What's Your Biggest Fear?

Me: "Today we are going to talk about your biggest fear".
Student: "What is fear?"
Me: Fear is something that is scary... for example, I am scared of spiders. So I have a fear of spiders. What are your fears?
Student: I am afraid of my mom!

Sadly, about 9 out of 10 students in my class either answered their mom, their angry father or the principal of the school... and I wouldn't even blame them! Punishments for these kids vary from a wack on the back, a smack on the hand or...wait for it... 25 flicks to the forehead?! The other day I had a student who was acting out in class, throwing around a freakin paper airplane and completely disregarding my authority. After the students blatent refusal to leave the classroom himself, I decided to send up a note with another student, along with the paper airplane, in hopes that Mr. Ryu (principal) would call his name over the loud speaker and summon him to the scariest place on Earth... his office. However, things did not exactly turn out as planned. Mr. Ryu decided to physically walk into my class, stand at the front of the room with a long wooden stick, hit the table with the stick approximately 15 times (I was even intimidated), and called the trouble maker up beside him. He then proceeded to (infront of the entire class) flick this student in the forehead 25 times!!!! It was probably the most bizarre form of punishment I have witnessed yet!

Just to reiterate, as I have previously mentioned, I do not at all agree with their means of punishment. I have thought relentlessly about why it is necessary to be physically reprimanded, however there is value to be found in optimism. No use of continuously trying to justify or concur to a policy so obviously outdated. I have accepted the fact that there is nothing I can personally do to change it and living in their Country, as an outsider, I promised myself I would not enter into this experience with critial eyes. Maybe Korea is just a little behind of their time. People change. Change is inevitable.

Well on the topic of change, the World Cup fever cooled down a bit after Korea was brutally defeated by Argentina. The score was 4 - 1 and the atmosphere at school the next day was less then displeased. There is another game Thursday early morning at 3:30am and my students promised me they will be up and cheering on their team. Now if that's not team loyalty, I don't know what is? However, if they lose, my students will be pissed AND gumpy. Grrrrreat!

Today as I was teaching a grade 4 class about different foods people eat for breakfast around the world ("That's right Sally, not everyone in the world eats kimchy and rice"), I kept hearing a faint buzzing sound which was somewhat distracting. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I continued to ignore this seemingly familiar noise (remember I did live with 9 wasps in my kitchen not so long ago). Anyways, one of the girls in my class lifts up a clear plastic globe resembling a hampster ball with 6 bees trapped inside, flying around aimlessly, trying to aggressively secure their freedom. Now I am not by any means an insect activist, so my first thought wasn't that they were probably going to suffocate in their new undersized home, I just couldn't understand why in the world someone would try and capture a bee without the intent of killing it or removing it from ones personal space. And not only that, why in the world would you proceed to bring a ball of bees to class!? It was then that I realized this young girl holding a ball of stingers had more power and supremecy in the classroom then did her very own teacher. One wrong move of that plastic bees nest, and I was literally running out the door!

That's all for now...write more soon!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha xx

World Cup, Korea

Try to imagine yourself, the only foriegner in a restaurant on a Saturday night in Korea, squished like sardines from wall to wall, eating your meal and the person beside you sitting almost literally on your lap, where the only visible color you see is red (shirts, pants, bracelletes, devil ears, etc) and a huge projector screen is broadcasting the first World Cup game on a painted white wall beside your table. There are people sitting ontop of tables, under tables, on the floor or just standing aimlessly by the front door to watch the replay of Koreas first goal against Greece. The atmosphere is electric. Koreans are dancing and singing in the streets, popping out of sunroofs, waving huge Korean flags and screaming for joy.

Saturday night some friends and I watched Korea's big win in the World Cup against Greece! The score was 2 - 0 and the crowds went balistic!! I have never experienced anything like it before. Living in Toronto, Canada, I think the closest thing we have to the World Cup (which is not even close at all) would be the Stanely Cup or the Olympics (which I dont think ive ever fully followed- my bad). It's amazing to be living in a country that is so dedicated, hopeful and supportive of their team. It was Patriotism at its finest and being the odd one out, in a crowd of Korean bliss, I have to say, for the first time in 7 months, I felt like part of the team. Their energy and excitement was positively contagious which lead me right up there with them on those tables, holding their flags and chanting their cheers!
The next game South Korea will play is on Thursday night against Argentina. Now I don't know much about soccer, but I do know Argentina basically invented the game... so here's hoping Korea will put up a good fight!

Today was the first day back at work after the big win, and just like I expected, all my students were dying to talk about it. Ofcourse I didn't mind because not only were they talking about the game in English, we also wasted a good half hour of not doing the mundane work and writing practice they complete everyday. My students however, didn't understand why I was also excited that Korea had won. "But teacha, you are a foriegner!" (as if no one could tell...). "Yes George, I am, but Canada is not part of the World Cup AND I live in Korea right now". "Well, what if Canada played against Korea?" "But Canada is not in the World Cup." "Well what if South Korea played against America?" "I am not American, George". "Well what if South Korea played against North Korea?" Basically, my students don't believe that I am cheering on South Korea, because I am a foriegner, and wanted me to prove my loyalty to them. Sooo I promised them all a pizza party if South Korea wins. I have altogether 140 students. I suppose I am now impartial to the overal triumphant team. haha (thats A LOT of pizza/$).

So while we are on the topic of my students, I have some unfortunate news to announce. Obama has dropped out of school! Haha who'd ever think that sentence would come out of my mouth?! But yes, he has officially left the academy, which means the name is up for grabs! See, when it comes to prominent names like Obama, Franklin Rosevelt, Micheal Jackson and so on, they are more desirable and therefore obtain a higher name calibre. I will only allow one of my students to occupy these virtuous names and now that Obama is gone, I'm sure I will have many little ones offering me stickers and candy to gain ownership of the name... I suppose I will go with the highest bidder...!

I was also given 2 new male students in one of my grade 2 classes. I decided to go with Tom and Jerry. They sit beside eachother and I assign them as partners for any group work activity. Gives me a good laugh.

Write more soon!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha xx

Under the Sea, Over the Sea and Everything in Between

Where do I even begin?? Well Sarah just left Gwangju and I'm pretty sure I can say with confidence that I showed her a good time! Since meeting in Japan on the 21st, we have been none stop on the go until this morning! I dont have an ounce of energy left in my body and my voice sounds like a boy going through puberty, but I'de still say it was well worth it!

So I know I said the same thing about Vietnam, but everyone MUST include Japan on their bucket list! It is such a cool/unique place to visit... MUCH different from Korea! I think what surprised me the most was that in Japan, they drive on the opposite side of the road! I wasn't really expecting that. The second thing that stood out to me was that everyone looked different! I know that seems like a strange observation, however Japanese people seem to take style into a whole new domain and are MUCH MORE experiemental with colours and fabrics. I can't really say the same thing about Koreans. The style here (or lack of) is kind of... well... boring and more or less the same. Even hairstyles here are homogeneous! Japan however, had a very ecclectic mix of people, styles and most importantly... food (I know you were probably all waiting for that).

Never in my 23 years of living have I tasted the freshest most delicious, mouth-watering sushi ever!!! Every meal we ate, the same 5 words unconsciously poured out of my mouth, "best meal of my life". I can honestly say both Sarah and I ate our way through Japan. I seriously don't know how I am going to be able to eat basic civilian sushi again?! It has ruined me for good! (Gnocci has also never been the same since I ate it in Florence). Oh well, I still wouldn't want to take back those amazing couple of meals! Comming back to Korea and eating kimchi and rice really made me question my decision to live here for a year, but I know for a fact that if I lived in Japan, I would be comming back with less money and an extra couple chins...haha.

Anyways, the 5 days we were there were all packed with touring, hiking, eating and ofcourse, shopping. Tokyo is HUGE! There is so much to do and see! We spent a lot of time in the area of Shibuya where that massive intersection is as well as a famous park and some cute shops. We stood at the corner of this intersection and just people watched for a good hour... it was amazing to see hundreds of people crossing the street from every direction at the same time! It almost looked like there was a giant street parade waiting at a stop light to cross the road. Definitely a funny sight to see.


One corner of the intersection


A conveyer belt sushi restaurant


Yup, we ate all those plates of sushi...and more!

My first bite of the freshest salmon sushi known to man


At a park in Shibuya, we stumbled upon a traditional Japanese wedding


Harajuku girls

On our second last day we took a day trip up to Kamakura (about 2 hours outside of Tokyo) which is famous for the many shrines, temples and Buddhas that inhabit the town. Unfortunately it started raining that day but we had already planned out our trip and didn't want to back down. Thinking it would be a very laxed and calm day, I decided to wear my sandles (you will understand why this was a mistake as you continue reading). Once we got to the area we began by following the map to the first temple. However, if any of you know Sarah (and I) well enough (okay, mostly Sarah for this one)- she likes to take the road less travelled. As we are following the drawn out hiking trail, we notice a smaller path veering off to the left in the woods and Sarah decides it would be much more exciting to see where it leads too. I agreed, and we ended up walking until we came across a small dark cave in the middle of the forest. We listened to make sure there were no bears or other dangerous wild animals and bravely (ran) through the cave ending up in someone's backyard. It was a beautiful garden however we were completely tresspassing into someones private property as we could see right into their glass house. We decided to keep walking through this forest until we ran into an old Japanese man surrounded by 12 cats. He couldn't speak a word of English but for some reason took a liking to Sarah and I and gave us 2 paddles to play a game (similar to badminton) but both the birdie and the paddles were hand made. It was a really cool experience and this old cat man was extremely nice. It was now getting dark and we wanted to get to this massive Buddah we had heard so much about (one of, if not, the largest Buddah statue in the world). We explained to this man that we were trying to find the large Buddah and he told us (in broken English) that we still had about an hour and a half hike up a mountain. We quickly got on our way... when it started to POUR! Hiking up a mountain, soaking wet, in sandles, trecking through puddles of mud higher than my ankle with a purse... is probably the most unpleasant thing I can think of! So after hiking for hours in the rain, we finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel and got to a road. Walking out of the forest and onto the road was like seeing sunshine after a long cold winter! We ran into a couple who looked at us like we were crazy (we literally looked like we had been living in a jungle for over a year- all muddy, wet and probably smelly) who we asked directions to get to the Buddah. The woman told us that they were closing up the park so we had better hurry but pointed us in the right direction. So with the last ounce of energy we had left, we ran as fast as we could down the road and into the park just in time to lay eyes on the largest Buddah I have ever seen. It was such a relief to be there and it felt like we actually accomplished something. Here are a couple pictures of our hike and our final destination.


The nice old cat man


We walked past a beautiful bamboo forest


We finally made it!

A large temple in the middle of Tokyo

We ofcourse experienced Tokyos nightlife as well but most nights we were exhausted from our long days that it was difficult to make it out. We both had such a good time and I'm already looking forward to getting back there someday!

We left Japan on the 25th which was a Tuesday and I had to go into work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. While I was at work during the days, Sarah kept herself busy by touring around Gwangju and hiking up a mountain. Last Saturday the two of us decided to go on another adventure and head south to Busan which is right on the coast. We packed our bags (again) and after the 3 hour bus ride, headed straight for the beach with absolutely NO plan. We figured worst case scenereo we could crash on the beach, but I knew there were plenty of love motels around the city so I wasnt too concerned. If I havent told you about 'love motels' they are basically a motel with only one bed and a very romantic setting. We slept on a circular bed (like Austin Powers style) with a mirror on the ceiling overtop of us (haha) as well as a jacuzzi and heart shaped hangers. It was pretty entertaining to say the least. There was also a very interesting vending machine outside of our room. Lets just say.... it didn't sell chips or pop. ;).
Love motels are extremely popular in Korea mainly because individuals live with their parents until they get married, so these motels are a way for young couples to "get away" for a night.


We spent the weekend in Busan mostly on the beach but also went to this amazing aquarium where we went on a boat ride in a shark tank to feed the sharks and saw the most incredible fish I have ever seen! Soon after that, we headed to the World Famous Fish market which was the complete opposite experience than the aquarium. The fish market had probably the most disturbing sights I have ever seen as it looked like these people had drained the whole damn ocean and were selling it! I think if you are in Korea you should definitely see it for yourself, but it was pretty horrific and VERY smelly. I couldnt believe what some of these woman working there had to do! I promise I will NEVER complain about my job again... I think anything would be more pleasant than carving out fish eyeballs or visciously chopping off octopus tentacles. Warning: some of the pictures of pretty nasty!

Standing on the beach in Busan, South Korea

On the beach, we ran into a Korean family (go firgure) burrying their son in the sand. Cute.


Me holding a live star fish



The aquarium...




The World Famous Fish market...

Well I think I have caught you all up on everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks. Now that things will begin slowing down again (maybe) I will try and write more regularly. Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all like crazy!

p.s enjoy your day at work...and just think... it could be worse!!


Signing off,


Gillian Teacha xx