Thank you letter

Dear Korea,

These past 12 months have been a trip of a lifetime. Maybe trip isn't the best word to describe this experience since this year of work became life as I know it. It became my familiar routine and my mundane everyday existence. Looking back, I never expected to be sitting here, writing my last blog with a mindset of complete and utter certainty that you (Korea) would be ready and willing to have me back for one final lap. It's funny to think that these kids I've been teaching 5 days a week for 12 months have all grown up and changed drastically from when I first timidly, walked into class. Seeing these young, studious Korean children for the first time, properly positioned in their chairs with face masks and straight black bangs, I was confident, in that moment, homogeneity would be my nemesis.

As it turns out, having students choose their own English name came as a hilarious yet beneficial tool to facilitate my memory and effortlessly allow me to differentiate between them. Bangs or no bangs, facemask or no facemask, there was no way I was mistaking Harry Potter with Michael Jackson, or Screech with Obama. I slowly became more and more familiar with each student, their new yet impractical English name and their sweet yet boisterous personalities. I knew I was in for a year of attempting to teach these children English, but what I didn't know was how much I was able to learn from them.

Korea, your timeless architecture, traditional values and squatter toilets intrigue me. They are all what make you unique, yet reinforce your seemingly outdated and conventional ideals. Your social progressiveness is far from what is common in North America but your willingness to learn from us foreigners and welcome us in your country make you exceptional.

So, what I really want to say is, thank you. Thank you for serving 120 different side dishes before the actual meal even though the table is the size of a wooden television stand. Thank you for inventing "Teachers Day" where acceptable gifts consist of olive oil, spam, socks and couple set underwear. Thank you for encouraging couples to dress the exact same, head to toe thus giving us foreigners reason to lovingly punch each other in the arm every time a couple set appears in our peripheral vision. Thank you for NOT hiring a translator before printing English words on shirts and then selling them. Thank you Koreans for unknowingly buying those shirts walking around the streets with printed tees that read, "Abortions suck dick", "Mr. Shit Ass", "Break a reg", and "Boners" (there are plenty more where that came from)! I want to thank my Korean students for their hilariously spot on comments. After 2 minutes of flailing my long limbs around the room to demonstrate a Tornado, I thought I had given a pretty decent explanation of what natural disasters entail. Asking each student to name the scariest one, a student answers, "My Mother", with a justification of, "she is natural and sometimes makes my life a disaster". Brilliant.

Thank you for charging less than 1 Canadian dollar for a bottle of Soju and thank you for placing picnic benches outside mini stops and 711's for our convenience. Thanks for building mini stops and 711s on virtually every corner, just in case one store doesn't have any more chomchy kimbop left. Thank you for selling booze in each of those corner stores 24 hours a day and not judging us when we decide to cheap out one night and shotgun beers in the cooler section every hour. Thank you for introducing me to the Kings game thus enabling me to meet all of my current Korean friends. I never thought I'de say this, but thank you for the blatant stares because when we actually do participate in outrageous activities (wear animal costumes to the bar on a random Thursday night, dress up as a tampon box for halloween or walk out of the restaurant bathroom with a mile long string of toilet paper purposely dragging behind us), no one seems to really give a shit. Thank you, Koreans, for pronouncing the letter "Z" as a "J" and making me laugh every time we talk about the Zoo in class.

I specifically want to thank those middle aged Korean businessmen who get so wasted that their co workers need to drag their limp bodies and red faces home, in turn, making me feel less bad about my drinking habits. Thank you Korea, for your efficient bus system, beautiful mountains and your bizarre obsession with hair and phone accessories. Last but certainly not least, thank you for giving me the privilege of having the most unique nickname one shall ever receive just because my real name is so seemingly close to the Korean translation of "Birth Canal".

There are plenty of memories I will hold dear to me, some which are a little hazy, and some just not worth remembering at all. Consequently, there are a few things which I will not so much miss but without, my whole experience would be incomplete. I will not miss your smelly fish markets, or your eccentric food culture. Korea, it is not necessary to devour every single body part (inside and out) of a chicken and seriously, what good will come from eating a live octopus? Domesticated animals should be cared for, NOT EATEN or DIED every color of the rainbow.

I won't miss your oppressive summer heat or those horrific soju hangovers. I certainly will not miss your abundance of squatter toilets, or the fact that flushing toilet paper is an unnecessary and unheard of act. I will not miss bringing my own toilet paper to the bathroom since apparently it is a rare and expensive commodity. I won't miss paying 4,000 won for a cup of coffee especially when the cup is merely half full. I wont miss trying to explain to the barista that I ordered a size large coffee for a reason and no I would not like you to just add more boiling water to my drink. That's gross. I surely will not miss holding my breath in a cab every time the driver decides to go through a stop sign or red light or that repulsive horking sound older Korean men make and expect those in close proximity to just ignore.

Although I have become more comfortable with it now, I will not miss your scolding of students or the fact that these children attend 4 to 5 schools a day. I definitely will not miss calling my students every night and being hung up on 7 out of 10 times because the child's parent doesn't speak a word of English or even consider that maaaybe their kid who attends 4 different English academies might be the reason for the call. I won't miss your one and only genre of music (K-pop)... okay... fine... I might miss it a little, but I unquestionably won't miss hearing the same dreadfully catchy jingles that I find myself subconsciously humming incessantly. While the experience is an authentic one, I will not miss sitting on the floor of restaurants and in turn not being able to feel below my waste for the remainder of the night. Lastly, I absolutely, 100% won't ever miss the horrific stench of beondegi (silk worms) engulfing the city streets day and night.

