka and hopped on a train to Hiroshima to visit the site where the atomic bomb was dropped. I must be a masochist to have put myself through the painful sight of such a horrific tragedy and a sadist to make Lauren come with me. The museum left its visitors with a powerful message - stop the use of nuclear warfare.

We left Hiroshima and sought out a hotel in Kyoto. This was the beginning of our navigation problems. Lauren was at the helm and I was no help to her! Kyoto is the second largest city in Japan and has a labyrinth of streets with Japanese street signs. Just to let everyone know, we didn't take an introductory Japanese language course before we left, so Japanese street signs were useless to us. Add to the equation an outdated Lonely Planet, two headstrong individuals being completely confused, and the result is a lot of choice words thrown at each other. Here are some examples: "You just don't listen to me!", "I don't know, you figure it out!", "I told you I was right!" and "No, it's this way!". We eventually settled into a Japanese style hotel that cost about 70 bucks. The English translation for a Japanese style room is a 10x10ft straw matted room with two blankets and two pillows. The room doesn't include a bathroom or a shower because you have the pleasure of sharing those amenities with the rest of the hotel guests. These things don't bother us anymore, because we have been living in Asia for so long, but it was the price that got my goat.

The highlight of Kyoto was seeing the geishas. They are like celebrities so everyone stops to take pictures of them. We were walking down a small street in old Kyoto when we saw a crowd gather outside a building where a taxi was idling. Curiosity got the best of us and we began staring at the door waiting for something to happen. The crowd grew larger in size and finally a geisha appeared. It turned out that we were waiting outside a geisha house and that the taxi was there to chauffeur her off to a client. It was pretty cool to see. I started thinking about how honor is perceived in Japanese society and how only their culture could make prostitution an honorable profession.

The next leg of the trip will be called "Flying Monkey, Running Deer, and the Evil Castle". I'm starting to realize that Lauren just wants to go to the circus on vacation because that is what the next part of our trip felt like. We headed to Nara to go to the world's oldest petting zoo. The deer in Nara are considered sacred and are free to roam the grounds. They just hang out and get fed by tourists who go to see temples, museums, and Japanese gardens. What a cushy life! I can honestly say I have never seen so many tame deer in my life and been so close to them. However, there were manicured gardens and temples in the background, which made it a perfect day in Japan.

After the deer in Nara, we went to Matsumoto to see a castle. This castle has weathered over 400 years of hardships. However, it has never been attacked. We got a tour from a retired volunteer who was more that eager to use his English. He chased us down and insisted that we take a tour with him. I was on my guard and refused the tour, but Lauren accepted. It turned out that he didn't want any money and just wanted to help out, which really confused me. You wouldn't be able to tell that he wasn't getting paid by the way he ran to get his bag and then ran back to meet us. You could really feel the Japanese willingness to help.

Finally, the monkeys- we can't visit a new country without seeing a monkey. We headed up to the highlands of Japan to see crazy monkeys in Yudanaka. It was a change of pace, things moved slower, and we got a break from our hectic traveling schedule. The best part of our Yudanaka trip was the country feel we got from the town and enjoying the hotel spa. We were traveling in the slow season so there was only one other guest staying with us and the lodge owner's dog. It felt good just to relax up in the mountains with our new monkey friends and the owner's dog. LIVE MONKEY CAM

After chillin' with the monkeys, we made a brief stop to see a ninja museum and walked through a forested path to a temple in Togakushi. Our next stop was the bright lights of Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo at night with no accommodation. Not a good idea! We were exhausted and needed a beer, so we stopped at a British pub for a drink to discuss our sleeping arrangements. The best solution, that we came up with over a few drinks, was a love motel. These "hotels" can be rented by the hour or by the night between the hours of 10PM-9AM. There was nothing lovely about this hotel at all. A key was handed to me through a small window and I was told to check out by 9am. We felt disgusted, but it was cheap and we only needed a place to crash for five hours because we were going to see the fish market in the morning. I still can't believe Lauren didn't scream more than she did!

We were anxious to leave in the morning so we quickly showered the filth off of us and ran out of the love shack (I think I remember throwing the key at the desk attendant). We were also in a hurry because according to Lauren we were going to miss the morning fish arrival at the market. She was screaming at me to move faster at six in the morning, "We are going to miss the fish, HURRY UP, all the fish come in before 7am!" Please keep in mind that I don't function well in the morning, especially in a foreign country with only 4 hours of sleep under my belt, but somehow she got me moving. From what I recall from my dazed sleep walk, we were hopping on trains left and right. Lauren was like Rainman with a map! We were getting on a blue train, then a red train, and then we got on a completely different rail system with more colored trains. It was very confusing and the whole time I was thinking that the map looked like a really complicated mathematical matrix - it could give a rocket scientist a headache. I already had a headache because Lauren kept on saying "We aren't going to make it, the fish stop coming at 7:00 am, HURRY UP OLD MAN!" It turns out that the best time to see the market is before 8 am. I could have killed her!

We walked the streets of Tokyo the rest of the day in search of the Sony building, the Leica gallery, a sushi restaurant, and a cafe. We found all them with ease besides the Leica gallery. The problem with using an outdated travel guide is that sometimes you end up looking for places that have moved locations or gone out of business. The Leica gallery had moved locations and a few more choice words were said that afternoon while we tried finding a place that was no longer on the map. The same problem happened two days earlier in Matsumoto, but that time the hotel we were looking for at midnight, had gone out of business. We went searching for other hotels in the area, but the map in the Lonely Planet was terrible. We didn't check into the Ace hotel located right next to the train station we arrived at until 2am. I want those 2 painful hours back from my life Lonely Planet!

We spent our last night in the big city near Ueno and went out to a Turkish restaurant. Why were we eating Turkish food in Japan? I have no clue, but I am glad we did because I never laughed so hard in my life. The owner was half Japanese/half Turkish (1/2 Japanese + 1/2 Turkish = full entertainer). We all sat on the floor and got served a meal that could feed an army. Everyone in the restaurant paid a flat fee of 2,000 yen and then the food started arriving. There was Turkish salad, Uzbekistan salad, dates, pickled mango, regular pickles, olives, beef soup,a whole chicken, beef triangles, fish, bread, tea, yogurt, Turkish delights, etc.. The owner would head into the kitchen and come back bearing a tray full of food. He must have come back with ten different courses before we had to start refusing him because we were too full. To top the night off, there was also belly dancing. We left early and he was still serving up more food.

