friday~ friday~ gonna get down on fridayyy~

In another GREAT MOOD this Friday! Took some more pics!

Some adult (or adolescent) stray dogs that wander around... Looking for scraps, maybe?

This one was the cutest! She wanted to play so badly!!

Another one!

:') sooooo cuuuuute

I can't get over it. Too adorable. It was so difficult to leave them.

The walk home, on this very pleasant Friday afternoon!

  

The sun was painfully bright, but worth itttt. Me and my walk home... That collection of buildings and apartments is a district called Garaebi. (sounds like "kah-ray-bee" or "kah-lay-bee". The l/r sound is very close)

I should try and take something more high quality, but this is a nice little bridge (over the tiniest little river, haha) but behind me you can see more of Garaebi. I like the look of it. :)

This street is one of the main ones, just a few blocks down from my apartment. Down here, I can find all sorts of things! Where I get dumplings. Paris Baguette. The coffee shop. Lots of hair salons and pizza places and restaurants and jewelry stores and convenience corner shops - so many things. And all within 5, 10 minutes of walking.

Today (Thursday) has been a really good day!

This week I started actually teaching some! The first class I have with them, I was just introducing myself with a powerpoint (pics of me and the fam, of Pinawa, of winter, of Canadian foods) so that's easy enough. They are so cute and enthusiastic.

The curriculum is easy enough, but I am definitely playing catch-up as I'm just starting to get a feel for what the classes will look like. I'll get a grasp of it soon, but in the meantime, it does seem to get easier every day.

Oh! And one of my grade seven classes helped me get a Korean name! So some of them call me Shannon (or "Shannon-teacher") or now...!

*drumroll*

Cho Eunji! (Cho or Jo is the family name, Eunji is the first name.) Some of the other teachers (the not-English teachers) have trouble with pronouncing my name, so having a Korean name is helpful.

Also they would say "Cho Eunji sun-sang-nim" which means... Cho Eunji-teacher, haha.

I can also write it in Korean, but I don't know how to... hold on, let me try Google translate....

조 은 지
Cho/Jo Eun Ji

So that's exciting!

I don't know, today was just a good day. I had good classes, I've been having little conversations with the other not-English teachers over lunch - which continue to be delicious, by the way! Today there was a spicy chicken soup, white rice, fish, fruit salad (mostly apples and yogurt), and of course kimchi!

Two days ago was my first experience with something I found a little spicy. (The kimchi has been fine, actually, just spicy enough.) I don't even know what the food was, it was... ham? and pineapple? and other vegetables and also really spicy. I communicated as such to the other teachers, and they kind of giggled, and were like "we don't think this is spicy". So we laughed, and I said I would have to eat more spicy things! I did finish it, but I had to take breaks. That was a good moment, it was one of the first times me and the not-English teachers had a conversation beyond hello and goodbye. :)

The English teachers can speak very well! So far things have gone well, and they are easy to get along with. One in particular, her English name is Hayley, speaks very well. She spent some time in Canada, actually, in or around Toronto. She even says it "tarannuh" like a native Torontonian, haha. Anyway, she has been especially kind and has been so so helpful in my adjustment here. She's a very cheery person, not afraid to let herself be a little silly, I think impossible not to like.


What else!

Honestly it doesn't feel like a lot has happened, but I guess altogether it adds up to a lot!

There are a lot of small differences...

Like... white shoes with dark pants. All the students wear that. It's not weird. Or socks in sandals or slippers - that's what my fellow teachers wear! There's this thing with outdoor shoes vs indoor shoes, so you might wear sneakers or boots outside, but when you come into the school, you change into indoor shoes, which are actually pretty casual. I've been wearing open sandals myself. All shoes, outside or inside, are made to be slipped on and off very easily.

Or coffee!

See those? Those little cups are what most people use. I have a stack from the initial supplies I was given my very first night. They are as small as you might guess. So in that first picture, you see the little packets? That's coffee. So you open a packet, put it in a cup, and add boiling water... Instant coffee! This style is ubiquitous.

So in the second picture is my trusty kettle, and a little coffeemaker I ordered online and just received yesterday! This morning was my first cup of "real" coffee, made possible by Lenny - thank you!

Things I've found in Korea! Some imported things are completely in English. Like, Lipton has Korean branding, but it seems that Betty Crocker is totally in English... and I found those butter cookies! Such a nice comfort to have. :)

There's my school in the background! And also this yard, which, I realize you can't see very well, but this little yard has PUPPIES. They are SOOOO CUUUUUTE, it's so painful to say goodbye to them on my walk home. I wish I could have three, they are adorable. (I'll try to take better pictures of them later.)

And this was my haul today! Dumplings for supper (so good!), oreos (which taste exactly the same as in Canada, thank goodness, another comfort food), and white sugar, because I have no plans to get used to the bitter taste of regular coffee and tea. I did it a few times now, but no more!

I just had sugar in my peppermint tea and it's so much better. Tastes like home again!


P.S. - Oh, also, I saw my first other foreigner two days ago, on Tuesday! I was walking down the street and saw a black guy approaching! We were both a little surprised, I think, but we said hello and continued on. In hindsight, I wish I had stopped and said hello properly (because it felt like a really big deal!) but at the time, I think my surprise got the better of me.

The ol' apartment

Seeing if this works...

MY (ONGOING) LIST OF THINGS I WISH I HAD BROUGHT FROM CANADA

- pumice stone
- tea
- TOWEL (the towels here are REALLY small and thin, imagine trying to dry yourself off with a handtowel. Except even thinner than what you're probably imagining...)
- sugar

PICTURESSSSS

OKAY so I went to a coffeeplace (which was REALLY Starbucks-esque) and synced my Dropbox on my phone, so I can access some pics - here are pictures from my first day at work!

