South Korea Beauty

My best friend came to visit me in Korea!

2010-08-03T21:29:00.010+09:00

Amy has been my best friend since college, which is going on 17 years now and the only person to come visit me in Korea..thank you Amy, I LOVE YOU!!

!]

We went and ate Galbi, Amy's favorite Korean dish..she thougt it was good compared to what she had in the states, definitely cheaper.

This is Sangmaguem wall, the largest dike or sea wall in the world, which is really close to where I live..

We ate fresh seafood after picking it out at the seafood market, even a huge lobster.

We also went to the local park, which was lit up, Eunpa park!

We went to church...she met the pastor, my friend Sungwha, and other cool people from the church. They still treat me like a celebrity when I do come in, even if it isn't every Sunday.

Green Tea Festival

2010-05-23T18:16:00.005+09:00

The green tea festival was held the same weekend we went hiking in a beautiful valley in the middle of the mountains. They had tons of booths set up where you could sample several different types of teas and we even had a chance to make our own tea in the factory. I bought fresh green tea and they even had green tea liquor, which was pretty good. There are more pictures posted on Facebook.

It was a gorgeous day and I was quite sore from the hike, so I got a bottle of green tea macali(rice wine) and enjoyed the view. This first picture is of Me enjoying the weather and the view and my wine. I also took a picture of an old Korean lady who was using an umbrella to block the sun, the Korean's don't like the sun at all and even use these types of elements to block the sun...notice her hat, the other element.

Jirisan - Round 2

2010-05-23T17:39:00.015+09:00

The second round of Jirisan was definitely more grueling and had even better views than the first one. This time our friend Aaron came and we camped on the Friday night next to the sounds of the water falls and got up at the crack of dawn to hike just over 17 km. We hiked to the highest peak in Jirisan, which is the second highest mountain in Korea. It was the first day the trail was open for the season and there were thousands of Koreans hiking, including men and women older than my Mom, one picture below is taken with one who had just been to the top. It took about 10 and half hours to get to the peak, which was 6250 ft above sea level. It probably was the most difficult thing I have ever done physically, I almost literally didn't make it. About half way up we began to see snow, and were hiking in slush and mud the rest of way. Once I made it to the top, I was happy, but we still had a little over three hours back down the mountain, of which 40 minutes was in the dark. This time I had a flashlight, learning from my last Jirisan experience I came prepared. The entire hike had beautiful scenery, waterfalls, and breathtaking views and it was an experience that couldn't be matched. The pictures really don't do it any justice, but can be enjoyed by all.

This is right before the hike, we didn't know what we were getting into to.

This is ME at the TOP....6250 ft above sea level...I DID IT!!

Korea's Cherry Blossoms

2010-05-23T17:08:00.012+09:00

During the start of spring all over Korea, cherry blossoms bloom. They look like snow and are very beautiful. These pictures were taken in Eunpa Park, the local park near my house. I love the pictures that show a combination of the lake, the blossoms, and the green trees. You have to get to the park at the right time and they are not in bloom for very long, you can even see in some of these pictures the leaves falling. The trees are all now just green, so they are gone until next spring. These were taken at the end of April, enjoy!

My New Bike

2010-04-24T12:11:00.002+09:00

Here are some pictures of my new bike. I not only bought a bike, but I also joined a local gym. I am trying to lose some weight and tone up for the summer. I have been working out the local gym for a little over a week now and I ride my bike back and forth to my city school at least two-three times a week if the weather is good.

My Students - Hang Loose

2010-04-24T10:27:00.006+09:00

This is my after school conversation class and all of them are 1st year or 6th graders.

This is my 3rd year or 8th grade class at the country school, one of my favorite classes in Korea. We have a lot of fun. The girls tell me they love me everyday.

This is my first grade or 6th grade class at Jayang, my country school.

I will post my city school classes after I take the pictures next week.

Gunsan Morning

2010-04-24T10:23:00.004+09:00

My morning POWER BREAKFAST...eggs, bacon, bananas, sliced tomato, coffee, and juice.

My hair is already growing and it was doing some funky stuff this morning...I thought I would share.

Lifelong Learning Fesitval - Eunpa Park

2010-04-24T10:15:00.005+09:00

Family Letter - April

2010-04-09T11:27:00.001+09:00

Dear Family and Friends, April 9, 2010

Hello to my family and friends, it has been a while since I last wrote everyone, although I have been writing to my BLOG quite regularly since being in South Korea. I hope and pray that this letter finds everyone healthy and happy and enjoying life. I am still living and working in Gunsan, South Korea. It is finally starting to get warmer, thankfully, the winters are pretty brutal in Korea, especially where I live, right on the yellow sea, where we get these huge gusts of 50-60 mile an hour winds that not only knock you down, they chill you to the bones. So far that is the only thing I don’t like about Korea, the weather. All of my experiences so far have been pleasant and exciting, but the weather leaves something to be desired and definitely makes me appreciate my San Diego weather even more.

I started to take Korean classes and have been learning the language as well as how to read the language, which is a big help in living here with most of the signs being in Korean. I can now say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, nice to meet you, my name is Tonya, give directions to the cab drivers(straight, left, right), order food to be delivered to my apartment, and I can also say “it’s time to drink beer”, which is one of my favorites to say on Friday, the Koreans always laugh. I recently cut all my hair off, look at the BLOG for the pictures. I have never had my hair this short before and after looking at myself, I look like my baby sister Sarah, since she has always had short hair. I also found out that I should be wearing eye glasses every day after seeing the eye doctor here in Korea. The new haircut and glasses bring a whole new look and make me seem more like a studious teacher than ever before. Hopefully I will live up to the expectations of the look.

My students have been great, I currently have about 400 students between the two schools and the new school year just started this last February. I see my students once a week, so we have been spending time getting to know each other and experimenting with many new learning strategies and games to get them speaking, hearing, and writing English. I am still treated like a celebrity both in the halls and in the classroom by most of the students. They really desire to speak to me in English, as much as they can and as much as possible. I am even teaching some conversation classes to the teachers at the city school, which is really fun. Some of them speak very little English, so it can be a bit of a challenge to get them talking. We recently played a game of scrabble, and they loved it, they are just as competitive as us Americans when it comes to games.

I lost some weight when I first arrived in Korea, but with the cold weather, my exercise routines went out the door. I haven’t weighed myself recently, but I know I am not a in the best of shape. I just recently bought a mountain bike, so I am hoping riding it 4-5 times a week will help me get back into shape. Also with the warmer weather, I can start hiking and running again.

I just recently got a Costco membership, yes, they have Costco’s in Korea, woop woop!! The closest Costco to where I live is about 2 hours by train, but it is well worth the trip. I was able to buy things like bacon, cranberry juice, hamburger patties, pasta, salmon steaks, salsa, and different types of cheese. The other night I had the mormom missionaries over for dinner and I made bacon cheeseburgers for them, which was a real treat, considering you can’t get that anywhere in Korea. They are really nice guys, one is from Anaheim and the other is a Korean. They showed up at my door a couple of times and I invited them over for dinner a few weeks later.

I have decided to stay in Korea another year, if they will have me. But before continuing a new contract I am going to go to school for the TESOL, or the certification needed to teach ESL. By being certified to teach ESL, I am improving my abilities as an ESL teacher, opening up job opportunities in other countries and back home, and it puts me in a higher pay bracket. I really want to teach at one of the local Universities, since that has always been one of my dreams and I am enjoying teaching the adults so much. The school I will be attending for the TESOL is on a small island in Thailand called Koh Samui. I will be staying in a resort for a month to attend the school which is all inclusive as part of the school fees. I will be going at the end of my contract in November and then I plan on coming home for the month of December and Christmas. I am so excited about going to another country and experiencing yet another culture and at the same time earning a certificate to improve my teaching and my marketability as a teacher. I will be sure and take lot of pictures to share on the BLOG.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for a being able to do all of this. He truly has opened these opportunities for me and has provided me with many friends and relationships that will last a lifetime. Between my foreign friends and my Korean friends, I never go without. On Easter morning I went over to one of my friend’s house for a huge brunch and my friend Joanna and I take turns cooking for each other throughout the week, each week. I have two parties to go to this weekend and another friend coming in from Busan to visit. Thank you Lord for all of my family and all of my friends both here in Korea and abroad and for all of the wonderful opportunities that you give me on a daily basis, even if I don’t always deserve them, in Jesus name, amen. I love you all and God Bless.

Love,

Tonya
www.gunsanadventure.blogspot.com

My New Look

2010-03-11T21:40:00.004+09:00

While I was in Busan, I decided to get my eyes checked for a new pair of reading glasses, since I broke my pair that I had. Come to find out that I needed to be wearing glasses all the time. I use to wear glasses and contacts in grade school and high school, but I thought my eyes got better, little did I know, I guess with age, they got worse. So now I wear glasses all the time and picked out some nice frames. The prescription glasses, frames, eyeglass case, and eye exam all cost about 50 US dollars, which is pretty cheap.

The girls also talked me into cutting my hair to the shortest length I ever had it, since I was a little girl. It's the Victoria Beckham hair-do. When I first saw the new hair cut, I immediately thought of my younger sister Sarah, who, with short hair, I tend to favor. Here are some pictures of the new look, enjoy, and let me know what you think.

It gets this uncontrollable wave that I have never had before!

Busan Trip

2010-03-11T20:46:00.009+09:00

I finally made it out to Busan and one of the beaches in Busan. Busan is located on the east coast of Korea and is a 2 and half hour bullet train ride from Seoul. So I traveled to Seoul and met the girls and we took the bullet train on a Saturday morning. Luckily we had a mutual friend, another foreign teacher we knew that lived in the Busan area that we stayed with while there. These are the pictures of us going out that night and of the day at the local beach. It was nice to see a beach again after being gone from San Diego's beautiful beaches. I will never take for granted of where I lived before moving here and those friends and family that still live in San Diego, appreciate what you have. I literally didn't want to leave, have considered moving to Busan for the beach, and I will be back, please enjoy the pictures of one of the many beaches here in Korea.

This is a friend of mine named Alexander, who also teaches in the goon that I just happen to run into in Busan that weekend. He was there to play rugby, what a small world.

Lots of dancing and having fun with the girls in three different clubs that night.

Some random guy that I met from Japan.

Me and the girls, Hope and Ashlea, both have become great friends.

This is at Shenise's house, where we stayed. Shenise is from the States and lives and teaches in Busan. We all had a good time that weekend exploring the Busan area.

The sunset, which was beautiful with the beach in the background, which you can't see in this picture, unfortunately, it was really nice.

This was a shark coming through the wall to show where the shark aquarium was. I thought it was pretty cool and we didn't go into the aquarium, maybe next time.

This lady was praying, worshiping, and or meditating on the beach with a fire in holes in the sand. I thought it was interesting so I took a picture to share.

I thought the beach right next to the big city buildings looked pretty cool, reminded me of downtown San Diego.

The water was COLD, but it was worth it to feel the wet sand with my toes and feet, ahh, I miss Oceanside.

There were lots of cool islands out in the depths of the ocean to view. I wanted to take a boat out there to explore them more closely.

Eunpa Park

2010-03-05T18:16:00.016+09:00

Here is the other large beautiful park that we have here in Gunsan. My friend, Mrs. Han and I walked the entire perimeter of the park which has a gorgeous lake in the center. It was an awesome day that, as you can see from me where just my t-shirt. The park is filled with really cool bridges, workout machines, and cool play things. The big bridge lights up at night and has many colors.I have yet to go to the park at night, waiting until it gets warmer. The entire walk around the lake took about 2 hours and it was quite serene, enjoy the pictures.

Wolmyeong Park - The Highest Peak

2010-02-17T11:12:00.011+09:00

This is the park that is right across the street from my house in Gunsan. A famous park for it's many hiking trails and beautiful lake in the middle. A short 15-20 minute hike led my friend Aaron and I to the highest peak where there were breathtaking views of the entire city of Gunsan, the port of Gunsan, the Yellow Sea, and the mountians surrounding the area, enjoy!