We stopped by a random pub before heading back to our hotel. It became the climax of our evening because it was so unique and inviting. It was smaller than a walk in closet and there were three local DJ's hanging out inside together. The guys looked like they were in their late 20's or early 30's, but the music started playing and their true age was revealed. We were rocking out to the sounds of Unlimited Touch, Billy Ocean, Robbie Dupree, and Gino Soccio. May disco live on forever!

That concludes our trip to Japan. We spent the whole next day traveling back home. Oh wait..I wanted to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji but the clouds were to thick, making it impossible to see in the town of Fuji. Guess we have to go back now.

Funniest part of the trip: Lauren saying "I can't figure out the toilet, it is too confusing, their are too many Japanese buttons to push"

The tune to our trip: "We fought Japan and Japan won!" (sung to the tune of "I fought the law and the law won".)

Most unusual part of the trip: Sitting at a street vendor restaurant eating cow tongue.

Happy Chuseok in China

2007-09-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

We are back from Beijing after spending 5 days of touring. Here are the things that I liked about the trip:
1) The Great Wall of China.
2) Sleeping in a bed that doesn't have metal springs piercing into your back. The beds at Loong Palace Hotel felt like fluffy clouds on my back. Plus, they had complementary white robes.
3) Having water pressure in my shower again!
4) Meeting a traveling Irish couple that we shared countless laughs and drinks with. Thank you truck drivers of America for all the dirty jokes you taught me while I worked at C.H. Robinson. They finally came in handy - Irish people thought they were funny, but then again, they did laugh at Lauren's rat poison joke.
5) The Courtyard Restaurant where I ate the halibut and Lauren had the giant prawns. The Lonely Planet can be deceiving, especially when it comes to it's choices of restaurants. We went into the Courtyard Restaurant expecting a casual setting with reasonable prices. We didn't think much about our clothes, obviously, we were wearing flip flops and T's. Imagine our surprise when we sat down and saw all the rich business men seated with their arm candy, dressed in suits and evening dresses. Talk about feeling out of place! Here is a more accurate description of the Courtyard Restaurant found on the Internet: Previously rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by Conde Naste magazine, The CourtYard has a heralded reputation in Beijing as a first-class dining establishment. It is certainly designed to impress, making it ideal for a romantic rendezvous or important business dinner.
6) The Lebanese restaurant Lauren, Barry, Olivia, and I ate at after a night of high pressure bargain shopping. It was a strange feeling to be surrounded by middle eastern business men smoking hookahs, eating baklava and hummus, while sitting outside on a street patio in downtown Beijing. In my best Konglish "Very Strangey".

The worst things about the trip:

1) The tour that we eventually dipped out on. If you want to feel like a sheep in a heard (Baaaaa)- Join a tour to Beijing with 200 hundred of your closest friends.
2) The annoying tour guide that said "Yeah Yeah" after every sentence.
3) Canadian flags on backpacks. Dude, we get it....you're Canadian. You don't need to put five different Canadian flag patches on your backpack.
4) Trying to find contact solution in Beijing. We had a staff of 4 Korean people working on it, who would then each ask two Chinese hotel staff, who would in turn try to find someone who spoke English. After a taxi ride to 2 different pharmacies, I eventually struck gold at an optometrist, which luckily was still open after midnight.

The funniest thing I heard on the trip:

Chinese people will eat everything with 4 legs besides a table, everything with 2 legs besides a human, and anything that flies besides an airplane. We are glad that we saw China while living so close the it.

We really enjoyed seeing one of only two man-made ojects visible from space. We had good weather, watching the city prepare for the Olympics was cool (Shaina and Shaun- the swimming pool was a trip to see), being in a luxury hotel felt amazing, and we had a lot of laughs with friends and friends we met on the way.

What To Do On A Rainy Day

2007-09-16T03:35:00.000-07:00

Across the street, there is a carport, which is covered by a large apartment building. I mention this carport because there is always some kind of daily activity going on there when I look out my window each day. During the hot summer months, the elderly sit on their mats, play cards, and watch their grandchildren. It must be too hot in their apartments to sit inside all day while everyone else is at work. Well today, they picked up a new activity to do -cleaning chili peppers. What else is there to do on a rainy day?

New Music

2007-09-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Top Korean Pop Song

Click the link above. This song is really popular right now. We call it the "Canary Song" because it reminds us of two singing birds in a cage competing for the loudest voice.

Which Way to Gatbawi?

2007-09-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

The weather here in Korea has been less than desirable. We haven't had a day without showers since September started. However, this weekend we finally had a break. The skies cleared and the sun started shinning again, so we took it as an omen to go hiking.

We hiked up Gatbawi to pay our respect to Buddha for answering our prayers - thank you, the rain has stopped. Legend has it that this Buddha hears at least one prayer from each individual, so it is worth the 850 meter hike up. Our legs don't agree because they are still aching with pain. It was a long hike up but it was fun being outside on a crisp fall day.

Our New Wheels

2007-08-26T00:17:00.000-07:00

Our wheels are so cool! We get a lot of looks these days on our ride to school. It is not everyday a Korean sees a bearded white boy on a long skate being towed by a blondie on a bike. Talk about rubber-necks.

We treated ourselves with some entertainment for working summer session and bought these toys to pass the time. I bought my skate off a teacher leaving for England at a huge discounted price and Lauren got her bike at the local bike shop. She wanted a new one of course- so typical. I pulled the wool over her eyes and we left with this used beauty. They threw in a bike lock and a bungee cord for free. They call free stuff here "service". I love "service!"

Mystical Myanmar

2007-08-25T08:14:00.001-07:00

I will try to describe Myanmar beauty in words but I feel pictures do it more justice. At least that was my excuse for not writing about our trip.

Truth of the matter is that we have been exhausted from teaching ten and a half hour days during summer session. They should put a warning label on the summer session application form - Excess exposure to screaming kids may cause permanent damage to reproductive organs and possible brain damage! Sign up at your own risk. The four weeks have finally come to an end and I think I made it out wilh only partial brain damage.

Myanmar is a place that not many people have travelled to, or even heard of, so of course Lauren and I jumped at the opportunity to travel there. Because many people don't know of it, there are few tourists, which allows the country to continue with its normal routines, undisturbed by the presence of tourism. This can be appreciated by the traveler in Asia who doesn't desire being accosted by street dealers.

Myanmar is like taking a trip back in time, back before South East Asia had highways and mini-marts. I guess the best way to describe it would be Thailand 50 years ago.

Before the trip started to Myanmar, we had a big scare at the Incheon International Airport in Korea. There is nothing worse than seeing Lauren walk out of the bathroom, pale, with tears in her eyes, and shaking. "Dana, I don't have our visa papers!!!" What???!!??? Did I just pay for an all expense paid trip to the custom's office in Myanmar? I guess we were going to find out because there was no turning back to get the visa papers. We had just travelled 4 hours by bus to get to the airport. With a lot of smiles and an academy award winning performance by both us, we were able to slip by customs without the necessary visa papers. For a military state, their custom officers are super nice.