This is the playground right outside my apartment! 

The first street I walk down...

The second street I walk down. To the left is a grocery store called EMart.

This is the main intersection. You can see at this part of town it becomes a little more open.

Mountain in the background. Those buildings with crosses I assume are churches, but if they are, their services are in Korean. I'm told a church with English services is another town over or so, so it might be a couple weeks before someone can show me how to get there.

Down the last big road before I reach the school. Those trees are cherry blossoms, I think, so in April it's supposed to be suuuuper pretty. I'll be sure to take more pictures at that time. :)

My desk at school! It's actually really comfy. You can see my Internet is wired by ethernet cable. Every teacher has a cubicle thingy, my fellow English teachers are all around in the same area. The students feel totally comfortable coming in here and checking things with the teachers - it's a really warm environment, I like it. :)

After school, the walk home...

Also on this same road on the way back home, it's a little farm-like, and greenhouses. (And at certain points it certainly smells that way too! haha. Well, manure smells the same in Korea as Canada...)

Oh, also, along the same route, there is a little fenced off area where someone has puppies and they are soooooo cute!

MY (ONGOING) LIST OF THINGS I WISH I HAD BROUGHT FROM CANADA

my tea
my pumice stone

more to come as i like, figure out what i wish i had brought

First day at school

Well... it sure does feel like a school in Canada! Some things are so familiar about it that I forget I can’t speak the language for a moment. There’s bells and class times (though the rings to signify the start and end of classes are kinda wacky fun), and there’s basketball and soccer courts outside the back, which kids from the town use outside school hours ‘cause it’s a small town, I guess.

The atmosphere with the other teachers is professional, but warm. They seem willing to joke around and most of the time everyone seems happy. Busy and happy. I can’t wait until it warms up and the courts open up, I should try and find a way to get out there and play or something, when it’s hot. It just looks like a very welcoming soccer field…

I eat lunch in the school’s cafeteria, and lunches are provided (the cost is taken from my salary, at something like 3.50 a day – good, huh!). The lunches are going to be great, if this first day is any indication. There was kimchi, of course, some sausage and egg thing which tasted like it could have been from Canada, some… green vegetable that was good, rice (it was sticky rice obviously, but mixed with something sweet and purple. Idk, it was good!), and some beef soup. Then to top it all off, the best piece of pineapple I might have ever had. I might dream about that pineapple.

This is also the first time since I’ve come to Korea where I was really excited to see what the future is like. It’s already pretty enough, but as I might have said already, they’ve mentioned it’s really pretty here when the plants and trees start growing again in April. Anyway, it’s easy to picture what it might look like in the spring/summer and I’m kind of excited to see it. =)

I have a desk in the teacher’s room, it’s pretty sweet.

I don’t actually teach until next week. This week, I sit at my desk and get familiar with the material I’ll be using in my classes. It’s a bit hectic ‘cause this isn’t just my first day at school, it’s the first day for everyone else, too. (I have a suspicion that more conversations than I think actually do have to do with me and what I'm up to.) Trying to figure out the schedules and how the classes will actually look is a bit stressful, but again, that’ll take a couple weeks to get into the swing of things. 

Good first day! We'll see what tomorrow looks like!

First couple days in Korea

This is where I wish I could upload the photos but... again, working on it. It's different from Canada... I've told a few people in chats, but here we go...

It's not cold here. They think it's cold here, it's not. The temperature ranges from like -5 in the evenings to 0 or +2 in the afternoon. (It says it's +8 right now, but still feels a little cool.) I still wear my winter coat, but I get hot walking places. There's not snow on the ground - it seems like it's an event whenever it is.

The floor at my apartment is heated, that's something else. Since my feet are now barely ever cold, I now barely ever feel cold. Honestly, the heated floor is nice.

There is smog. There isn't really such a thing as a clear day, which I expect will wear on me eventually. Even sunny days, which it is right now, aren't really sunny. It's sunny and grey at the same time, which is truly a bizarre look. When it's overcast, it's REALLY overcast, haha.

Jetlag hit me really hard. That first weekend I was struggling with homesickness, not wanting to eat (but still being hungry???), and so Saturday I slept from 3pm to around 3am, and then Sunday I stayed up 3am to 8pm (pretty much watched Parks and Rec all day), and then slept 8pm until 630am on Monday morning.

Still nothing on uploading pictures or video. The USB cord I have is great for charging things but it doesn’t seem to allow a connection between my computer and my phone. Now, I have pictures and video, but not a way to upload them…. Yet!

From my last few days in Canada...

In the last week or so, as my exit from Canada sneaks up on me, I've been feeling like Bilbo Baggins.

“Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!” 

“We are plain quiet folk, and I have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable things.” 

“Getting rid of dragons is not at all in my line, but I will do my best to think about it. Personally I have no hopes at all, and wish I was safe back at home.” 

I am hardly off to get rid of a dragon, but I will say I am feeling daunted by what's in front of me. I guess you could say that I'm a fair weather adventurer. When it's daylight out, I feel I can do anything - in the dark of nighttime, this whole "moving to Korea" thing seems ill-advised and frightening.

Time will tell. It's currently pretty scary feeling, but I'm sure there will be good things for me, too.

Also Bilbo-related, and again, stretching the metaphor a bit, but I will try to think of it this way... It's not extraordinary courage that I'll need to get through this, but the everyday sort.

“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien