Another Movie!

We've documented a couple of our dining experiences and would like to share them with you. Please check out our new video, Korean Dining: You Never Know What You're Gonna Get

Guryongpo Beach and other stuff...

We went to the beach this morning about 25km away from where we live. We were really surprised by how clean and nice the beach and the water were. There was white sand, clear, blue water and not many people at all. A few feet away from the beach there are some restaurants and stores and you can rent tubes and umbrellas for really reasonable prices.

The Koreans are a bit strange about bathing suits. There were a group of teenagers there and all of the girls went into the water with their clothes (long sleeve shirts with a cardigan over top, capris, hats, sunglasses, etc) and would sit inside an inner-tube while the guys (in their long shorts and t-shirts) pushed them around. Older women walked down the beach with visors that pretty much covered their entire faces, long sleeve shirts and pants AND carried an umbrella. Apparently many of them are afraid of getting too dark.

We went swimming in the water and had a great time...The only bad thing is that I have raccoon eyes because I wore my sunglasses the whole time and neglected to put on sunscreen. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson in Mexico! This time I am REALLY never going to let that happen again!!

We are starting to really like our schedules and the amount of free time we have. In a lot of ways, it really does seem like having a part-time job. Yesterday we went to the gym before work. It is REALLY cheap. It costs about $2 per day or $40 for the month and all the equipment is brand-new and pretty high-tech. There is a strange machine that Koreans are really fond of that basically vibrates your body. Apparently Koreans believe that it burns fat and increases muscle. We both tried it and it made us feel a bit nauseous. You put your feet on this platform and every fatty part of you just jiggles at a rapid speed. The gym also has yoga classes, belly dancing, aerobics, etc and it's still only $2 per day.

Tonight we are going to buy a basketball and play at one of the parks. The cool thing about the parks is that they all have exercise equipment there. You never really see kids playing a game of baseball or soccer here, but there are tons of parks around our neighbourhood.

We went out for dinner last night after work and one of the side dishes was a bowl of bugs. I can't really remember what kind of bugs but MaryAnne tried one and said it was the most horrible thing she'd ever tasted. She actually had to spit it out and the taste lasted in her mouth for about 20mins. It seems Koreans will just about eat anything and they seem to be most fond of unusual cuts of meat. For example, at the restaurant, they served the pig's neck. We have thought multiple times of becoming vegetarians while we are here!!

Being Resourceful...

Our kitchen doesn't have an oven. There's a gas range though. A few days ago our toaster broke and we're trying to hold out for a used one from a teacher who's leaving. So we ended up using a pot on the gas range! It tasted great!!!

Trying New Foods

We're trying to be as adventurous as possible, especially when it comes to food. It would be really easy here to only eat North American food. There's a Dominos pizza place down the street, McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and many other American fast food places all over the city. At the grocery store, you could pretty much find any Korean equivalent to the food back home...however, it's more expensive, way more unhealthy and way less interesting.

We're in the midst of making a new video about our Korean dining experiences, but until then, enjoy some of these pictures of food we've tried! We're getting more and more brave as the days go by....although we're fairly confident we'll spend the entire year without going anywhere close to dog soup!

School Books...

We are supposedly teaching ESL, yet for some reason, the material we're teaching is above grade level for kids back at home. MaryAnne is teaching Hamlet to one of her 9th grade students and if I recall correctly, I read that in the 12th grade and English is my first language. She's also using the massive textbooks shown in the pictures called "The Language of Literature" for 7th graders and is trying to teaching poetry to kids who are still struggling to put a proper sentence together.

This week in science, I've been trying to teach the concept of renewable and non-renewable energy to my 5th grade students which is something that grade would learn back home, but here it's kind of complicated to explain fossil fuels and acid rain when they are still trying to learn how to communicate with each other in English.

On the flip side, I think I'm starting to speak in two word sentences: Need coffee. Feel tired. Want sleep.

New Movie!

Our new movie is now on YouTube! Just follow this link:
Welcome to School!

Korean Sushi...

This is Octopus:

This is MaryAnne before trying the Octopus:

This is MaryAnne after trying it:

This is MaryAnne wishing she'd never tried it