We arrived in the capital, Yangon, 23 hours after first leaving our apartment in Daegu. The bus to Seoul, a layover in Bangkok, and the flight all added up. Our first night in Myanmar, we stayed in a twenty dollar hotel in Yangon. Walking around town I felt like Myanmar had been cut off from the rest of the world. The buildings were worn down, vegetation was slowly growing up the walls of the buildings, and there were mangy dogs everywhere. Plus, everything was playing in slow mode.

We made it out that night in search of a bar and we ended up in old colonial Myanmar. The bar had the makings of an 1800's establishment - everything creaked when you walked through it, and the dim lights kept fading in and out. To top off the experience, there was a local group of friends enjoying themselves with drinks, singing songs, and playing the guitar. The whole experience was surreal.

The next day we went to Mandalay to see why so many hotels, restaurants, and stores are named after this famous city. We went to the top of Mandalay hill and took in the breath taking view. To get there we had to take the smallest taxi in the world. It was made in a toy factory in China and somehow it was able to fit all four of us inside of it. The blue bomber lacked in size, but it make up for it in street appeal.

The best part of Mandalay Hill was not going up it, but coming down from it. We hopped on a taxi that was obviously filled with half of the surrounding town. There was no room for Barry and I, so we jumped on the top of the truck, and held on with white knuckles to some rope, as we descended down the hilltop road.

Having built up an appetite - we set out to find the best Indian joint in Mandalay. It just happens to be on a street corner where they cook the Chapati over an open fire fresh on the spot. We coined this restaurant "82nd and 27th". We scarfed down tons of curry and chapati, cherishing the new flavor that our kimchi accustomed palates were experiencing.

After much discussion, we opted to take the boat from Mandalay to Bagan. Seems easy enough until you factor the 7 hours you spend on a boat. We were able to sell Lauren on the deal after much persuasion and soon we were on a boat at 7am the next morning. The slow boat through Myanmar is the only way to truly take in the serenity of the countryside. Plus, they sell beer on the boat.

Bagan is a must see if you are traveling to Myanmar. It was the best part of the trip because of the natural beauty and the countless pagodas that litter the countryside, over 4 thousand of them. They are breathtaking to see, especially if you are traveling by horse drawn cart. We also rented bikes one day, cruised through town on old bikes, and ventured out to see more temples. Our only other means of transportation were trishaws (cycle rickshaws), while in Bagan. The four of us hired drivers to take us out for dinner and drinks. After the drinks set in we had trishaw races. The drivers seemed like they needed some extra pushes as they lugged us around on their passenger bikes, so we converted our trishaws into skateboards and pushed them down the town streets. Lauren and I won the race!

I almost forgot about the monkeys of Mt. Popa. You can see this secluded mountain spot in Bagan and visit the pesky monkeys that make the mountain their home. Check our crazy monkey pictures.

The last place we went was Inle Lake. In Inle we went on a hike and a boat ride to see the floating village. Again the pictures do it more justice. After the hike, we got $5 massages. Did I mention how cheap everything was in Myanmar? The most we paid for a hotel was $25 and our meals averaged $2 a pop.

It is truly a privilege to be able to experience such an amazing country and we all feel extremely lucky. The people of Myanmar truly made our time their so special. Although, they deal with an oppressive government, you would not see it on their faces. Their smiles were almost as big as ours!

Quote of the trip "That's what she said".

Cicadas

2007-08-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

A cicada is an annoying little bugger that we have yet to physically see, but can constantly hear. It makes a single pitch buzz that echos throughout the streets of Daegu. They love hanging out in trees, chatting about the latest buzz, and annoying passing pedestrians. Luckily, we don't have any trees near our apartment so they don't keep us up at night.

The picture is a cicada shot in Seoul. Click on the link for more information about cicadas. CICADA

How's the Weather

2007-08-24T21:54:00.001-07:00

Well, it's hotter than two ferrets making love in a wool sock. If you don't believe me , just edit New York and type in Taegu on the weather forecast. Do you Believe me now?

Daegu A.K.A. "The Oven" is enclosed on all four sides by mountains, which makes Daegu God's biggest kimchi oven. In the middle of this enormous oven is Dana and Lauren, hiding out in their slightly air conditioned apartment, complaining about the heat.

As part of our lesson plan at school we discuss the date and the weather. "Today is Friday August 24th, 2007. How's the weather? It's hot or it's hot and rainy and Dana's favorite 'It's just terrible'". August is by far the hottest time in Daegu and we both can't wait for the end of this dreaded month.

I'm Turning Korean I'm Turning Korean I Really Think So.............

2007-08-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Korean Song

Epik High! Their music lives up to their name! We just bought their latest album, which is a two disc set, named "Remapping the Human Soul". Their most famous song "Fan" can be heard everywhere in Korea. Now you can hear it on this blog. Click on Korean Song and enjoy.

Being a true fan, I have also searched and located Epik High's best videos so that I can share them with all of you.

Myanmar Videos

2007-08-07T20:10:00.001-07:00

Off to Myanmar!

2007-07-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

We are all packed up and ready to leave for Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) this Friday. Will be back soon - god willing!

Mud Festival- Let's Get Dirty!

2007-07-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's summertime - lets head for the mud? Well, that's exactly what we did during this hot summer weekend in Daecheon Beach. Pack your bags it's time to get dirty!

Koreans most popular festival consists of free mud. The region is famous for its mud because it rejuvenates the skin and leaves it feeling silky smooth. This rich mud is abundant along the coast of Boryeong, so they bottle it up and sell it in cosmetic products. More important to us, the mud brings tourists for a week during the 9th annual mud festival.

Moon Kkang organised a large group of nutty teachers to head down to Daecheon for some fun in the sun. About 50 of us teachers, left on a charted bus from Daegu at 6am and arrived around 10am on Saturday morning, just in time to stake out our piece of sand before the crowds showed up.

Lucky for us, we arrived to see no rain clouds and bright blue skies. This was a huge surprise to us because we left Daegu with rain falling on our heads due to the typhoon off the coast of Japan. We said "farewell" to the Daegu rain and headed to west coast of Korea - escaping all the bad weather.

The day was full of sunshine, so we laid out in the hot sun, drank, drank some more, played volleyball, swam, and of course covered ourselves in mud. The day ended with a western custom, that I took for granted while living stateside - hot dogs and hamburgers. We had a big BBQ on the street with the teachers staff. It was a great way to end the day, but we all felt the pain of our sunburns. With 8 months of no sun, we felt like we were the dogs cooking on the grill.

