An excellent end to the semester

This Thursday marked the final day of the first semester at my school, so all of the teachers were treated to a lunch outside of school, after which we were able to go home early for the day.  During this lunch I was talking with a couple of the other female teachers, and one of them told me that we should be friends because I'm alone and she's alone (apparently her husband is working overseas right now).  So she told me that in September when the new semester begins, she and I will have to hang out after work and do things and eat dinner together.  Sounds great to me!

Moving on to Friday...
It was an absolutely wonderful day!!!
Most of the staff from school all met at 7:30 to hop onto a bus to go to the island of Geumodo for a day of hiking.

While we were waiting on the ferry to get to the island - the other teachers were making fun of me because I wasn't wearing long sleeves, a hat or sunglasses.  But have you ever seen a Korean that's all geared up for hiking?  Let alone a whole group of them?  Let me tell you - it is very colorful, and I don't understand how they weren't dying of heat wearing jackets, hats, bandanas, etc.  But of course, they don't like the sun, so that is kind of understandable, even if I had to listen to things like, "Sun is bad for you!" and "Amanda, you're weird!" (because I like the sun...)

Once we arrived at the island, it was clear that we were going to be in for a very beautiful hike.  Parts of our hike went through a forest kind of area, while other parts were along the side of a cliff where you get some awesome views of the sea, and some of the surrounding smaller islands.

 

 

For the first leg of the hike, I ended up tagging along with the younger gym teacher, and it turned out that it was also his 30th birthday that day!  As we were walking along, I could've sworn that I had seen other teachers ahead of us, but when we got to the rest area, there wasn't anyone else there at all!!  And no one else showed up  for at least 15 more minutes!  I didn't think we were walking that fast at all though!  As we were waiting for the other teachers to show up, we had a furry little visitor come hang out with us - an adorable little dog!  After getting some attention, she left us for a bit, but it was worth it because she came back with two absolutely adorable, cute and very friendly little puppies!!  They were more than happy to play with us and get some attention in general. 

 

When all of the other teachers finally made it to where we were, we all got on the bus and went to a restaurant for lunch, which was some kind of fish stew.  At this point though my co-teacher asked  me if I still wanted to do hiking after lunch - to which I said, "of course!! This is an excellent way to spend the day!"  And her reply was that all of the teachers were tired and didn't want to hike anymore.  That's ridiculous! It wasn't even that bad of a hike - there was barely any slope at all - mostly all flat ground, although there were a few sections where we had to pick our way over a rock strewn path.  Which reminds me - I was also asked if I was enjoying the views - which were absolutely beautiful, if I didn't say so already!  But after that, the teachers told me they weren't seeing the views at all because they were so busy looking at the pathway so they wouldn't trip and fall.

 

After lunch, the bus took us back to where it picked us up and we continued on our hike. Once we started this part though, one of my co-teachers asked me why I looked so happy.  Because I get to be outside in lovely weather, we're hiking (which I love), and it's beautiful.  Do you need any more reasons than that?  And I get told again about how the other teachers don't really want to do anymore hiking.  Oh my.

 

When we finished the second part of the hike we all stopped for drinks/ice-cream, then walked for a bit more back to the bus and were taken for an early dinner.  Which was seafood.  It looked very interesting.  There were things like sea urchins, octopus, abalone, something in a spiral shell, and other kinds of fish.  And then we got some kind of thick yellow soup with rice in it.  After dinner we all piled back onto the bus, which took us back to where we had met first thing in the morning, and everyone parted ways after a lovely (in my opinion anyway) day!

Weekend with the girls

Last weekend myself and three of my friends made a trip up to the city of Daegu to watch a Cirque du Soleil show. We left Yeosu first thing Saturday morning, to arrive in Daegu around lunch time.  After getting off the bus we decided to stretch our legs for a bit and wandered around the market next to the bus terminal.  It had all sorts of interesting things.  For me though, I think the one thing that stood out the most was the WHOLE chicken that had been fried in tempura (or whatever the Korean equivalent is called).