The Yellow Sea!

The large buldings on the left there is my apartment buildings, pretty cool!

The lake, still a little frozen. There are trails and paths that run around the entire lake, really pretty scenery to take a jog, ride a bike, or simply stroll to relax. You can also see the big part of the city of Gunsan on the other side there.

One of the views from the top where you can see the Yellow Sea and the port of Gunsan. It was pretty cold up there with the wind, even during the hottest part of the day, the afternoon. I can't wait until spring, when this park loads up with beautiful cherry blossoms.

Dinner with the Mayor

2010-02-17T10:30:00.009+09:00

The EPIK prgram set up a dinner with about 10 lucky foreign teachers and the Mayor of Gunsan. What an awesome opportunity to showcase myself for a possible University job in the Gunsan area, if the Mayor has any pull in that area. They fed us a huge meal complete with rice wine and a type of soju wine. We all had a lot of fun. He didn't speak any English, but had a very nice English Translator. Her and I quickly became good friends and she is now going to start teaching Me Korean once a week. Her, Me, and another foreign teacher named Jamie, from New Zealand all went out after the dinner and had more drinks and then Noraebong. I had a blast with my new friends. Here are some of the pictures of the dinner!!

Me and the Mayor, he took a liking to Me!

Doing the love shot, as the Korean's call it!

We had a wide variety of differnt raw fishes, cooked fishes, and cooked pork, with many side dishes of course.

You can see the bottles of rice wine and soju wine lined on the table.

This white fish dipped in the wasabi and soy sauce mix was the best!

Kimchi and many colorful side dishes!

The table setting was so pretty!

Favorite Korean Food

2010-02-17T10:13:00.007+09:00

I have talked about both types of food before, but I thought they needed their own entry into the BLOG and I took pictures of two places that I like to eat at regularly here in the goon. The first is at the Lotte Mart food court where I get the Kimchi Jigae for about 6,000 Won or about $5 US dollars. The second is right down the street from my city school, just a small resto that serves one of the best Bim Bim Baps for 5,000 Won or about $4 US dollars. I got this one to go and ate it in my apartment just yesterday for lunch, which I do quite regularly. I have a feeling once I leave Korea, I will crave these foods and will either have to learn to make them myself or travel up to LA, where there are many Korean restos.

Bim Bim Bap, served as takeout from a local resto near my city school. Lots of veggies, lettuce, rice, sesame oil, a hot paste, and of course a fried egg. I mix all the side dishes in it as well, very delicious!!

Kimchi Jigae, served at Lotte Mart food court. It is a spicy soup that is served still boiling in the bowl also with rice, fresh kimchi, and a few side dishes, very delicious!!

Seoul Concert - Gareth Emery

2010-02-09T11:16:00.005+09:00

I went to Seoul this last weekend to see a techno-electronica-trance music concert. The show was an amazing display of lights, lasers, smoke, and mix of music that makes you just want to MOVE. One of the things that I like about techno or trance music is the pumping volume that allows your body to move in so many different ways wihout uniform and without a dance partner. You become one with the music, dancing most of the night and ending up drenched with sweat after the show.

I met up with two of my girlfriends in Hongdae, where we went out on Friday night and then my friend Eric from Gunsan joined us Saturday for the show. The place was called CLUB VOLUME in Itaewon and featured a DJ ranked in the top 10 of the world. I have seen Paul Oakenfold back in Washington DC, and he is currently ranked 23 in the world, but Gareth Emery was much better. Before the show I stumbled upon his facebook page and became a fan to learn more about him and listen to some of his mixes before the show. I also wrote on his wall, "I can't wait to see you in Seoul, you ROCK!" Afer the show I got to take a picture with him and when I told him thanks and that he rocked, he knew my name, he said "Thanks Tonya!" How cool is that, that he either recognized my face at the show and or remembered me from facebook. At any extent it made my night and was very cool to be recognized in a foreign country by someone I just happen to become a fan of through facebook and by someone who probably has millions of groupies. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures and they were making people put their cameras away left and right, but my friend Eric did get a few, including one with the DJ and Me.

Reasons I Love South Korea

2010-02-04T19:46:00.012+09:00

1. AMAZING FOOD. The Koreans really know how to eat, especially when it comes to vegetables, spices, and their meats. My taste buds have been overly exasperated with flavors and unbelievable meals from the local restaurants, Seoul, meals made by friends, and the schools I work at. The pictures don't even give them any justice.

2. The PEOPLE. The people here are the most amazing people you will meet. They will go above and beyond to please you to extreme measures much higher than the average person and especially the average American. For instance, one of my Korean friends will take me shopping and I will help me look for something and will start asking people who work there and she begins to have trouble, whether they aren't understanding her or they just might not have what I am looking for. I am already on the next thing on the list and looking in the store when my Korean friend is still trying to find the last item, talking to even more people and still looking, trying to please me.

Total strangers in Korea will not only look you in the eyes, they will smile and greet you, give you things for free, they call it service. Even though they speak no English and know you probably don't speak their language either, they will try to speak to you, either with the little English they might know or their own language, assuming you might understand them. They are always nice, hospitable, and loving way beyond most westerners that I have come into contact with in my 38 years of existence.

3. CHEAP BEER. Anyone who knows Me well enough knows that I like to drink beer, and there is no better place to be than Korea when it comes to the beer prices. Now granted, there isn't all my favorite kinds of beers out here, such as my pale ales or my blonde beers, but you really can't beat a cold 16 ounce Hite at 1,300 Won, which is about $1.50 US.

4. RANDOM VACATION DAYS. The Koreans schools have different breaks than American schools for their holidays and vacation periods. The American's take breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, and then the long summer break. The Koreans take a long break in the winter, most of January and February and then one month over the summer, most likely in August. Not only do I love my vacation periods of paid leave, but they continue to give me days off on random days. They say, "take a rest, and have fun." So i get 22 paid vacation days or days of leave on the books, but then many random vacation days and weeks at a time. For instance, I have already taken my winter vacation days and I was just told that I have the rest of the month of February off after next week.

5. THE DELIVERY FACTOR. No matter what store or what you need, you can always find someone that will and can deliver it to you. Of course this includes things such as pizza and takeout, but in Korea you can have even more delivered, such as furniture, plants, and even beer all at no additional charge and most don't even require a full payment until they deliver.

6. THE ABILITY TO TRAVEL INEXPENSIVELY. The city buses run about 1 US dollar and it will take you anywhere in Gunsan. The taxis starts at about $2 US dollars and you can pretty much get to anywhere in the Gunsan area for under 9 US dollars by taxi. It cost about 5 US dollars to get to the Bus station, where you can get on buses that can take you anywhere in South Korea you want to go and all the tickets run under 17 US dollars. To get to Seoul, the capital and biggest city in Korea, it cost about 17,000 Won on an express bus from Gunsan, which is about 16 US dollars or $32 roundtrip.

7. Twenty-Two NATIONAL PARKS. Need I say more. My ex-husband got me addicted to hiking and the outdoors when we were together and Korea is the most beautiful country to explore those endeavors. I have been to four of these parks so far as you have seen from the pictures, so only 18 to go and I will visit them all before leaving. I am just waiting for it to get warmer to hit the trails again.

8. CHEAP FOOD and CHEAP PRODUCTS. You literally could go out to dinner and eat a huge meal for two with drinks for under 10 US dollars in Korea and eat and drink well for that amount. I have also shared about the price of products such as hangers, shoes, purses, plastic containers, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. on other posts. For instance I just bought a knit Adiddas label hat today for about 3 US dollars.

9. My APARTMENT. I love my apartment, not just the fact that it is paid for, but the fact that it is very spacious and warm and has new life with my plants now inhabiting it. After going away on a long trip it is always nice to come back home to my apartment.

10. BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. The mountains, the parks, and of course the city lights will never get old. All throughout Korea these can be found in large amounts and in large volumes and the spectacle of them all will never get dulled.

11. LOCAL PARKS. Korea is filled with beautiful parks. Wolmyeong alone, which I have talked about, because it is right across the street from house has many hiking trails, classical music playing on the lighted paths as you stroll through the park, as well as a full outdoor gym. One of the other local parks has a huge bridge that lights up at night in neon colors. Both of these parks in this area have these huge lakes that bring the experience of the true outdoors to life right around the corner from the city.

12. HEATED FLOORS. Need I say more. Yes, the floors in most homes and apartments have heated floors. What a concept! It is really nice, considering it gets really cold here in the winter and very nice to walk around the house with no shoes feeling the warmth at your feet. They also serve well as a way to dry your clothes quickly, assuming the floor is clean, since it is hard to find clothes drying machines in Korea and you have to hang dry your clothes.

13. KOREAN POP MUSIC. Once you hear it, your hooked. They play it everywhere and the beats are pretty good and all of it you could dance to. I have always been a fan of pop music in general, so I find that most of the Korean pop is pretty good and can be addicting to listen to.

14. THE MANY FESTIVALS. The Koreans love to party and find as many ways and things to celebrate and party about. Throughout the entire year they will hold large festivals that bring large amounts of people together to explore different things and to eat and drink and be merry together.

15. AMERICAN TV CHANNELS. I was actually really surprised that the Koreans had American TV with Korean subtitles. I actually get about 12 channels that play American movies and American TV shows as well as CNN and Fox News. Now if we only could work out ESPN, I would probably never leave!

16. THE CITY OF SEOUL. The city is about two and half hours away from where I live and is not only the capital of the Country but one of the largest cities in the world. There is so much to do in Seoul and it is a great place to get away for the weekend or spend an extended weekend. There are many bars, clubs, and western restaurants filled with expats or foreigners, it can sometimes feel like home. It also has some of the best shopping where the best deals on clothes, purses, shoes, and other products could be found.

The city reminds me of New York, with the many people and the way it lights up at night. Although when I lived in Virgina and was three hours away from New York, I don't remember it costing only $32 US dollars round trip by bus to visit. I am planning on leaving for Seoul today after work to go out dancing tonight in Hongdae, eat at some good western restaurants, walk in a serene park that has lighted water falls, and then go to a trance concert in Itaewon. See what I mean about things to do in the city of Seoul.

17. BIM BIM BAP, KIMCHI, and KIMCHI JIGGAE. I know I talked about the food already but these three types of Korean food needed their own appreciation because they are by far my favorite Korean cuisines. The Bim Bim Bap is rice, vegetables, sometimes served with meat and or a fried egg mixed with some sesame oil and a hot paste or a spicy sauce. Mixed all up, its really delicious and very healthy. I have also talked about Kimchi. The Korean men and women hold their age very well and I think all the Kimchi they eat is one of the reasons. Kimchi is simply cooked and fermented cabbage soaked in vinegar, garlic, and a very spicy red sauce. I have yet to eat Kimchi out here without my nose running. The vitamin C and garlic content alone in Kimchi can keep away the worst of the colds, serve as an excellent detox for the body, and keep you looking younger. Eat your KIMCHI!!

Kimchi Jiggae is simply Kimchi soup, so if you like Kimchi, which I do, you will really like the soup, which is simply Kimchi, some vegetables, some green onion, sometimes meat, and usually tofu, all mixed up to make a heavenly spicy soup. Making me hungry thinking about it now. I literally crave this soup and have found several good places who serve it and I often request that Joanna make it for me.

18. KOREANS UNDERSTAND HANGOVERS. Being the drinker that I am, I have been known to impose upon myself a few hangovers in my time to say the least. In Korea, it is acceptable to get a hangover and use it as an excuse to either not be at work or to be really tired and not at your best some days. I actually have called in sick, told her that I drank way too much on a weekend in Seoul and couldn't make it to work, and my co-teacher said "get some rest and try not to drink so much next time." It is also purely acceptable to sleep at your desk if you think you need the rest to be rejuvenated.

19. LOW UTILITY BILLS. I am actually shocked every month when I see how much it cost to live in my apartment. For my gas, water, electric, cable, internet, and apartment fees I pay about 100,000 Won total, which is about $86 US dollars and sometimes lower depending on how much I cook and run the heater. I could barely get cable and internet for that price back in the states.

20. HEATED SUBWAY AND TOILET SEATS. Yes, you heard right, the Korean's have heated subway seats and heated toliet seats. In the cold weather both are really nice. It was the strangest feeling though sitting down on them for the first time, especially the toliet seat, bare butt and all, thinking gross, the last person must had been there a long time to get the seat this warm. One of my friends has one in her apartment and just loves it, because it doubles as a sprayer if you didn't want to wipe.

21. BUSAN and THE BEACH. I haven't been there yet, but the fact that Korea has a beach is a reason to like Korea. I really miss my beaces in California and know that the Busan beach will not be as pretty, but at least it is a beach and I have seen picures and know that I will someday layout on that beach here in Korea when it gets warmer.

22. KOREAN STUDENTS. The students are always eager to speak to the only foreign teacher in the school and I am treated like a celebrity as I walk in the halls and when they enter my classroom. They are always wanting to say HI and greet me and get so excited to see me, whether it is in school or on the streets. When they come to my class, they are always eager to learn, practice English and laugh at my sillyness when I try to explain words. Most of them are very smart, apply themselves fully, and are the best kind of students any teacher could hope to have.

23. LIQUID YOGURT. It is yoogurt that you drink. It is really good and I usually have one every morning. I know they have these in the states, called activia, but not in the variety they have here, not at the price that they have here, and not at the quality of taste that they have here.

24. TO BE CONTINUED, as I remember more...

Friends in Korea

2010-01-23T13:25:00.011+09:00

I just wanted to share how blessed I have been with many friends here in Korea. Just to give you an idea of how many friends and what I have out here in Korea let me share a sample week in Gunsan with you on how I spend my time.

After working Monday at school my friend Aaron, who teaches out here and is from Ohio would come over to watch some football, our usual Monday night recorded football, since the states are behind and the games play on our Monday morning.

Then Tuesday night, over to my friend Joanna's, who is also a teacher out here and is from Canada. Her, Aaron, and I all live in the same apartment buildings, so we are all neighbors. We watch movies or TV shows and she makes me dinner, a usual weeknight if not more than that. I am usually over there more than one week night. She likes to cook and I like to eat, so it is a nice relationship. I have a lot of fun with Joanna, laughing a lot, talking about boys, sharing goon gossip, comparing our experiences in both the world of Korea and of our classes. I wouldn't have done all the cool things that I have done so far if it wasn't for Joanna. She loves the outdoors and traveling to experience new things and she has a new travel buddy in Me. She also has gotten me to start exercising more, like running and hiking and I really don't drink as much around her, she is not a big drinker and will sometimes give me crap about my overindulging in alcohol out of love. I don't think she reads my blog, but "I love you girl."

On Wednesday, my friend from church, Sungwha, might pick Me up and we go shopping at E-mart or Lotte Mart. She took me plant shopping just last night and we had dinner. I like going shopping with her because she can translate anything I want to ask about products or help me find things that I need in the store. The lady at the plant store suggested a place that had good kimchi jig-gay, which is kimchi soup with pork and vegetables, very tasty and one of my favorite dishes in Korea. I took pictures of us at the "take off your shoes and sit on the floor" restaurant, which are very popular in Korea. She has been a wonderful friend in all aspects of our relationship. We have a lot fun hanging out and she helps Me with my Korean.

One day my friend from the city school Mrs. Han came to my school during her winter break and picked me up and took Me to lunch at a place over looking the yellow sea. It was snowing that day and had been snowing all week so I took a few pictures from the restaurant. She loves to hang out, try and speak English, laughs a lot at my jokes, and is always really nice to Me even though she has a hard time talking to Me in my language. We have hung out several times, I have been to her house to meet her family and she even went and saw New Moon with Me. She is an avid follower of my blog and tells me all the time about what she reads on it, so, "I love you Mrs. Han, thank you for following."

I have been over to my friend Kenton's house to drink beers, listen to his favorite comedians online, listen to music, watch football, play guitar and games of chess. Kenton is also a teacher out here and is from Canada. He lives with his wife, whom he met out here, a foreign teacher from England named Alex, a real sweet girl and their four month old baby, Izzy, who is soo cute. His brother has been staying with him, so this last visit we turned the chess game into a mini-tournament. Kenton also enjoys teaching me Korean, since he learned to speak the language and read hongul. I call him the "forever teacher" since he always seems to be teaching and I always learn something when I am with him.

This last Saturday night I went over to another couples house, Elizabeth and Jimmy, the couple I went to Muju Ski resort with. We had dinner, listened to music, and then played poker until 1am. I did really well, taking everyone's money who played, like 30,000 Won, which is about $25 US dollars in change, since we were playing 100 Won anti or the equivalent of a dime. They are from South Carolina and both teach English in the area. We have moved poker night to once a week now, Thursdays, and the first Thursday we started playing I lost the money I won on the Saturday, oh well, you win some and you lose some. I really enjoy spending time with this couple, they are both very down to earth and will be straight up with you on anything. "Thank you to you both for holding a once a week poker night as I love to play poker."

When doing a google search online for Gunsan, I stumbled upon another person's blog who is living and teaching in this area. So we met just this last week for lunch. His name is Eric and he is from Minnesota, fresh out of college and has been here about the same time as Me. So I have a new friend, the list keeps growing. We seem to have a lot in common, he met some of my friends at the second poker game, and I hope to meet some of his friends tonight. He is also going to come over for Monday night football until the season is over, since he is a Viking fan and they are still in the playoffs, "GO BRETT FAVRE."

So as you can see, I have many friends here in Korea. I only talked about the ones I really hang out with regularly, I of course have more friends than this. I have even acquired friends in the Seoul and surrounding areas of Seoul as you have seen from my pictures. So, a shout out to all my friends both here in Korea and the rest of the world..."Thanks for being MY FRIEND, I LOVE YOU ALL, and I wouldn't be the person I am today without YOU!!"

Kenton and Joanna on his birthday singing at Noraebong.

Joanna and I at the top of Jirisan Mountain after hiking close to 6000 feet the day before.

Mrs. Han and I at lunch at the city school. I will miss our lunches and coffee once the school year starts again, as she is moving to a different school.

Elizabeth and Jimmy on the Gondola at the Muju Ski Resort.

Sungwha and I at dinner when her and the minister from the church took Me out for my birthday, the day before my birthday.

Joanna and I at Deadunsan mountain after hiking about 3000 feet in snow and sleet.

Me at dinner last night.

Sungwha at dinner last night. She was like, no pictures, my hair is messed up.

Kimchi Jig-gay and the usual array of korean side dishes. This is one of the best meals you can eat in Korea, at least it is one of my favorites. This particular place was pretty good, the cost of the meal for two with water was 12,000 Won, about $10 US dollars.

The table sits really low to the ground and you sit on a mat that is on the floor.

This is the view from the restaurant of the yellow sea and the snow outside.

Mrs. Han and I at the restaurant.

My New Babies

2010-01-23T13:01:00.003+09:00

I went out and bought some plants to decorate my apartment with and bring it to life. My friend Sungwha said that they are so big, my place will look like a jungle. I really like the large one that I put behind the couch, it looks like a palm tree from back home. They weren't cheap, as plants never are, but I think I got a good deal on both, getting both of them with their pots for just under $150 US dollars. So, instead of traveling to the Snow Festival this weekend with Joanna, I bought some plants for my place. I refer to them as babies, because I will have to take care of them as such. My sister Paula says that I need to talk to them regularly and not to over water them. I will get a few more smaller ones to compliment them and I am really proud of my selections. The smaller one will grow flowers on it when it gets warm and I really like the design of the pot.

Ice Festival - More Winter Fun In Korea

2010-01-15T14:17:00.023+09:00

Not only does it snow in Korea, there are also festivals with 500,000 people held in the mountains and me and my friends, Joanna and Hope, went on a tour with Adventure Korea this last weekend with 32 other foreign teachers living and teaching in the surrounding areas of Korea, where we did the following:

Ice Fishing
Bare Hand Fishing in Freezing Cold Water(with only shorts and a t-shirt)
Ice Hockey without Skates or Sticks
Tobogganing and Tubing
Mtn Sliding
Snow Hiking
Bonfire in the Snow
Ice Tunnels
Viewed Ice Sculptures
Dancing and Sledding on Ice
Go Karting on Ice
Four Wheeling on Ice
Log House in the Mtns

It had to be the best weekend I have spent in Korea thus far, the pictures will not do it any justice as to how much fun we all had. There are more pictures on my Facebook, as well as a video of us foreigners falling all over the place playing the ice hokey without skates or sticks, quite funny.

This was the hike back to the bus, the end of the journey, sorry for the pictures being backwards. You can start from the bottom of the post and move up. We had a beautiful view of the mountains on the hike, which is what we are pointing at here.

These were the log cabins we stayed in, pretty nice, heated floors, and slept Korean style, which is find a space on the heated floor with a mat, I kind of like the Korean style.

Ahh, the bonfire, great memories. Some of these pictures needed censoring, so only some were posted. This is my first bonfire in the snow!!

Great friends, great fun!!

This was our BBQ dinner we had in the mountains at the cabins, notice the pork being cooked right in front of us on a big round grill that sits in the middle of the table. You put the piece of cooked pork in a large piece of romaine lettuce, add some fresh garlic and fresh cut jalapeno, some spicy red sauce, and a few other vegetables, wrap it up like a small sandwich and throw it down. I forget the name, but very delicious. There was also some fish that was smoked in foil and of course rice, kimchi, and soup. Next to bim bim bap and kimchi soup this is one of my favorite Korean meals.

Playing Ice Hockey without skates or without sticks was quite a challenge for all. Many people fell and many people hit the ice hard, no serious injuries were incurred, however I ended up with a bruised elbow, a bruised hip, and I also reactivated my whiplash in my neck from a car accident I was in many years ago, causing soreness for a few days, but laughs and memories that will last a lifetime.

This is us in the sauna after the bare hand fishing in the freezing cold water with only shorts and a t-shirt. The idea was to get in the pool of water in only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that they provide, mind you, we are already wearing like 4-5 layers, because it soo cold out there, and catch fish with your bare hands that you get to keep and cook. Notice Joanna is not in an orange shirt, she chickened out! Hope, me, and most of the other foreign teachers got changed and attempted to catch fish in the pool with our bare hands as the Koreans right before us did. This is a big deal here in Korea, they had TV channels and big cameras from news stations and everything. They interviewed a few of us before and after the experience. The problem was, the Koreans muddied the water, making it cloudy, as well as take all the fish. By the time we got in, there was no more fish, we looked like fools, freezing our poor feet and legs off and not getting any fish. I was the only one who caught one, just a small little guy and that was it. The water was sooo cold that it HURT!!

We have no idea here what were getting into, a couple of crazy girls!!

I am getting the heck out of this cold water here.

Look Mom, I caught one, I held on to him until I got to the top of the steps, the camera man got him on film and then he got away, he was too small to eat anyway.

I told you...IT HURT!!

This was the pool of clear water, before the Koreans muddied it, and look you can even see fish in this clear pool.

The ice tunnel was cool, it changed lights as you walked through it.

The ice sculptures were amazing, true pieces of artwork, and really blew me away in their detail.

We had to take a picture with the Soju guy.

Some random Korean kids...we were trying to take their sled, but they beat us to it before we could take it for a ride ourselves, its hard to run on the ice, you can only go soo fast.

This was one of the largest outdoor BBQ in the snow I have ever seen. This is a mass amount of Koreans cooking their fish they caught while ice fishing and other various meats they brought in tailgate fashion with Soju and all, it was a great scene.

This was my ice fishing hole...we were told most novice ice fishers don't catch any fish...must be the reason I didn't catch any. Now I can say that I have been ice fishing, My Pops would of been proud. Only one of the foreigners caught one and they cooked it and ate it at one of the tailgate BBQ sites. Of all the events, there was the most Koreans, old and young, at this event. I don't think we gave it enough patience and luck wasn't on our side that afternoon, but it fun none the less.