However, the party didn't end with hot dogs and hamburgers. The festivities continued throughout the night. Koreans and foreigners headed back to the beach to light off fireworks, drink soju, and eat grilled shellfish. It was a late night for everyone, exempt for Lauren, who was suffering from third degree burns in one of the hotel rooms. She passed out early because she was so excited to bunk with the other 14 girls in her room. She turned in just before everyone headed to the singing room. I was on my way with the gang, but somehow, I got side-tracked by a street vendor selling fried Everything! My night ended with a bellyache!

We Touched Beach

2007-06-24T07:05:00.001-07:00

A last second decision at 6:00 am to jump on a train to Busan, proved to be a fun-filled weekend, packed full with new places and people. We left at the crack of dawn on Saturday, so early that Lauren couldn't keep her eyes open at the train station. It didn't matter because when she opened them, we were at Busan station, just a 30 minute subway ride from Heaundae beach. Heaundae beach is famous for its crowds of beach goers looking to escape from the hot summer days of July and August. I have seen pictures of the beach so littered with people and umbrellas that you can't even see any sand at all. The forecast called for rain all weekend, but there was still a number of people trying to catch a tan.

We arrived in the early afternoon and were able to get patches of sunlight. Truthfully, it just felt great being near the ocean again! We were able to check into a $30 motel near the boardwalk and we rushed off to get our feet wet. Watch out though, the water is cold and you might step on a washed up Soju bottle.

I am used to L.A. beaches, where trash and a chance of getting Hepatitis C comes with the territory, especially after a strong winter storm. That being said, the strong fish smell and the little trash we saw didn't bother me. I headed to the ocean like a fish out of water. However, Lauren was a lot more hesitant. She refused to come swimming with me and chose to sun-bathe. Princess has been spoiled by Clearwater beach!

After our day at the beach, we cleaned up, and went venturing out into the night life. Busan is packed with bars and casinos. Interesting note- Koreans are not allowed to gamble at the casinos, but foreigners please come and blow all your money. We didn't gamble but we saw a group of fellow MoonKkang employees dressed to impress. They were heading out to win some big money. We opted to waste our money on something more tangible- like beer.

On Sunday we got up, ate at a Turkish restaurant, and we went directly to the train station. We had to make it back in time for our first league softball game. Well, it didn't work out the way we wanted and we got to the game during the 6th inning. We didn't get to play but we didn't let that get us down because we saw an amusement park right next to the baseball field.

Woobang Towerland amusement park has a tower, rides, and a cable car. We did it all accept the roller coasters. There is always next week.

Night at the Opera House

2007-06-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

It is official - We have entered the wastelands of Lamedom. There are endless activities to do in the land of Lamedom: candlestick bowling at the senior center, jostling at the medievil renaissance fair, and of course the number one attraction - Seeing a Broadway showing of "Cats".

What have we become?? Why did I pay for a $40.00 nap?? Why did I have a nightmare about fur balls last night?? I need some time to gather my thoughts...

I will leave you with a quote from Woody Allen when he was asked who he hated most. His reply was, "The guy who woke me up during Cats!!"

10K Mini-Marathon

2007-06-10T01:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a great day at the races. Two teachers at Moon Kkang, Andrea and Emma, organized a charity event to raise money for the children of Cambodia. I participated at the race while Lauren was taking her GRE exam in the morning. You can say it was a big day for the two of us, I concurred my fear of running shoes and she concurred her fear of math.

The organizers put together a blog about the event. The link is below.

ExtraLink

Night at the Corner Store

2007-06-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went out to dinner for our customary Samgyeopsal (barbequed bacon-type pork). It has become somewhat of a ritual. There is only one restaurant that blows away all the competition and it is called "What". We have become such regulars that they know exactly what we want without having to ask.

It was a perfect time to test out my new camera that I had just purchased. I have been eyeing it in the stores for a long time and, after much consideration, I finally took the plunge and bought it on Sunday.

We stopped at our corner store to visit the owner, Mina, and her husband. That's when we got trigger happy with the camera. Soon after, they invited us up stairs to their house for some food and drinks. They were so funny! They kept laughing at us. They cracked up about the time that Lauren made them cookies and other times that they'd seen us running around town.

Dynamite Surfing

2007-05-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

Dynamite Surfing - Watch more free videos

Desperate for surf in South Korea -- here's an idea I've been considering.

Harry Scary (Dana Teacher)

2007-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

This guy is hilarious, I call him "Harry Scary". He is by far my favorite student because he is always so curious and asks me thousands of questions. "Teacher, do you know Boeing 747?", "Teacher, do you know WWF wrestling?", "Teacher, do you know movie - Die Hard?"....it never stops and it never gets old. Plus, check out his fashion sense, it compliments his personality so well.

My Kiddies (Lauren)

2007-05-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

The kid grabbing the other kid is Fighting Bruce (Dana named him that after Bruce Lee). He is a crazy kid...but never a dull moment with that one!
These are my little geniuses! These ladies are too smart for their own good! You know it's bad when an 11 year old Korean is correcting your English!
Controlling these monsters is a challenge every day.
The girl in pink is one of my absolute favorites! Her name started off as being Candy. She then changed it to Chocolate Candy. She prefers just to be called C.C. now. She's too cute!

These are my cute little monkeys! Every month we get a new batch, some kids level up and change classes and some you keep! All of these shots are of my younger kids who are such a trip to teach! My older kids, the teens, are not nearly as crazy! But, I'll get shots of them too soon! This is really the sweetest job sometimes! And to think...I used to break out in hives if I was within a 10 foot radius of one of the little creatures!

Revenge Is Sweet -- Dana's True Colors

2007-05-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Vegetable Man

2007-05-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is a candid peek into our daily lives. We are constantly awoken by the loud speakers on the trucks of street vendors driving through our neighborhood. They don't stop...from dawn to dusk...they cruise our streets and sometimes combine the "Apples for sale!!!" rants with loud annoying jingles. Lucky us. I'd take a rooster any day!

It's Alive!

2007-05-10T08:55:00.001-07:00

This is what Lauren looks like on a full moon.

My First True Barber

2007-05-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

I went in looking like Grisly Adams and came out looking like a 12 year old boy. I had my first real barber experience in my life and I had to move to Korea to do it. The Barber is just down the street from us and is a nice old fellow. My face has never felt softer and I can't feel a single coarse hair. He even shaved my forehead, which was super weird. It cost $10 for a hair cut, shampoo, style, shave, head message, and after shave. Such a deal!