After that we decided to go find a hotel for the night.  The first few we stopped at were either too expensive, too sketchy or flat out turned us away.  But not to worry, we did find a reasonable one eventually.  And for my first experience of staying in a love hotel, it was surprisingly clean and quiet.  Although still slightly sketchy.  If you pulled the chain on the light in our room it went from a white light to a red light - lovely...haha.  Oh well, I'm sure it could've been far worse.

Anyway, after dropping off our stuff, we decided to eat lunch and then go do some exploring.  After doing a bit of browsing through stores we hopped on a bus which took us down to the south end of the city before kicking us off at the end of the route.  At that point we decided to try to find a bus that would take us up to the north end of the city where the show was going to be.  And we did - it just took us a while because the buses weren't stopping on our side of the street!  But once we went to the other side, it was a short wait before we found a bus that took us where we needed to be.  Although it took at least an hour and a half to get there!  So, by the time we arrived, we basically had time to go in, get our tickets and brave the lines to buy some drinks/snacks and then find our seats to watch the show.

And what a show it was!  It's difficult to figure out what words to use to describe it.  But needless to say, it was amazing!  The way that some of them were able to move defies all laws of flexibility!  I think my favorite part of the show was when one team came out with the lights off and their costumes had different little lights all over them (which changed color too!) and so all you could see were these little lights moving around.  It was A-MAZING!

Our next adventure began after the show:
We thought we could take a bus back to the terminal or a subway line and go to the hotel from there. (because buses all go to the terminal eventually was our logic - that's what happens in Yeosu, why would it be any different in Daegu?)  Well.  It turns out that there's more than one terminal in Daegu and we got on a bus that went to the wrong one!  As we were riding the bus, we were watching the GPS on our phones so we'd have an idea of when we'd need to get off.  And as our bus started heading in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go, we got a bit nervous, but no worries because at the very least it should turn around and go back to where we started eventually, right?  Yeah....except our bus just happened to be on it's final route of the day.  So as our driver was about to pull into the terminal to park his bus, he asked us where we were going, which was, of course, nowhere near where we were.  So, he turned off the in service light for his bus and drove us back into town (~30 minutes!) to the subway station where we could hop on the train back to the area where our hotel was.  We definitely lucked out with an exceptionally kind bus driver!  Although, every time we passed by another bus, he'd flick on the interior lights so they could see that he was driving around with four foreign women.  At one point, we were stopped at a red light next to another bus, and the two drivers started talking - the in service one clearly wondering why our bus was still driving around.  So, our driver turned on the lights and explained that he had four ridiculously lost waygookins who he was taking to where they needed to go.  The other bus driver gave us a giant smile and waved at us as we awkwardly/sheepishly waved back. 

So, long story short, we spent an excessive amount of time on buses last weekend, and had many adventures that we made through without too big of a catastrophe!

Optical illusions + Aquatic life

This past weekend I visited Yeosu's aquarium with a couple of friends.  And when I say aquarium, it's actually much more than that.

First we dropped in on the 'Alive Museum', which is basically a place full of optical illusions.  And it's set up so that you can take your picture as though you're a part of the illusion picture.  As you can see here:

Since we went first thing in the morning, there were only a few other  people there, so we were able to take our pictures easily. It was actually quite fun considering how I feel about getting my picture taken. You can see more pictures here.

As for the actual aquarium part,  it was quite relaxing. Especially walking through the, what would you call it? Water tunnel? I really liked that! I've never been to an aquarium with one of those before- just seen them in movies.

They had a number of different animals other than just fish, including otters, seals, penguins and they even had two beluga whales!

The most dangerous thing was probably the tank full of piranhas...which by the way, have a lot of sparkly gold scales. In case you were ever wondering about that...

The three of us also stopped to watch the mermaid show, which was kind of interesting- three Korean women dressed as mermaids went into the main tank and put on a water ballet/acrobatic show. After that a couple of guys in scuba suits went in and fed the fish their lunch. Although I think the rays got to eat the majority of the food!! When the show was finished, we wandered through the rest of the aquarium, finishing off with a late lunch out on the patio. It was a lovely day!