It's been 12 perpetually long months since I could order a sub or even a pizza to my own home. 12 months since I could read the signs in the aisles of the grocery store. 12 months since I could actually understand television commericals or watch Oprah give away her favorite things. It's been a lengthy 12 months that in reality flew by right under me. In 12 months I've made some truly incredible friends, experienced a whole new culture and even learned how to plunge a toilet.

It has been a great run Korea! I'm now leaving you, with amazing memories, strange socks and one back pack. There will be one less weyguken to partake in the day to day hilarities of living in a foreign country, one less person to convince to go out with on a Wednesday night and one less Jew in Gwangju. But don't fret Korea... more Jews will come! :)

Have a healthy and happy 2011.

See you next year!

Signing off,

Birth Canal OUT! xxoo

It's the Little Things in Life

Me: What is your favorite Country, other than Korea?
Student: I like Japan because it has many dikes.
Me: ???????????????
Me: Umm, Tina, can you say that again? I do not understand.
Student: Japan has many, many dikes. This is good.
Me: (still confused) And why is this good?
Student: Because they are strong and no water will come out.

Standing at the front of the class with thoughts of hilarity floating around in my head, I had to pause for a moment, to ensure that this grade 4 student surely meant something completely different than my initial interpretation. Obviously (or maybe not so obvious) this student was referring to dams (a barrier to obstruct the flow of water) which Japan happends to be full of. It's classes like these where being a foriegn teacher for an ESL class is worthwhile - one good laugh makes the stresses of teaching that much more enjoyable.

I feel like after living in Korea for almost a year now, I have a stronger appreciation for other ethnicities living in foriegn countries where their native language is barely spoken or recognized. Not only the language aspect, but the entirety of living, working and experiencing day to day obstacles that in your indigenous country, would not be an obstacle at all but rather a basic, mundane activity. For example, the other day my friends and I wanted to order pizza. We decided to stay in and have a movie night, and a movie night would not be complete without a box (or 2) of pizza! However, our excitement slowly faded once we realized ordering pizza is a very difficult task when you know minimal Korean and live IN KOREA. Thankfully, we have a handful of Korean friends that would gladly do the honors, however it's not a great feeling being somewhat dependent on others especially when it comes to such an effortless chore. So, after 4 hang-ups and some miscommunication, we were actually able to order a box of pizza to Lauren's apartment and I swear to god I don't remember the last time I felt so accomplished in life!

Lauren also told me a story of when she returned home from work and found a note written in hangul attached to her front door. All she saw were Korean letters and a phone number to call. She was expecting a package that week and assumed this notice was to inform her of her absense when they tried to drop off the box. With broken English and some Korean thrown into the mix, Lauren had a brief conversation with the lucky employee who happened to answer that call, but ended up recieving her package just hours later. Now, you are probably thinking that this was a very ordinary life situation, but as a foriegner, it is actually a HUGE accomplishment! Again, this is just to reiterate my tremendous appreciation and understanding for foriegners around the world.

One of my students just returned from a trip to North America. She went to Washington, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver. Her first day back in class she was distributing the little gifts and knick-knacks she purchased overseas. All the students were excited to recieve authentic gifts from Canada and America but were astonished by the English writing on all of the souvenirs. She began handing all the girls in the class miniture bottles of Dove hand cream that she bought. Once the girls recieved their gifts, the whole classroom smelt like a fruity beauty salon and naturally, the boys started to complain. I asked them to put their new moisturizers away but noticed all the girls hands awkwardly sticking together and bubbling at the same time. When I asked to see one of the bottles, I read "Dove Shampoo and conditioner". Pour kid. I felt really awful for her because she thought she had purchased something she didn't, but I can also completely understand how easy it is to make that mistake. Even when I buy shampoo, conditioner and body wash, I have to poor a little bit out of each to recognize the texture before using it. I decided to tell her of her innocent mistake and we all laughed it off.

It's really the littlest things in life like ordering food, asking for directions, calling a taxi, that allow you to reflect on the culture you are currently immersed in. Last week I had to walk to the corner store when I realized I was all out of toilet paper. Thinking this would be a 10 minute excursion max (4 minutes there, 2 minute for the purchase and 4 minutes home), I left my door unlocked holding only my wallet in one hand and a half eaten apple in the other. I walked confidently into the store scanning the place with my eyes hoping to have them freeze on the desired white item, however after about 4 minutes of looking I decided it would be best to scan the isles myself.

Walking up and down the isles still holding my wallet and now an apple core, I was getting flustered. This mart sells just about everything from toothbrushes, to hamburger buns to vacuum cleaners. They HAD to sell toilet paper, I must have just been missing it. 4 minutes quickly turned into 8 minutes which then became 15 minutes. I was aware that the store clerk knew absolutely NO English and calling a Korean friend was out of the question since my phone was laying comfortably on my bed in my apartment. Hmph. I was stumped. It felt like trying to complete a rubix cube when you have all five sides filled in but there's just that one line you can't figure out. You know there is a way to end it but aren't sure which path to take. Anyways, walking up to the emplyee, I tried asking for toilet paper very slowly, hoping that maybe the word would be conglish (pronounced almost the same in Korean - maybe something like "T-O-I-L-E-T-UH P-A-P-E-UH"). But all I got was a blank stare.

Soooo... I tried plan B. This was probably the most humiliating thing that I have ever done and come to think of it, no one would ever know other than those innocent bystanders in the store that night, but now this will be virtual, public information. Looking defeated, I squatted right in the middle of the store, knees bent, butt raised to the ceiling, having my apple core serve as the toilet paper and furiously pointing to the core trying to non verbally communicate that THIS was the whole source of my blatent and obsene demonstration. It was TERRIBLY embarassing but something that needed to be done. Hopfeully I won't have to squat in any more public places but walking home 40 minutes later I was happy that I at least got what I came for. Mind you, I dont go into that mart anymore unless I need something desperately and I bought enough toilet paper to last me through my final month.
Oh and when I thought it couldn't get any worse, leaving my door unlocked was a HUGE mistake. I walked into my apartment greeted by 5 Korean men holding drills!!......

Just kidding... that already happened.

My life here is a joke.

Miss you all and for the first time I can actually say,

See you soon!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha xx

The Toilet Principal

Diary Topic: After learning about past and present world leaders, pretend that Abraham Lincoln was still alive. What would you ask him or what would you say to him?

Dear Abraham Lincoln,

I respect you. You are handsome and honesty. I think you are so great, man. But mostly, you are soooooo handsome!! Especially, you are so tall. I want to be tall too so I will be more handsome like you. You are a good people because you delete slavery. What is your height?

- Owen, grade 6

Being tall in Korea is collectively understood as a virtuous characteristic that can ostensibly distinguish between attractive and unattractive persons. To Westerners, this vain outlook on appearance is something we are not exactly used to but can easily draw parallels to our "need to be skinny" culture. Appearance and prosperity are far more important to Koreans when looking for a mate or significant other. Ofcourse I wouldn't disregard those two features as completely irrelevant. Growing up with Jewish parents, I was reminded almost daily that my future husband must be 4 things: Jewish, rich, does not drive a motorcylce and is without piercings or tattoos. However, my personal feelings differ.

Just last week my boss took the foriegn teachers and I out for lunch. The car ride to the restaurant is always a bit awkward mainly because of the small space and the language barrier, but nevertheless the 4 of us managed to make small conversation. Our boss then proceeded to ask us all about our love life (or lack of) which kind of took me off guard. In Korea, relationships are praised and envied by others. Stores around the city sell "couple sets" which are matching outfits for couples, head to toe. There are also restaurant "couple set menus" where for one price, you can order a meal for two and various cafes set up with tables of two in a seemingly romantic environment (one coffee chain is even called The Twosome Place). So it is clear the country cators (or trys to cator) to youthful, sexless...uhh i mean unseasoned couples.

Tieing the knot at a young age is highly desireable in Korea. I'm sure I've mentioned before that Korean's overall, live with their parents until they marry and since most live in apartments rather than houses, sharing rooms with family members is extremely common. Yes, there are "love motels" all over the country, and various other arenas of the sort, it still doesn't leave many options for young lovers to spend time alone together. Anyways, my boss asking me that question would seem bizarre or even a little inappropriate back in Canada, however in Korea, it is merely a question of pride. I mean, if wearing a (planned out) matching outfit, walking hand in hand with your boyfriend/girlfriend isn't a sign of pride or confidence, I don't know what is? As we pulled up to the restaurant, my boss made mention that ofcourse, he loves his wife, but the two main characteristics he looked for in a mate were, "money and face".

Moreover, I still find it amusing when my female students, right in the middle of class, where we could be discussing Terry Fox's battle with cancer or homeless people in America, will still pull out a hair comb and a "Beauty and the Beast" mirror (you know those hand held mirrors that look like the mirror from Beauty and the Beast) and start "fixing themselves" in class! I'll usually make a comment or just stop talking completely, starring at them in disbelief until everyone feels uncomfotable, but I think the worst I have done when this situation occurs (and trust me, it happens regularly) is walk up to the culprit as soon as she's finished beautifying herself and mess up her hair as viciously and spitefully as I possibly can. Yes, I know, I am probably 13 years older than them but...COME ON!

Well last weekend I decided to treat myself to a pedicure with 2 girlfriends. This wasn't just your average pedicure...it was far more tickleish and slimy. We went for a "fish pedicure" where you dip your feet into a communal tub and hundreds of tiny fish with baby teeth attack your feet like bees to a hive. It was a very strange feeling, almost overwelming at first, but we eventually got used to it and at least all my dead skin was enjoyed as an afternoon snack.

So on a different topic (sorry if that grossed you out) my Korean seems to be improving a little, however I find myself learning more from my mistakes than from actually being taught the language. My grade 2's are just learning English and therefore end up speaking Korean in class more than I should allow. The other day one student yelled from the back of the class, "Teacher!!! PEE!!!!" Pointing to his leg under the desk, I figured I was about to be dealing with a pour embarassed student who just peed his pants. The other students in the class starting saying words in Korean which by their reations, probably went something like, "eww, gross, etc, etc. Feeling terrible for this little boy, I walked over to him and he then pointed to his leg where there was nothing but a tiny cut and some blood. I later was informed that "Pee" in Korean means "blood". Go figure.