Hog Heaven

2007-05-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Check out this Korean ride! This cool cat has converted his Chinese motorcycle into a functional pickup. If you look closely, you can see that he is hauling cardboard.

Why cardboard? Well, the garbage system works a little different here! First you must separate your trash into categories; food compost, plastic, metal, cardboard, and just plain trash. The plain trash must be put into a special bag that you pay for at grocery stores and corner stores. If you don't separate your trash you will be fined or be harassed by the old ladies on the street corner. That's how Lauren got welcomed to the neighborhood- a free tutorial on how to separate garbage. She hasn't dropped off the trash since.

The elderly collect the recyclable metal, plastic, and cardboard for money. Essentially, it's a well-fare program for the disadvantaged elderly. If you don't separate your garbage, you are making it difficult for old people to make money to support themselves.

Delicious Dogs

2007-04-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that everyone has heard that some Koreans may eat dog. Well, the truth of the matter is that Koreans still do eat dog, but is very uncommon now. It is cooked in a soup and is considered a very nutritious meal. There may be some parts of rural Korea where it is still eaten, but in the city today -- it's over. Kids laugh and joke about eating dog and it's becoming a thing of the past. However, a new trend has begun in Korea that may be even crueler. Dogs have become accessories and are loved by their owners. In fact, their owners love them so much that they decorate them in fabulous outfits and even take them to puppy salons to have their fur colored. I think eating dog is more humane than the shame these dogs must face daily. I hope to catch more photos of these tricked out pups soon!

Check Out the Mound of Dirt!

2007-04-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Egyptians do it symmetrically, Mayans do it artistically, and Koreans do it differently - but they all do it for the same reason. They build lasting monuments so they can out live their legacy. Our weekend getaway to Gyeongju had lots of monuments, but in my opinion, they looked a lot like mounds of dirt!

Underneath all that dirt are royal tombs, some dating back to 282 AD. We went to Tumuli Park, which contains the largest number of tombs (23 in total) from the rulers of ancient Silla. King Michu's tomb is the one that dates back to 282 AD and he was the first king of the Gyeongju Kim clan. He has a really big mound because he was important!

After checking out the tombs, we saw a field of forsythias - Gyeongju's city flower. We couldn't resist the photo opportunity so we ran into the fields of flowers like two lovers re-united in an Indian movie. The pictures are really funny!

We headed to the tourist information booth because we didn't know what else to do in Gyeongju. We found a wealth of information there and decided to go see a pond with amazing flowers and lillies. We hopped on bus line #5 but we never made it to Seochulji pond, some how we missed that important stop, but luckily the bus dropped us off at Bulguksa temple. Our dumb luck took us to one of Korea's most famous temples and we were blown away by its scenic beauty.

At this point in the trip, we decided that we were going to stay the night, so we could see more of this historic city. It was getting dark and we didn't have a room, a change of clothes, or a toothbrush, but we were having a great time. On our way back to town we took in a museum. That's when the cold hit me. Of course, I refused to listen to Lauren and didn't bring my jacket. What does she know anyways?! Now, I am the proud owner of $20 Chinese black jacket. The label on the fronts says Hamster! I have a jacket to match my Korean hairstyle.

Sunday morning started early because we wanted to make it a long day of hiking. Our mission: Mt Nimsan. Our gear: none. If an eighty year old grandma can make it to the top...so could we. It was about a 2 hour hike to the top and on the way up we stopped to visit Buddhist shrines. You can see for miles from the top of the mountain. All of the hikers were so happy to have made it to the top and they were so friendly to us. They offered fruits to us and we accepted kindly. We hung out at the top for awhile taking in the view and then we made our descent. We took the path less travelled back down. It was less travelled for good reason because Lauren did most of the trail on her bottom. She claims it was because she had no traction on her shoes. She must have worn down the rubber on those serious hikes through the Appalachian mountains. That's where she claims to have learned her "slide down on the bootie technique."

More pics are on the top left link foolios.

Spring is Here!

2007-04-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

SAKURA

It is finally spring - the birds are singing, flowers blossoming, sounds of children playing...Ohhh...the sweet smells of spring! Wait a minute - that's the smog I smell mixed with the ever present smell of rotting stuff from the street vendors.

I almost forgot I was in Daegu, just for a moment, when we saw the Japanese Cherry blossoms on our walk to school. They are blooming now and are a pretty sight to see as we take our long strolls to work.

Click on SAKURA for more information about the Japanese Cherry.

Trip to Seoul

2007-04-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Seoul so that Lauren could take part one of the GRE exam. The writing portion was only offered in the big city, so it was a perfect opportunity to sightsee and some time to procrastinate. Sorry Lauren, but you shouldn't be studying for a test a day before anyways.

We took the KTX, which is the bullet train that drops you off in Seoul, and takes about 1.5 hours from Deagu. The map given to us from Kaplan showed a Holiday Inn next to the test site, but it cost over $200 US dollars to stay there (things are little more expensive in Seoul). We walked down the street and found a quaint hotel that was clean for around $40 US. Guess which one we stayed at?

We decided to check out the royal palace and a historical town on Saturday morning, while in Seoul. Here's what we saw. Temples are starting to get old for us but you have to be a "touron" when you are a foreigner in a foreign land.

SEOUL TOWER

The best part of the trip was going to Seoul Tower. You can see the tower from almost any point in Seoul and it's the city's landmark. We were touring a historical tourist trap near the tower, when we decided to scale the hill on which the tower sits. That decision cost us a lot of exercise and hundreds of stairs. The trek took us up to the top where there was both a bus and a cable car drop off. That knowledge could have saved us a sweaty hour of our lives. We really dorked out on the top of the tower taking pictures. We got there just as dusk was falling on Seoul, so we got day and night shots. It is truly amazing seeing the the entire 360 degree view; especially the glow of the night sky. Plus, there was cotton candy and popcorn. Lauren was in heaven! I was in heaven when we took the cable car down instead of walking!

The light show over Seoul

"WHO ARE YOU" click on the link on the left for more pictures of our trip to Seoul.

Our Daily Grind

2007-03-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is the best part of our jobs- the crazy kids! Our students do presentations for us on stories that they have been studying. This is one of the best presenters we have. Take a look at the video.

There is an audio delay. The video was taken on a digital camera.

No Signs of Spring

2007-03-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Asian Leprechauns

2007-03-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

It was a St. Patricks Day celebration! They give us green tea -- we give 'em green beer!!! We wanted to show our staff what St. Patty's Day was all about -- an excuse to get plowed! We told everyone to wear green, bought a green cake, and invited everyone to our local pub. We partied like crazy little leprachauns who finally found their gold! We had a blast...or at least that's what people told us the next day.

Dana, our Manager (Kyong Young) making the peace signs, and support staff.

Dana wasted...leaning on Nagin (Canadian teacher friend).
Korean boys line dancing to rap music...very cool stuff!
Cass and her new found friend.
A former teacher at our branch...sucker got promoted and was transferred...but he showed up to get his groove on!

Zenia and Ga Bin (two of our fellow teachers/friends)

Tae Gum (fellow teacher) with Shin-Ah.

When Bad Hair Happens to Good People

2007-03-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to be adventurous and attempt to get our hair done at a local Korean salon. The salon was very nice and there was a lady there who spoke English. We showed up excited and optimistic. We left laughing and crying. Dana wanted a standard short cut. He came out looking like an albino Korean boy band member. They hair sprayed it up in a poof that most American men would have killed for back in the 80's. I came out a bleached blond wreck. Dana says I look like trailer trash. Punk. The truth is, I can't walk around town by myself anymore or I will surely be mistaken for a Russian prostitute. I don't know what I'm going to do. I think we should both just shave our heads. I'm seriously considering it. I want my Mommy.

How Much for the Dead Bird?

2007-03-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Our local outdoor market - the cornerstone of commerce. This is where you can buy everything from a herbal remedy to a 50 lb pig leg. The market runs along the railroad tracks next to Daegu Station and it was a unexpected find for us last Friday.

We had some time to kill after the owner of Moon Kkang took our branch out for lunch. The lunch was a reward for the high number of students that are attending our branch. Since opening, our branch has been successful in increasing attendance in a short period of time. We are filling up seats at the school and everyone attributes the branches success to Lauren and me, of course.

We took a walk after lunch to settle our stomachs after the expensive meal at T.G.I. Friday, where kimchi comes standard after you order a $32 USD rack of baby back ribs. On our walk we came across this local market. I enjoy walking through these markets to get a feel for the people, what their eating, and their lifestyles. The smells, on the other hand, I could do without.

This is a picture of what the market looks like. Notice the man on the bicycle -- most people here wear masks when they are riding bikes, walking outside, or if they are feeling sick. The masks have many benefits. First, in the winter it helps keep their faces warm. Secondly, there is an air pollution problem in Daegu so they feel it protects them from inhaling smog (don't know if it's true or just psychological). Finally, it is customary to wear them if you are sick. When kids are sick they wear masks adorned with cartoon characters or teddy bears -- it's pretty cute.

These are huge bags of heart burn. They mill the chillies on site.

There is a special on sting ray today.

If you look closely you can see a dead bird handing from the ceiling. I think it is a pheasant. This is the traditional medicine stand. God knows what that bird cures.

Quote of the Year

2007-03-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

This post is a tribute to an old comrade, friend, and visionary - Jeff Schenck. May we all live by his words:

"One of the keys to happiness is living your life in such a manner that someone other than your mom would want to read about it."

Valentines Day

2007-03-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

A perk of being a teacher is that you get gifts from students and some of them are really cute. This is just one of the Valentine gifts we got from our students. Most of the gifts were chocolate candies.

In Korea only the girls give boys gifts on Valentines day. I was stunned by the intelligence of the Korean male. How were they able to out-wit their female counterparts? Is it possible to make women buy senseless gifts for us without being obligated to return the favor? What could I learn from this wise and ancient culture?

It turns out, like Americans, men are still required to buy women expensive gifts to prove their love. They must do this one month later on White day, which is equivalent to Valentines day. Sorry dudes, there is no free lunch in Korea, we still have to exchange gifts.

Korean women have burdened their males with the painful ritual of trying to match or exceed the gifts they have received. With White Day, men have a whole month to contemplate what better gift they should buy. Will she be mad if I don't spend as much money on her? Will she think it is romantic? By giving us a month, they have guaranteed that we will put more thought into the gifts we buy them. Conversely, if we exchanged gifts on the same day, who knows what they would get. Maybe, a pair of leg warmers!

Muju Mountain

2007-03-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

We headed to the mountains again this year for Valentines day weekend. This year was a little different from last years posh accomidations in Breckinridge Colorado. Hobo Hotel pretty much sums up where we stayed for two nights. It cost 85,000 won per night, which is not an unreasonable rate for a hotel in a mountain resort location, but it didn't come with a bed! The shower head was attached to the sink and they provided blankets to sleep on the floor. Fine- the hotel was terrible but we were in Muju and we had been trying to ski since New Years.

The conditions: Mother nature can be a cruel bitch! It started snowing at the foot hills of the mountain on the bus ride up. You could feel everyones excitement level rise as the bus slowed down to avoid sliding off the snow covered road. The rush of skiing down fresh powder soon vanished upon reaching the top of Muju Mountain. To our disappointment the outside temperature warmed up and the snow fall became rain fall.

Seeing the rain really took the wind out of our sail, so we decided to check into the hotel, which of course made things worse. The trip was really starting to look like a bad decision. We took a nap because we were both tired from the the bus trip that started at 5am and hoped for better luck for when we awoke.

Things started looking better after our nap. The rain stopped, the snow was getting groomed, and we had lifted spirits. We ended up night skiing our first night in Muju; it was the first time night skiing for the both of us.

We had a blast the first night of uncrowded icy skiing. It really got us stoked about the rest of the weekend. We ended up skiing all day on Sunday with no crowds in the day time. It was Chinese Lunar New Year so the majority of Koreans were celebrating with their families and were not on the slopes during the day. However, the flood gates of skiers opened up when the sun went down. It was a recipe for disaster - Limited lighting, hundreds of novice skiers on icy snow.

To top the weekend off we went to the spa and had athletic massages on Monday and then headed back to our little home in Daegu!

Do this like Buddhists!

2007-02-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, We got a break from the normal frigged cold weather we have been receiving since November. It was unusually warm so we headed for the mountains to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

We headed out of the apartment overly confident and jumped into the first available taxi. "Dongdaegu bus station taxi man and step on it!" We were dropped of at the bus station for direct shuttles to Seoul. The nice lady behind the ticket counter explained that this was not the station we were looking for in her broken English. After some pointing and a lot of stupid smiles, we headed to every building that had a bus parked in front of it. Bus station # 1 and # 2 were strikes, so we headed to the train station -- the next best thing to a bus station,I guess?? Luckily, we spotted a tourist office in the train station and the attendant drew a map by hand to a local bus stop.

Eventually we pieced it all together, after spouting off choice words to each other. Note to self- don't say "I have a good feeling about this...trust me". When you have no idea where you're going.

The local bus took us to Mt. Palgong where the air isn't filled with smog and you can see the green mountains. It felt great to escape from Daegu! We walked to Donghwasa Temple, which dates back to 493 AD, and a must see site while living in Daegu. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the temple.

The pictures of the statue are of Tongil- daebul Buddha, it was completed in November, 1992, it is 33m high, which makes it the largest in the world. In the body of the Buddha there are 2 pieces of Buddha's bones presented by the Myanmar government.

Buddhist come here to make wishes for the reunification of the country, which are kept safe by Buddha.

Weenies for Weenies

2007-01-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

If you are not Lauren, you can survive on street food in Korea. Some of my best meals here have been served freshly hot off of street vendors. We are clearly enjoying a mouth full of sausages in the early morn. The sausages are by far the best street food available and then it gets more interesting.

For the more daring, there is the ever popular boiled silkworm larvae (beondegi). These vendors hang out near schools where they peddle their larvae to school children. They get them hooked young and for life. We politely push the beondegi aside when it is served to us in restaurants. Thank goodness beondegi is not a staple in the Korean diet, but is considered more of as a snack.

A regular food here is dabuki and is served everywhere. It is thick rice noodles in an extremely spicy red sauce. There are countless street vendors mixing it up on metal grills. It also comes with practically every meal. Koreans appetite for spicy food borderlines on extreme. We go to a Korean restaurant across from school that serves dabuki. Lauren dashes the spicy red sauce over a mound of rice and I have to drink Pineapple juice to put out the fire. Korean trick - use pineapple and cherry juice to put out the fire created by spicy food.

I can't leave out my favorite street vendor. It is two guys who serve chicken on a stick from the back of their pickup. It is Cass's and my favorite snack after work. Lauren refuses to eat it, I guess she will be spared from the bird flu.

Christmas Day

2007-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas day in Korea, far from good friends and family, can be trying. However, with a fake a tree, some new friends, and a couple baby chickens you can have a holly jolly Christmas.

We decided to have three good friends over for Christmas dinner; Casandra, Barry, and Gi Men. Where to begin shopping for food? Of course Costco or pronounced "coostko" in Korean. Taxi drivers give a blank puzzled stare if you pronounce it otherwise. Turkeys were for sure to be found in the glorious temple of American consumerism. No such luck! However, a rumor still floats around the bows of the ex-patriot community about the mystery stock of Thanksgiving turkeys. It is still hearsay and I have yet to confirm any of it.

We had to substitute with baby chickens. We bought two of them and called it a day because I couldn't bear the disappointment anymore. Oh wait, we did buy 2 bottles of wine to help cope with the loss.

We moved on to a Korean supermarket called Homeplus. It has a grocery market on the basement level, clothing on the first, and electronics and sporting goods on the second. Basicly, a super Wal-Mart but unlike Wal-mart it has venders screaming prices, values, and best everyday deals, as you hit the grocery floor. My favorite is the meat department. Dudes yelling at crowds of Sunday shoppers "Buy My Meat"! At least that's what I imagine when I get startled by them as I pass.

We bought our vegetables, bread, and dairy at HomePlus and went back home to start cooking. Our Christmas dinner ended up being chicken and vegetables soaked in butter, mashed potatoes, and for the sea lovers we had salmon and asparagus. Not the traditional Christmas dinner but we had to make due.

Mission Control

2007-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

This is what a typical day at mission control - (Daegu) looks like, for all those who were wondering. My command post consists of 2 cardboard boxes. We picked them up at the market to create a much needed feeling of simplicity in our complicated and taxing lives.

All the furniture in the apartment was provided to us my Moon Khang. However, it didn't come equipped with a work desk, so we had to get creative. Because we will only be in Korea for a year, it is hard to validate any unnecessary expense, especially towards furniture that will be thrown out at the end of the year.

Interesting note, in Korean culture it is considered unlucky to move furniture from an old home to a new home. I suppose it is a opportunity to start anew without the old feelings and energy tagging along. Anyways, it is a great way to pick up "vintage furniture" because Koreans leave the old stuff on the side of the street for people to pick up. Sorry mom, no antique shopping here, just dumpster diving!

Haven't picked up any furniture on the street...yet. Lauren is so happy for that!

Christmas Video...

2006-12-30T05:41:00.000-08:00

We're on a video frenzy....Our friend Cass created this video from our trip to Seoul last weekend...Turn up the music and enjoy the show!

Christmas in Seoul!

2006-12-30T04:04:00.000-08:00

Walking down a crowded street in Seoul, being pushed in all directions by a multitude of Koreans...I asked myself, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE????? Here's a clip of what it feels like to be surrounded by seemingly the entire population of Korea!

Enjoy!

Feeling A Lot Like Christmas

2006-12-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

It snowed yesterday in Daegu, which I have been told doesn't happen a lot in this city. We were heading out the door to go shopping (again) for Christmas presents and to our surprise we were greeted by snowflakes. I was so excited that I called our friendly canadian neighbor to share the news, "Our first snow of the winter"! It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas in Daegu!

I took some shots of us hoping that you would be able to see the flakes. No such luck, but there is a shot of the street we live on, of Lauren on our second story stairway, and of random shots through out our city.

Tis the Season to be Jolly

2006-12-16T06:12:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas tree. Who ever said "Size doesn't matter", hasn't seen our tree. It is 4ft small. It lacks in size but it is full of heart. We are both very proud of our fake litte tree! Merry Christmas!

This is our friend Cass getting fresh with a green Santa.

This is a street vender roasting chestnuts over an open fire. Yummy!

Bithday Boy

2006-12-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Hey!!! It's Lauren here...I managed to tear Dana away from his blog for 2 minutes...unbelievable! He is a blog addict. I'm sure they will have some kind of treatment courses soon for people like him. Well, most recently we celebrated Dana's 28th birthday (Dec. 6th)! Woo Hoo! The Korean teachers and staff threw a mini party for him at work with a beautiful cake. I managed to sneak away earlier in the week and bought him some much needed items. He was in desparate need of some sweaters and a coat. So, I went downtown and searched high and low for some duds for him. The problem is that Dana is quite a big larger than the majority of Koren men. He wears an extra large in the states...trying to find that here is just ridiculous! Luckily, I managed to score some pretty cool items. The night of his birthday, Cass, Barry, and I took him downtown. He requested a Japanese sushi meal, but he must have forgotten that we are NOT in Japan. Barry asked around and found a cute little Korean sushi restaurant. Dana is a daring guy, he will eat anything that you put in front of him. He chowed down on the Korean sushi, while Cass, Barry, and I managed to cough down one or two pieces. The reality is that Korean sushi is NOT Japanese sushi and there is a world of difference. I am not a big fan of Korean food in general, but I vow never to touch that sushi again. Even Dana, the guy with apparently numb taste buds, said it was a bit odd. I believe there were california rolls with spam in them, topped with mayonaise, raisins, and sweet pickles. Ew. Ew. Ew. So, after dinner we had green tea cake (also a disappointment to the palate) and opend gifts. We then headed out in search of a bar to get our drink on. We found a really nice place with long couches and chilled for a bit. Randomly, Dana looked out the window and saw some MoonKkang people and a guy, Aaron, ramdomly looked up and saw Dana. Turned out that is was another girls birthday too. We all hanged out and had a fantastic time...or I did at least...and that's what matters. ha. ha.. Well...I've rambled on long enough and now Dana is hovering over me, dying to get back to his addiction. Ciao for now. Word to your mother.