Oh Seoul - The City Life

2010-01-06T19:49:00.009+09:00

I thought these buildings were cool. The city is so lit up and different from anything I have seen back home. This really doesn't do it any justice compared to what we say in the middle of the city on New Years Eve when we were in our taxi on the way to the ball. If it wasn't so cold out that night, I would of had the taxi stop to take pictures.

This next picture is a picture of a Hooka. Yes, you can go to certain bars in Korea and smoke out of a Hooka, which has just fruit and tobacco. It was quite interesting and different, especially considering that I don't smoke cigarettes.

These are jeans that cost 10,000 Won, which is about $8 US dollars for a pair of jeans in an underground mall in Seoul. This mall spans for miles and it seems to be endless when you are in it. the distance between the stores are very small and I even got a little clausterphobic while shopping, but you can find some really good deals. These are pictures in the mall and me waiting for Joanna to finish shopping.

This is the cool hair salon that we got our hair done at before going to the ball. If you haven't noticed in the pictures yet...I cut about eight inches of my hair.

Food In Seoul - New Years Celebration

2010-01-06T19:31:00.005+09:00

We ate some amazing food in Seoul and we took pictures. The first three are from a small burger joint near the base that just blew us away with the size and juicy taste called "Jacobys", perfect hangover food from the night before of clubbing. It had to be one of the best burgers I have had in my life, who would of thought I could say that in Korea.

The other pictures are from an authentic Spanish restaurant in the heart of where the bars are in Iteawon, Seoul, called "La Plancha." We just happen to walk in this place when trying to decide where to get a good meal and boy, were we surprised. One of us had steak, one had salmon, and the other two girls had shrimp and chicken pallela. The entire meal, including the appetizers, the wine, the beer, and the waiter were divine and to be remembered. We are already planning our return this next Friday, when we will all be in Seoul again.

New Years in Seoul

2010-01-06T18:38:00.015+09:00

My four day, three night adventure in Seoul for New Years had to be the most fun that I have had since coming to Korea. I went with my Canadian friend, Joanna, and we met up with two of her girlfriends that she met at her orientation who live and teach in other cities in Korea. Ashlea, the blonde, is originally from Canada and teaches in Wonju and Hope, the Asian, is originally from Texas, but speaks some Korean, and teaches in a small city outside of Seoul. Seoul is the capital of South Korea, has 22 million people residing in it and there probably was another 2 million there to ring in the New Year. It was like being in New York City. Since it was way too cold to take in the festivities and lights of the city, us girls chose to join a party, which was a New Years Eve Ball held on the military base. We had an absolute blast, especially being the prettiest girls at the party and having all the guys drool. The ticket was only 45,000 Won, which is about $40 US dollars, and it included party favors, DJ and dancing until 4am, appetizers until 1am, champagne toast at 12am, and a five course breakfast at 2am.

Field Trip to Jeonju

2010-01-06T17:58:00.009+09:00

My co-teacher took me on a field trip to show me her hometown, which is Jeonju. Jeonju is about 40 minutes away and is the closest big city to Gunsan. It has about twice as many people and is a lot more congested than Gunsan. It is supposedly one of the oldest cities in Korea, still holding many of the original buildings built 400-500 years ago. She took me to a small museum that depicted the old buildings and then we actually saw some.

These were some flowers made out of old Korean paper, also found in the museum. The art of making things out of paper goes back a long ways in the Korean culture, really pretty.

I thought this place was pretty historical and even took a picture of the description of what these houses were used for. They were basically where many rituals were performed and where people prepared themselves to be inhabited by the spirit, kind of creepy if you ask me. If you click on the description picture, you can read for yourself. That is one of my co-teachers in the picture in front of these ritual houses that are just closed down and there for show now. Supposedly one of the Queen's of Korea lived in them after they weren't used for rituals any more, but I am sure she had a few rituals of her own.

Muju Ski Resort

2009-12-30T15:58:00.024+09:00

For the weekend after Christmas I got on a bus and went across my province to a town called Muju, where there is a huge ski resort. It was really cold, but very beautiful, lots of Koreans skiing, sledding, drinking, and various other resort activities. I went with Elizabeth and her husband Jimmy. We went sledding, rode a snowmobile, went for a dip in an outdoor heated pool, where you could see the slopes from the pool, we drank, and enjoyed the beautiful mountain views from the ride up the gondola. I didn't ski this time but will definitely make a trip back to ski the next time.

More pretty mountains in the city of Muju, next to the ski resort.

This is from the top of the mountain after riding he gondola up. It was really cold up there, but the views were amazing. There was also a small shelter/mini-temple you could hang out in along with restaurants, ski lifts, hiking trails and a view of the city. We had some lunch, some beer and sake and then went back down by the gondola.

This was an excessively hot aroma therapy, notice the dark green water, hot tub, with a Korean dude in it. You could only stay in it a few minutes, because it was sooo hot, but it really made your skin soft and the overall experience of the pools was very relaxing and quite rewarding. I was waiting for someone to come up to the side and start adding carrots and potatoes, like we were a big meal!

This was the semi-warm swimming pool, notice no one was swimming in it when I took the picture. It was 20 degrees outside, with loads of snow just to the left, a beginner slope travels right by the pool, so not ideal swimming conditions in a pool that wasn't heated like a hot tub. If anyone went in this pool, it was for a short period of time and there was a lot of movement involved. Both Jimmy and I did braze it, just to say we did, but not for long, it was quite a shock and tingling to the body to back and forth.

This was the hot spring pool, designed like it was in the middle of the mountains, with big rocks around and a rock style bottom, really cool. If you stay in the hotel resort, it doesn't cost anything to use the pool, if not, it was about $10 US dollars and about $2 to rent a suit and it was well worth it. I imagine after being sore from skiing, it would be the perfect remedy.

On the gondola, going up the mountain.

On the snowmobile, getting ready to go for my ride.

On the snow sled, sledding was fun!!

The resort was pretty at night, it even had a working carousal.

There was also a winery there, this is me, pretending to drink from huge bottle of wine. There was also a cool map of the world made out of corks.

This is a very famous dish in Korea, called bim bim bap. It is usually made out of just different vegetables, rice, seaweed, and a fried egg, but this one has pork too. You put a small amount of this hot paste and mix it all up real good, and it is very tasty, or mushiseyo! We had this particular bim bim bap in Jeonju for lunch on our way to Muju.

Christmas Celebration

2009-12-30T07:13:00.019+09:00

Even 6000 miles away from home and family, I have been blessed with many friends in the Gunsan area and they all made my Christmas special and one to remember for sure. Christmas eve, about 15 of us went over to my good friend and neighbor, Joanna's house for a 14 course meal complete with turkey, appetizers, soup, and desserts. She is polish, so I am in love with potato polish salad. It was good times, good food, and a nice way to spend Christmas eve. We even had a fun gift exchange game at the end of the night,I ended up with a Johnny Depp DVD called "Public Enemies."

On Christmas day, I woke up to some wonderful leftovers from the day before and my friend Joanna stayed over, so neither of us were alone on Christmas morning as no one should be. Joanna gave me a bunch facial packets and some other beauty products for Christmas, bringing it back from her house, like she was Santa delivering gifts, she is sweet.

We then went over to another one of our friends locally to visit, eat some more, and drink wine. We had music, good company, pizza, and dancing and card playing. There was about 10 of us and we had a blast.

This was the early group Christmas day at Jocelyns...Merry Christmas everyone!!

This is Me, Aaron, Eric, and Joanna on Christmas day. These are all teachers in the Gunsan area.

This was a silly picture, Aaron had put on some crazy outfit and we all made a funny pose. The girl in the pink is Jocelyn, she is from England and the Christmas party was at her house. She also teaches in the Gunsan area.

Aaron and Eric, good looking guys, huh!

This is Joanna and Jim Oh. Jim Oh actually lives in New York, but is Korean. He was visiting his family for the holidays and ended up at our Christmas party because of mutual friends. We had some good conversations about sports, since we are both big baseball fans.

This is Aaron, Alexander, and Sarah at Joanna's on Christmas eve. I have no idea what Alexander is laughing at, but it was all good times for sure. Aaron is from Cleveland, Sarah is from New Zealand, and Alexander is from San Francisco, all teachers in the Gunsan area.

This is Kenton and I at Joanna's Christmas Eve. Kenton is from Canada and is also a teacher in Gunsan.

This is Me, Elizabeth, who is from South Carolina, Jocelyn, and Elizabeth'a dog that her husband brought from the states when he arrived a few weeks ago. They both will be teaching out here in Gunsan. Having the dog there made me miss my Jezzy!!

Me, Joanna, and Sarah.

The FOOD!!

Seoul with My Cousin

2009-12-28T11:13:00.005+09:00

My first trip to Seoul was a WILD one to say the least. The bus from Gunsan to Seoul only takes about three and half hours. I met up with my cousin, April, one of my Mom's sister's kids. It had been close to 20 years since I last saw her and it was an interesting weekend filled with catching up, meeting other foreigners, and lots of drinking. We ate at a few different western restraunts, including both Outback and Subway. It was nice having a filet, or a real steak, you can't really find that where I live in Gunsan. I found that Seoul really caters to the foreigners with lots of western restrauants and lots of things in English. Probably because there are thousands of foreigners living in that area. Everywhere I looked, I saw foreigners, where in Gunsan, we are more of a novelty. You see someone in Gunsan that is not Korean and you want to start a conversation with them, to find out if they teach or work on base, and how long they have been in the area, and share information. In Seoul, it is quite the opposite, since there are soo many, the bars and streets were like back home as far as the diversity of people in them. I got to experience the subway system too, got lost a few times and took the wrong subway train, got off at the wrong stops, but I had a great time in Seoul. When I left Gunsan, we had a foot of snow and blizzard like conditions, as you saw in my last post. When I arrived in Seoul, there was no snow and it was 20 degrees colder with a bone chilling wind. One of the things to do besides go to the night clubs or bars in Seoul is to shop, especially hitting all those outside shops on the streets of Seoul, where you can get some really good bargains. But it was just too cold for both April and me to shop outside. We literally were frozen from walking just a few blocks. We ended up at the I-Park mall, which had endless levels of shopping, but more expensive prices. April at least found the boots that she wanted. All in all it was an intersting first Seoul experience and I will travel there again, in fact, we are planning on ringing in the new year out there.

I will post some pictures later.

Winter Snow in Gunsan

2009-12-17T07:46:00.004+09:00

The city was hit yet again last night with four more inches. Luckily my school is on a field trip today, so I didn't have to work. Time to go play in the snow, yippie!!

This is from my classroom at the country school, some of the snow from last night melted, but now it is snowing again.

This is at my country school as we arrive for school today, it is a winter weather day.

As I get ready for school today, I took some pictures of what blanketed my city last night, about 2 inches of the white stuff. Our fist big winter snow has set in. In America, if we had snow like this, school would be canceled and things would close down, but In Korea, it is business as usual as you can see in the pictures, the city is still busy this Thursday morning. The weather is getting me in the mood for skiing!

Jirisan National Park - Extreme Hiking

2009-12-14T11:18:00.045+09:00

The peak was the ultimate goal. This was the view of the mountain from the bottom. The mountain is about 5,900 feet and the hike took about four and half hours.

This was the beginning, the entrance to the park. The National Park actually has several hiking trails and would take three to five days to hike them all. We chose this one this time and will come back for a higher peak the next.

It's soo green and a gorgeous day for hiking.

I was tripled layered and needed to unlayer because of the warmth that day. I was pulling down my socks here.

I love the bamboo scenery.

The green pools of water were so pretty. I told Joanna I could come back here when it is warmer and swim in these beautiful pools of crystal green clear water.

These were two women staying at the resort, taking a little stroll in the woods with their resort outfits.

As you can see, the hike was pretty gnarly, really no other word to describe the terrain.

This is me with a huge stick that I was carrying, but promptly ditched it because it was too heavy.

GNARLY!!

I am soo tired here, waiting for Joanna to catch up.

This time she is ahead of me, MORE ROCKS!!

A beautiful waterfall, can't wait until it gets warm enough to take a dip.

Look how RED my face is here...I am tired and probably dehydrated as well.

I took this picture to show how clear the water was there. Jirisan actually makes it's own bottled natural spring water.

Chargers are being well represented here in the mountains of Korea.

More of the trail.

Now sporting just a t-shirt, yeah, it was that nice on the way up the mountain. Quite the contrast from the hike the week before.

There was a sculpture park and many temples throughout the park to visit as well as a huge resort. This is me with the BULL!!

Lets go swimming!!

Nature and it's beauty.

This is Joanna crossing the rocks, some of the trail we had to cross water, pretty cool!

This picture was taken to show you how much I was sweating from the hike. The back of my shirt was drenched. Later I was forced to put my jacket back on because the breeze was too cold for a wet shirt. I need a better undershirt next time.

Yes, time for a short break.

Just soo pretty!

Alright, these rocks are getting ridiculous. Hiking the trail for the first time, we had no idea what was coming next, but the trail didn't disappoint and kept providing trails of uphill like this one above.

A pretty waterfall to enjoy on the way!

At this point we are starting to lose our sun, with about 4km, or roughly 2 and half miles still to go according to the signs. We are getting worried, because we have no flashlight and this trail is tough enough in the daylight.

The sun is slowly fading on us at this point and we dicide to call the emergency number to tell them our situation, maybe they could send someone down the mountain from the top with a flashlight to rescue us.

No such luck, the Koreans on the emergency number just laughed at us and said "Hurry up, you will make it."

We literally were down to the last shred of sunlight from the sunset when we arrived at the fire road, which was the last km to hike.

There was a mini-celebration to say the least as the hike through the rocks was done and the last km to the shelter was on a flat road.

This is me at the sign, 1 km, or roughly 3/4 of a mile. It was pretty dark and 20 degrees cooler, so we had to reapply our clothes, gloves, and hats, and use my cell phone as a flashlight. Joanna was really scared of bears, since there was all kinds of signs with instructions on the trail about what to do if you see one. Just imagine walking on a dark road in the woods at about 5,500 feet after hiking for four and half hours.

The views in the morning made it all worth it.

This was the morning view from the shelter just after sunrise.

This was from a viewpoint that we found that morning on the way back down the fire road.

This was sunrise, a lot of Koreans woke up that morning and drove up the mountain for the sunrise view. Joanna and I were the only ones who hiked the entire trail to see the view. There was one other Korean couple who stayed in the shelter with us, but they drove most of the way up the mountain and even offered to give us a ride back down, which we refused, what were we thinking?

Just AMAZING!!

We are proud of ourselves here. We didn't want to leave and couldn't get enough of this breath taking view.

Hang Loose at 5,500 feet.

We hiked up the middle of this valley here, WOO HOO!!

More views from the shelter.

It was kind of cloudy out, so the sunrise wasn't very good, but as the sun rose and gave the rest of the moutains light, it was awesome as you can see in some of the pictures above.

It was very cold up there and this hat came in handy. I love this hat, bought it here in Korea on the side of the road near my house for $5 and it even says San Diego on the side, go figure!

EPIC!!

We slept above the clouds last night Mom!!

YEAH, I will do it again!!

This is at the bottom, the hike is completed and I took a picture with the dragon to show my appreciation of the mountain.

Jirisan Mountain, we saw, we climbed, we conquered. The trip consisted of not knowing what we were getting into, periods of pure exhaustion, wondering if we were going to make it, laughing so hard to the point of crying, meeting new people, experiencing extreme temperature changes, taking in breathtaking views, running into drunk scary men coming down the mountain, a few twisted ankles with a fall, and lots of picture taking to share with family and friends. I would do it all over again!

Kenton's Birthday and Noraebang

2009-12-07T12:04:00.008+09:00

Jocelyn, Joanna, and Kenton. Jocelyn and Kenton also teach out here, she is from New Zealand, and he is from Canada.

Elziabeth and I. She also teaches out here, she is from South Carolina.

The Birthday and the Norebong experience was something I will never forget. Norebong means karoake in Korea. The other guys, Mike, Brian, and Luke are some Air Force friends of Jocelyn's that joined us in the Noraebang room. We got our own room for the party complete with a killer sound system, two mics, and a video screen all set up to sing your heart out. We had lots of fun!!

GartenBier - Naundong Bar

2009-12-07T11:59:00.004+09:00

This bar is one of my favorites, each table has built-in coolers that serve as beer holders to keep your beer cold as you drink it as shown in the picture. They also have various size beers, just in case you are real thirsty.

Snowing in the Goon - NaunDong

2009-12-07T11:55:00.003+09:00

This is what they call BAR STREET or Naundong, its walking distance from my city school. The streets are lined with bars and usually lots of foreigners. It was snowing this last Saturday night and very pretty with the lights.

Daedunsun Mountain - Hiking in the Snow

2009-12-06T15:25:00.022+09:00

This was at about 2,000 feet, it was a little make-shift cafe, where we ate lunch, had some hot coffee and rice wine, and warmed ourselves up with the kettle and some Koreans.

This was from the very top, at least as far as we got...The ladder was pretty slick and both of us are a little scared of heights. Sorry for the pictures being out of order. The hike was 2,800 feet, it took a little over an hour in the snow and rocks, where these gusts of wind would just about knock you down. What an experience and the views were incredible.

Joanna, my friend from Canada, and I, both of us are quite tired after the hike up, some lunch, and then a slick trek down from the highest point, where I slipped and fell on my butt. We ended up taking the cable car back down the mountain from here since a lot of the snow had froze and it was quite treacherous climbing down.

The pictures really don't do it any justice and it was a little foggy.

You can see how steep the hike was at points with snow falling and slippery wet rocks. I had the strategy of getting ahead of Joanna so I could take breaks and wait for her, while enjoying the ever increasing gorgeous views up the mountian as I looked back.

The big rock on the left here that is perched up by the mountain is a historical rock that Budda went and spent like 30 days and nights of solitude on, pretty cool history to see.

This is the picture at the bottom before the grueling hike.

Weird Toilets in Korea

2009-12-04T15:44:00.007+09:00

I almost died when I saw these types of toilets, thinking they were the only type of toilets they had. Koreans actually prefer to use these types of toilets over the traditional toilet seat, thinking it is more sanitary I guess. This is true, because in my country school there are two types in the teachers/staff restroom and when I enter it there will sometimes be a Korean in that toilet and the other traditional toilet will be unoccupied. I actually tried to use one of these types of toilets once, thinking that it was my only choice and I promptly urinated all over my pants. I now do my very best to avoid them as much as possible and actually would prefer peeing in the woods over one of these.

Also, it is a good idea to always carry your own toilet paper out here, as most public places don't carry it or you have to grab the amount that you are going to use before entering the stall from a huge toilet paper dispenser that everyone uses, if they even have one. Which can be a bit of problem if you are doing more than urinating and not sure of how much toilet tissue you will use for the process, LMAO.

I have to carry my own roll into the city school and sometimes have to wait for the one traditional toilet that there is available if the students are out of class. Obviously me or the students don't care to be very sanitary, or maybe they pee on themselves too. The staff lounge at the city school only has a toilet like this one, which as you now know, I avoid like the plague. I thought you might find this story funny, because Koreans can be funny, I know I am laughing.

They even have the dual toilets, found in Jeonju, in a department store, where you and your kid can go at the same time and have more time to shop and spend money. You gotta love Korea.

FRIDAY - The Two Beer Story and Shopping

2009-12-04T15:32:00.006+09:00

Just to give you an idea of how cheap things are out here. Just on the side of the road on my way to the post office this afternoon, I picked up a few items. I needed some new gloves for hiking trips and the cold weather. I needed more hangers to hang and dry my clothes on. I also needed a big wooden spoon, so I am not scratching up my pans while cooking. And of course, last but not least three plastic containers with lids to store food in for my hiking trips or leftovers in the fridge. All of this, including the beer cost 9000 Won, which is about $7 US dollars, nice shopping trip, my sister would be proud, she is such the bargain shopper!!

I only had two beers, I promise!!

Local Hike - Wolmyeong Park

2009-12-03T16:53:00.007+09:00

As you can see, the hike is pretty steep and takes about 15-20 minutes at the pace I go. I huff and puff going up and take many breaks to catch my breath. Joanna makes me run to the park, about a 10 minute run and then she runs a good portion of the hike as well, while I try and keep up. Last night we did the hike and then ran down on the other side the entire way, because it was getting dark and we needed the light from the park to get us home. It's a great workout and there are several trails just like this one, some we have done and some we haven't. I am sure all the views are just as spectacular.

Most of these views are from the top, on one side you can see a big part of the city of Gunsan, which looked pretty cool at dusk last night(not in this picture) when the lights were just coming on. The other side is the view of the Gunsan port and Yellow sea. I was hoping it would be clearer when the sun came out, so I will have to lug my camera up there again on a clear day for better pics.

Thursday Morning or Wednesday Night in the States

2009-12-03T10:09:00.004+09:00

Me at my desk at Ja-yang Middle School.

I just wanted to write to the BLOG, since I haven't written in a few days and there seems to be nothing else to do as I sit here at my desk in the office of my country school. I was informed this morning that I will not be having any classes today and the next three days that I teach out here, due to final exams being held at the school. They even said I could leave after lunch today to go and rest. So needless to say "I love Korea" and my new job. I am sitting here looking busy typing away with only a few hours to kill before lunch and then off for the day. This is the first day that I have gotten off early to pursue my own endeavors on a work day, so I am excited about the opportunity. It is unfornutely a cloudy and rainy day, so a stroll through the park to read my book is probably out of the question.

So far, I absolutely love Korea and my new full time job as evident of my Thursday morning. With the way the economy is and the unemployment rate continuing to rise back home, I could be here a while. I went to the Dentist this last Tuesday to finish a root canal that I started a few years ago down in Mexico. Since I never finished the root canal, the hole often gets infected, causing swelling and pain. The Dentist here was really cool, he spoke English and did wonderful work, suprisingly with little to no pain as He dug, grinded, and poked me with long needles. He said I must continue to come back, probably several times to finish what I started in Mexico. I can't stand the dentist or the genecologist in general, so you can imagine this was bad news and hard for me to succum to the fact that I needed this. But I had let the problem go and persist to this point, a lesson learned, when the Dentist says come back, you come back. For the first visit, it was only about $12 US dollars and about $2 US dollars for the antibiotics, gotta love Korea!! The beginning of the root canal with medications cost my 5 times as much down in Mexico and probably would be more in the States, even with insurance.

Truly the only things that I miss from home is the weather and my dog. I can't stand having to layer up and wear a heavy coat everywhere and I miss the "roo roo roos" of my Jezzy when I would come home. I have even looked into flying her out here, but I keep reading horror stories of dogs and cats dying on planes. I also think she is a good fit to take care of my Mom as I always worry about her as well. The negatives always seem to out weigh the positives when thinking about it, she wouldn't like the cold weather, she wouldn't have a yard, and my desire to do lots of traveling would make it stressfull for both of us. I still miss her though!

I have been doing a lot of running, hiking, and climbing. A combination of that and the Korean food has already brought on a weight loss, yay! The local park also has these circuit machines with bikes and exercise equipment which is all free and very enjoyable. I was on a machine that twists the waist back and forth watching the gorgeous full moon last night, what an awesome experience. I am scheduled to go on two hiking trips the next two weekends up huge mountains, I will take pictures to share the fun. Thank you all for reading and being involved in my adventure and I will continue to share my thoughts, feelings, and pictures of my experiences in this new country.

November 27th Birthday Celebration

2009-12-01T11:17:00.005+09:00

The Koreans really celebrate birthdays, complete with sparklers for the whole restraunt, candles, that funny hat, strobe lights, and music. It was pretty cool as you can see here.

The girl on the left is my friend from Ja-yang Middle school, she took me out shopping before meeting everyone for my birthday celebration. Also some of my foreign friends who are teachers. From left to right, that is Sarah, from New Zealand, she teaches at two local high schools, Joanna from Canada, she teaches at two local middle schools, and then Aaron from Ohio, he teaches at two local elementary schools.

Both Aaron and Joanna live in my apartment complex and we tend to hang out the most. Joanna has even gotten me to run, hike, and, and climb mountians in Wolmyeong park for exercise.

Thanksgiving/Birthday Dinner

2009-11-27T17:14:00.004+09:00

I had dinner with the minister of the church and my friend from church, Sungwha. You can say it was my thanksgiving and birthday dinner bought by the minister. These are pictures of where we ate, it was a big boat with these lit up sails and it had a dragon head. On the inside we sat on couches and it was decorated like the inside of a boat. The food was pretty cool too, complete with soup, salad, and a fried steak covered in many sauces. I also took a picture of their meals, which was octopus, rice and vegetables.

HOME - My dog, Jezebel

2009-11-26T17:59:00.005+09:00

As I sit here looking at my computer on my ottoman, I am looking at my desktop background picture of my little girl and missing her dearly. I miss you Jezebel!! As you can see I got a plant, it was a gift from Sungwha for my birthday. I also got a new phone that I can call home on and receive phone calls on. Please feel free to call anytime, although, I don't keep my computer on all night, sorry Mom, I know you tried to reach me this morning at 4:30am my time. I am actually bummed that I missed your call though...my number is 760-298-8872, yes an Oceanside number that you can leave a voicemail on if I don't answer thanks to Magicjack, one good piece of advice that came from the original recruiter I worked with back in June.

Talent Show/Gala/Fiesta - Ja-yang Middle

2009-11-26T17:19:00.012+09:00

Me and a few of my co-workers at the fiesta!! No classes today, what an easy day. I guess I am back to the grind of two classes tomorrow, this schedule kills me. The girl in the middle is the lady who picks me up every Thursday and Friday. The more we hang out, the better her English gets. She does all the accounting for Ja-yang Middle and use to study a lot of English in college. She really hasn't had much practice speaking it though, so she doesn't always understand me and sometimes has a hard time communicating to me, but I enjoy our morning and afternoon drives none the less. We also sometimes have coffee at lunch and she is taking me out for my birthday for dinner and shopping since my hiking trip got postponed. Another real nice lady the Lord has blessed me with, ironically her name is also Suengha, spelled a little different than my friend from church though.

He is flipping here, didn't catch it in time, sorry, I'm not a photographer!

Today there was a huge talent show/gala/fiesta, or whatever you want to call it. It was all day, complete with a DJ and MC and all. These kids are pretty talented, we had singers, dancers, musicians, hop-ki-do(they broke boards, pretty cool), jump ropers, and comedians. Here are some pictures and I also took video of some boards being broken. In the picture above, those are bubbles being blown by two bubble machines, I thought it looked fantasia-like with the girl dressed up playing the flute.

My Birthday Parties - Both Schools

2009-11-26T06:21:00.007+09:00

At Ja-yang Middle school I got to celebrate my birthday with all the November students and staff, this is a picture of all of us cutting the cut and being sung to at the all day Talent Show/Gala/Fiesta the school had today. What a huge cake this was, but I guess it is for more than one. The guy to my left is the vice principal.

My birthday isn't until Friday, but since I won't be at Gunsan-nam on Friday, the teachers chose to get me a cake and celebrate on Wednesday. It was pretty cool, good cake, and beer and all. I said, I still have one more class, so I will wait until after school to drink the beers, too funny!!

One of my Classes - Ja-yang Middle School

2009-11-25T08:55:00.004+09:00

They look real enthused, I make them greet me when they come in, both individually and as a class, "Good morning Ms. A" or "Good afternoon Ms. A." Then as a class we talk about the weather outside as a daily ritual to keep them conversing in English.

A Gunsan Temple

2009-11-25T08:49:00.005+09:00

This is one of many temples to been seen on my walk home from school. A pretty fancy house of worship, not sure of the religion, but I don't see a cross and crosses are seen everywhere in Gunsan.

Korean Money - Won

2009-11-25T08:41:00.005+09:00

The Koreans only have four bills, the 1,000, the 5,000, which I didn't have when I took this picture, the 10,000, and the 50,000 and they have 500, 100, 50, and 10 in change. The 50,000 is the least common, only certain ATMs carry them, making the 10000 a pretty popular bill. I wanted to point out what the Koreans have on their biggest bill, a WOMAN. You gotta love Korea, we have more bills in America, but NO Woman on any bill. She is the Mother of one of the former presidents, found on the 10000 bill and also helped develop the Korean language.

Gunsan Sunset - So-ryong Dong Apartments

2009-11-25T07:29:00.002+09:00

This is from my apartment.

Not the greatest pictures, will try and post some better ones later. My apartments are the big building on the right.

Wolmyeong Park

2009-11-25T07:17:00.007+09:00

This park is real close to my house, in fact, I walk through it on the way home from one of my schools. It is just one of the many beautiful parks in the Gunsan area. The trails have classical music playing and these cots throughout the park for relaxation purposes. There is also circuit training machines and your normal park swings and general park fun in one area. One of the pictures shows a few Korean kids that wanted their picture taken on the bridge. They are always wanting to talk the foreigners and make conversation, even when they don't speak a whole lot of English. They probably ran home that day and told their parents, "I spoke to a foreigner today Mom!"

Ja-yang Middle Classroom and my Lunch

2009-11-20T18:13:00.003+09:00

Umm...this is a curry sauce and vegetables over the rice, so good, especially if you like curry. The small eggs are hard boiled and come from a wild bird out here put in this sweet soy sauce and sesame seeds, very delicious, or in Korean, Mot-ee-Seau(it's delicious) and of course kimchi and soup. The thing in the pouch is a warm pear juice, wasn't bad. The city school has better cooks, but these last two days at the country school have been pretty good, so props to the country school.

Mormom Missionaries

2009-11-20T18:01:00.006+09:00

These are two Mormon Missionaries, no lie, they knocked on my door after only two weeks of being here. Did they follow me here? How did they know I would be here? Really weird. Two really nice guys, I think the American guy is cute, he is from Arizona. This was at my bus stop where I just happen to run into them after about a week of them stopping by my house. I am going to have them over for dinner and discuss some serious theology. I look forward to it and will keep you posted. I wanted to get a couch first, which I just got, and I wanted to learn how to cook a Korean dish, which I haven't yet. I have there number, but I am sure I will run into them again, especially if they are following me and trying to convert me to their religion, hehehe!! You can see how bundled up I am, it is probably about 20 degrees out there, in the teens or lower with the wind chill...I HATE THE WEATHER!!

Outside Pictures of both Schools

2009-11-20T17:47:00.004+09:00

The middle two pictures are Ja-yang Middle School and the outside pictures are Gunsan-nam Middle School. Gunsan-nam is the city school and Ja-yang is the country school. Surprisingly both are the same size, with the exception of one more level, but the city school has about 1000 students, where the country school has about 80. The country school doesn't use all of its classrooms making it a very quiet working environment compared to the city school, where I am constantly hearing students in the halls.

MY JOURNEY HERE - Sorry for the Posts being out of order!

2009-11-20T17:11:00.008+09:00

This is some good reading and you will get a good laugh reading it, enjoy!

JOURNEY BLOG ENTRIES, before I had my computer hooked up to the net:

BLOG Entry 1: Leaving Home for My Adventure

Here I sit in a bar in Tokyo, Japan where the adventure of traveling and teaching ESL has begun. I left my home town, San Diego, CA this morning to venture to South Korea to pursue an ESL teaching position that was supposed to start back in August. I ultimately found another recruiting company that promptly found me a job and here I am on my way to the next chapter of my life. The position is for a year and will be at two schools in Gunsan. For those of you that don’t know the story I was offered a job by a recruiting company called Thomas Recruiting, or so I thought I was offered a job, come to find out, there were lots of broken promises with this particular recruiting company that advertised online. It turned out to be a learning experience and then two months later, here I am waiting for my flight, having a drink in the Tokyo airport. My plane arrived early in Tokyo from LAX or the Los Angeles airport. I have yet to convert my money to the WON or the Yen here in Tokyo, luckily they took US currency for the drinks. So far the only really weird thing to report in my first BLOG posting is the 12 hour flight which left LAX at noon and it was still daylight when I arrived here in Tokyo, because it was already the next day. I didn’t sleep much on the plane, watched four movies though, “The Hangover” was the best, did some reading, Stephanie Meyer’s, “The Host” and napped a bit. I am hoping this vodka will help me sleep on my next leg, three hours to Seoul. It is currently 1:30am at home, so sorry family I didn’t call yet, too early and the internet connection cost money, so I will wait until I get to Seoul to get in touch.

BLOG Entry 2: Seoul, the Hostel, and Almost Getting on the Wrong Bus to Gunsan

Well, I made it Seoul, the alcohol drinks in Tokyo helped immensely in my ability to be able to sleep, which is all I did on the three hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul. After arriving in Seoul I had the daunting task of finding a pay phone and being able to use it in a foreign country. As per instructed by one of my sister’s, I bought a calling card before leaving the states and had to call a guy that was going to pick me up and give me a ride to the hostel. I tried several phones and none of them seemed to work. There were no real good instructions on how to make a call using the calling card not to mention use the foreign phone which all happen to be very different. Finally this guy walks up, he doesn’t speak a lot of English, and I gathered he was a taxi driver based on my first encounter with him. I am guessing the taxi business out here must be pretty competitive because I was approached by several drivers wanting me to drive with them, which was kind of creepy being approached by several men at once, all of them trying to get you to ride with them. I have to admit, the taxi driver approaching me at the phone scared me even more and all of my defenses were up, but if it weren’t for this guy putting money and a card in the phone I wouldn’t of gotten a hold of the guy how was suppose to pick me up and take me to the guest house.

The guy picked me up and was very nice. My room was quite clean and just like your normal hotel room, two twin beds, refrigerator that had a couple of waters, shampoo, towels, and a TV that had American stations with Korean sub titles. The guy even gave me a cord to get the internet and a converter to plug in my laptop and I was able to call my family and check in. I didn’t have the best connection, but my phone worked and I was able to leave a few broken messages and a short chat with my aunt Nancy in Encinitas. Once I showered and put my head down, I was out, even though it was only still morning back home. The guy told me to meet him at 7:30 in the parking garage so he could take me back to the airport and get my bus ticket and send me off to Gunsan where someone from my school would meet me and take me to my apartment. I was up early, again, not adjusted to the time and in a strange place. I woke up with the worst headache, so I ate a granola bar and took something, thank you Lord for IB Profin. When I got to the parking garage, I waited a good 20 min and finally went to get him. Apparently he forgot he was suppose to meet me or had the time wrong, he spoke little English and was simply just the guy who ran the Hostel. We got to the airport and he bought the ticket and told me where to board. I needed caffeine and had some time before the bus was leaving so I went back into the airport and exchanged the American currency that I had on me for the Won.

After getting my café mocha I proceeded to the bus stop and began to load my stuff on a bus that said Gunsan. I was sitting on the bus when I thought I better check to see if this is the right bus, so I went and asked the bus driver to look at my ticket, he said, “NO!” and basically made a motion for me to get my stuff off of his bus and I went into a panic, thinking that the guy bought me the wrong bus ticket, knowing full well, I was needing to travel to Gunsan. In my panic, there was a nice girl who spoke pretty good English that offered to pay for another ticket and asked if I was going to the Gunsan Air Base, I said, no not the airbase, but definitely the area. I quickly took my stuff off the bus and decided to just trust that the guy put me on the right bus. When the next bus came, the driver confirmed that my ticket matched the destination, although he spoke little to no English, because when I asked if I had time to use the restroom before leaving he pointed me to put my stuff on the bus again, so I didn’t risk it. When we made another stop at a different airport and I asked him the same question he pointed to one direction, which was the opposite of the sign, telling me he didn’t understand again. Seeing the sign, I sprinted to the toilet and sprinted back and here I am back on the bus and filling you on all of my adventures. The bus ride is about 3 hours, so I am going to do some reading and site seeing since we will be driving down the coast of South Korea.

BLOG Entry 3: First Two Days in Gunsan

The adventure continues. What a gorgeous country and bus ride down the coast of Korea. This country is really quite beautiful and reminded me of driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Lots of large cities such as Seoul and Osan and then we passed many rural areas where lots of farming took place and the towns were very small. I was like a small child fighting my fatigue and trying to stay awake, being afraid I miss something as I rode the huge luxurious bus that was very clean compared to the city buses in Oceanside. As we pulled into a huge city, the city of Jeonju, I thought this is where I will be living, but it was only where the main Education office was and where they wanted to meet me and have me sign the contract again in person. Two people from the Gunsan Education office picked me up, one spoke English fairly well and understood me if I spoke slowly for her and the other was simply a driver and a person for the girl to talk to in Korean. I quickly learned that the schools and where I will be teaching is about 40 minutes away from this big congested city that reminded me of New York, lots of people and lots of movement. After the Education office, they asked me if I wanted to eat lunch and since I still had yet to eat any Korean food, I said yes. Because I am foreigner, they decided to take me to McDonalds, even though I told them that I heard the Korean BBQ is very good. They said this was quicker and we needed to save time. So my first Korean meal was ironically from McDonalds, which made me chuckle. After visiting the second Education office, this one in Gunsan, I grew tired of everyone speaking a foreign language around me, knowing full well they were speaking about me. I found myself just listening and waiting patiently for someone to fill me in, which was always a shorter version in English somehow. There was some confusion on whether I was suppose to put up a deposit and when I was suppose to receive my entrance stipend and settlement amount. My recruiter told me they would reimburse me within a couple of days of being here and both offices gave me the impression that they weren’t going to give me any money until my first paycheck, a month from now. I had to get kind of loud and forceful and even threaten to leave to come back home if they weren’t going stick with the contract. One guy left for a meeting, they spoke, they kept coming and going, I was getting irritated, the lack of sleep, not being use to the time change, and it being the middle of the night back home at this point didn’t help. Then someone finally said, my reimbursement will be in two weeks and they will be paying me an additional amount in my salary that will need to be paid toward the rent of my apartment and I would not have to pay any amount to move in or from my salary.

I am now happy and satisfied, but still tired and just ready to go lay my head down and get settled. I was glad the hospital had closed, can you believe they wanted me to go to the clinic that day too, a bit too much for one day, don’t you think? We finally went to see me apartment and I finally get to see where I will be living for the next year. It was a large apartment building not far from the Education office and about 15 minutes from both of the middle schools I will be teaching at. I will be teaching at one middle school three days a week and another two days a week, which will be nice, less lesson planning and more money per month. The apartment was nice, actually larger than my studio in San Diego and it was currently getting some renovations. It is on 15th floor, almost the top of the building, it has two rooms, a kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. I also have a small balcony which will probably serve as my clothes drying area since I will only have a washer and not a dryer. On one side of the apartment complex is a view of the yellow sea and on the other is a mountain view, where I will be able to watch the sun set every night with a pretty cool view of the city. They told me it would be ready this Monday and the school district put me up free of charge in a very nice hotel close to the Education office and not very far from my apartment although I wouldn’t be able to tell you how to get there.

My co-teacher, who is able to understand me as long as I talk slowly or write things down for her took me to dinner, walking distance from the hotel, where I finally had my first legitimate Korean meal. It was a very spicy pork mixed with a sauce and vegetables, very good, but kind of overwhelming for the gut, especially after not eating much and eating McDonalds for lunch. With the pork there were like ten different side dishes, which was all put in front of us to share, like appetizers, some good, some not, mostly served cold, except for the fish head. Kimchi was one of the side dishes, and after hearing all about Kimchi, some good and some bad, I would say it was good and will eat it again.

On Saturday morning, which is today, I ventured out in the city to explore and buy some food. I first hit up 7-eleven which has the same kind of products our 7-eleven has, except I couldn’t find a Rockstar. I settled for a coke and some green tea drink. I am finding that some things are cheaper where other things are more expensive. For instance, I bought a coke, a green tea drink, a puffy pastry that was quite delicious, and two large sized gourmet cup-of-noodles for under $4 US dollars. That would have been at least $8 in the states. The McDonalds meal with a bottle of water was only $3 US dollars, and easily $6-$7 in the states. Then there is the issue of produce and cooking items which are a little higher and my Aveeno lotion was almost twice as more for a smaller bottle

I actually got lost when I was walking around looking at everything and not remembering where I turned and thinking the church in the distance was near the hotel. Everything looks the same and most of the signs are in Korean. I didn’t panic, but my feet began to hurt from my crappy shoes(the only pair of tennis shoes I brought) when I realized I was in front of the eMart and right in front of the eMart were several taxies. The eMart is a wonderful store, much like a Super Walmart, it is a department store – grocery store – everything you need store all in one – and even McDonalds. After going into the store to buy some new shoes, I simply showed one of the taxi drivers my hotel key and he knew right away where it was, which was only a few blocks and a few US dollars later. In the eMart I also bought a nice book bag with lots of pockets (to carry stuff to and from school), a pouch sack to keep my passport and money under my clothes at all times, some bananas, and some lemons all for just under $80 US Dollars or a little over 90,000 Won.

The city really lights up at night and it is pretty cool looking from the top floor of the hotel, about half of the height of my future apartment. I was able to count about 20 glowing crosses. Supposedly Korea is one of the highest percentages per population of Christian believers in the world, so I will explore one of those churches tomorrow and hope for an English translation. If not I can always just listen to a podcast of Sean online and just enjoy the emotions of the believers here in Gunsan. I know I am going to try and watch the World Series broadcasting at 7am Sunday morning my time. I am sure they will have it on one of the hotel channels. In my hotel room I have a huge screen TV that is hooked up to a desktop computer that has access to the internet. I inserted my magicjack and was able to call all of my family and even receive phone calls. Most of the TV channels are in Korean but there are lots of channels that play American movies with Korean subtitles and of course with Korean commercials. I also have a refrigerator, couch, a queen size bed and a machine that creates instant hot and cold water, which is nice for my soups, mocha mix (which they have in the room), and for drinking water, all paid for by the school district. I start school Monday, where they want me to just observe for a week before I start teaching, which will be nice. I am excited about my first day and look forward to getting in my apartment and decorating it to my liking, although I could get use to living in this hotel with the TV, computer, water dispenser and maid.

BLOG Entry 4: Sunday, Korean Chirstians, Korean Food

I still haven’t gotten use to this time change, I went to bed last night at 5pm and woke up at 1am wide awake noticing it had cooled downed and a rain storm had started. I watched a little TV and then forced myself back to sleep, debating on taking some IB Profin to help the cause. I then woke up for the second straight night at 3am, this time I couldn’t go back to sleep so I decided to make my lemon and garlic detoxification drink. Luckily I did a stint of selling knives and just happen to have a nice set of knives and a cutting board from the experience. Here I was squeezing lemons and chopping garlic, watching Korean television at 3:30 in the morning…it was a sight to see I tell you. After drinking my concoction, I decided to try and go back to sleep around 4:30am or so, before the sun came up. The pouring down rain helped relax me and allowed me to settle down enough to sleep more. I probably would have slept more if I didn’t receive a phone call from my Aunt Nancy around 9am or so. Since I am writing this entry at 5:30pm tonight, it looks like the extra sleep is allowing me to stay up later to adjust to the time change and maybe go to bed at a later time and get a full nights rest before my first full day of work. It is going to be weird to work some full days in a row, I haven’t worked a full time job since last June, or four months ago.

I decided to go to church, since it was Sunday and there are many churches close by. I dropped into one that was four levels high, I was late and felt uncomfortable going into the sanctuary, so I sat outside and started reading my bible and listened to the Korean sermon. When I saw someone go in the closed doors of the sanctuary, I knew it was ok to be late and I wouldn’t stand out. Wrong….I was the only American out of about 100-150 and some lady insisted that I sit close to the front, practically dragging me down the aisle, she meant well I am sure, but I attracted unwanted attention during the foreign sermon. The Pastor was a female, and she must have been funny, because I heard laughter throughout the sermon. They had a choir and sang music with a piano. They had a big picture of Jesus in the background and I picked up on His name being said throughout the sermon and throughout the prayers and “Amen” is used the same in Korean as English, it was also used throughout the sermon and prayers when the Korean congregation liked or agreed with what was being said, like the southern Baptist, “Can I hear an Amen!!”

After the service I asked someone if there are any English services in the area and she quickly rushed me to someone who spoke English and even use to live in Virgina. She was so nice, welcomed me with open arms and many questions. She worked for the church and said she didn’t know of any churches in Gunsan who have sermons in English or who translate their sermons into English. She then invited me to eat lunch with her, the Pastor, another lady who also spoke English and taught ESL for the church, and some missionaries from China. We ate a huge Korean meal which consisted of seaweed soup, sticky rice, dried or fried anchovy, spicy kimchi, Gosari, mocha coffee, and for dessert, we had some Korean pears, apples, and melons. All of it was very good. I didn’t think I would like the anchovy, but mixed with the rice, it was pretty tasty. The Korean fruit for dessert was excellent. I truly enjoyed my visit with my new friends and look forward to next week’s service. One of my new friends, the girl who teaches English, wants to take me shopping tonight, so we are meeting in front of the church which is right down the street from the hotel at 7pm. She wants to hang out and help me learn Korean and the culture. She had many questions for me during the lunch and wants me to help her with her English and her ESL lessons. After church and lunch I walked back to E-mart, now that I knew where it was and had specific landmarks. I was surprised to see how crowded the E-mart was, but again it was Sunday, it was just kind of overwhelming after seeing it a few times during the week with a lot less people. I have already adjusted to the fact that Koreans can be flat out RUDE, when it comes to cutting in front of, bumping into you, and not paying attention to where they are walking or driving their carts. I did find my favorite pieces of sushi, which are all individually wrapped, so you can choose the pieces you want for .50-.60 a piece, with wasabi already put under the rice and soy sauce on the side. I also found the most delicious pastries, ten times better than any donut I have ever had for .50 apiece. I’m in heaven with the price of beer, sushi, and delicious pastries.

BLOG Entry 5: My Schools and Learning Korean

I haven’t written in a while, been busy settling in and the fact that I don’t have internet yet in my apartment has hindered my capabilities on being able to post these writings. I want to be able to document as many of my experiences as possible, day by day if I have the time. I have officially moved into my apartment and I am currently working 9 hour days at the schools. I still haven’t completely adjusted to the time change, going to bed early and waking up at weird hours of the night still. I don’t have much furniture, a bed, a table, a closet/dresser, and a TV. So, all of my furniture is in the room that over-looks the city, the mountains, and the sea. The first night of staying in my apartment I went to take a shower and realized I had no hot water. With greasy hair, I told my co-teacher the next day at school and she called the apt complex and told me that they would be here at 6pm that night to fix it. No one showed, so I went to bed with greasy hair and decided that I would wash my hair in cold water in the morning and deal with it. After all, I have washed my hair in a cold stream camping in Virginia with my ex-husband, this water is nothing compared to that brain freeze I endured back then. Then I get a knock on the door at 11:45pm….are you kidding me, what kind of maintenance person comes that late…I was half asleep and very surprised, but glad they came to give me instructions in English on how to work all of my appliances, including the switch for the hot water. Now I have hot water and know how to work my washer.

I survived the medical exam and hospital visit as it was anxiety filled and very stressful. I have never liked hospitals, especially ones that take blood and urine samples. I have learned a little Korean in a week’s time, I have learned to say “Hello”, “Glad to meet you”, and “Thank you”. I have been told by more than one Korean that my Korean is very good. I simply have been righting it down how it sounds and how I would spell the sound in English. What is ironic is the first thing I learned, “Hello”, sounds like “onya”, which is most of my name, then “has”, then “seau”, put together, “onya-has-seau”. Making it easy to remember, basically like saying “I have seau”, only one of the best Chargers to ever play for the team! To say Thank you in Korean, it sounds like your telling someone to go mop something….it is “go-mop-so-needa” means thank you…kind of cool and very helpful to know in Korean. I always like to be polite and say hello and thank you!! I have also found that it is important and polite to bow when greeting anyone as everyone does it.