Lastly, and probably most embarassing for me, is my consistent mispronunciation of Korean words. I still sometimes get into taxis, say the name of my neighbourhood in Korean and am given a blank stare in response. Once the taxi driver finally understands my desired location, I am still unable to point out the difference in both of our articulations. Apparently one sound, or a single letter can mean a completely different idea. For example, if students are misbehaving in class we are told to threaten them with sending the mischievious child to the principals office. However, in Korea, they obviously don't refer to it as "the principals office" rather, "Hwa Jung Shil" is what might connote feelings of panic and fear for the students. For 10.5 months now, I have been using this korean term when threatening or simply scaring a child into doing what I want of them, and maybe 7 out of 10 times I have 2 or 3 children chuckling at their desk. I mostly disregard the laughs because Korean students, for some reason or another, absolutely love getting eachother in trouble. "Teacher, Harry spoke Korean!!" or "Teacher, he's cunning!!" (cunning=cheating), nevertheless, I did't associate the laughs with my doing. I was TERRIBLY mistaken. The Korean word for "bathroom" happens to be exceptionally close to "Principals office" and is prunounced "Wong jung Shil". Unknowingly, I have been constantly interchanging the two and didn't even have a clue! So, when attempting to discipline my students, I immediately lose all credability when my threats go something like,

"If you speak Korean in class one more time, I'm sending you to the washroom!!!!" or "Don't use your cell phone in class. I am bringing your cell phone to the bathroom and you will have to explain why it's in there!" or "Teacher, I didn't do my homework." With a response of, "Thats the third time, go to the washroom for the rest of class!" "But teacher..." "GO!"

And on the other side, I now understand the reason for the blatent stares when I ask a server at a restaurant where I can find the directors office???

10.5 months in and I'm still learning something new everyday.

I have a meeting tomorrow to discuss my final day of work. It won't be in a bathroom.

Miss you all.

Write more soon!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha

6 Koreans, 5 Drills and a Burglary

Last week our school was given 4 days off to celebrate a traditional Asian holiday known as Chuseok. Chuseok is the celebration of a good harvest where typically, Koreans spend their time with cousins, grandparents and the rest of their extended family feasting on traditional Korean cuisine. For the foriegners, however, Chuseok is merely time off work to vacation, party and absorb the last of the summer weather. On Tuesday morning, I, along with 12 other native teachers, departed Gwangju and headed to the beautiful Island of Bigeumdo. Before I continue with what turned into an eventful camping adventure, I must inform you of the prior incident which occured Monday morning, my very first day of vacation.

Going to sleep sunday night I was thrilled not having to set an alarm and work 8 hours with children who barely understand a word I say. Since every workplace was closed on Monday, the bar scene Sunday night was pretty hectic. I eventually crawled into bed around 6am and fell deep asleep, excited for a workless Monday to follow. At around 9:30am i heard a strange singing noise that almost immediately became part of my dream (which I later figured out was my doorbell...that I didn't even know i had!?) About 10 minutes later the same irritating noise went off but this time my enclosure light turned on as well. The light I have inside my enclosure area is automatic and only turns on by motion or movement. Clearly, someone or something was standing in my apartment just behind my second (unlocked) door. At this time, I was half asleep, with a pounding headache, still undecided if this was a dream or if there was actually a stranger standing merely 7 feet away from me, in my own apartment. Before I even had a chance to come up with potential scenerios of who was going to walk through my door, uninvited, the handle turned to the right and 5 Korean men holding drills walked confidently in a single file line, through my door, past my bed and into my kitchen. Their confident stride was so bizarre that it almost seemed like they had been here before and were just routinely walking into their office, a place where they are comfortable and familiar with. It seemed as though they didnt even realize I was lying in bed or that they had just abruptly let themselves into my home without my knowledge or consent. Behind the 5 men, stood a short, middle aged Korean woman who quickly tip toed over to my bed (where I was still lying, confused and disoriented) with her arm extended out towards me, holding a cell phone. Judging by her body language, I assumed she wanted me to talk to the voice on the other end, which is exactly what I did. The voice was my Korean secretary/co worker who I was hoping would give me some clarity as to what in the world was going on.

So now, let me paint a more clearer picture for you. At this very moment, I am still lying in bed under my covers, while there are 3 Korean men on their knees drilling something in my kitchen and the other 2 men are standing to the right of my bed. The petite Korean women is screaming at one of the workers over the noise of the drilling and I am trying to talk with my Korean co worker, in bed, in my pajamas, barely able to even hear myself think. Oh yeah, and it's 9:30am on my first day of vacation!!!!!!! I don't know if I was more angry, confused or hungover, but all I knew was that sleep was imperative at this point. My co worker had informed me that I had a drainage problem that needed to be fixed immediately. Never would I have thought a simple plumbing problem would require 6 Koreans, 5 drills and a burglary but nevertheless I have learned that things are done much differently here and VERY last minute! Once I was caught up with this faux break-in and completely aware that not a single one of these Korean workers spoke a word of English, I decided to do the most reasonable thing; throw my covers over top of my body/head, pop in my earphones and pretend this was all some sort of bad dream.

So I guess you can say my vacation really began with a bang! Tuesday morning a group of us left for Bigeumdo Island where we first boarded a bus to Mokpo and then took a 3 hour ferry to our final destination. The Island we went to is famous for its heart-shaped beach. It is absolutely breathtaking and was a perfect place to camp for 3 days. There were a lot of firsts for me on this Island, which include setting up a tent, helping start a fire and trying to find shelter during a typhoon that hit the second day we were there. The rain pourned down pretty hard our first night and by morning 2 tents were down and others flooded. Luckily mine and Anna's tent managed to survive the harsh wind and terrential downpour but it was most definitely too small for all 14 of us to use as shelter until the weather cleared. So together, we all came to the conclusion that breaking into a log cabiin in the woods was probably the most logical thing to do. We stayed in the cabin (filled with cob webs and mud) for a couple of hours but kept ourselves busy playing cards and participating in back and forth exchanges of some humorous work stories. Finally, once the rain died down, a few of us walked over to the beach where we noticed the waves were easily the highest and most aggresive ive ever seen and immediately all decided to partake in the fun. Overall, this camping trip was a great little adventure that I will never forget!


Setting up our tent!

The beach

The first sunset

Bigeumdo Island. Notice the heart-shaped beach?

Our crew!

It's somewhat amusing to compare my 2 camping experiences, one with all foreigners and the other with all Koreans. The way in which Koreans go "camping" is not at all what us Westerns consider the definition of the word. About 3 weeks ago Ryan, my co worker and I went on a "camping" trip with about 5 Korean teachers from our school who had planned and organized the whole weekend. All we knew was that we were going to be camping on a beach but didn't need to bring any tents as the accomodations were already set up for us. When we arrived in Namhae, the city where we were giong to be stationed for the next 2 days, a Korean man picked us up from the bus stop and with all of our luggage the 7 of us piled into his pick up truck where he dropped us off at our paradise beach home. I couldn't believe the word "camping" was even used to describe what we were about to endure that weekend. We stayed in a 2 bedroom bunaglo with a full kitchen, a television, our own private pool and the Ocean just beneath us. We didn't have to make a camp fire because the camping grounds provided us with a full barbeque and we didn't need to use our sleeping bags because the house came equipped with blankets, sheets and duvets. The bunaglo we stayed in is actually a traditional Korean house known as a minbok which has no beds or chairs or any real furniture for that matter (the television was stationed comfortably on the ground). We ate all our meals on the floor and all of us slept in one big room which we layered with thick covers and pillows. The trip was a great bonding experience with my Korean co teachers and I was even given an authentic Korean name; Min June, which apparently means long life. This was definitely a unique sort of camping experience (if you would even call it that) but again, differed greatly from my more recent camping quest to the heart shaped beach.

Our humble abode


View from our house of the private pool and beautiful countryside

Our bedroom

Me along with my Korean co workers (left to right: Kelly, Sara, Clair, Ashley)


Some delicious food my co workers prepared for us!


Our last day we rented ATVs and drove around on the beach


Miss you all!


Write again soon.


Singing off,


Gillian "Min June"

My English Teacher's Name is Gillian...

So it has been exactly 9 months since I moved to South Korea and I still find myself learning something new everyday. It's definitely not easy living in a country you have never been before but living in a country with vast cultural differences where the absence of your native language is evident, makes your daily life that much more challenging. One thing I have realized over the past couple months, is that I cannot blame every misunderstanding on simply being "lost in translation". When a conversation with a Korean hits a road block and both parties are questioning the others ideas or intentions, there are 3 things you must consider.

1. Yes, something could possibly be "lost in translation".
2. The whole conversation could be a misunderstanding.
3. Yes, you heard correctly and now realize how brutally honest Koreans can be.

To help you understand what I am getting at, I will provide you with personal examples from each of the instances above:

1. It is almost expected that when attempting to learn another language, far different from your own, words, phrases and even ones intentions might be lost in translation. After a night of drinking with two of my taekwondo instructors, they began asking me and my other foriegn co workers how to pronounce certain words in English and vice versa. One word they so willingly taught us to pronounce in Korean, is the phase "Peyontae". Their English, compared to many other Koreans I have met, is pretty decent, however they were having some difficulty explaining the exact definition of the word "peyontae" to us and decided to look it up on their phone. The definition read along the lines of "to observe cute, round or chubby cheeks" and seemed appropriate to verbalize to an infant or baby. The next day at work, I was excited to share my new Korean lingo with my grade 6 students (who always remind me that I am living in THEIR country and should therefore learn how to speak THEIR language). So with a proud smile on my face, I walked up to one of my students and in Korean repeated my newfound vocabulary "You are a peyontae". This students face immediately turned red and most of the class burst into laughter (the other half questioning my mentality). Assuming my pronunciation was waaayyy off I asked them to assist me with my articulation... that was until one student declared, "teacher, why would you call Alice a pervert???" So..... I think by "round" he meant "vulumptuous", by "cute" he meant "sexy" and by "chubby cheeks" he meant... well not the cheeks I was thinking of!?

2. Obviously a misunderstanding is common practice in a foriegn country. This proves to be true ESPECIALLY when you are a teacher to young children who can barely pronounce the word "fine" ("I'm pine thanks" - its F-F-FINE...you are not a tree!) or constantly interchange the letters "R" and "L" or "B" and "V" even though they look and sound noticeably different ("I want to go lorrelbrading-- ROLLERBLADING! And it was a ROBBER who stole the money, not a LOVER!"). Anyways, like I said, misunderstandings are common occurances in my daily life but nevertheless are entirely expected. One particular instance happened the other day in my grade 3 class when I was asking each student about their weekend. I got the usual mundane answers, like "I played video games" or "I rode a bike" however one student caught me way off guard when he said, "I went to my grandfathers home and watched him burry corpses in his backyard". Uhhhhh...? I had to pause for a moment, clearly taking note that a student just told me he watched his grandfather dig graves for dead bodies in his backyard, but also believing that this MUST be a miscommunication. After asking this student to repeat himself 3 times, I came to the conculsion that his grandfather is a farmer and he therefore spent his sunday afternoon watching his granddad plant crops in the back... or so I hope...

3. And lastly what I have come to distinctively pertain to Korean culture is their abrubt honesty. A classic example of this occured last christmas where a foriegn co teacher of mine was given a christmas card by our Korean secretary/co worker that basically read, "Merry Christmas! Happy New year! Lose weight!" Koreans are not afraid to tell you when you look like crap (and no, they wont cherry coat it with "you look tired"), they will literally say to your face and without you inquiring; "You look bad today" or "Your face looks puffy" or "I've noticed you have more and more grey hairs everyday". It's almost inevitable that one will grow tougher skin just by living and working in Korea. Now, the surprising thing, is how one should respond to such an honest/painful remark. What I have found to be shockingly acceptable in Korean culture is to admit you were under the influence of alcohol the night before (even if you may not have been) and Koreans will be completely and utterly empathetic. Stange concept I know, where in North America, a real hangover would most definitely be covered up by a fake cough or sniffle over the phone explaining you caught a 24 hour virus, in Korea a cold or even the flu can be cured with tylonol and a face mask. A hangover on the other hand, proves that you are a socialable person and invites conversation about events of the night and future drinking arrangements.

Now, this brutal honesty doesn't just stop at friends or co workers but has also leaked into the younger generations, aka my students. Last week, I had my grade 6 class write a diary entry. Each week I assign them a topic for me to edit, grade and return to them the next class. Since I have been assigning these diary entries for the past 9 months now, I kind of ran out of ideas and recycled another foriegn teachers proposal to have my students write one page, introducing me, their foreign teacher, to a friend or family member. I sort of had a weird feeling about this one, mainly because this is the same class that has told me, more than once, that I have bad style and weird hair. Anyways, I would like to share with you some of what my grade 6 students wrote to describe me *the last 2 are my personal favorites:

"First, she is my English teacher. She said she is 23 years old but I think she is 30. So I think she is lie to us. Maybe I will like her much better if she doesn't lie to us about age and plays more games. She is sometimes funny but not always. At last, she is tall and her clothes are very strange and her hair is curly". - Kelly, grade 6

"My foriegn teacher's name is Gillian. She is 23 years old. She has curly hair. She is Canadian. Her fashion style makes her look very old because her style is like grandma. She is nice sometimes but sometimes she is angrily". - Emily, grade 6

"My foriegn teacher is tall. She smiles a lot. I don't like her clothing but she is kind and a little funny. She likes bagels and poutine." - Janice, grade 6

"This is my English teacher Gillian. We saw pictures of her childhood and brothers and parents. I think she was more beautiful when baby than now. She has dark face and not fat. She can speak English very well but she can't speak Korean well. She is kind because she gave us Canada money but I want a dollar. She is sometimes bad because she gave us strange cheese. She has a lot of earings than normal people. It looks TERRIBLE. I want her to put off them!!!"
- Sophie, grade 6

"My English teacher is my teacher Gillian. She is from Canada. Her style is like grandmother style. Her hair is much curl. It is like a snake or ramien noodle. She has 2 brothers. One is handsome the other is so so. She likes Korean food. She doesn't play a lot of games so she treats children badly. Sometimes she is kind though. She is tall so she looks like an ostrich"
- Owen, grade 6

Write more soon,!

Gonna go cry myself to sleep...

Miss you all!

Signing off,

Gillian "grandma style ramien haired" Teacha xx

If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?

Rafting just north of Seoul

The bridge

Leigh about to jump off BACKWARDS!

Getting ready to jump

Well in my case, the answer is YES. Not because I am a "follower" or give into peer pressure easily, I just happened to be the second last person to bundgy jump off a 54 meter bridge north of Seoul, SK. I guess I should start by explaining the prior activites that eventually lead up to this exciting free fall.

A couple weeks ago, Leigh (my co-worker) and I were busy at work and decided to research stimulating and enjoyable things to do in Korea on our weekends. We had both been previously told about an organization called Adventure Korea (http://www.adventurekorea.com/) which cators to foriegners living abroad who are somewhat adventurous or just want to try something different. This past weekend, Adventure Korea was leading a rafting and bundgy jumping trip leaving from Gangnam, Seoul at 7:30am on Sunday. Still hard at work, Leigh and I made some phone calls to our friends telling them about this exciting opportunity (for a great cost to by the way) and rounded up 8 others to join our team.

As it turns out, this was the same weekend our very good friends from Gwangju were leaving us. With two years under their belt and an expired contract they were flying off to India to travel for a couple months before returning home. The amazing thing about living abroad is that your friends literally become your family. We are all in the same boat, living in a foreign country without anything remotely familiar, working the same jobs and forming close-knit relationships unlike any other. The downfall to this, however is quite obvious. Everyone has an expiry date flashing above their heads and it's only a matter of time when we turn the page and start a new chapter in our lives.

Saturday night, some friends and I from Gwangju, took Jessie and Kate out in Seoul for 'the last supper' (or in modern days- 'the final drink'). The following morning, with puffy eyes and an hour of sleep, we boarded a bus to begin our Adventure Korea, Korean adventure. First stop: rafting! This was my first time ever rafting, although even those who have endured this water sport in the past would probably say rafting in Korea is unlike what is recognizable to Western standards. The aesthetics are pretty much identical; large oval shape yellow boat, suitable for about 8-10 people. The journey through a river, however, differs greatly from what us "outsiders" are familiar with. During the calm patches of water there were several squares of sand along the side of the river. We docked our boat and enjoyed a fun water slide made out of two upside down rafting floatillas accompanied by two Korean men vigorously splashing water on the boats to warrent a slippery slide down. Ofcourse, being in Korea, there was obviously an abundance of alcohol (specifically soju and beer) being drank at our mini pit stop in the middle of NOWHERE! During another still arena of water, our guide proposed an idea. He directed us to stand on the edge of the boat directly across from one another in pairs, each holding one end of a paddle in attempt to push one another off the boat and into the chilled river. In the end, everyone ended up in the blue (and white) water at some point or another.

So with a bruised knee cap and soaking wet clothes, we headed out into the country until we spotted a lonesome red bridge approximately 54 meters above water. This was to be the bridge we would all commit our suicide pracitce on. Watching the first 2, 3, even 10 people jump was quite a bit nervracking to say the least...more like mindboggingly horrifying, questioning my will to live and crap in your pants type of scared... but considering I was the second last person out of 50 people to jump, made me mentally over-prepared (if that is even possible). However, that feeling of comfort and vigilence quickly diminshed when I was standing at the edge of the bridge realizing that the Korean man attaching the bundgy cord to my harness spoke extremely limited English (okay, that was generous... he did not speak English whatsoever)! So now, unsure of

a. whether or not I am mentally prepared to jump

b. if I will actually make it out alive

c. whether or not I am physically prepared to jump, because let's be honest here, a mis-communication at this point in time would be REALLY unfortunate!!

and d. why I even decided to do this in the first place?!

With 3 hours of built up courage and a brief count-down, I somehow managed to bundgy jump (or march) off the edge of the bridge, screaming into thin air. This was probably the scariest yet most rewarding experience I have ever gone through in my entire life! No, I would probably never do it again but would definitely recommend it to others inquiring.

All in all it was an incredible weekend filled with extreme personal challenges, stepping (jumping) out of my comfort zone and saying goodbye to great friends! The summer in Korea has been brilliant this far and there are still plans of camping and beaches in the near future.

Will write again soon!

Miss you all!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha xx

Made in China

Harbour ride boat tour in Busan

My parents first night in Gwangju I took them out for dinner with some friends

View from the boat ride

A Korean beach covered in umbrellas

My parents basking in the sun on the beach in Busan, SK

Most Koreans have a fear of the sun and cover up head to toe

An authentic dramatic Korean performance in Seoul

Saw the performance Nanta our last night in Seoul

Rickshaw's are a very popular form of transportation in Beijing

Most men walked shirtless on the streets due to do horrible heat wave

An adorable kid in Tienaman Square

Entering the Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden City

Purchased a caligraphy piece in the Forbidden City

The streets of Beijing

Panda reserve

Most children roamed the streets bottomless

Standing infront of the Great Wall

View from the top

Outside the Olympic Stadium

Dumpling makers or brain surgens? You decide.

Our delicious dumpling dinner

So I know it's been about 2 weeks since my trip to China and visit from my parents, but better late than never! It was such an amazing 10 days with them and I couldn't have imagined a better time! Yes, some tears were evident upon their arrival but they were quickly shed and many smiles, laughs and stories were shared. Before leaving for Beijing we traveled to Busan in the South of Korea, took a harbour ride around the sea and laid-back on the beach.

A Korean beach experience is very different from a beach I am familiar with back home. I mean, considering where I was brought up, "beach" wasn't exactly an essential word in my vocabulary, travelling has allowed me to witness the attractive paradise of what a beach has to offer. Since Korean's have a somewhat irrational fear of the sun (parasols in hand if their destination involves stepping outdoors) it was not surprising that the beach in Busan is completely covered in umbrellas, already dug into the sand. I find a great sense of pleasure when I am lying leisurly on a beach chair basking in the sun, cracking my eyelips open every so often when a song changes on my ipod, just to peer at the current and the clear blue sky reminding me that I am completely in my zone. When there are hundreds of umbrellas and parasols distorting your view, as well as Korean's starring and judging you wondering why you are not covered head to toe in fabric holding some sort of shield from the evil sun, it makes it almost uncomfortable to try and get a glimpse of the sea or a real sense of your surroundings.

All in all, Busan was a great mini vacation and nothing close to what we were about to endure in China. Our accomodations in Busan were definitely different than what my parents are used to, but I'm thankful they are so open-minded. My mom, my dad and I ended up staying the night in a Korean "love motel" disgned largely for couples. Since Koreans tend to live with their families until they marry, love motels are catered for couples to spend the night outside of their parents home and come equipped with interesting vending machines and creams. It was kind of a funny experience though and my dad was just happy the room was at least air conditioned. So I am sure the Korean woman working the front desk that day went home with a funny story for her family.

My parents and I bussed to Seoul late Tuesday night, enjoyed a hop-on-hop-off bus tour Wednesday and then watched the performance of Nanta Wednesday night before our early departure Thursday morning. Nanta is a world famous non-verbal, unique performance originating in Korea. There are only 5 cast members, half actors/half chefs who dance, cook and play music all with a variety of kitchen utensils. It was a really neat presentation and something I would definitely recommend to others visiting Seoul.