Hello Kitty!

2006-12-16T05:15:00.000-08:00

Look at the Kitty cat! I bought a Hello Kitty doll for Lauren from a vender on the side of the street. Needless to say, but Hello Kitty is huge here.

Korean Trade

2006-12-16T02:55:00.000-08:00

As Americans, we are desensitized from watching anti-American protesting because we see it almost daily on news channels. My senses woke up on this walk to school, when I saw thousands of S. Koreans protesting down our main street in Daegu. I stood up on a trash can to take some of these shots and I couldn't see an end to the crowd of protesters. It was overwhelming and Lauren took it hard. She couldn't understand why they were protesting against us, due to the close ties that the U.S. currently holds with South Korea.

It turns out that the crowd were protectionists, trying to stop the importation of U.S. beef into Korea. They do not want to compete with our goods coming from overseas. However, a global economy functions on a give and take relationship. In order for all parties to benefit, the U.S. and Korea must both be able to buy and sell goods to foreign markets.

I remember in 1988 shopping in Seoul for inexpensive goods on a family trip. We bought Reebok's in Korea for dirt cheap because they were manufactored here. Now in the Korean market place, I pay $200 dollars for Nikes made in China.

It is apparent that free trade and a global economy are working for Korea. Less than twenty years ago Korea had a Peace Corps program in place. The Peace Corps would still be here and Korea would still be trying to develop its country, if the United States and other countries had blocked trade with them. Therefore, they shouldn't try to block our beef.

Halloween Bananza

2006-12-16T02:02:00.000-08:00

It was Halloween before we knew it in S. Korea. We had landed in country, settled in our new apartment, and it was time to celebrate with a night of mischief. We headed downtown on a hunt for costumes, but it was shortly ended. There is only one custome store.

Normally, Halloween is the one night that I don't hold back on. My past Halloween customes speak for themselves. However, this Halloween we were going to meet a number of fellow Moon Kkhang teachers at the costume party, so I decided not go over the top. Lauren and I picked up some funny accessories that put us in the Halloween spirit.

Worth mentioning is Barry's moose ears: Canadians completely out number American teachers in S. Korea, so he is taking a jab at all the Canadian staff at Moon Kkang. He attempted to drink Molson and talk hockey to get into full character.

Crazy Students

2006-11-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

We work for Moon Kkang English school (www.mkeslteaching.com) and here are some snapshots of our crazy students. Both, Lauren and I teach elementary and middle school student, ages 6 to 15 years old. Lauren is playing "Simon Says" with her little babies, they are the cutest students ever!

Karaoke Night

2006-11-25T02:50:00.000-08:00

How do you break down cultural barriers with co-workers? With Karaoke of course! There is no better remedy than embarrassing yourself with a screechy version of Hey Jude by the Beatles. It loosens up the night and best of all everyone can laugh at you. Believe it or not, we are stone cold sober here. It is 03:00 in the morning and we are in a rented room that plays Karaoke all night. It was a blast!

It was Friday night and our new manager invited the whole staff out for a traditional Korean dinner, so we could get to know each other, and to celebrate Cass's birthday. We ate on the floor and had Korean barbecue. There was an endless amount of meat and side dishes to eat. The food didn't stop coming. It is a mystery how Koreans stay skinny with the mounds of food that are consumed in one sitting.

The majority of Korean food is smothered in a hot chili pepper sauce, Koreans put it on everything. Of course, Kim chi comes standard with every meal, followed with an array of side dishes. The bulk of the side dishes are pickled radishes, noodles with chili sauce, bird eggs, beans, and fried sardines.

I enjoy the fire of the chili sauce and I am excited to try more dishes. Lauren calls me her ginnie pig because she has me taste-test everything first. She is struggling with the food and hasn't found many dishes that she is keen on. Lauren will be a challenge to break down, in the mean time she is losing a lot of weight.

Airing Our Dirty Laundry

2006-11-25T01:18:00.000-08:00

Our first place together is dreamy, we have the necessities: stove, refrigerator, television, bed, couch, and wardrobe. A decision on how to decorate was difficult, but we finally agreed upon a fusion between minimalism and Feng Shui. The apartment has three rooms, a room where we cook and dine, a bedroom, and a living room with a T.V. and couch. The bathroom is worth mentioning.

For the most part, Korean homes do not have bath tubs or sectioned off showers with glass doors. Their bathrooms are completely tiled so they can shower with a hose and the drain picks up the run off water. After they are done showering, they hose off the bathroom and it is clean.

We live on the second floor of a three story building. There is a young couple (married for 8 months) that we share a wall with, the top floor is our landlord, and the bottom floor is a milk warehouse. This is my best guess to date because I always see boxes of milk through the door and milk trucks in front of our apartment.

I walked 5 kilometers to school when I was your age!

2006-11-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

Our work week starts on Monday at 3:30pm with a brisk 30 minute walk down a hill and across a bridge to school. Our school is located in a new and trendy neighborhood in Daegu. New restaurants have constantly been opening up here and large apartment complexes engulf the school. We are told that these apartments have starting prices around 1 million won (roughly 1 million dollars). Hence, the reason for our 30 minute walk to school. Our employer found us a quaint place in the red light district. Below are some snaps of our walk to school:

It's all his fault!

2006-11-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

This is our friend Barry. He is the guy who suckered us into coming here. Actually, we owe this punk a lot. He convinced the two of us to move to South Korea and so far so good. We love this place. Plus, he's a trip to hang out with and introduces us to a new Korean chick every weekend. Go Barry. Player. He's got yellow fever bad.

Downtown Daegu

2006-11-20T06:50:00.000-08:00

Hi! This is the two of us our first week in South Korea! We are in downtown Daegu (where we live). Friday and Saturday nights the area is packed with people shopping and partying! Guess which one we were doing? Dowtown is insane...it's like being a rat in a maze...luckily there are plenty of bars to stop in on along the way!