My schools are awesome, the kids are awesome, the food that they feed me at lunch time is awesome. I quite possibly had the best meal I have ever eaten in my life, yes better than a bean and cheese burrito. It was an 8 course meal of like four different vegetables, some soup that I must learn to make, some fried fish with this sweet and spicy mustard sauce, these small potatoes that were rolled in this dark sweet candied sauce with some sesame seeds, of course kimchi, which comes with every lunch, and a banana. I wanted to go back for more, but didn’t want a stomach ache. I need more practice with the chopsticks and I think the teachers get annoyed watching me using them and because I have had two teachers tell me to use the spoon given, there are no forks. Both schools are loaded with technology and design their English classrooms with the best. One of the schools is about 60 years old and you can tell by the heating system and the floors, etc. But my classroom is all modern and redone and has a huge TV screen that is directly connected to the computer and the internet. I have already designed two killer PowerPoints for my first two lessons that will blow these Korean English teachers out of the water so to speak. Surprisingly the teachers who are Korean teaching English don’t speak very much English. It is like the blind leading the blind. My friend from church speaks better English than all of the teachers my schools have teaching English, no wonder they need me.

BLOG Entry 6: Getting Sick

It took a whole week to get some kind of sickness here in Korea. I knew it would happen eventually, it always does when I get out of my own environment. I woke up Friday morning early with major dizzy and room spinning spells. As it turned out, I had an ear infection that was causing vertigo-like symptoms. It was like I was drunk, without all the original fun, really sucked, especially being only my second day at one of schools. My tried to translate my symptoms and explain how I felt and my history with vertigo, something I haven’t experienced since being in Virginia, when my baby brother had to take me to the emergency room. The vertigo then caused me to pass out unexpectedly and I had two infections in my body then that I didn’t even know about. My co-teacher didn’t understand, so we had to make a few phone calls to different people so all this could be translated correctly to my co-teacher and then to the doctor. We went to the clinic and the whole process took about 20 minutes, which I was shocked, with no appointment, no insurance yet, and last minute, in the states it would have been an all day affair. We even got the medicine from the pharmacy, across the street from the clinic in the 20 minute time frame. I slept the whole day Friday, I guess my first sick day in Korea, that didn’t take long. I really didn’t feel fully better until like Tuesday, but I still was able to attend church on Sunday and work on Monday. My first week with the kids went great. I am really not teaching many classes at either school, leaving lots of down time. My down time has equated to lots of lesson planning, strategizing my fantasy teams, and keeping in touch with family. When I worked in the public schools in the states, I would teach 30 classes a week, here I am teaching 10, and only one of those classes is twice a week. I am getting paid for 40 hours and only teaching about eight of those hours. If you ask me, it’s like why am I here? It seems like a waste, but who am I to complain.

I have met a bunch of the foreign teachers who are also working out here in the public schools and they all same the same. I really don’t think the Korean English teachers like giving up their classes to the native speakers because they know that we can speak better English then them and probably even teach better. I can already see issues with one of my schools, where the co-teacher has no classroom management skills whatsoever. The kids don’t listen, do what they want, and I have no idea how they learn anything in her classes. They just carry on their own conversations as she or I try and teach. She uses a stick and is constantly banging it on the desk or the board or whatever. I refuse to use a stick and will not teach until they stop talking. Her classes are like night and day from the other classes and it all boils down to respect for your teacher. They don’t respect her, and I have to somehow change that, to gain not only respect for me, but also her. All of my classes have a co-teacher or someone who speaks Korean present. But I am trying to limit the amount of Korean spoken, forcing the kids to learn and try and listen to me talk. If they don’t understand, I want them to communicate it to me and not just take the easy way out and get everything explained to them Korean, it kind of defeats the purpose of me being here.

I am beginning to adapt to my environment and my schedule. I have finally adjusted to the time change, it took almost two weeks to adjust, which I didn’t expect at all. I no longer get up at 2am or go to bed at 7:30pm. I still don’t have internet or cable, but both schools are highly equipped technology wise and my new friends have cable. I also found a video store down the road from me that rents American movies. I went and saw an awesome movie last night after joining a few of my friends who are either from Canada or the states for a few drinks on bar street last night. Me and my new friend Joanna, who lives in the same apartment buildings as me went as saw 2012, which was a great movie, especially on the big screen. I am so glad and thankful that they have American movies and was surprised to see many Koreans going to watch an 11pm showing of one. They put the American movies out here in Korean subtitles. I can’t wait for “New Moon” to come out this December. I know it comes out early in the states, but I am just glad that it is coming out.

Me and Another Teacher at Gunsan-nam Middle, my Friend, Mrs. Han

2009-11-18T15:20:00.000+09:00

We are eating lunch and then enjoying our usual coffee after lunch. She doesn't speak much English, but she tries, and she has me write a lot of what I speak down to help her understand better. She also uses a little computer translater to help her talk and also understand me. Its pretty funny watching us communicate. She had me over her house for dinner last night and I got to meet her family after she took me shopping. A really nice lady!!

One of my Schools - Gunsan-nam and Today's Lunch

2009-11-18T13:34:00.000+09:00

This is a view of one of the other classrooms and the hall outside of my classroom in Gunsan-nam Middle. It gives you an idea of what the other classes look like. This is lunch time, so the students are just hanging out here. The school is like 60 years old, which you can tell by looking at these pictures, but not by looking at my classroom. There are about 1000 students that attend Gunsan-nam Middle.

UUMMM!!!

This is my classroom in Gunsan-nam Middle School, pretty high-tech stuff, the huge TV doubles as a touch screen monitor hooked up directly to my computer, pretty cool! It is also the nicest class in the school. I posted a picture of my school lunch as well. It was very good today, as always, I love the Korean spicy food.

My Apartment in Korea

2009-11-18T09:32:00.004+09:00

YEAH, a couch and a TV stand, I am moving up in the world!!

I still need to buy a few things, it is pretty empty and one room is totally empty. You like my night stand, a box, and how the shower is not divided in the bathroom, water gets everywhere, it's just all combined into one. I brush my teeth while I am in the shower, too funny.

My Church Friends

2009-11-18T08:57:00.000+09:00

This is me and the minister on the left and the pastor of the church on the right. They are sisters who run the church and the other person on my left is my good friend from church, Sungwha.

Update Letter to Family and Friends

2009-11-17T15:01:00.000+09:00

Dear Family and Friends, November 17, 2009

I am finally getting around to writing to all of you after being in South Korea now for three weeks. I am sorry it has taken so long, but I still don't have internet in my new apartment and since I had some time to kill at work today, I thought I would use my school computer to connect with my family and friends. I have been writing my future BLOG entries that give my daily experiences in more detail on my laptop, but have yet to post them to the BLOG and I also haven’t bought a digital camera to share pictures yet. This is simply an update to let you know how I am doing and what living in Korea is like. I truly love living here, the people are so nice, the streets are safe, things are cheap, and the food is awesome. I am settling in nicely and adapting to my new surroundings. The only thing I don’t like about Korea is the weather, it is absolutely freezing. We have even had snow flurries twice since I have been here and my feet and hands have never been so cold. At least my time on the East Coast has helped me prepare for the cold weather, but it is still a shock after living in California again the last six years.

I am teaching at two middle schools, one in the city for three days and one in the country for two days. The two schools are like night and day. The city school has a large number of students and the class sizes are in the 30-40’s, where the country school only has about 80 students and the class sizes are about 16-20. Both schools feed me daily these incredible 7-8 course meals that have unbelievable flavor and spice. The Korean’s really know how to cook. They always have rice, soup, multiple vegetables and kimchi with every meal it seems like. The kimchi is always the same, but the types of rice, vegetables, and soups vary. I can see why most Korean’s are so skinny, none of them drink soda. In fact, they don’t drink anything with their meals, they use the soup broth during the meal and they might swig down a shot of water or green tea after the meal on the way out of the cafeteria, which is quite different from the states. All of the teachers eat in the same cafeteria as the students, and the students even sometimes sit with you. I am still learning how to use chopsticks, there are no forks in my school cafeterias, and the teachers laugh at me watching me using the chopsticks. I usually just get so frustrated that I resort to using my spoon and my hands or I might starve to death. Both of my classrooms have amazing technology, nothing you would see in a public school in the states, not for many years anyway. My huge monitor on my computer is directly hooked up to an 80-90 inch TV that is easily the length of the width span of my arms and serves as a touch screen. My classes are the nicest classrooms by far in both of the schools, very modernized and decorated and have entirely new desks, books, materials, chairs, computers, and digital lecterns. All of my lessons are being put on PowerPoint and full use of the technology is planned. I don’t teach very many classes though, which is kind of weird to me. It equates to lots of down time. In the states, a full load would put me teaching about 30 classes a week, here I might teach a maximum of 14, and sometimes less. No more than four in one day and sometimes only one class in a day. It seems be kind of a waste, but who am I to complain.

My apartment is really nice, not the newest in town, but very warm, thank you Lord, and pretty big, it is actually a two bedroom, one bath with a kitchen and a dining room. So I have plenty of room if anyone wants to come and visit. I look forward to my sister’s Amy and Paula coming in May. It is on the 15th floor, which is a nice view of both the yellow sea and the mountains. I get a nice view of the sunset each night over the mountains, if it is a clear day. There are lots of other foreigners in the apartment buildings including my new friend named Joanna from Canada. She is also teaching at two public middle schools out here, so we have been sharing our stories and lesson ideas. We are planning a hiking trip up one of the local mountains and a cabin stay for my birthday weekend, it should be fun. I will post pictures and tell all about it on the future BLOG. She has talked me into joining Facebook, since that is the way to stay connected to all of the 30-40 foreigners living in the area of Gunsan. My Facebook name is my maiden name, Tonya Lemmons, if any of you are on the site.

The first week I was here I found a Christian church that welcomed me with open arms. The Lord really blessed me with a loving, caring, and gracious church family. The church is all in Korean, but one of the ministers sits with me and does her best to translate the sermon. The pastor is a women and she must be funny, because I hear laughter throughout the sermon. We have a huge lunch between services every Sunday where I eat at the front table and I am treated like royalty. They have allowed me to use the phone to make international calls, use their computers, and have given me many things for my apartment including a brand new comforter, food, towels, and a rice cooker. My new friend from the church has taken me to lunch several times and driven me around town to shop and be my personal translator, I really owe the world to her and my new family and the thank the Lord everyday for all of them. They really have made adjusting to life and a new culture easier. When we sing in church I just mumble the sounds and clap, so it seems like I am singing, I really enjoy the music. We had a contest yesterday for their big Thanksgiving Day celebration where you had to guess the tune and then come up and sing the song in front of the entire congregation, about 200 people. I recognized a song and told my friend that I knew the song. She talked me into participating and going up and singing the song I recognized as “Lord I Lift Your Name on High,” which is one of my favorite songs of which I know all of the words. I use to sing it in the shower all the time. Anyway, the church recorded the performance and I have it on video, which I posted to the BLOG, if you want a good laugh. I am not very good, but I got the largest applause before and after the performance and they loved it.

So far, I love Korea, my new job, and all my new experiences. The only thing I miss is my dog, Jezebel, and Mexican food. I have lots of new friends, new challenges, and places to still visit. I am learning Korean and am also registering for school to get my TEFL certificate while I am here. Korea is a beautiful country with great food, great people, and a wealth of possibilities for a native speaker of English with a degree. I look forward to hearing from all of you either by email, phone, posting to the BLOG, or regular mail. I pray for all of you everyday and I hope all is well with each and every one of you. I love you all and God Bless.

From Freezing Korea,

Tonya Armenakis
760-298-8872
Building 101 APT 1514
Cityville Apt, So-ryong Dong
Gunsan City, South Korea
tonyaa@eduwizards.com
www.gunsanadventure.blogspot.com