Meltin' and Chillin'

So, since it's been a while, let me update things a little bit - the first week of July from the 2nd through to the 7th or 8th, the weather here was absolutely disgusting.  It rained consistently for basically 24 hours a day, and with the rain, there was heat, making the humidity incredibly nasty!  And the rain wasn't light either - it was heavy and came straight down - you could get completely soaked in less than a minute.  Actually it was kind of fascinating exactly how straight it was... *Note to anyone who has to walk to work in this weather - either wear bare feet or bring an extra pair of socks, because they will be soaked!  Your pants too...* I officially do NOT like the rainy season at all.  The plus side though was there was some awesome thunder and lightning!

This week though, all of that nasty rain and humidity has cleared off and we are left with simply HOT!  The best way I can explain this is that when I come home from work and walk into my apartment - it feels pleasantly cool inside, even though the thermostat says it's 29.  Oh, and if you walk outside in the sunshine, you get an instant sweat.  If it stays nice this weekend, I think another visit to the beach is in order.

This past week has been kind of stressful at work, however, I was able to have a lot of fun with my students, which helped to make up for that. One morning break time (there is 'rest time' between 10:30 and 11) I went outside to enjoy the sunshine, and my students decided to come talk with me.  This led into a conversation about who was crazy, and I do believe it was decided that everyone in general was crazy, although when one student told another teacher walking by about this, I think he definitely thought we were all crazy based on the look he gave us. haha.... The next morning break, I went out again, and the crazy topic came up again, although not for long this time.  This time they wanted to know what skipping ropes were called in English.  And after that they challenged me to show them that I knew how to use one.  Done!  As I was jumping, they all chanted, "A-man-da, A-man-da..."  And then I had to join in on all of the different games they were playing with the skipping ropes.  It was a lot of fun!  When I went back to my classroom after break, my co-teacher just looked at me and said, "Why do you look so happy? What happened in the last 20 minutes?"  Didn't know it was odd to look happy... Anyway, then during lunch, on my way back to my office, I got ambushed by a pair of grade 3 girls, who spent the next 20-30 minutes saying random things in English to me and making me repeat phrases in Korean after them.  About 5 minutes in we were joined by a pair of grade 3 boys who also jumped into our conversation, and they started being pretty silly, standing on the window ledge - at which point we got scolded by a Korean teacher, looked innocent, and went back to what we were doing. :P  Eventually we were joined by a pair of grade 4 boys who decided it was time to teach me how to say their names (and then I got made fun of by a Korean teacher for my bad pronunciation).  Oh, and then they (the grade 4 boys) each told me that the other liked me.  Awesome - because that's what I need - children crushin' on me...lol

And that segways me into my next mini-story - I was taking in some sunshine, when one of the younger teachers walks by and comments on how hot it is, and so I responded that I thought it was nice (more about the sun after that nasty rain...). Five or ten minutes later that same teacher comes back with two cups and hands me one, saying, "Amanda, iced coffee.  DRINK!!!!!!" uh...but I don't like coffee though.... hahaha....
Hmm, upon reflection, I think they like feeding me because as I was doing some photocopying one of the staff brought me a couple of plums to eat (and she told me they were plums, even though I could see that myself) ;)

Apparently today was also "Teach Amanda Teacher Korean Day".  During that morning break, a few of my grade 3 girls stayed after class to write random things in English on the board.  Then they started pointing to the things they wrote, and made me read them.  This turned into writing things in Korean on the board and making me read them.  Pop quiz on Hangul!!  After the quiz, (well at the same time actually) they also started saying words and phrases, and made me say them slowly, and then faster, and I had to repeat them if I pronounced them wrong. Enter the demon dragonfly!!  I've noticed that Korean kids seem to be scared/freaked out by any kind of bug, even butterflies!  So when the dragonfly flew in, chaos erupted!!  After it got chased out of the room, they started dragging me around the room to different objects, telling me the names in Korean.  It was a great impromptu practice!  Although, I can't say how much I'll remember...
Then at lunch, as I was chilling out enjoying some of the sunshine, one of the admin staff found me, and decided to teach me the names of some sports in Korean.  Not sure that that will really be useful to me at all, but I appreciate the thought.
And to finish the day off, as I was heading home after work, the principal calls me over, and 'teaches' me how to say goodbye.  No worries, I can pretend like I didn't know that one ;)

The only other adventure I've had recently was getting a haircut.  Now, if you know me really well, you know how much I don't like getting my hair cut, so it was naturally incredibly nerve wracking to go in and find out the hairdresser knew basically no English, and yet still get a haircut.  I think the only words I got from him in English were: cut, ok, and layers (although this last one was repeating after me).  And with my limited Korean, I am very happy I brought a picture with me! His cutting process was also very different than what I'm used to - he didn't wash my hair first - just misted and went straight to cutting.  After a few "Oh no, what've I got myself into" thoughts, it came down to - "too late now, gotta go with it"!  No worries though, in the end it turned out alright, even if it's a bit shorter that I wanted.  And is it even possible to get a haircut for only $12 at home? Somehow I don't think so.

Cross your fingers for good weather for me this weekend!!

Next weekend = a trip to Daegu with the ladies to see Cirque du Soleil!  Excited for that - stay tuned...

A day at sea

It finally arrived!  The long anticipated day out on the Koreana, Yeosu' s biggest tall ship. And we couldn't have asked for a nicer day! The weather was absolutely beautiful- warm and sunny, and being in the water gave us a nice breeze that kept it from feeling too hot.

The Koreana

We set sail in the morning with about 35 of us foreigners, plus the captain and crew, who of course had to get a photo taken with us and their ship before we left. I'm actually quite glad that Stuart, (who organized this trip) didn't go for the full 50 people the ship could hold because I feel like that would've made the ship overly crowded.

We sailed around on the bay just outside of Yeosu and enjoyed the weather and scenery.

 

Around lunch time we stopped at one of Yeosu's many islands for about an hour,  and we wandered around the island for a bit, while others jumped off the back of the ship and took a swim.
Apparently the village on this island has a famous makgeolli (rice wine) factory, which we were supposed to be able to go see,  but the owner wasn't answering his phone, so that was cancelled. Nonetheless, a rather large number of bottles of makgeolli were loaded onto the ship anyway.

Just as we were about to leave the island, a bunch of Koreans wearing bright blue shirts came up to our ship and started talking to the captain.

Turns out they were from NBC, a Korean TV station, and they wanted to take some pictures and video footage  us and the ship.  So we delayed our departure for a bit and had our pictures taken while having to  say things like "I love Yeosu" and "Fighting". Then they had to film people jumping off the ship onto the water and others climbing up to the crowsnest.

When we got underway again, we sailed by another island, whose rock face is apparently a famous view in Yeosu.

After that, the crew put the one front sail up again and turned off the boat's motor. Since it wasn't really that windy,  we didn't really go anywhere fast at all. Well actually, I think we sat in about the same spot for at least an hour or so. Not that there was anything wrong with that mind you.

During this time, it got really quiet, as a lot of people fell asleep (or passed out, depending on the person and what they'd been drinking). We also had a paper passed around for those of us who live in Yeosu, as the captain apparently said that he'd register those of us who were interested in a sailing class for free! So we of course jumped at the chance, and we'll have to see if it comes to anything.

We pulled back into the harbor around 5:30, and everyone started to take account of how tanned or burned they got over the course of the day. I of course got a bit of a lovely tan! As we de-boarded the boat, the captain shook our hands, gave hugs and had photo ops.

All in all, I thought it was a wonderful day- I got to spend time with my friends, met some new people and enjoyed a beautiful day out on the water.

We were also informed earlier today that the captain is planning another outing sometime in the near future that will be an overnight trip and will cost significantly less (only 10,000₩) on the condition that we all make or bring a food dish from our countries. Hmmm....we'll have to see about that one... He must've really liked us to be offering to do this...

If you're interested in seeing more pictures from this particular outing, you can see them in the album I created on Facebook here.

Random things my students/co-workers/friends say

So, I've decided to make a post that I might keep updating, (depending how I feel) about the random amusing things that I get to hear in Korea.