On Thursday the 29th we departed for Beijing and the next 4 days that follow are pretty much all combined together in my head. It was 4 days of waking up at 6am, hitting as many tourist destinations as possible in one day, and arriving back to the hotel by the early-ish evening. So in no particular order, our days consisted of; the 600 year old Summer Palace, the silk market (where you can literally price the merchanise yourself by bargaining until the tired Chinese retail worker either decides to give up on trying to sell a fake prada watch for $100 or realizes she doesn't have a chance when negotiating with an experienced Jewish father, aka my dad!).
Side story: the silk market is a six story building with various booths of clothing, gadgets and accessories on each floor. To give you an idea of how much you are haggled and harassed here, my parents and I would stand at the end of one isle, take a deep breath and literlly RUN to the other end ensuring no eye contact was made with the solicitors. At one point we were being pulled on and yelled at by 15 different workers that the 3 of us ran to the nearest exit, ending up in an old stair well and apparently interupting another group of employees grabbing a quick bite. It was pretty hilarious when my mom, my dad and I looked at eachother standing aimlessly in the stairwell amongst a family of Chinese retail workers, not quite sure why we were there, how we even arrived at this destination and not quite sure where to go next. Overall, it was a unique experience to say the least and I also learned that I am able to shop even under extreme pressured circumstances.

To my surprise, the haggling didn't stop at the silk market. People were always ready to sell you things on the streets no matter where you were or what time of day it was. I remember walking out of a resaturant after dinner and noticed that it had started raining while we were eating so none of us were prepared for the pool of water we were about to set out into. Just before I was able to think of the best way to get back to the bus in hopes of enduring less rain, a man selling umbrellas came out of no where and i'de say did pretty well for himself!

Moreover, the tour we were on took us to the Forbidden City where we were introduced to some Emperor's nephew who created an authentic caligraphy piece for us. We also visited a panada reserve, Tienaman Square, a cloisonne factory, the Olympic Stadium and ofcourse the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall was definitely a site to see! It was amazing walking up the wall with a 2 year old on one side of me and an 89 year old man on the other. Unfortunatley China was hit with a horrible heat wave which made parts of our outdoor excursions almost unbearable, but my parents, always thinking ahead, brought along battery operated fans with them, which in Asia, is not something the locals are used to seeing. So while the majority of the population is operating manual fold-up fans, my father is enjoying a cool electric breeze by the touch of a button. This might sound like any other mundane act (using a hand-held electric fan) but in Asia, they are non existent and EVERYONE uses those asian-esq fold up ones. So my father, a tall, grey haired (sorry dad), caucasian man, managed to acquire even more attention to himself, if that is even humanly possible.

As beautiful and unique as Beijing was, it was also a little dirty and somewhat uncivilized (or at least compared to other asian countries I have visited). Most children wore bottomless jumpers using the city streets as their throne (if you catch my drift). The heat wave allowed for minimal clothing to be worn on all accounts and most men we saw were shirtless as well. The bottomless babies and shirtless men were not limited to the streets and were also exhibited in museums and fancy restaurants.

Chinese food in China is obviously delicious but also very different from American chinese food. One restaurant my parents and I went to had no English on the menus (something I am used to from Korea) and also no English speaking waiters/waitresses (another challenge I am used to from Korea). However, knowing minimal Korean and not having any familiarity with the Chinese language, made things a little more difficult when trying to order. We saw a picture on the menu which we thought might have been peeking duck, but from some of my scarcily close encounters in Korean restaurants almost eating dog, we wanted to feel certain that what we were about to order was not any kind of domestic house pet. Clearly, verbal communication was not an option, so my mom decided to draw a picture of a duck, I helped her out by making hand gestures to form into a ducks beek and my dad, sitting across the table is quaking like a duck. We must have looked like the strangest family to ever step foot inside this restaurant!!

On the other hand, my parents and I did have some interesting food trying experiences throughout our trip. After a lot of peer pressure, both my parents decided to dip into a traditional Korean snack of Silk Worms (which are absolutely disgusting but are for some reason served as a side for almost every meal). Mine and my dads taste buds are seemingly similar and he also thought they were quite nauseating. My mom, however, noted, and I quote, "taste like chicken"! My first night in Beijing I met up with a friend from University who was completing an internship and leaving for Thailand the next night. So a couple of us went out Thursday evening, caught up over some drinks and had a unique dining experience where both Vince and I tried chicken heart for the first (and most definitely the last) time.

For the remainder of the trip, we were brought to various chinese restaurants with our tour guide (who I will get to later), so having a chinese chaperone made things a lot easier and more comforting. Our tour guide Linda was a sweet woman I suppose, but I think may have been assigned to the wrong bus because even when she was speaking English, I thought she was speaking Chinese. It was very difficult to understand her and by the third day of the tour she completely gave up on speaking English altogether. She might have been knowledgable on the historic sites we visited, but its not like I understood a word she was saying. Ill give her credit though for trying to be funny, however after using the same line of, "If you are not on the bus raise your hand!" kind of got old.

On our last night in Beijing we walked around a market and went to a chinese dumpling restaurant for dinner. As soon as you walk inside the restaurant there is a glass window with about 15-20 workers dressed in white lab coats, wearing face masks, holding sharp utensils and concentrating vigorously on the subject at hand. To someone who didn't know they were watching dumplings being made, it could have easliy been confused with brain surgery! 27 dumplings later, we were ready to head back to the hotel for our last sleep before my parents and I parted ways again. The trip to Beijing and seeing my parents in Korea was almost surreal! Everything worked out perfectly and I was so happy that my parents made this trip happen.

Anyways, if you are still reading, I hope I didn't bore you too much. Ill have a few more entries to come shortly. Only 3.5 months left and then off to Australia for me! Miss you all and will write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian teacha xx