My friends:
"You're so calm - like a Buddha!"
"It's so relaxing being around you."
"Mandy, you're so refreshing - even though you can be quiet, you always come up with thoughtful contributions to the conversation that make it feel like it pulls everything together."
"I feel like I can be myself around you; that I don't have to be anyone else"
"I wish I was a mermaid! Wait, how do mermaids have sex?"
"Look! A whale!" Others: "are you sure it wasn't garbage?" 1st one: "I know what I saw, and I saw what I know!"


Co-teachers:
"Amanda, you don't need to diet, but we do!" *ahem - never thought I needed to - and umm...sure you do...*
"I don't like kids - I only like babies"
"Amanda, your body hair (arms) has turned white."
"The other teachers want to be close to you, but they're scared to talk to you (in English)"
"Do you think I should have another baby? I want your opinion."
"Your lunch is so little!'
"The principal decided that the Friday after the last day of the semester, all of the teachers will go on a hiking trip together." Me: 'YES!!!' Her: "But I don't really want to go because I don't like hiking, but I have to because the principal decided it.  And I think all the other teachers really want to go hiking with you."
"When do you get paid? You should treat us for dinner."
"Amanda, your skin color changed.  I understand that westerners like that, but for Koreans, we don't. We like white skin. I don't understand why foreigners do tanning."
"After the open class, I told the homeroom teachers we taught the whole lesson in English.  They didn't like that."
"Oh! You're eating a lot today! Good! Good job!"
"Why do you look so happy? It was only a twenty minute break."
"Do you need to know Korean?"
Me: "I saw a mouse today" Co-teacher: "Did you say hello to it?  I think you like all animals"
"You eat so little and sleep so little, but you have so much voice! You must be Superman!"
"I like making you draw things, because I can't!"
"Why are you always so happy on Mondays? I hate Mondays. I always think wow when I see you so happy."
"I think you need an oxygen mask."
"You don't like shopping? Usually women do though...guys must really like you."



Other staff:
After trying unsuccessfully to talk to me by using Google Translate: "Google shit!"
"You went to Odongdo? Next time, you go with us - we your guides!"
"Amanda - we be your Korean teachers! You be our English teacher! Call?"
"You don't want to drink soju or beer? Are you Christian? I think you don't want to drink beer because you're Christian."  uhh...but that's not the reason why though...
"Amanda, call me oppa." Other guy: "Oppa? You mean 'appa'! *laughs* Amanda, you call him appa, and me oppa."
"Went to a beach on the weekend - there were foreigners there, wearing bikinis *scandalized look* and then some of them took off the tops of their bikinis. Why???"
After a workshop on the topic of Canada Day - "Amanda, your country, my style."
After refusing a car ride home, "You like walking???"
"Your face turned so red! You look like an apple!"
"Here Amanda, ice coffee. DRINK!!!!!!!!"
"Thank you equals ice-cream."
"Amanda, let's go hiking in Seongsan park" (funny because you can't really hike in this park - walk maybe...)
"You're big!" Me: "I'm big?!" "Ah, no! I meant you're tall!"
"You look similar to Lady Gaga."
"Why are you always outside? Are you lonely?"


Students:
"Are all foreigners skinny?"
"Can you Korean?" Me: 'A little bit...' "OK, Start!" Me: '안녕하세요...' *They all jump back with amazed expressions, say "Wow!" and all start talking at once.
"Are you 220 cm tall?"
"Have you ever been in a Miss Korea...oh...Miss Canada contest? No? Why not?"
A group of grade 5 girls hanging out at lunch time: two of them are play fighting - the girls watching say "They're lesbians!" Girls fighting come and hug me, saying "Amanda! She hit me! We're fighters!"
This one doesn't have to do with anything they said - but what they did - a lot of the younger girls like to hold my hands and start bouncing.  The other day, one grade four grabbed my hand and wouldn't let the others anywhere near me,  and then started rubbing her cheek on my arm.
One of my grade 3 girls notices I have a bandaid on my wrist - grabs my hand, starts rubbing my arm and blows on my bandaid.
"Your eyes are so shiny!"
"Amanda, we're doing Gangnam style in the elevator!" - student gets down on all fours to demonstrate and starts waving his butt around.
"I'm a girl!" - this from a male student, who followed this statement up with a very good impression of a female runway model
"They have man-man love."
"Oh! Eyes blue!?"
"You're prettier than Angelina Jolie"
"What are you talking about???"
"She will study her boyfriend."
"Amanda, you're so short!"
"He likes you!"
"How old are you? Really? You're so young!" (from a 11 year old)
"Amanda, spelling, hell..."
"What is English for..." (gesturing to her breast area)
"Amanda teacher, you smell beautiful."
After summer vacation - "Amanda, your eyes are blue??!" yep, still the same color, no need to be so shocked
"You should use tape..." (on my arms to get rid of the hair...)
"How many boyfriends do you have?" - not 'do you have one' but how many LOL
"Amanda teacher, married?" me: no...pause..."Oh.  Boyfriend?" me: no....longer pause "Oh...lover??"  Why do my grade 3s know the word lover??!
"Amanda - that boy...*points to another teacher* you love? *does the whole heart sign thing*" Me: "Uhh..no..."  A few minutes later - same thing repeated, but this time I answer, "I'm too old..." Student: "Oooohhhh!" and nods like this explains everything
"I love you Amanda!"
"Phone number? phone number? phone nuuummmmbbberrrrrr....."
"Amanda sem - you are Cinderella!"
"Amanda teacher - son of a bitch meaning is what?"
"Fur!"
The DAY after a student told me her name - "Why do you always forget my name? Finally you remember my name."
Me: "What do firefighters do?" Student: "They put out!"
"Where are your lenses? You look more beautiful with them."
Teaching students the phrase "Yes, I'd love to."  A couple students get too excited, and come out with, "Yes, I love you!"

Last weekend's long weekend!

Before I start this post, I feel like I should apologize for not updating my blog lately! However, in my defence it has been rather busy for me lately - our school is holding open classes for the parents to come watch later this week, so we have to plan extra special lessons for that, and I think all of the teachers at school are crazy stressed out about it.  Not to mention being ridiculously tired - why do they have to start building/banging at 6:30 until 8 am ON THE WEEKEND???

For this post, I'll talk about last weekend, which was a long weekend!!!  Four days off - it was excellent. And I was finally not sick anymore!
I started off the weekend by going to Odongdo (a little island in Yeosu) with a friend of mine.  It was a lovely day and Odongdo is absolutely beautiful! I can probably see myself going back there a few times! 
You can see some of the pictures that I took in this photo album (Click here).
Oh, and they have a water fountain there that they time to music - it was kind of cool - I took a video - See it here:

I also tried out some street food (for the FIRST time in Korea) and it was DELICIOUS!!! What did I have, you may ask - well, I had a waffle that was filled with whipped cream that was drizzled with honey. Yum! (And yes, I can feel your shock from here that I ate something with whipped cream - but it didn't taste like whipped cream - it's difficult to describe, but it was more fluid and not as fluffy - does that make sense???)

On the Friday I visited Manseongni Black Sand Beach, which is apparently a famous beach in Yeosu.  It was my first visit to a beach here - unfortunately it ended up being rather hazy that day (but I went again this weekend and it was a beautiful clear day and you could see the islands all the way across the water.  Getting there is kind of scary though.  On part of the bus ride there, you go through a tunnel which looks like it is only one lane of traffic, but nope, both directions of traffic go through it!  So when vehicles come from the other direction, the bus either has to pull into a tiny little offshoot or back up into one.  Not to mention there are NO lights in this tunnel at all other than the vehicle headlights - sketchy!  Here's a couple pictures from the beach - these are from last Friday - which wasn't a holiday for everyone, which is why the beach was so quiet.

The only other interesting things I can really say about my long weekend was that I visited a market and bought some peas - and the ahjummas kept trying to convince me to buy some weird lettuce too, but all I wanted was my peas!  Then I wandered down to a fruit shop where I got myself some grapes and got a baker's half dozen bananas as a service! Score!! 'Free' fruit! Who wouldn't love that?!